Texts, and texts as inscriptions in particular, are complex objects, posing challenges to digital representation. What may be defined as the linguistic text (the text as an ordered composition of words) is not only a matter of lexicon and grammar. Relevant dimensions also include intertextual relations with other texts (notably in terms of formulae and formulaic schemes), as well as the poetic form, or structure, of the text, which can be complemented by features of inscriptional layout. More broadly, what may be called the inscriptional text (the text as a physically dimensional and architecturally localized artefact inscribed in stone) often carries further significations. Based on two practical examples of Old Kingdom inscriptions (Harkhuf, Hezi), the paper will discuss which dimensions should be present in a digital corpus of inscriptions as complex, multidimensional objects.
Given fundamental differences between the inscriptional and noninscriptional realms of written performance in ancient Egypt, several major textual genres are specifically inscriptional in origins and functions (e.g., the nonroyal autobiography and the royal wḏ, “decree” or authoritative pronouncement). This did not preclude productive interactions between the two realms, manifest in secondary epigraphic genres (e.g., “funerary literature,” hymns and prayers, administrative and judicial texts); relations between epigraphic genres and Middle Egyptian literature are productive in both directions. Lapidary inscriptions are defined by their out-of-the-ordinary register, authoritative nature, resultative aspect, and sacralizing force. Characteristic of various epigraphic genres are their relation to the place of inscription, their focus on the (royal or nonroyal) name, and their integration with pictorial representations.
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