The Rosetta Stone. Copying an ancient copy
Resource type
Book chapter
Creator (person)
Regulski, Ilona
Date published
2020
Abstract
Epigraphy and palaeography are ways of recording, analyzing, and interpreting texts and images. This Handbook discusses technical issues about recording text and art and interpretive questions about what we do with those records and why we do it. The Handbook aims to • discuss current theories with regard to the cultural setting and material realities in which Egyptian epigraphy was produced;• familiarize the reader with epigraphic techniques and practices; and• outline and review traditional and emerging techniques and challenges as a guide for future research. The chapters offer a diachronic perspective, covering all Egyptian scripts from prehistoric through Coptic, a look at recording techniques that considers past, present, and future, and a focus on colleagues’ experiences. The diachronic perspective illustrates the range of techniques used to record different phases of writing in different media. The consideration of past, present, and future techniques allows readers to understand why particular strategies are or were employed by linking the aims of an effort with the chosen technique. The choice of techniques is a matter of goals and the records’ work circumstances, an inevitable consequence of epigraphy being a double projection: geometrical, transcribing in two dimensions an object that exists physically in three, and mental, an interpretation, with an inevitable selection among the object’s defining characteristics. Colleagues’ experiences provide a range of perspectives and opinions. These accounts are interesting and instructive stories of innovation in the face of scientific conundrum.
Book title
The Oxford Handbook of Egyptian Epigraphy and Paleography
Editor
Davies, Vanessa
Laboury, Dimitri
Pagination
215-28
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Place of publication
Oxford
Keywords