INTER-SECTION Volume I | Page 27

| “Linguistic Landscape Studies” and Archaeology | wed inside the temple, of whom most were priests. However, the temple also served as a divine residence, and gods were thought of as being present there. This would enable them to read the texts. $PXQDQGWKHGHLÀHG5DPHVVHVZHUHWKHPDLQJRGV in the temples where the Kadesh Inscriptions have been found (Bell 1997, 179; Haeny 1997, 115-7), so it is likely that they were (among) the supposed recipients. They both served as divine protectors of the state, and the task of the pharaoh was to aid the gods in the preservation of ma’at (Baines 1995, 112; Bell 1997, 138; Hornung 1992, 141). The inscriptions not only show that Ramesses is maintaining ma’at, but also stress the importance of the help of Amun through the prayer and the offers made in the reliefs. The inscriptions, therefore, become an expression of the bond between the pharaoh and the gods, wherein Ramesses shows he is still honouring the bond and is asking Amun to do the same. This would mean that the Kadesh Inscriptions invoked a kind of reciprocity5 DQGIXQFWLRQHGDV´UHDIÀUPDWLRQ texts”. In this way, they were part of a ritual vital for the continuation of the Egyptian state. RI WKLV UHDIÀUPDWLRQ ULWXDO WKHUHE\ SUHVHUYLQJ WKH stability of Egypt. This study shows that the application of LLS in archaeological research grants a deeper understanding of the use of space and of the texts placed within it. The texts are not merely seen as sources of information, but have a purpose and become part of the material culture. This makes LLS a valuable tool for archaeologists, since it enables them to study the interrelationship between the texts and their location. This, in turn, grants a better understanding into the way ancient societies perceived the space around them. Nevertheless, this type of study does have several limitations, such as its overreliance on the sense of sight and the lack of data that historical studies can provide (Coulmas 2009, 15). These limitations should be studied in depth to gain a proper theoretical framework of the applicability of Linguistic Landscape Studies in archaeology. Acknowledgements This does not mean that the possibility that the Kadesh Inscriptions served multiple purposes should be disregarded. It is indeed very likely that the reliefs in accessible areas were also meant to impress the human observers. The fact that the Poem was also found on papyrus implies that it circulated as a literary text as well (Spalinger 2002). It should also be noted that they were part of a larger tradition of temple reliefs. It could be argued that similar texts had similar functions, DQG ZHUH WKXV PHDQW DV DIÀUPDWLRQV WKDW WKH SKDraoh is maintaining stability. Erecting and enlarging temples might have served a similar purpose, since Ramesses mentions building temples in his prayer to Amun, showing that this too was part of the reciprocal bond. LLS should be applied to these temple reliefs to test this hypothesis. Conclusion By studying the Kadesh Inscriptions through the framework of Linguistic Landscapes, it becomes clear that their placement made it impossible for them to be observed by the general population and that they were meant for the god who resided in the temple. Here, they were supposed to show the continued devotion of the pharaoh to the preservation of ma’at, and were meant to ask the god’s help with WKLV7KH WH[WV ZHUH PHDQW DV D ´UHDIÀUPDWLRQµ RI this bond between the pharaoh and the gods. The continuous creation of these texts, and their placement on temple walls, might even have been part I would like to thank Dr. Miguel John Versluys, the editorial board of Inter-Section and the peer reviewer for the help and feedback I received while writing this paper, as well as D ȸ