| “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.
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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.
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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