19

Apr

ARCE-Chicago: Graffiti: Their Writers and Readers by Dr. Hana Navratilova

Presented by Dr. Hana Navratilova

Presenter affiliated with the University of Oxford/Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • 1:00 PM CTChicago
  • Zoom
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Lecture Information

Graffito from Thebes Relief showing Khety’s hand, with a graffito of Ramesside date, From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Khety (TT 311, MMA 508), Corridor, MMA excavations, 1922–23, 23.3.26, Rogers Fund, 1923, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Graffiti in modern cities raise eyebrows and emotions, especially if they appear on historical buildings and other places where their presence is seen as damaging and subverting the value and aesthetic impact of the place. Yet, their ancient counterparts are recognised as important witnesses of ancient understanding of monuments and places, moreover viewed positively by ancient stakeholders. Egyptology used to see these texts and images as an add-on and then more recently, and gradually, as a valuable trace of written and visual culture outside of the monumental record. We revisit some ancient writers in Thebes, Abydos, and Memphis, as well as the graffiti hunters among Egyptologists, like A.H. Sayce or J. Černý, who changed the understanding of graffiti from gratuitous scribblings to ancient media.

Speaker Bio

By Aleš Ležatka

Dr. Hana Navratilova is a Supernumerary Fellow of Harris Manchester College and Organising Tutor for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; she is also a member of the Ancient World Research Cluster at the Wolfson College. She is involved in several research projects and in teaching. She works on the project Who was Who in Egyptology for the Egypt Exploration Society and is a member of the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Hana has been involved in the study of Egyptian secondary epigraphy (graffiti) since 2003, and in fieldwork epigraphy in Egypt since 2010. She has published widely on graffiti at Abu Sir, Saqqara, and Dahshur. In 2023 she published a major biography of Egyptologist J. Čern