Projet FNS 2026-2030

Summary

This Ambizione project aims at a comprehensive, multidimensional study of the ceiling inscriptions of private Theban tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1539–1292 BCE), a large group of texts that has been widely ignored within Egyptology so far. The Theban necropolis—located opposite today’s Luxor—was the main burial place of the early and mid-Eighteenth Dynasty elite. It houses hundreds of tomb chapels whose decoration and inscriptional programs attest to a strong social and intellectual emulation between the members of this social group. Ornamental motifs and painted monumental hieroglyphic texts decorate the ceilings of these funerary monuments. Although the ceiling inscriptions of Theban tombs have been generally dismissed as formulaic and repetitive, preliminary research shows significant variations in their content, placement, and execution.

Beyond leading to a better understanding of the nature and function of these inscriptions, a holistic and detailed study of this group of texts, which takes into account their socio-cultural embeddedness as well as their spatial and material contexts, also promises important insights into how texts were produced and transmitted in Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt. The project seeks to deliver results in three seemingly distinct but interrelated areas of research. First, it investigates intertextual links within and beyond the established corpus. Mapping out the intertextual links within the corpus is not only expected to shed new light on some of the connections within the social landscape of the Theban necropolis—and thereby also on the social behavior of the elite—but may also reveal if and to what extent ceiling inscriptions were a locally circulated group of texts. Exploring the intertextual relations between the ceiling inscriptions and other types of texts—funerary literature, literary compositions, and mortuary liturgies, for instance—will, on the other hand, likely lead us to a deeper understanding of the function of these inscriptions and may as well provide us with valuable clues on their origins and their impact on other texts. Second, this project analyses the ceiling texts in their immediate and larger spatial contexts. In doing so, it aspires to understand the variations in their distribution and orientation within the physical and ritual space and explores their connection with the rest of the textual program within a given tomb. Research on the spatial dimension of ceiling texts is also expected to reveal whether the relative importance of their position or their future visibility had any influence on the wording or execution of the texts. As for the larger spatial context, the study will assess the significance of spatial proximity in the process of textual transmission. Next to the intertextual and spatial aspects, it is the human factor that constitutes the third area of focus of this project. Besides providing insights into the Egyptian understanding of creativity with regard to text production and text transmission, the study aims at identifying artists’ technical signatures in the ceiling inscriptions of Theban tombs. By distinguishing painterly handwritings, the project intends to deliver findings on the varying level of literacy of ancient Egyptian artists as well as on the organization of labor during the decoration process of these monuments.

Methodologically, the project follows the principles of the so-called new or material philology. It is conducted as a qualitative study—relying on field visits, available photographs, and earlier publications—and produces results at the intersection of philology, art history, and archaeology within Egyptology as a discipline.