Multidimensional philology in the pronaos of the temple of Esna in Upper Egypt

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Leitz
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461191962

The aim of this project is a complete translation of the inscriptions of the temple of Esna including a dictionary of the Esna texts and a temple-specific sign-list. This will take up most of the working time and prevent the project as a whole from failing.Starting point of the following considerations are seven litanies on 6 out of 18 columns in the pronaos. The exact position of the verses within these litanies and the exact placement of these texts on the columns with respect to height and geographical orientation results in a double or third level of meaning. If the verse positions were changed, e.g. by transposing two verses, changing the orthography of a word, converting them to an Egyptological transliteration, or reproducing them in a book, this would invariably result in a considerable loss of information. In most cases the first sense is clear and understandable, while other levels of meaning are more or less hidden. One characteristic feature is that the reader must always think of an additional element, e.g. an alternative phonetic value of a hieroglyph or another determinative which would not have worked, or only to a limited extent, before the full development of the Ptolemaic script system. Quite often the reader must find analogies. For example, in a verse in which the name of the goddess Neith is written with the sign of the second day of the lunar month and in which the full moon is mentioned in the rest of the verse, the reader had to realise that this verse was arranged over two columns. The full moon stands at the top of the second column, the second lunar day at the very bottom of the first column. The second lunar day marks the first visibility of the lunar crescent on the western horizon, while the full moon marks the moon in its highest position exactly in the south. In this case the full moon is inscribed on a column which is exactly aligned to the south. Another important point is the interaction of texts with others in their vicinity.It is very probable that the same priests were responsible for planning the decoration of all columns and walls, therefore, it would make sense to examine all other Esna texts for such or similar correlations.Such second levels of meaning cannot be considered established in Egyptology and some colleagues will consider these thoughts completely dubious or esoteric, therefore this application is put forward within the framework of a Reinhart Kosseleck project.

• DFG Programme: Reinhart Koselleck Projects