Untersuchungen zur Hieroglyphischen palaographie und Klassifizierung der Privatstelen der 19.

• Author: Quack, Joachim Friedrich
• Position: Book review

Untersuchungen zur Hieroglyphischen Palaographieund Klassifierung der Privatstelen der 19. Dy nastie. BY JAN MOJE, Agypten and Altes Testament, vol, 67. Pp. xi + 624, CD. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2007, [member of]148.

As is well known, the study of the paleography of hieroglyphic signs is still in its infancy. while there are already good studies available for hieratic paleography. At the moment, sign collections for individual monuments are starting to appear but do not yet add up to a coherent documentation. In this situation, a comprehensive study of a well-defined corpus is especially welcome.

The author of the book under review takes as his basis the private stelae of the Nineteenth Dynasty. A general overview of the techniques used is welcome, especially since Moje gives much thought to the process of creation of a model and its application to the actual rough stela. Also touched upon is the question of deliberate archaism in the graphic forms. The author supposes that stelae could he prepared in advance for clients who would choose them and have their name added. The sources are discussed according to the material of the inscribed object, which is certainly a useful criterion since the support and the technique of engraving or painting has a substantial influence on the actual form of the signs.

Form, layout of pictorial elements, type of depiction, and function, as well as original context are used here for classiticatory categories. This is followed by a short discussion of the formulae employed in the texts. This results in a classification of the objects studied, followed by a detailed catalog of the objects ordered according to their date. An equally detailed discussion of the different signs points out the variability of forms, owing to development over time as well as local divergences. Moje identifies different workshops and potential contacts between them. Statistical analysis detects times of higher or lower production of stelae. The dominance of the material from Deir el-Medineh, compared to other find-spots, is quite evident; most, of the lower Egyptian material comes from Qantir.

Summing up his results, Moje notes that frequently occurring signs are much more standardized while rare ones display greater variation. In addition, placement within a group of signs, can influence their form. Objects from the provinces and the residence show clear differences of quality. Deviant forms and mistakes are due to...