Chasing shadows: graffiti in the Eighth Pylon at Karnak

Constructed during the co-regency of Hatshepsut and Tuthmose III, the Eighth Pylon at Karnak bears some of the most distinctive clusters of New Kingdom graffiti known from the Amun temple complex. Elizabeth Frood, Chiara Salvador, and Ellen Jones report on recent discoveries of inked and painted hieratic graffiti in the staircase of the pylon, which help us understand this as a cultic and scribal space.

The Karnak Graffiti Project

For almost ten years, the Karnak Graffiti Project (KGP), led by Elizabeth Frood, now together with Chiara Salvador, has been recording and analysing pictorial, hieratic, and hieroglyphic graffiti in the precinct of Amun at Karnak. It developed out of the major project of Claude Traunecker in the 1970s to systematically survey and record inscriptions and images that are not part of the primary decorative programme. His archive is now held at the University of Oxford and is foundational to this phase of analysis. The KGP focuses on two main areas: the temple of Ptah and the southern processional axis, including the Eighth Pylon. Graffiti left by temple staff in these places form case studies for assessing implications of graffiti practices across the complex. Those on and in the Eighth Pylon are crucial for examining circulation pathways, spheres of influence of staff members, and relationships of informal writing to cult and the transformation of space.

The epigraphic work at the Eighth Pylon was initiated in 2013 as a joint project between Sébastien Biston-Moulin and Elizabeth, under the auspices of the Centre Franco-Égyptien d’Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK) and in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The recording of the primary decoration was undertaken by the epigraphic and photographic team of the CFEETK. The graffiti were surveyed in 2013 by Elizabeth, Chiara, and Julia Troche. Our recording work stopped from 2015–18 due to Elizabeth’s illness and rehabilitation, but began again with a season in 2018, during which Ellen Jones tested new photographic strategies and further discoveries were made. These included traces of black ink and yellow painted graffiti, which are the focus of our discussion here.

The Eighth Pylon

The Eighth Pylon was built as the southern entrance to the Amun precinct during the co-regency of Hatshepsut and Tuthmose III (c. 1479–1457 BCE) and is now one of the four pylons, with their open-air courts, that monumentalise the southern processional axis. The huge investment of resources in this area of Karnak in the early Eighteenth Dynasty is linked to its ceremonial role in connection with the temple of Mut, about 350 m to the south, and that of Amun of Opet, some 2 km further south, now called Luxor temple. The Eighth Pylon was part of the stage for the annual festival of Opet, during which the power of the king was renewed. It was also probably a crucial area of display for officials and high-ranking temple staff through the dedication of statues, stelae, and, more occasionally, stela-like graffiti.

The east massif of the Eighth Pylon and the side door to the courtyard.

The Eighth Pylon is an extraordinary monument, the diversity of its graffiti being just one unique feature. It was one of the primary components of Hatshepsut’s legitimation programme, incorporating several major texts of an overtly political character. The analysis of this material, and of the erasures and re-carving of the pylon in the later Eighteenth Dynasty, is being undertaken by Sébastien Biston-Moulin.

In the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties (c. 1292–1075 BCE), numerous kings had their images and texts added to the pylon and, during this time, the east massif seems to have become a focal point for display centred on the high priest of Amun and his staff. The east massif overlooks the sacred lake and the administrative heart of the complex; staff moving from this area into the temple to perform their daily duties would pass through side doors near the pylon. A door in the massif itself opens onto a staircase leading to something like a ‘watch-post’ at its top. In the late Nineteenth Dynasty, the high priest Roma(-Roy) commissioned the carving of a long inscription to one side of this door, directly addressing these people: ‘O wabpriests, scribes of the domain of Amun … bakers, brewers, chief confectioners …’. At least 50 years later, the high priest Ramessesnakht had two scenes of himself offering to the Theban triad carved high above Roma’s text. Ramessesnakht’s scenes were inscribed over earlier graffiti, including an offering scene, so it seems that the high priests were appropriating and formalising an already established ‘graffiti space’.

Scribbling on and in the pylon in the New Kingdom

Almost all of the lower courses of the pylon bear graffiti of some sort or another, but there are patterns in distribution. In the New Kingdom, graffiti clustered on the east and west sides. As is typical for surviving graffiti in the Amun complex, they are carved, and no traces of paint or ink remain.

On the pylon’s west side is a small gateway, a secondary access to the processional way, and probably an entrance from the exterior of the precinct until the reign of Horemheb. It bears clusters of New Kingdom graffiti on its thickness and east jamb. These include a depiction of Ahmose-Nefertari and Amenhotep I, a large frontal, baboon-shaped god, divine barques, rams’ heads, baboons, and the only ear known to us from the graffiti corpus in Karnak. Unlike the graffiti of the east massif, these are anonymous and ‘unsigned’, but both groups relate to the activities of temple staff. Perhaps these images protected or ritualised their movements through this gate in some way.

Orthophotograph of the door into the east massif, with the inscription of the high priest Roma to its right.

The exterior of the east massif facing the sacred lake bears largely pictorial graffiti. Inside the staircase proper, graffiti are more formal and elaborate, including four stela-like scenes of staff worshipping deities, some of which were discussed by Traunecker in 1979. These were carved at the bottom and the top of the staircase. Amenemope, one of the individuals who had an inscription carved right at the top, bears titles placing him among the staff of the Nineteenth Dynasty high priest Roma. It is tempting to think it was carved around the same time as Roma’s monumental inscription on the exterior. A further significant group of textual and pictorial graffiti were incised on the exterior wall at the top of the stair, an area now difficult to access for recording. These too are quite formal and probably New Kingdom in date.

Stela-like graffito at the top of the stair ‘which the elder of the portal of the domain of Amun, senior chamberlain of the high priest of Amun (Roma-)Roy, justified, Amenemope, justified, made.’

Smaller graffiti, mostly pictorial, cluster in and around the stela-like inscriptions. In 2013, Elizabeth and Julia systematically surveyed the block surfaces to ensure that these were all recorded. At head height on the north wall, roughly in the middle of the staircase, Elizabeth noticed a line of hieratic in black ink. Further up the stairs, near the light-well in the north wall, she saw faint, yellowish traces of what seemed to be large hieratic signs. Ink and painted graffiti, or ‘dipinti’, rarely survive in Karnak, largely because of the exposure of the sandstone to the elements, so these were exciting discoveries. New photographic work undertaken by Ellen Jones in 2018 not only facilitated analysis, but revealed even more.

Orthophotograph of the stela-like graffito of the ‘one in charge of confectionery’ Nebuneb.

Deciphering shades of black and yellow

Documenting the graffiti in the staircase presented a number of logistical challenges. It is dark and narrow, and the uneven steps make setting up tripods tricky. Photographing the larger graffiti was difficult for even the widest angle lens. The camera tripod was too short to be feasible, so photographs were taken by hand, which meant quite a balancing act. Here, photogrammetry offered an effective solution. Photogrammetry involves taking a series of photographs of an object or surface, and using software, such as Agisoft Photoscan, to create a 3D model from them. This can produce an orthorectified image, removing camera distortions and presenting the inscription in its true position on the block surface. The creation of these models, and the use of DStretch to enhance colours, has enabled preliminary readings and facsimile drawings.

Ellen Jones examining the black dipinto on the north wall of the staircase.

The black dipinto is a single line, 14.5 cm in length. The signs themselves are small, averaging 1.5 cm high, and are written in neat literary hieratic, perhaps of the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1075–715 BCE). Unusually, the text is partially underlined, with spaces forming three separate groups. It could read: ‘May Re, the perfect one, be established …’ ‘Perfect one’ is a well-attested epithet of Amun in one of his more accessible forms as a goose. The first group, smn, is also a word for goose, potentially creating a wordplay evoking Amun. Context strengthens this possibility since geese were bred in aviaries near the sacred lake, and graffiti depicting geese were incised on the east exterior wall of the pylon’s court. The dipinto then could be an anonymous invocation to ‘(goose-)Amun-Re, the perfect one, Amun, the perfect one (a thousand times?).’

DStretched orthophotograph and facsimile of the black dipinto on the north wall of the staircase.

The faded yellow dipinto by the light-well was even more difficult to record and analyse. While testing different enhancements with the DStretch plugin (www.dstretch.com), Ellen realised that this graffito was not alone. Her photograph had captured an area of the staircase ceiling where very similar text traces had been hiding in plain sight. More photographs revealed a two-line inscription, and a careful search elicited three more yellow scribbles, either a scribe practising particular sign forms or scrawling abstract shapes.

DStretched orthophotograph of the yellow dipinto on the ceiling of the staircase.

The use of yellow for dipinti is otherwise unknown to us; black, red, and occasionally blue, are the conventional colours. The signs are unusually large – those on the north wall are some 10–12 cm high – making them look a bit like modern spray-painted tags. On the wall, one complete line runs for about 73 cm. It identifies its author Pahor(ta)hatnakht(?) as an artist, a ‘scribe of forms (draughtsman) of Amun’. The line immediately below is unfinished, comprising just ‘scribe’. On the ceiling, the name in the first line is difficult to decipher and the second one is lost. Both bear the same artist title. All of the formal scenes in the staircase include signatures of their artists, so perhaps these people were colleagues, working or resting together in the staircase and claiming it for themselves. These texts would have originally been very visible, lit by a faint glow from the light-well, the yellow paint extending the effect of that light onto the ceiling. This is a powerful, bright assertion of presence in this meaningful but as yet poorly understood space.

Why here?

The tops of pylons probably served as watchposts for controlling daily access. Occasionally, they were exclusive observation points for witnessing the processions that came through the main gates, which they directly overlook. In Karnak, the Eighth Pylon staircase is the only surviving one know n to us to bear graffiti. This points to the salience of this pylon for the temple community throughout the New Kingdom, which some high priests contributed to. The investment of some of their staff in elaborate scenes speaks to the prestige that accrued by displaying here. Although ink and paint are faster, more fleeting engagements, the writers of the yellow dipinti show off a comparable privilege. With their vivid dipinti, they sought to be part of the special group of artists that signed their work in this space. A while later, the little black dipinto may have caught the eye of someone bustling up the stairs, encouraging them to utter Amun’s name, thus benefitting its anonymous author.

The top of the staircase in the east massif of the Eighth Pylon.

Egyptian temples, especially large-scale state complexes like Karnak, project an image as ‘monumental playgrounds’ for kings and, at particular times, high priests, who, one after the other, left their mark: commissioning new structures, dedicating inscriptions, expanding parts of the temple or redecorating it. Graffiti allow us to zoom in from this superhuman scale to the micro-level of the ‘ordinary’ people who worked in temples and administered them. Their graffiti allow us to follow in their footsteps and know a little of who they might have been.

Elizabeth Frood is Associate Professor of Egyptology at Oxford University. Chiara Salvador is a postdoctoral researcher for the Projet d’Index Global des Inscriptions des Temples de Karnak (LabEx Archimède, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, CNRS, USR 3172, UMR 5140). Ellen Jones is reading for her doctorate in Egyptology at Oxford University. KGP is a project of the CFEETK (Ministry of State for Tourism and Antiquities-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique USR 3172). We thank Claude Traunecker for initiating the work; Sébastien Biston-Moulin as our project partner; Mohamed Abdel Aziz and Mohamed Yahyah, Directors of Antiquities of Luxor and Upper Egypt; Mustafa el-Saghir, Director-General of the Temples of Karnak; Abd al-Satar Badri, Adel Irfan Ali and Ahmed el-Taher, Co-directors of the CFEETK; Luc Gabolde and Christophe Thiers, current and former Directors of the USR 3172-CFEETK; Rais Mahmoud Farouk, his team, and everyone in Karnak for their help and support. Chloé Ragazzoli and Julia Troche made vital contributions.