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Digital Humanities in Action: The Philae Temple Graffiti Project

Prof. Jitse H.F. Dijkstra, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa

Classics may seem like a stuffy field, but in the last couple of decades the ‘digital turn’ has not failed to have its effect and digital tools have become common, especially at the intersection with archaeological fieldwork. In this lecture, Prof. Dijkstra will present the preliminary results of such a project that is advancing the study of ancient graffiti, the Philae Temple Graffiti Project. Philae, a famous temple island in southern Egypt, was one of the main sites for the cult of Isis in Graeco-Roman Egypt. Worshippers left thousands of textual and figural graffiti on the temple walls that provide us with a wealth of information about their personal piety. And yet, whereas the texts have mostly been studied, the figures have so far been completely ignored. The project fills this lacuna in scholarship by systematically recording and studying the figural graffiti. The lecture will highlight the use of advanced methods of recording and what they contribute to our knowledge of this temple site, and religion in Graeco-Roman Egypt more generally.