Reden – Zeigen – Lesen: Multimodale Formen der Ansprache in altägyptischen Bild-Text-Kompositionen

Abstract

“Speaking – pointing – reading: multimodal forms of address in ancient Egyptian image-text-compositions” – Starting from a scene in Ti’s mastaba (1), this article discusses the manifold synergies of textual and pictorial elements in representing the act of addressing / speaking in two-dimensional ancient Egyptian image-text-compositions. Following some remarks on the “address / speaking gesture” as it appears in pictorial sources (2) as well as its possible origins in actual historical practices (3) its appearance(s) and function(s) in wall paintings and reliefs are presented. Besides the frequent spatial correlation of speakers and their speech via this gesture (4) these include in particular the visual highlighting of certain parts of longer texts by a figure’s arm or hand reaching into them in cases of so-called “text-image-interferences” (5). The article is concluded by further observations on the multimodal nature of the act of speaking in real life as well as in pictorial representations (6) and some comparative observations on the occurrence of “address / speaking gestures” and their communicative use(s) in sources from Ancient Greece and the European Middle Ages (7).