Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, on the banks of the Nile River, is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. Newly translated graffiti reveals just how long visitors have come from far and wide to this region, and felt compelled to mark their presence by inscribing their names on the walls of tombs.
Earlier this month, Live Science reported on the findings from a February conference held in Chennai, India, that translated several examples of 2,000-year-old graffiti found on the walls of six Egyptian tombs.
The newly translated texts—in Old Tamil, Sanskrit, and Kharosti—are from around the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. There is also evidence of Greek and Roman inscriptions on Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
Archaeologists have been aware of the presence of graffiti since the 19th century, but the texts weren’t translated until recently. On individual, Cikai Korran, wrote his name eight times in Old Tamil, in five tombs, stating “Cikai Korran came here and saw.”
Charlotte Schmid, a researcher at the French School of the Far East, presented at the conference. She speculated that Cikai Korran was likely from Southern India and could have been a chief or a merchant. She also noted that the graffiti was found very high up on the tombs’ walls, thought she wasn’t sure why or how. “It’s weird, to be frank,” Schmid said, regarding both Korran’s thorough tagging and the location thereof.
An Egyptology professor in Germany named Alexandra von Lieven told Live Science that the Indian language graffiti “prove not just the mere presence of Indians in Egypt, but also their active interest in the culture of the land.”
