Mysterious Graffito Discovered

Mysterious Graffito Discovered 

    CAIRO, Sept 28, (Reuter) - Outside of Aswan, among the rock outcroppings
which compose the First Cataract of the Nile, an amateur Egyptologist and rock
climber claims to have discovered a graffito, written in Demotic script. 
Demotic is a form of the ancient Egyptian language, in use during the late
Pharaonic period through the rule of the Romans.  What is unusual about this
inscription, claims Dirk "Bubba" MacGuire, graduate student in electrical
engineering at the University of Alabama, is its repetitive  "sing-song"
composition. 
	"We have many dedicatory inscriptions in Demotic," explained MacGuire," but
none that repeat the inscriber's name three times -- twice in succession." 
Other unusual aspects of this graffito are the use of the title after the
personal name, as well as its boastful oratory apparently attributing the
physical strength of the inscriber, a river pilot named Pepwy, to his
vegetarian diet. 
	"Such claims regarding an exclusive diet of plants are almost unheard of in
the ancient world," stated MacGuire. 
	While he still has some reservations about the readings of some of the words,
MacGuire provided the following provisional translation of the inscription: 
"Pepwy, the man who sails am I.  Pepwy the man who sails am I.  It is while I
am eating my vegetables, that I am strong to the ends (of the earth).  Pepwy,
the man who sails am I."  The name of the subject of the graffito is mysterious
in that it is not a common Egyptian name. MacGuire speculates that the name may
be Carian.  The Carians were a seafaring people from Asia Minor some of whom
settled in Egypt after its conquest by Alexander the Great.

REUTER
Reut09:43 09-28