Acrostich Inscriptions at Kalabsha (Roman Talmis): Cultural Identities and Literary Games

This article presents four Greek and Latin inscriptions from the region of the first cataract (published in the collections Bernand, 1969, Inscriptions métriques de l’Égypte gréco-romaine and Inscriptions grecques et latines de Philae II) which have acrostichs spelling out the name of their composers or commissioners. Two Greek inscriptions, in particular, left by a Roman decurion named Paccius Maximus at Kalabsha, make an overt display of their maker’s Greek literate education. Can this desire to protest his education and sophistication be read as cultural insecurity? The signposting techniques used to draw attention to these word-puzzles, and the poet’s direct claims to personal authorship, offer some starting-points to explore these questions.