@thatlittleegyptologist

It is in fact, super correct! Ramesses II was a notorious usurper of monuments, so what we see here is his deep re-carving of his father’s own temple. Ramesses II was a massive jerk who stole previous king’s stuff to make himself look like a master builder. What an asshole.

I think it’s better explained by this image:

The glyphs are a result of both erosion of the stone surface (evident elsewhere in the temple, because hey I’ve been and seen this for myself) and the process of filling in and re-carving the stone to replace some of the original hieroglyphics. The technical term for such a surface that has been written on more than once is a palimpsest. The inscription was modified at least once in antiquity, and perhaps twice. Some of the filling has fallen out in places where the older and the newer inscriptions overlap, and the result is unique and odd-looking.

The text is part of the titulary of Ramesses II and can be translated as “The one of the Two Ladies, who suppresses the nine foreign countries.” This replaces the royal titulary of Seti I that was originally carved into the stone. More technically, the actual “helicopter” seems to be a portion of the psDwt sign (pronounced peshdjewt and technically translated as “bows” referring to the weapons of foreigners, but also means ‘foreigners’) and the X3swt sign (pronounced ha-suit and translated as “lands”) on top of each other, with portions missing. An apparent change in scale also mucks things up.

This is my own photo of the glyphs, in situ. You can see the whole area is heavily damaged. This really isn’t unusual when it comes to carved hieroglyphs, as when a temple gets reused by an invading force, they tend to damage previous places of worship.

Here’s some deep recarving from Medinet Habu. How deep you ask?

Pigeons can fucking nest in them. That’s how deep.

:O You are my HERO