The iconography of Decorated Ware = L'iconographie des Decorated Ware

The lecture I am going to give deals with the Naqadan painted vases. We will not deal in great detail with the White cross-lined vases of the Naqada I-IIAB period, but will focus on the Decorated vases of the Naqada IIC-D period. The ornamental patterns of the different elements of these vases, the links between these elements and their position on the surface of the vases have obviously been chosen in accordance with strict rules. These rules display a hierarchy within the elements making up the ornamental patterns. I will first try to explain these rules in order to understand how the syntax of the Naqadan ornaments works and then compare them with a broad outline of the oldest hieroglyph writing syntax which is known, that of the Old Empire.