Egypt: Tour Egypt Monthly: The Animals of Ancient Egypt


Feature Article

Volume II, Number 6 June 1st, 2001

The Animals of Ancient Egypt

by Caroline Seawright


Birds apdgoose determinative

Along the Nile, some of the multitude of bird-life included the falcon, kite, goose, crane, heron, plover, pigeon, ibis, vulture and owl. It is possible that hens were introduced during the New Kingdom from Africa.

Nephthys as a Kite from Nefertari's Tomb - notice the detail!

Sacred to Horus, the falcon (or hawk) was thought to be the guardian of the ruler, and is frequently found as spreading its wings protectively behind the head of the pharaoh. At Saqqara during the Late Period, there was a catacomb build for mummified falcons. These birds, though, were shown to be of different types of birds of prey, not just the falcon. To the Egyptians, the Horus-falcon may have been regarded as interchangeable with a whole range of different birds of prey.

The ibis, sacred birth of Thoth, was relatively common throughout Egypt until the 19th Century, but now has almost disappeared. Sacred ibises were mummified during the Late Period and Ptolemaic times, and buried in large numbers in different catacombs through Egypt. There were three types of ibis in Egypt - the sacred ibis, the hermit ibis and the glossy ibis. The hermit ibis is not a waterside bird, so it is depicted less frequently than the other two birds that were common along the banks of the Nile.

The vulture was the manifestation of Nekhbet and Mut, who were depicted as the bird with their wings outstretched on the ceilings of temples as protection, or sitting on the ground in a symbol associated with kingship. The two main types of vulture depicted were the griffon vulture and the so-called Egyptian vulture. It was the griffon vulture that was usually related to the goddesses and to royalty.

Fish rmfish determinative

In Ancient Egypt, the fish had both sacred and scorn species. Some were sacred in some places and not allowed to be eaten, whereas in other places, anyone could eat the fish. Some of the fish in Egypt were the carp, perch and catfish.

Fish Amulet Hair Pendant

The goddess Hatmehit from the Delta city of Mendes, was known as the 'Chief of Fish', and was worshipped in the form of a fish, or as a woman with a fish emblem on her head.

Both the Rilapia or Chromis and the Abdju fish were thought to act as pilots for Re on his solar barque as it traveled, warning of the approach of the enemy of Re, the snake Apep, as they traveled through the underworld.

The poor ate fish more often than meat, because of the availability of the fish. Richer people kept fish in ornamental ponds or as a source of food. The pharaoh, priests and the Akhu could not eat fish, because of the association with Set:

Supposedly, it was the Nile carp, the Oxyrynchus or the Phagrus fish that ate the phallus of Osiris, when he was chopped into pieces by Set. Despite this, the Oxyrynchus was thought to be sacred in the Fayoum area, where the people thought that this fish appeared out of the wounds of the god of the dead!

Cattle mnnmnntcattle determinative

The Ancient Egyptians domesticated many different types of animals - sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, geese and later horses. Mostly they used the animals to supply milk, wool, meat, eggs, leather, skins, horns, fat, and manual labor. The cow was sacred to many goddesses, including Hathor, Bat, Isis and Nut. Bulls were sacred to Re as they had a strong connection with solar imagery to the ancient Egyptians. Cattle were branded with red-hot irons by the great estates belonging to the pharaohs, the rich owners and the different temples.

The cattle in Egypt were, in the Predynastic Period, a long horned variety of cattle, but a thinner short-horned variety became the norm during the Old Kingdom onwards. The cattle were used for sacrificial purposes as well as being draft animals.

Herdsman tended to the cattle, and grazed them in the Nile valley during the winter months, but they generally moved the cattle to the Delta during the hotter, summer months. The cattle seemed to often be called names relating to the goddess Hathor - "Golden One", "Shining One" and "Beautiful" are some examples.

The Song of the Herdsmen


You have goaded the oxen on all the roads.

You have walked over the sand.

Now you are trampling on the grass.

You are eating the rich plants.

Now you are sated.

May it become your bodies well.

There were special farms for the fattening of oxen for slaughter. The long horned breed of oxen were fattened then adorned with ostrich feathers and displayed in processions with their owners before ritual sacrifice to the gods. Under Ramesses III 16,000 cattle were sacrificed per year, just to the god Amun!

Although cattle were raised, beef was a luxury item because much of the meat of the cattle was used for religious ceremonies and offerings. Pork, on the other hand, was eaten regularly but was not used in the Egyptian religion. Goat meat, too, was eaten throughout Egypt, and even by upper class Egyptians. The skin of the goat was used as water containers and floating devices.

    The Egyptian farmers, in their early experimental phase, also tried to domesticate other animals such as hyenas, gazelles and cranes.

There is evidence of attempts to force-feed these animals during the 5th and 6th Dynasties, but these attempts were abandoned after the Old Kingdom.

Sheep and goats were considered by the Egyptians to be 'small cattle', and they were kept for their meat, milk, wool and hide. Goats were more common than sheep, as they were better suited to grazing on poor land. There was extensive pig rearing throughout Memphis, Elephantine, Tell el-Dab'a and El-Amarna, indicating that though pork was never used as an offering, that it was eaten by the Egyptians. The pig was also listed among the assets of various temples.

Horses ssmthorse determinative

Introduced by the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period on a large scale (along with the chariot), the horse did not become common until the New Kingdom. Donkeys were used for transportation and as pack animals, rather than the horses - they were used for ceremonial processions, hunting and war where they were harnessed to the chariot. The only evidence of horses being ridden were where individual soldiers were shown mounted on them during some battle scenes of the New Kingdom.

Only the wealthy could afford to keep horses, and as such, they were status symbols to the ancient Egyptians. Horses were also used as prestige gifts between the Egyptians and rulers in north Africa and the Near East.

    Three thousand years ago, Ramesses II, one of Egypt's most powerful rulers, ordered construction of a huge and elaborate complex of stables to house hundreds of his army's horses. Built on the edge of the Nile Delta northeast of Cairo, the remains of the stables were recently excavated by a German-Egyptian team of archaeologists.

    -- DK, American Discovering Archaeology

The general height of the Egyptian horse was 1.35m tall, though some were as tall as 1.5m, the skeleton of one such tall horse was found in the tomb of Senmut, a favorite courtier of Hatshepsut.

Pets

The ancient Egyptians had numerous different types of pets - monkeys, ducks, geese, pigeons, hoopoes, falcons, cats, dogs and even ferrets (to keep the granaries free of vermin).

The Cat

Cats seem to have been domesticated during the Middle Kingdom from the wild cats in the Delta or the Western Desert. There were two main species indigenous to Egypt - the jungle cat and the African wild cat. Cats were both pets and symbols of cat deities, such as Bast. The earliest evidence of cats kept as pets was in a predynastic tomb at Mostagedda (Asyut). The Egyptian word for 'cat' was the sound that the cats made - myw meow! Often, the cat accompanied the master to help with the hunting and fowling in the marshes. It was during the Late Period that sacred cats were mummified in large numbers, and placed in underground galleries such as at Bubastis. The cat was also a personification of Re, where the sun god, as a cat, battles the serpent Apep.

Dogs, while often depicted as hunting with the master or as watch dogs, but they were never shown as an animal to be petted. Known to the Egyptians as the sound-word iw, the sound for barking. They were given individual names and were often buried with their masters. Some of their names were "Brave One", "Reliable" and "Good Herdsman" as well as naming them for their color, just as some people do today. The types of dogs the Egyptians had were related to the basenji, the saluki, the greyhound and maybe even the mastiff and dachshunds. Unlike the cat, which was aloof and mysterious, the Egyptians thought of the dog as being subservient, and the dog was used as an insult - prisoners were sometimes known as "the pharaoh's dogs". But the dog, and the jackal, were regarded as sacred to Anubis, where they were buried as sacred animals to the god of embalming at the catacombs at Anubieion (Saqqara).

Egyptian goose

The Nile goose had often the run of the house and the garden in spite of its vile temper. The goose was the sacred animal of Geb, who was also known as 'The Great Cackler' when he was in goose form. There were sacred lakes around Egypt that were home to the sacred geese, where they were well looked after.

There were even some wild beasts that were used as pets - Ramesses II had a tame lion, and the Sudanese cheetahs sometimes took the place of the house cat!

Wildlife

As for the animals out in the wild, the Egyptians knew of lions, cheetahs, wolves, antelope, wild bulls, hyenas, jackals, snakes, the mongoose and desert hares. The Nile was filled with crocodiles, hippos, turtles, frogs as well as the numerous fish and water birds. Bees, scarab beetles, locusts, flies, centipedes and scorpions were some of the insects that lived in ancient times.

Statue of Sekhmet

Some wild animals, specifically the lion, the wild cattle and the cobra, came to represent royalty. The power and danger seen in the lion and the wild bull became synonymous with the pharaoh. Even from predynastic times, images of the bull trampling the enemies of the king represented the pharaoh's triumph over his enemies. The bull implied strength and power. The pharaoh's mother was linked to the cow-goddess Hathor, and the pharaoh sometimes too the name 'Bull of his Mother'. The lion, too, was a symbol of the pharaoh's power and ruler-ship. As the lions lived in the eastern and western deserts around the Nile, the lion also came to symbolize the rising and the setting sun and its journey through the heavens and the underworld. The lion, though, was hunted by the pharaoh in a show of courage. The cobra, being the dangerous snake of Lower Egypt, came to symbolize Lower Egypt itself. Though a female symbol, the cobra came to mean protection over the ruler.

The Egyptians kept bees for their honey and wax. They were kept in woven wicker hives that had been covered in clay. The main center of bee keeping was Lower Egypt, where one of the symbols for that part of the country was the bee itself. Not only was the honey used for food and as offerings to the gods, but it was also used by the Egyptians to create makeup and medicine! (Honey has an antibacterial effect.) The wax was used for boat building, mummification and as a binding agent in some paints. The Egyptians didn't only keep domesticated bees - they also went out and hunted for the honey of wild bees.

All of these animals played a large part in the lives of the Egyptians, and many were deified or seen as the avatar of the god or goddess on earth. Reviled or loved, the animals each had their place in Ancient Egypt.

See also:

Last Updated: Aug 4th, 2011