DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0292
Ancient Egyptian Fishing
205
With the exception of the geometric and grotesque specimens, the palettes almost
invariably present the profile of a fish, bird, or beast (figs. 1-11). Human figures are
almost unknown.6 Even the geometric palettes occasionally bear incised upon them
representations of wild animals, such as the elephant or the crocodile. The animal forms
are strictly limited to those birds, beasts, and fishes which in historic times were pursued
for food. In the case of the fishes which the palettes represent, it is always hard, and
generally impossible, to identify them with certainty; but the forms most commonly found
strongly suggest two fish which in the tomb paintings are frequently depicted as the
choicest prizes of the fisherman, and which are still regarded as the best catches the river
affords.7
The care with which the palettes were made, especially during the earlier half of
the predynastic period, and the nature of the subjects they depict, at once suggest to the
comparative ethnologist a direct relation between them and the pursuits of the hunter,
the fowler, and the fisher. Primitive man in his search for food frequently tries to establish
an impalpable, but in his eyes a very serviceable, connection between himself and the
object of his quest. One of the methods by which the hunter creates such a relationship
is by making a likeness of his intended quarry.8 Such a likeness, by the doctrine that a
simulacrum is actively en rapport with that which it represents, bestows on its possessor
power over the original — the case is one of the commonplaces of homeopathic or imi-
tative magic.
Usually a hunting or fishing amulet which simulates the form of the quarry is designed
to be worn by the owner, or to be attached to his gear. Obviously, nothing of the sort
was done with the predynastic palettes, which were employed as paint stones. The
power supposed to reside in a palette might, however, very efficaciously be transferred to
its proprietor by means of the paint ground upon it.9 ‘ Persons who go in pursuit of the
6 A palette surmounted by a human face is figured by J. Capart, Primitive art in Egypt, trans. A. S. Griffith,
London, 1905, fig. 52. The original is in the Petrie Collection, University College, London University.
7 The fish in question are the bulti {Tilapia nilotica) and the keshr (Lates niloticus'). Those desirous of studying
the zoological aspects of this question will find full information in G. A. Boulenger, The fishes of the Nile. For
identifications of the fish commonly portrayed on the O. K. tombs see Idem, ap. Davies, Dier el Gebrawi, pt. 2,
Appendix 2, p. 47, and von Bissing, Gem-ni-kai, vol. 1, p. 39-41, and pl. 26, figs. 38-48.
8 E. g. the Point Barrow Eskimos, when following the whale, make use of a whale-shaped amulet of stone or wood;
J. Murdoch, 'Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition’ (IXth Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., Washington,
1892), p. 435 sq., and figs. 422, 423. A Moslem work on magic instructs the fisherman to make a tin image of the
sort of fish he wishes to catch, and to inscribe it with four particular letters. This image, made fast to the angler’s
line, will insure a good catch: E. Doutte, Magie et religion dans 1’Afrique du Nord, Algiers, 1908, p. 263.
9 Here too we are on familiar ground. “With the ancient Mexicans and Central Americans,” says a well-known
writer, “the ceremonial grinding plate or metate was an object of unusual consideration and was elaborated to repre-
sent the forms of various animals. It is entirely in accord with aboriginal methods of thought that the metate plate,
taking the place of an animal god, should be regarded as possessing, through this association, the supernatural powers
of the particular deity, or as being his actual body; and that the meal, the spices, the colors, the medicine, etc., ground
upon it should be surcharged with supernatural potencies coming directly from and being part of the god himself”;
205
With the exception of the geometric and grotesque specimens, the palettes almost
invariably present the profile of a fish, bird, or beast (figs. 1-11). Human figures are
almost unknown.6 Even the geometric palettes occasionally bear incised upon them
representations of wild animals, such as the elephant or the crocodile. The animal forms
are strictly limited to those birds, beasts, and fishes which in historic times were pursued
for food. In the case of the fishes which the palettes represent, it is always hard, and
generally impossible, to identify them with certainty; but the forms most commonly found
strongly suggest two fish which in the tomb paintings are frequently depicted as the
choicest prizes of the fisherman, and which are still regarded as the best catches the river
affords.7
The care with which the palettes were made, especially during the earlier half of
the predynastic period, and the nature of the subjects they depict, at once suggest to the
comparative ethnologist a direct relation between them and the pursuits of the hunter,
the fowler, and the fisher. Primitive man in his search for food frequently tries to establish
an impalpable, but in his eyes a very serviceable, connection between himself and the
object of his quest. One of the methods by which the hunter creates such a relationship
is by making a likeness of his intended quarry.8 Such a likeness, by the doctrine that a
simulacrum is actively en rapport with that which it represents, bestows on its possessor
power over the original — the case is one of the commonplaces of homeopathic or imi-
tative magic.
Usually a hunting or fishing amulet which simulates the form of the quarry is designed
to be worn by the owner, or to be attached to his gear. Obviously, nothing of the sort
was done with the predynastic palettes, which were employed as paint stones. The
power supposed to reside in a palette might, however, very efficaciously be transferred to
its proprietor by means of the paint ground upon it.9 ‘ Persons who go in pursuit of the
6 A palette surmounted by a human face is figured by J. Capart, Primitive art in Egypt, trans. A. S. Griffith,
London, 1905, fig. 52. The original is in the Petrie Collection, University College, London University.
7 The fish in question are the bulti {Tilapia nilotica) and the keshr (Lates niloticus'). Those desirous of studying
the zoological aspects of this question will find full information in G. A. Boulenger, The fishes of the Nile. For
identifications of the fish commonly portrayed on the O. K. tombs see Idem, ap. Davies, Dier el Gebrawi, pt. 2,
Appendix 2, p. 47, and von Bissing, Gem-ni-kai, vol. 1, p. 39-41, and pl. 26, figs. 38-48.
8 E. g. the Point Barrow Eskimos, when following the whale, make use of a whale-shaped amulet of stone or wood;
J. Murdoch, 'Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition’ (IXth Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., Washington,
1892), p. 435 sq., and figs. 422, 423. A Moslem work on magic instructs the fisherman to make a tin image of the
sort of fish he wishes to catch, and to inscribe it with four particular letters. This image, made fast to the angler’s
line, will insure a good catch: E. Doutte, Magie et religion dans 1’Afrique du Nord, Algiers, 1908, p. 263.
9 Here too we are on familiar ground. “With the ancient Mexicans and Central Americans,” says a well-known
writer, “the ceremonial grinding plate or metate was an object of unusual consideration and was elaborated to repre-
sent the forms of various animals. It is entirely in accord with aboriginal methods of thought that the metate plate,
taking the place of an animal god, should be regarded as possessing, through this association, the supernatural powers
of the particular deity, or as being his actual body; and that the meal, the spices, the colors, the medicine, etc., ground
upon it should be surcharged with supernatural potencies coming directly from and being part of the god himself”;