DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0297
210
0. Bates
plating those well-recognized physical differences which divide the inhabitants of the
Delta from their southern neighbors of the Sa'id.32
§ 3. Religious aspects. The evidence afforded by the pisciform palettes, which
occur in the richest as well as in the poorer predynastic graves, indicates that the con-
sumption of fish in the prehistoric period was general, and not confined to any particular
class of society. This state of affairs is in sharp contradistinction to that which prevailed
during the Old Kingdom, when fish do not appear to have been a usual article of food
among the nobles, though freely eaten by the peasants. Whereas the nobles are frequently
"represented as spearing large fish for the sake of sport, fish are never mentioned even in the
longer versions of the offering lists of the Old Kingdoms,33 nor, before the XII Dynasty,
are they represented in the pictures of the viands provided for the deceased.34 The omis-
sion is the more conspicuous in that the builders of the tombs did not disdain to mention
or to depict such humble foods as birds and vegetables, and the oversight calls for explana-
tion when one considers the all-inclusive character of the offering lists, and the regularity
with which fishing scenes are depicted on the tomb paintings. The simplest way in which
to reconcile the absence of fish from the offering lists with the frequent delineation of
fishing scenes, is on the grounds that the upper classes in the Old Kingdom entertained
a.prejudice against fish as food — a prejudice which the peasants were so far from sharing
that the painters of the tombs felt constrained to depict the capture of fish when portray-
ing the daily life of the common people.
Cases in which, from religious or from other motives, people living by well-stocked
waters abstain from fish — either wholly or to a great degree — are not hard to find.
Of abstention on religious grounds we have already had an example in the conduct of the
Ethiopian Piankhi: if we needed another, the case of the Syrian worshipers of Atargatis
might be cited.35 Of a secular — or perhaps one ought to say ‘of a secularized’ — aver-
32 On the ancient economic importance of the hippopotamus the evidence does not allow much to be said. The
capture of these animals must, even when they were common, have been of less real importance than that of fish, for
the taking of the latter was a matter of daily habit, whereas the killing of hippopotami, even when of tolerably fre-
quent occurrence, was a more exceptional event. The historical evidence on the hippopotamus in Egypt will be
found below in §5.
331 am much indebted to J. H. Breasted, of the University of Chicago, for information on this point. Appended
to a letter which he was good enough to send me was the following O. K. offering list which he had compiled from
several sources: — Preparatory: (1-2) purification by water and incense; (3-9) seven sacred oils for anointing;
(10-11) face-paints; (12) raiment. Banquet: (13-14) purification by water and incense; (15-18) directions for
bringing table and taking seat at same; (19-29) bread and beverages, including one piece of meat; (30-43) fourteen
kinds of loaves or bread; (44) onions; (45-54) meats (no fish); (55-59) fowl; (60-63) four kinds of bread; (64-76)
beverages; (77-85) kinds of bread and grain; (86-92) miscellaneous (no fish); (93-94) purification by water and
incense; (95-96) oils; (97) raiment.
34 Figs. 214, 215 are from a M. K. scene in which fish are being brought to the owner of the tomb. For a N. K.
example, see G. Maspero, Tombeau de Nakhti, (M6m.. . .de la Mission arch^ol. fran§. au Caire, vol. 5, fasc. 3,
Paris, 1893) fig. 4, p. 480.
3B W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,3 London, 1907, p. 449.
0. Bates
plating those well-recognized physical differences which divide the inhabitants of the
Delta from their southern neighbors of the Sa'id.32
§ 3. Religious aspects. The evidence afforded by the pisciform palettes, which
occur in the richest as well as in the poorer predynastic graves, indicates that the con-
sumption of fish in the prehistoric period was general, and not confined to any particular
class of society. This state of affairs is in sharp contradistinction to that which prevailed
during the Old Kingdom, when fish do not appear to have been a usual article of food
among the nobles, though freely eaten by the peasants. Whereas the nobles are frequently
"represented as spearing large fish for the sake of sport, fish are never mentioned even in the
longer versions of the offering lists of the Old Kingdoms,33 nor, before the XII Dynasty,
are they represented in the pictures of the viands provided for the deceased.34 The omis-
sion is the more conspicuous in that the builders of the tombs did not disdain to mention
or to depict such humble foods as birds and vegetables, and the oversight calls for explana-
tion when one considers the all-inclusive character of the offering lists, and the regularity
with which fishing scenes are depicted on the tomb paintings. The simplest way in which
to reconcile the absence of fish from the offering lists with the frequent delineation of
fishing scenes, is on the grounds that the upper classes in the Old Kingdom entertained
a.prejudice against fish as food — a prejudice which the peasants were so far from sharing
that the painters of the tombs felt constrained to depict the capture of fish when portray-
ing the daily life of the common people.
Cases in which, from religious or from other motives, people living by well-stocked
waters abstain from fish — either wholly or to a great degree — are not hard to find.
Of abstention on religious grounds we have already had an example in the conduct of the
Ethiopian Piankhi: if we needed another, the case of the Syrian worshipers of Atargatis
might be cited.35 Of a secular — or perhaps one ought to say ‘of a secularized’ — aver-
32 On the ancient economic importance of the hippopotamus the evidence does not allow much to be said. The
capture of these animals must, even when they were common, have been of less real importance than that of fish, for
the taking of the latter was a matter of daily habit, whereas the killing of hippopotami, even when of tolerably fre-
quent occurrence, was a more exceptional event. The historical evidence on the hippopotamus in Egypt will be
found below in §5.
331 am much indebted to J. H. Breasted, of the University of Chicago, for information on this point. Appended
to a letter which he was good enough to send me was the following O. K. offering list which he had compiled from
several sources: — Preparatory: (1-2) purification by water and incense; (3-9) seven sacred oils for anointing;
(10-11) face-paints; (12) raiment. Banquet: (13-14) purification by water and incense; (15-18) directions for
bringing table and taking seat at same; (19-29) bread and beverages, including one piece of meat; (30-43) fourteen
kinds of loaves or bread; (44) onions; (45-54) meats (no fish); (55-59) fowl; (60-63) four kinds of bread; (64-76)
beverages; (77-85) kinds of bread and grain; (86-92) miscellaneous (no fish); (93-94) purification by water and
incense; (95-96) oils; (97) raiment.
34 Figs. 214, 215 are from a M. K. scene in which fish are being brought to the owner of the tomb. For a N. K.
example, see G. Maspero, Tombeau de Nakhti, (M6m.. . .de la Mission arch^ol. fran§. au Caire, vol. 5, fasc. 3,
Paris, 1893) fig. 4, p. 480.
3B W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,3 London, 1907, p. 449.