DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0329
242
0. Bates
has been expended, is skilfully played to a standstill — a practice well-known to the Hamran
hippopotamus hunters.
From the beginning of the Middle Kingdom onward the reel appears to have been
sometimes used in conjunction with the hippopotamus harpoon: a fine example, repre-
sented in a XII Dynasty tomb, is shown in fig. 80, and the attendant standing behind his
master in fig. 67, holds what appears to be another.156 The origin of this invention is to be
sought in the simple stick on which hanks of cord were wound.157 In its most developed
form the Egyptian reel consists merely of an axle run through holes in the ends of a semi-
circular handle. The ends of the axle were set in handles which to some extent facilitated
the process of winding up the line (fig. 80).
In concluding this section, I wish to say a few words about the occurrence of the
hippopotamus in ancient Egypt: the topic obviously deserves some notice after what has
been said above. That the hippopotamus was common in predynastic times is well known:
its survival, at least in the swamps of the Delta, until the end of the Old Kingdom, can be
questioned only by those who regard the many and highly realistic representations of these
creatures in the tomb paintings as due to the fancy of the artist rather than to his observa-
tion. At what time the hippopotamus, which is now not found in the Nile north of the
Sudan, disappeared from Egypt, it would be hard to say, but I am inclined to believe that
in the Delta fens a few of these animals may have persisted even into the Graeco-Roman
period. Pliny speaks of the depredations which they made on the fields of the Egyptians,
and says that hippopotami were found above Sais 158 — a statement for which, as for some
others, he appears to have no graver authority than the donga, incondita, et nullius fidei
farrago’ of Nicander’s Theriaca.159 Evidence not much more weighty is afforded by the
Palestrina mosaic, in the lower left hand quarter of which is depicted a hippopotamus
hunt, the beasts there being represented as attacked with harpoons by men in the bows
of a fairly large boat.160
166 J. J. Tylor, Sebekhnekht, p. 5, calls this object “a float designed to mark the position of the thrown spear
I readily admit the possibility of this explanation’s being correct, but consider that the object held by Sebekhnekht’s
attendant resembles the reel in fig. 80.
157 Cf. the f hieroglyphs in Griffith, Hieroglyphs, pl. 9, fig. 180, and text p. 44; Id. ap. Davies, Ptahhetep, pt. 1,
pl. 14, fig. 296, and text p. 33.
158 Pliny, op. cit., XXVIII, 8 (31).
169 Nicander, ed. O. Schneider, 1856, Theriaca, 566 sqq.:
r) 'lirirov, top NetXos virep Xa.iJ' aldaXbeaaav
ftbaKei., apovpijaLP be ko.kt]v eTTi^aWerai. apTr-qv.
The Scholiast, ad. v. 566, has, Sais be iroXis Adyvirrov yepovaa lirTroTrorapov. This may be nothing more than a guess.
160 O. Marucchi, ‘Il grande mosaico prenestino della inundazione del Nilo’ (Separate from Atti della Pont. Accad.
Rom. d’Archeol. vol. 10, Rome, 1910), pl. ad fin. { = Tav. 11-15). This monument ought never to be cited without
the greatest reserve, for it is but a melange of Nile wonders. The presence of the hippopotami may belong, like
some of the architectural features of the mosaic, to Egypt; or, like the rhinoceros and the giraffe, both of which are
0. Bates
has been expended, is skilfully played to a standstill — a practice well-known to the Hamran
hippopotamus hunters.
From the beginning of the Middle Kingdom onward the reel appears to have been
sometimes used in conjunction with the hippopotamus harpoon: a fine example, repre-
sented in a XII Dynasty tomb, is shown in fig. 80, and the attendant standing behind his
master in fig. 67, holds what appears to be another.156 The origin of this invention is to be
sought in the simple stick on which hanks of cord were wound.157 In its most developed
form the Egyptian reel consists merely of an axle run through holes in the ends of a semi-
circular handle. The ends of the axle were set in handles which to some extent facilitated
the process of winding up the line (fig. 80).
In concluding this section, I wish to say a few words about the occurrence of the
hippopotamus in ancient Egypt: the topic obviously deserves some notice after what has
been said above. That the hippopotamus was common in predynastic times is well known:
its survival, at least in the swamps of the Delta, until the end of the Old Kingdom, can be
questioned only by those who regard the many and highly realistic representations of these
creatures in the tomb paintings as due to the fancy of the artist rather than to his observa-
tion. At what time the hippopotamus, which is now not found in the Nile north of the
Sudan, disappeared from Egypt, it would be hard to say, but I am inclined to believe that
in the Delta fens a few of these animals may have persisted even into the Graeco-Roman
period. Pliny speaks of the depredations which they made on the fields of the Egyptians,
and says that hippopotami were found above Sais 158 — a statement for which, as for some
others, he appears to have no graver authority than the donga, incondita, et nullius fidei
farrago’ of Nicander’s Theriaca.159 Evidence not much more weighty is afforded by the
Palestrina mosaic, in the lower left hand quarter of which is depicted a hippopotamus
hunt, the beasts there being represented as attacked with harpoons by men in the bows
of a fairly large boat.160
166 J. J. Tylor, Sebekhnekht, p. 5, calls this object “a float designed to mark the position of the thrown spear
I readily admit the possibility of this explanation’s being correct, but consider that the object held by Sebekhnekht’s
attendant resembles the reel in fig. 80.
157 Cf. the f hieroglyphs in Griffith, Hieroglyphs, pl. 9, fig. 180, and text p. 44; Id. ap. Davies, Ptahhetep, pt. 1,
pl. 14, fig. 296, and text p. 33.
158 Pliny, op. cit., XXVIII, 8 (31).
169 Nicander, ed. O. Schneider, 1856, Theriaca, 566 sqq.:
r) 'lirirov, top NetXos virep Xa.iJ' aldaXbeaaav
ftbaKei., apovpijaLP be ko.kt]v eTTi^aWerai. apTr-qv.
The Scholiast, ad. v. 566, has, Sais be iroXis Adyvirrov yepovaa lirTroTrorapov. This may be nothing more than a guess.
160 O. Marucchi, ‘Il grande mosaico prenestino della inundazione del Nilo’ (Separate from Atti della Pont. Accad.
Rom. d’Archeol. vol. 10, Rome, 1910), pl. ad fin. { = Tav. 11-15). This monument ought never to be cited without
the greatest reserve, for it is but a melange of Nile wonders. The presence of the hippopotami may belong, like
some of the architectural features of the mosaic, to Egypt; or, like the rhinoceros and the giraffe, both of which are