DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0335
248
0. Bates
than are those of the Middle Kingdom specimens — a point which was noticed by Petrie
in connection with some hooks which he excavated at Medinet Gurob.180 By Graeco-
Roman times the Egyptian hooks (figs. 116-120) came to differ only insignificantly from
those used by the classical world at large. Those which have been preserved from these late
times, like the early examples, are for the most part of copper or bronze — a circumstance
which may be due to the enduring quality of these metals, since from about 600 B. C. iron
hooks were used in Egypt (figs. 113-114), at least by the Greeks.181 Modern Egyptian hooks
are of iron or steel, are strongly curved, have the flange stop, and a deep barb (fig. 121).
Upon the ancient monuments representations of the use of the hook and line are not
uncommon, though such scenes are generally subsidiary to those depicting the hauling in
of nets. In the Old Kingdom the angler is generally represented, probably with truth,
as an elderly peasant — one, presumably, no longer active enough to be of assistance in
the brisker business of hauling a seine. The angler sits comfortably in his small papyrus
canoe, using a line to which, as a rule, no sinker appears to be attached (figs. 122, 124, 127).
Occasionally two lines were used at once — a Middle Kingdom scene shows us a fisherman
propped against a bolster in the stern of his canoe, while his left hand grasps a pair of lines, the
ends of which, for greater security, he has twisted round his wrist (fig. 128). Large fish were
despatched when caught by a knock on the head from a short club (figs. 122, 123, 126, 127).
The use of gang hooks in the Old Kingdom has just been alluded to: I know no better
representation of one of these modern-looking affairs than that already cited from the
tomb of Gem-ni-kai (fig. 103). There the line is held by the fisherman, who extends his
index finger to feel the faintest bite; below the water the end of the line is armed with a gang
of five hooks, on one of which, by the synchronistic convention of the artist, a large fish is
shown as already caught. At the point where the hooks are made fast to the line a sinker is
attached. The use of such gangs as these appears to have been fairly common (figs. 126,130).
In the Old Kingdom, fishing with the hand line was done from canoes: fishermen prob-
ably often went out early in their small balsas and made a long day of it, as we may infer
from the provisions represented in the canoe of the elderly peasant in fig. 122. In the
Middle Kingdom we have scenes of men fishing from the bank with the hand line, and the
use of the pole is then first depicted (fig. 125). When the pole was used the line was made
fast to its end, and not led down to the butt.182
180 Petrie, Kahun, Gurob and Hawara, p. 34.
181 In the Mediterranean world, hooks made of bronze were in use as late as the end of the second century A.D.;
Oppian, Halieutica, I, 54; 68; III, 285; 525; IV, 230: 443. Iron hooks had however also come into general use
by that time.
182 Fig. 125 does not show the fastening, nor is it plain in the original I have endeavored to copy. The same
scene is, however, given with more detail in Lepsius, Denkmaler, pt. 2, pl. 127. Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. 2, fig. 370,
p. 115 shows a N. K. representation of a nobleman fishing in a stocked pool or in a canal. Seated in a chair placed
on a reed mat the fisherman holds a short pole to which several lines are bent.
0. Bates
than are those of the Middle Kingdom specimens — a point which was noticed by Petrie
in connection with some hooks which he excavated at Medinet Gurob.180 By Graeco-
Roman times the Egyptian hooks (figs. 116-120) came to differ only insignificantly from
those used by the classical world at large. Those which have been preserved from these late
times, like the early examples, are for the most part of copper or bronze — a circumstance
which may be due to the enduring quality of these metals, since from about 600 B. C. iron
hooks were used in Egypt (figs. 113-114), at least by the Greeks.181 Modern Egyptian hooks
are of iron or steel, are strongly curved, have the flange stop, and a deep barb (fig. 121).
Upon the ancient monuments representations of the use of the hook and line are not
uncommon, though such scenes are generally subsidiary to those depicting the hauling in
of nets. In the Old Kingdom the angler is generally represented, probably with truth,
as an elderly peasant — one, presumably, no longer active enough to be of assistance in
the brisker business of hauling a seine. The angler sits comfortably in his small papyrus
canoe, using a line to which, as a rule, no sinker appears to be attached (figs. 122, 124, 127).
Occasionally two lines were used at once — a Middle Kingdom scene shows us a fisherman
propped against a bolster in the stern of his canoe, while his left hand grasps a pair of lines, the
ends of which, for greater security, he has twisted round his wrist (fig. 128). Large fish were
despatched when caught by a knock on the head from a short club (figs. 122, 123, 126, 127).
The use of gang hooks in the Old Kingdom has just been alluded to: I know no better
representation of one of these modern-looking affairs than that already cited from the
tomb of Gem-ni-kai (fig. 103). There the line is held by the fisherman, who extends his
index finger to feel the faintest bite; below the water the end of the line is armed with a gang
of five hooks, on one of which, by the synchronistic convention of the artist, a large fish is
shown as already caught. At the point where the hooks are made fast to the line a sinker is
attached. The use of such gangs as these appears to have been fairly common (figs. 126,130).
In the Old Kingdom, fishing with the hand line was done from canoes: fishermen prob-
ably often went out early in their small balsas and made a long day of it, as we may infer
from the provisions represented in the canoe of the elderly peasant in fig. 122. In the
Middle Kingdom we have scenes of men fishing from the bank with the hand line, and the
use of the pole is then first depicted (fig. 125). When the pole was used the line was made
fast to its end, and not led down to the butt.182
180 Petrie, Kahun, Gurob and Hawara, p. 34.
181 In the Mediterranean world, hooks made of bronze were in use as late as the end of the second century A.D.;
Oppian, Halieutica, I, 54; 68; III, 285; 525; IV, 230: 443. Iron hooks had however also come into general use
by that time.
182 Fig. 125 does not show the fastening, nor is it plain in the original I have endeavored to copy. The same
scene is, however, given with more detail in Lepsius, Denkmaler, pt. 2, pl. 127. Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. 2, fig. 370,
p. 115 shows a N. K. representation of a nobleman fishing in a stocked pool or in a canal. Seated in a chair placed
on a reed mat the fisherman holds a short pole to which several lines are bent.