DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0355
268
0. Bates
and they are generally represented as naked or as very scantily clad in an abbreviated
kilt or loin cloth.
It is possible that in some districts the fisher folk may have been possessed of cattle.
Cattle are regularly depicted as being cared for by peasants whose appearance is identical
with that of the fishermen, and if the latter were not the owners of the herds, it must
be surmised that the cattle were placed in their charge by the nobles. What is more
certain is that the fishers and fowlers had at least one domestic animal in the dog —- the
long barreled hounds seen in text fig. C and in fig. 147.
Ethnically considered, there can be little doubt but that among the Egyptian fisher-
men, especially among such of them as dwelt in the Delta, one of the oldest strains in the
country was perpetuated. A comparative study of the terminology of Egyptian fishing
and fowling might throw some light on the question as to which of the components of the
historic Egyptian predominated in the marsh man. The material for such a study, as
I remarked at the beginning of this paper, lack of the proper books has prevented me from
collecting: it is only fair to add, however, that even if the material in question lay ready
to my hand, only a philologist more practised than myself would be able to cope with it.
The Egyptian monuments, while they distinguish clearly between the facial types of the
peasantry and of the nobility, give us no conclusive information on this ethnic question:
a hint which might perhaps be followed up with advantage is however afforded by a
New Kingdom scene, details of which are here partly reproduced in figs. 155, 156, 157.
The peculiar headdresses of the fowler-fishermen in these representations have, I believe,
no closer parallel than the headdresses of the suppliant Libyans depicted in the V Dynasty
tomb of Sahure. Whether the likeness here is fortuitous, which is not easy to believe,
or a really significant one, the New Kingdom scene may merely depict some special group
of serfs or captives belonging to the owner of the tomb, and so may not bear at all on the
racial character of the marsh men. It is to be observed that the latter do not appear
with such headdresses on the Old Kingdom reliefs which were practically contempo-
rary with the Sahure sculptures.
§ 15. Conclusion. The relative chronology of the various fishing implements is
indicated graphically in the table on pl. XXVI (fig. 254). In the left hand column of
the table are the different periods; in col. 1 is noted the occurrence of pisciform vases;
col. 2 is for the bone, horn, or ivory harpoons; cols. 3, 4, bronze harpoons; col. 5, bidents;
col. 6, unbarbed copper hooks; col. 7, barbed ditto; col. 8, flange-stop hooks; col. 9,
weels; col. 10, holed netters; col. 11 twy-pronged netters. In cols. P, N, L (at the right)
I have indicated the fish consumption, as discussed above in the first part of this paper
(§§ 2 and 3), with regard to the priesthood (P), the nobles (N), and the peasantry (L) -
the consumption of fish among the latter has, as nearly as can be divined, been unbroken
0. Bates
and they are generally represented as naked or as very scantily clad in an abbreviated
kilt or loin cloth.
It is possible that in some districts the fisher folk may have been possessed of cattle.
Cattle are regularly depicted as being cared for by peasants whose appearance is identical
with that of the fishermen, and if the latter were not the owners of the herds, it must
be surmised that the cattle were placed in their charge by the nobles. What is more
certain is that the fishers and fowlers had at least one domestic animal in the dog —- the
long barreled hounds seen in text fig. C and in fig. 147.
Ethnically considered, there can be little doubt but that among the Egyptian fisher-
men, especially among such of them as dwelt in the Delta, one of the oldest strains in the
country was perpetuated. A comparative study of the terminology of Egyptian fishing
and fowling might throw some light on the question as to which of the components of the
historic Egyptian predominated in the marsh man. The material for such a study, as
I remarked at the beginning of this paper, lack of the proper books has prevented me from
collecting: it is only fair to add, however, that even if the material in question lay ready
to my hand, only a philologist more practised than myself would be able to cope with it.
The Egyptian monuments, while they distinguish clearly between the facial types of the
peasantry and of the nobility, give us no conclusive information on this ethnic question:
a hint which might perhaps be followed up with advantage is however afforded by a
New Kingdom scene, details of which are here partly reproduced in figs. 155, 156, 157.
The peculiar headdresses of the fowler-fishermen in these representations have, I believe,
no closer parallel than the headdresses of the suppliant Libyans depicted in the V Dynasty
tomb of Sahure. Whether the likeness here is fortuitous, which is not easy to believe,
or a really significant one, the New Kingdom scene may merely depict some special group
of serfs or captives belonging to the owner of the tomb, and so may not bear at all on the
racial character of the marsh men. It is to be observed that the latter do not appear
with such headdresses on the Old Kingdom reliefs which were practically contempo-
rary with the Sahure sculptures.
§ 15. Conclusion. The relative chronology of the various fishing implements is
indicated graphically in the table on pl. XXVI (fig. 254). In the left hand column of
the table are the different periods; in col. 1 is noted the occurrence of pisciform vases;
col. 2 is for the bone, horn, or ivory harpoons; cols. 3, 4, bronze harpoons; col. 5, bidents;
col. 6, unbarbed copper hooks; col. 7, barbed ditto; col. 8, flange-stop hooks; col. 9,
weels; col. 10, holed netters; col. 11 twy-pronged netters. In cols. P, N, L (at the right)
I have indicated the fish consumption, as discussed above in the first part of this paper
(§§ 2 and 3), with regard to the priesthood (P), the nobles (N), and the peasantry (L) -
the consumption of fish among the latter has, as nearly as can be divined, been unbroken