DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4858#0089
Ploughing
and sowing
Reaping
Winnowing
THE TOMB OF NAKHT
the bags of seed-corn, a meal of bread, onions, and radishes, and two
kullehs of water are set out before the booth from which Nakht
supervises the work; at the other, similar frugal rations are kept by
the laborers under a tree, in the branches of which the water-skin
hangs.1 Apparently, the fellah of those days had exactly the same
fare and as amazing a thirst as his descendant today.
The harvest and ingathering of the grain form the subject of the
main scene. On the left in the lowest row girls pull up flowering
flax by the roots while still green and form it into neat bundles for
stripping ("rippling"). On the right is standing corn, through which
three reapers go, cutting off the upper third with the sickle.2 The
untied sheaves are heaped up in a wicker pannier. One man then
holds a staff across the pile, and his fellow, by jumping up and hang-
ing his weight on the other end, crams the sheaves down into the
pannier and secures it with a rope. Under such conditions, the girl
who is gleaning the ears is likely to fill her bag with ease. The
quail and doves caught in the corn are shown in the scene above as
harvest booty.
No room was found to show the treading out of the corn by oxen
on the threshing floor,3 but in the topmost scene we see the winnowing.
The round floor of hard soil on which such operations were carried
out, then as now, is represented by a semicircular background of
muddy hue, against which the figures are painted. Below is the heap
of mingled grain and chaff, which it is the task of eight young girls
to separate.4 It cannot have been a light one, for the girls are always
shown dressed in a loin-cloth (their underwear?), with a white kerchief
on the head to protect their hair from the fine dust. One of the
1 It may well be that the practice of hanging the water-skin in a tree and setting their meals in its
grateful shade gave rise among the peasants to the fancy that in the better world the hospitable goddess
of the sycamore provided meat and drink for the wayfaring soul. M. Maspero (Dawn of Civilization, p.
121) interprets the parallel scene in Tomb 38 as an offering to the tree, but this, I think, is a mistake.
2 The artist has once more shown his distaste for routine work by leaving the corn half-drawn, and
the flax field a mere daub of green.
3 It is included, however, in the corresponding scene in Tomb 38.
4 The differing flesh colors are only used to make the figures stand out from one another.
62
and sowing
Reaping
Winnowing
THE TOMB OF NAKHT
the bags of seed-corn, a meal of bread, onions, and radishes, and two
kullehs of water are set out before the booth from which Nakht
supervises the work; at the other, similar frugal rations are kept by
the laborers under a tree, in the branches of which the water-skin
hangs.1 Apparently, the fellah of those days had exactly the same
fare and as amazing a thirst as his descendant today.
The harvest and ingathering of the grain form the subject of the
main scene. On the left in the lowest row girls pull up flowering
flax by the roots while still green and form it into neat bundles for
stripping ("rippling"). On the right is standing corn, through which
three reapers go, cutting off the upper third with the sickle.2 The
untied sheaves are heaped up in a wicker pannier. One man then
holds a staff across the pile, and his fellow, by jumping up and hang-
ing his weight on the other end, crams the sheaves down into the
pannier and secures it with a rope. Under such conditions, the girl
who is gleaning the ears is likely to fill her bag with ease. The
quail and doves caught in the corn are shown in the scene above as
harvest booty.
No room was found to show the treading out of the corn by oxen
on the threshing floor,3 but in the topmost scene we see the winnowing.
The round floor of hard soil on which such operations were carried
out, then as now, is represented by a semicircular background of
muddy hue, against which the figures are painted. Below is the heap
of mingled grain and chaff, which it is the task of eight young girls
to separate.4 It cannot have been a light one, for the girls are always
shown dressed in a loin-cloth (their underwear?), with a white kerchief
on the head to protect their hair from the fine dust. One of the
1 It may well be that the practice of hanging the water-skin in a tree and setting their meals in its
grateful shade gave rise among the peasants to the fancy that in the better world the hospitable goddess
of the sycamore provided meat and drink for the wayfaring soul. M. Maspero (Dawn of Civilization, p.
121) interprets the parallel scene in Tomb 38 as an offering to the tree, but this, I think, is a mistake.
2 The artist has once more shown his distaste for routine work by leaving the corn half-drawn, and
the flax field a mere daub of green.
3 It is included, however, in the corresponding scene in Tomb 38.
4 The differing flesh colors are only used to make the figures stand out from one another.
62