DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4860#0076
THE TOMB OF APY
cipient probably being Ernutet the Snake, goddess of nourishment and
plenty. We shall see her again when the crop has been finally stored;
meanwhile chance has preserved a fragmentary figure of her, which
must have come either from this place or from the winnowers' floor.1
The destination of the grain is twofold. Part of it is naturally re-
quired by the owner and his household; the rest is destined for the city
market and for the purchase (by exchange, of course) of other commod-
ities. All this is shown below. Transport from the distant fields is
preferably by water, whether that of the Nile or of a canal connecting
with it, as the overhanging trees may indicate. Economy has been
shown in drafting the scene, for loading is going on in the stern of the
two boats anchored side by side at the bank, while the unloading, when
the destination shall be reached, is already in full swing at the prow.
The grain has been conveyed from the fields to the ships on the backs
of men and asses, and opportunity has been taken to cater for urban
needs by including flowers and bales of green stuff in the cargo. A youth
with a ring in his ear bends under the weight of a bouquet, which, if
there were any need to believe the artist, is twice his own height.
The idea of money so dominates our ideas now that we do not
readily grasp the fact that the crew will be paid in kind, but we realize
it as we see the men spending their wages with female hucksters on the
bank. Whether they have been compelled to wait till they arrive in
port, or have fallen into temptation before they start, is not clear. But
it is amusing to trace back by millennia the lure of the saloon for sailors,
which is none the less a lure from being as primitive as their appetites.
One of the women who are ready on the quay to exchange with boat-
men the products of the town for those of the land has set up a little
shelter of reeds. A great jar of wine and another of beer (?) form the
rival attractions of her bar, and she has done her best to make them
alluring. To add to the zest, the liquids are drawn from the jar, with-
out fear of floating impurity, by means of two reeds jointed at a right
Winnowing,
storage,
and harvest
Marketing
the grain
Shipmen
on shore-
leave
11 have placed in the winnowing scene another tiny fragment which seems to show a hand grasping grain.
It might be that of a harvest deity (Davies, Tomb of Nakht, p. 63), but other interpretations are possible.
57
cipient probably being Ernutet the Snake, goddess of nourishment and
plenty. We shall see her again when the crop has been finally stored;
meanwhile chance has preserved a fragmentary figure of her, which
must have come either from this place or from the winnowers' floor.1
The destination of the grain is twofold. Part of it is naturally re-
quired by the owner and his household; the rest is destined for the city
market and for the purchase (by exchange, of course) of other commod-
ities. All this is shown below. Transport from the distant fields is
preferably by water, whether that of the Nile or of a canal connecting
with it, as the overhanging trees may indicate. Economy has been
shown in drafting the scene, for loading is going on in the stern of the
two boats anchored side by side at the bank, while the unloading, when
the destination shall be reached, is already in full swing at the prow.
The grain has been conveyed from the fields to the ships on the backs
of men and asses, and opportunity has been taken to cater for urban
needs by including flowers and bales of green stuff in the cargo. A youth
with a ring in his ear bends under the weight of a bouquet, which, if
there were any need to believe the artist, is twice his own height.
The idea of money so dominates our ideas now that we do not
readily grasp the fact that the crew will be paid in kind, but we realize
it as we see the men spending their wages with female hucksters on the
bank. Whether they have been compelled to wait till they arrive in
port, or have fallen into temptation before they start, is not clear. But
it is amusing to trace back by millennia the lure of the saloon for sailors,
which is none the less a lure from being as primitive as their appetites.
One of the women who are ready on the quay to exchange with boat-
men the products of the town for those of the land has set up a little
shelter of reeds. A great jar of wine and another of beer (?) form the
rival attractions of her bar, and she has done her best to make them
alluring. To add to the zest, the liquids are drawn from the jar, with-
out fear of floating impurity, by means of two reeds jointed at a right
Winnowing,
storage,
and harvest
Marketing
the grain
Shipmen
on shore-
leave
11 have placed in the winnowing scene another tiny fragment which seems to show a hand grasping grain.
It might be that of a harvest deity (Davies, Tomb of Nakht, p. 63), but other interpretations are possible.
57