DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0034
Ancient Egypt
7
lived about 1500, enumerates on the inscription intended for his tomb the trees which
he planted in his lifetime. He gives a list of twenty different sorts, of which some are
not yet identified. The old kinds are also given in an extra list, and comprise no
fewer than 73 sycomores, 170 date palms, and 120 doum palms. In the New Period the
want of forest was in part compensated for by a great number of sacred groves. Every
one of the forty-two districts, into which Upper and Lower Egypt were divided, had its
own temple with its sacred grove attached. From very early times trees were held sacred
by the Egyptians, but now each of these temples had a particular tree sacred to itself,
which was chiefly, if not exclusively, cultivated in the temple garden. If we may judge
by the inscriptions, the greater temples must have owned very extensive lands.
Next to trees the Old Period seems to have valued vineyards. We do not know the
actual beginnings. Pictures of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties show the whole story of the
grape, how it begins to ripen, how guards chase away the birds with sticks, how it is gathered,
how it is trodden, and how the must is poured into tall, pointed vessels without feet. In
the earliest days they seem to have
grown the vines on arbours; that
is, they stuck up stakes and set a
transom across. The oldest hiero-
glyph for Wine shows this (Fig. 6).
But even in the Old Period they
began to substitute posts for the
rough wooden props, and from
these there came in the New
Period their beautiful, finely painted
pergolas. The arbours were often
round, which made them prettier FIG_ 6_ WINE ARB0UR OF THE 0LD KINGD0M
(Fig. 7), and a second hieroglyph
shows that this form was a deviation from the original straight lines. In the Middle Period,
and still more in the New, these ideas were developed in a more and more pleasing way. Right
on into the New Period vineyard arbours were the centre and chief ornament of all gardens.
As to the abundance of vegetable products among the ancient Egyptians, we need only
consult their sacrificial vessels, their baskets of fruits, and their festival processions. There
are long rows of men carrying baskets laden with fruit on their shoulders, and ears of
corn or papyrus in their hands; between them are other beautifully woven baskets, piled
high with every sort of garden food. But the Middle Period has the fewest pictures of
vegetable gardens: one picture of Beni-Hassan shows (in very poor perspective) square
beds, planted with green vegetation (Fig. 8). A canal ending in a round pond has green
tendrils all about it, as though to indicate that it lies within the garden; beside it two
men are working, bringing water and emptying it over the beds. They would seem to
be important persons in the service of their master, for both their names are perpetuated,
not only in an inscription over their heads, but in the large picture of the servants bringing
gifts to place on the sacrificial tables of the dead, where our two gardeners appear with
their names again noted, Neter-Necht and Nefer-Hetep; they are bringing to their
master the fruits of the earth obtained by their own labour, in baskets carried over
their shoulders on a crossbar.
7
lived about 1500, enumerates on the inscription intended for his tomb the trees which
he planted in his lifetime. He gives a list of twenty different sorts, of which some are
not yet identified. The old kinds are also given in an extra list, and comprise no
fewer than 73 sycomores, 170 date palms, and 120 doum palms. In the New Period the
want of forest was in part compensated for by a great number of sacred groves. Every
one of the forty-two districts, into which Upper and Lower Egypt were divided, had its
own temple with its sacred grove attached. From very early times trees were held sacred
by the Egyptians, but now each of these temples had a particular tree sacred to itself,
which was chiefly, if not exclusively, cultivated in the temple garden. If we may judge
by the inscriptions, the greater temples must have owned very extensive lands.
Next to trees the Old Period seems to have valued vineyards. We do not know the
actual beginnings. Pictures of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties show the whole story of the
grape, how it begins to ripen, how guards chase away the birds with sticks, how it is gathered,
how it is trodden, and how the must is poured into tall, pointed vessels without feet. In
the earliest days they seem to have
grown the vines on arbours; that
is, they stuck up stakes and set a
transom across. The oldest hiero-
glyph for Wine shows this (Fig. 6).
But even in the Old Period they
began to substitute posts for the
rough wooden props, and from
these there came in the New
Period their beautiful, finely painted
pergolas. The arbours were often
round, which made them prettier FIG_ 6_ WINE ARB0UR OF THE 0LD KINGD0M
(Fig. 7), and a second hieroglyph
shows that this form was a deviation from the original straight lines. In the Middle Period,
and still more in the New, these ideas were developed in a more and more pleasing way. Right
on into the New Period vineyard arbours were the centre and chief ornament of all gardens.
As to the abundance of vegetable products among the ancient Egyptians, we need only
consult their sacrificial vessels, their baskets of fruits, and their festival processions. There
are long rows of men carrying baskets laden with fruit on their shoulders, and ears of
corn or papyrus in their hands; between them are other beautifully woven baskets, piled
high with every sort of garden food. But the Middle Period has the fewest pictures of
vegetable gardens: one picture of Beni-Hassan shows (in very poor perspective) square
beds, planted with green vegetation (Fig. 8). A canal ending in a round pond has green
tendrils all about it, as though to indicate that it lies within the garden; beside it two
men are working, bringing water and emptying it over the beds. They would seem to
be important persons in the service of their master, for both their names are perpetuated,
not only in an inscription over their heads, but in the large picture of the servants bringing
gifts to place on the sacrificial tables of the dead, where our two gardeners appear with
their names again noted, Neter-Necht and Nefer-Hetep; they are bringing to their
master the fruits of the earth obtained by their own labour, in baskets carried over
their shoulders on a crossbar.