DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4032#0041
MM
THE OFFERINGS AND THE SHRINES OF THE NORTH.
31
beadles remarkable for their high and imposing
stature, to think that in Egyptian temples
the police duties were performed by dwarfs.
Whether they had special qualities for this
office, we cannot say, but certainly they were
not Egyptians, they belonged to a southern
race. Homer9 already mentions the pygmies,
who had so much to fear from their terrible
enemies the cranes. Aristotle,1 speaking of
those birds, says: " The cranes go up as far as
the lakes above Egypt, where the Nile origi-
nates ; there the pygmies are living ; and this
is not a fable, but pure truth ; men and horses
are, as they say, of small stature, and live in
grottoes." An anonymous Greek geographer,
of late epoch, alludes twice to the pygmies who
live along the eastern branch of the Nile near
its source. The pygmies occur also in the
Egyptian inscriptions. Frequently2 we see
dwarfs and. deformed .persons who lived in the
houses of the Egyptian grandees, probably for
their amusement. But here such is not the case;
they are small but not deformed, and the long
stick which thoy hold indicates men of authority,
and not beings like the moriones of the Romans,
destined to be the laughing-stock of their
masters. They belong to a population coming
from the south, from the Upper Nile, as the
anonymous geographer says. In an inscription
of Karnak of Ptolemaic epoch, which is part of
a list of Domes, speaking of the nome of Nubia,
it is said : M u 1 " The dwarfs
J\^^M IOi i i I t I
of the southern countries come to him,
bringing their tributes to his treasury." 3
I need not refer to the remarkable confirma-
tion brought to the tradition by the travels
of Schweinfurt and Stanley. The ancients
knew very well the populations of dwarfs
which have been discovered anew by the
9 II. iii. 6.
1 See Dueni., Aeg. Gesch. p. 7.
2 Wilkinson, Manners, ii. p. 70.
3 Brugsch, Hungersnoth, p. 141.
modern travellers. It is quite possible that
they were much nearer Egypt than they are
now, and that by degrees they were driven
to Central Africa. We have here another
instance of Ethiopians brought to the temple
by Osorkon. We have seen the Troglodytes,
the inhabitants of the Nubian desert, the extra-
ordinary man whom I consider to be a Uaua ;
now we have the dwarfs, who certainly came
from the south, and who, like the others, held
a certain rank in the temple. Surely there
must have been a reason why Osorkon wished
Ethiopians to be present at his festival, and why
he allowed them to take part in the ceremonies.
It is probable that if he drew from Ethiopia
priests and religious attendants, he brought also
soldiers from the south. It shows that Osorkon's
power may have been greater than was sus-
pected. If he was unfortunate in his wars
against his eastern neighbours, it is possible
that his empire extended in the south beyond
the limits of Egypt Proper. Perhaps, also, in
his reign, the Ethiopians began to have more
importance; they grew in influence, until their
king Piankhi invaded Egypt, and with the
twenty-fifth dynasty they became the rulers of
the country.
Above the dwarfs are priests who did not
occur before, the ^» " the opener of the
mouth," a priest who plays an important part
in the funereal ceremonies, who opens the
mouth of the deceased with a magical instru-
ment; and another who holds a kind of bag or
basket: he is called ^yT %$ " the na, the
only one, carrying the Khen," which I suppose
to be a basket. He will occur again several
times. It is not possible to make out any-
thing from the fragments on pi. xx. Osorkon
is in a shrine, with Bast before him. Once he is
sitting, his throne being on a platform to which
access is by a flight of steps ; at the top of the
staircase before the entrance is the gens ®H
(pi. xxiv. 10), with his hook and his knife in
THE OFFERINGS AND THE SHRINES OF THE NORTH.
31
beadles remarkable for their high and imposing
stature, to think that in Egyptian temples
the police duties were performed by dwarfs.
Whether they had special qualities for this
office, we cannot say, but certainly they were
not Egyptians, they belonged to a southern
race. Homer9 already mentions the pygmies,
who had so much to fear from their terrible
enemies the cranes. Aristotle,1 speaking of
those birds, says: " The cranes go up as far as
the lakes above Egypt, where the Nile origi-
nates ; there the pygmies are living ; and this
is not a fable, but pure truth ; men and horses
are, as they say, of small stature, and live in
grottoes." An anonymous Greek geographer,
of late epoch, alludes twice to the pygmies who
live along the eastern branch of the Nile near
its source. The pygmies occur also in the
Egyptian inscriptions. Frequently2 we see
dwarfs and. deformed .persons who lived in the
houses of the Egyptian grandees, probably for
their amusement. But here such is not the case;
they are small but not deformed, and the long
stick which thoy hold indicates men of authority,
and not beings like the moriones of the Romans,
destined to be the laughing-stock of their
masters. They belong to a population coming
from the south, from the Upper Nile, as the
anonymous geographer says. In an inscription
of Karnak of Ptolemaic epoch, which is part of
a list of Domes, speaking of the nome of Nubia,
it is said : M u 1 " The dwarfs
J\^^M IOi i i I t I
of the southern countries come to him,
bringing their tributes to his treasury." 3
I need not refer to the remarkable confirma-
tion brought to the tradition by the travels
of Schweinfurt and Stanley. The ancients
knew very well the populations of dwarfs
which have been discovered anew by the
9 II. iii. 6.
1 See Dueni., Aeg. Gesch. p. 7.
2 Wilkinson, Manners, ii. p. 70.
3 Brugsch, Hungersnoth, p. 141.
modern travellers. It is quite possible that
they were much nearer Egypt than they are
now, and that by degrees they were driven
to Central Africa. We have here another
instance of Ethiopians brought to the temple
by Osorkon. We have seen the Troglodytes,
the inhabitants of the Nubian desert, the extra-
ordinary man whom I consider to be a Uaua ;
now we have the dwarfs, who certainly came
from the south, and who, like the others, held
a certain rank in the temple. Surely there
must have been a reason why Osorkon wished
Ethiopians to be present at his festival, and why
he allowed them to take part in the ceremonies.
It is probable that if he drew from Ethiopia
priests and religious attendants, he brought also
soldiers from the south. It shows that Osorkon's
power may have been greater than was sus-
pected. If he was unfortunate in his wars
against his eastern neighbours, it is possible
that his empire extended in the south beyond
the limits of Egypt Proper. Perhaps, also, in
his reign, the Ethiopians began to have more
importance; they grew in influence, until their
king Piankhi invaded Egypt, and with the
twenty-fifth dynasty they became the rulers of
the country.
Above the dwarfs are priests who did not
occur before, the ^» " the opener of the
mouth," a priest who plays an important part
in the funereal ceremonies, who opens the
mouth of the deceased with a magical instru-
ment; and another who holds a kind of bag or
basket: he is called ^yT %$ " the na, the
only one, carrying the Khen," which I suppose
to be a basket. He will occur again several
times. It is not possible to make out any-
thing from the fragments on pi. xx. Osorkon
is in a shrine, with Bast before him. Once he is
sitting, his throne being on a platform to which
access is by a flight of steps ; at the top of the
staircase before the entrance is the gens ®H
(pi. xxiv. 10), with his hook and his knife in