DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0180
144 PIGS RARELY REPRESENTED. [Chap. III.
introduced. They are followed by a man holding
a knotted whip in his hand, and would appear at
first sight, from the wild plants before them, to be
a confirmation of Herodotus's account of the em-
ployment of these animals to tread-in the grain
after the inundation, which singular use of one so
little inclined by his habits to promote agricultural
objects, has been explained by supposing they were
introduced beforehand to clear the ground of the
roots and fibres of those weeds which the water
of the Nile had nourished on the irrigated soil.
But I fear we must abandon this ingenious hypo-
thesis, and consider them merely brought, with the
other animals of the farm-yard, to be registered by
the scribes, who, as usual, note down the number
of the cattle and possessions of the deceased * espe-
cially as they are divided into three distinct lines,
composed of sows with young, pigs, and boars.
The figures of the animals in this catacomb are
very characteristic.
Number 16 is a very interesting tomb, as well in
point of chronology as in the execution of its paint-
ings. Here the names of four kings, from the
third Thothmes to Amunoph III., inclusive, satis-
factorily confirm the order of their succession as
given in the Abydus tablet and the lists of Thebes.
In the inner chamber, the inmate of the tomb, a
" royal scribe," or basilico-grammat, undergoes his
final judgment, previous to admission into the pre-
sence of Osiris. Then follows a long procession,
introduced. They are followed by a man holding
a knotted whip in his hand, and would appear at
first sight, from the wild plants before them, to be
a confirmation of Herodotus's account of the em-
ployment of these animals to tread-in the grain
after the inundation, which singular use of one so
little inclined by his habits to promote agricultural
objects, has been explained by supposing they were
introduced beforehand to clear the ground of the
roots and fibres of those weeds which the water
of the Nile had nourished on the irrigated soil.
But I fear we must abandon this ingenious hypo-
thesis, and consider them merely brought, with the
other animals of the farm-yard, to be registered by
the scribes, who, as usual, note down the number
of the cattle and possessions of the deceased * espe-
cially as they are divided into three distinct lines,
composed of sows with young, pigs, and boars.
The figures of the animals in this catacomb are
very characteristic.
Number 16 is a very interesting tomb, as well in
point of chronology as in the execution of its paint-
ings. Here the names of four kings, from the
third Thothmes to Amunoph III., inclusive, satis-
factorily confirm the order of their succession as
given in the Abydus tablet and the lists of Thebes.
In the inner chamber, the inmate of the tomb, a
" royal scribe," or basilico-grammat, undergoes his
final judgment, previous to admission into the pre-
sence of Osiris. Then follows a long procession,