Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

:EGYPTIAN FISHING^CHAPTER XXIII"THE NILE ISEGYPT"This terse epigram seems foreshadowed by Homer, who callsthe river {b)A'ijvTrTog, and the country {ri)AiyvTrTog, thusindicating correctly that Egypt is only the Nile valley. 2The all importance of the river to the country meets earlyand general recognition. In a hymn ^ it is lauded as " thecreator of all things good " : solemn rituals from the earliestdown to Mohammedan times implored " a good Nile " : templesin its honour existed at Memphis, Heliopolis, and Nilopolisat Silsileh ceremonies and sacrifices, ^ from time immemorial,welcomed its annual rise ; magnificent festivals were universalthroughout the land.^Petrie.^ The illustration is reproduced by the kind permission of Prof. Flinders^ The data for this essay had been collected and half of it written, whenI heard of an article on Ancient Egyptian Fishing by Mr. Oric Bates, in HarvardAfrican Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 191 7. While somewhat disappointedof not being the first to write in English on the subject, I was quicklyreconciled by the fact that the task had fallen to an experienced Egyptologist,whose monograph, while making necessary the recasting of this chapter,bequeathed to me some new, if not always convincing theories, and muchtechnical and other data, the frequent use of which I gladly acknowledge.2 Od., IV. 477, and XVII. 448. In Th. 33S of Hesiod, who, though not acontemporary, flourished shortly after Homer, 6 NeiAos first appears. TheEgyptians called it Hapi, but in the vernacular language Yetor, or Ye-or=theRiver, or Yaro— the great River.' Papyrus Sallier, II. On the other hand, another hymn speaks of theunkindness of the Nile in bringing about the destruction of fish, but it is theriver at its lowest (first half of June) that is meant. See Records of the Past,being English translations of ancient monuments of Egypt and Western Asia(ed. S. Birch, vols. I.-XII. 1873-81), IV. 3, and ibid., new series (A. H. Sayce),HI. 51.* The yearly sacrifice of a virgin at Memphis may be doubted—at leastfor the Christian age of Egypt, to which Arab writers wish to attribute it.* The NfiAcio are described by Heliodorus, IX. 9.301 X 2