EGYPTIAN FISHING^ 

 CHAPTER XXIII 



"THE NILE IS EGYPT" 



This terse epigram seems foreshadowed by Homer, who calls 

 the river {b)A'ijvTrTog, and the country {ri)AiyvTrTog, thus 

 indicating correctly that Egypt is only the Nile valley. 2 



The all importance of the river to the country meets early 

 and general recognition. In a hymn ^ it is lauded as " the 

 creator of all things good " : solemn rituals from the earliest 

 down to Mohammedan times implored " a good Nile " : temples 

 in its honour existed at Memphis, Heliopolis, and Nilopolis : 

 at Silsileh ceremonies and sacrifices, ^ from time immemorial, 

 welcomed its annual rise ; magnificent festivals were universal 

 throughout the land.^ 



^ The illustration is reproduced by the kind permission of Prof. Flinders 

 Petrie. 



^ The data for this essay had been collected and half of it written, when 

 I heard of an article on Ancient Egyptian Fishing by Mr. Oric Bates, in Harvard 

 African Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 191 7. While somewhat dis- 

 appointed of not being the first to write in English on the subject, I was quickly 

 reconciled 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 much 

 technical 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 a 

 contemporary, flourished shortly after Homer, 6 NeiAos first appears. The 

 Egyptians called it Hapi, but in the vernacular language Yetor, or Ye-or=the 

 River, or Yaro— the great River. 



' Papyrus Sallier, II. On the other hand, another hymn speaks of the 

 unkindness of the Nile in bringing about the destruction of fish, but it is the 

 river 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 least 

 for the Christian age of Egypt, to which Arab writers wish to attribute it. 



* The NfiAcio are described by Heliodorus, IX. 9. 



301 X 2 



