Origin and Early History. 13 



Egypt as the emblem of the generative principle. The 

 flocks of goats kept by the richer class of the Egyptians 

 appear to have been often very considerable. In a tomb 

 near the Pyramids of El-Gezeh, in the time of Khaf-ra 

 (Cephrenes) of the fourth dynasty, the flocks and herds of 

 the chief occupant are represented thus : 834 oxen, 220 

 cows with their calves, 2234 goats, 760 asses with their 

 colts, and 974 sheep, showing, as in the case of Job, what 

 large properties of this kind were sometimes owned in 

 ancient times. The goat was known to the Egyptians by 

 the names of ankh or ankhu, kaka, " he-goat," and teb ; 

 kaari seems to denote flocks collectively. Besides the 

 ordinary uses, goats were employed by the old Egyptians 

 for the purpose of treading in the newly-sown corn to 

 protect it from the various finches and other birds which 

 would otherwise devour it. 



The ancient Greeks and Romans paid great attention 

 to the rearing of goats. Anyone at all familiar with 

 classical authors will remember how frequently these useful 

 animals are mentioned, especially in the Greek pas- 

 toral poems. 



The ordinary Greek word for a " she-goat " is aix 

 of the feminine gender; but Homer in " Odys." xiv. 106 

 has the word in the masculine gender. Homer mentions 

 goats as being used in sacrifices, as affording nourishing 

 food and milk, as being scattered in broad flocks over 

 pastures ; the skins of sheep and goats were used as 

 coverings for a bed. In the " Odyssey " Homer repre- 

 sents Antinous and the suitors watching over the cooking of 

 the black puddings of goats, just before Ulysses and Irus, 

 the beggar of Ithacus, had a fight. " These bellies of 

 she-goats are being cooked on the fire ; having filled them 

 with fat and blood, we lay them aside for supper " 

 (xviii. 45). The expression " bleating goats " is not 

 un frequently met with in Homer. 



