FISH HIEROGLYPHS SUPPRESSED IN TOMBS 323 



were they forced by food pressure to rebel against it ? Did 

 the nobles in the Old and Middle Kingdoms occasionally wobble 

 in their diet ? All these questions meet with no adequate 

 answer. 



An answer to the first, i.e. the date and reason of the 

 abstention, as yet baffles even the richness of the fertile pre- 

 servative sands of Egypt, since adequate data must stretch 

 back to pre-dynastic periods. 



One fact stands out. The lower classes very early eschewed 

 the tabu and ensued after fish. Their example was followed 

 later by the upper classes, " with whom fish became a favourite 

 dish : the epicure knew each variety, and in which water the 

 most dainty were to be caught. It was, therefore, a most 

 foolish invention of later Egyptian theology to declare that 

 fish were unclean to the orthodox, and so much to be avoided 

 that a true believer might have no fellowship with those that 

 did." 1 



Robertson-Smith declares that the doctrine — the highest 

 degree of holiness can only be attained by abstinence — resulted 

 from the pohtical fusion in Egypt of numerous local cults 

 in one national religion, with a national priesthood that repre- 

 sented imperial ideas. 2 



The statement, " countless pictures of offerings to the gods 

 and the dead survive, but never a fish among them " has in 

 the light of subsequent discoveries to be revised. One strong 

 reason at any rate existed in its favour. In the Pyramid texts 

 carved on the sepulchral chambers of the Pharaohs of the 

 Vlth Dynasty the hieroglyph of the fish was dehberately 

 suppressed, which goes far to prove that fish were regarded as 

 impure for kings. Furthermore, in the thousands of fines 

 which contain spells for the future benefit of these dead Kings 

 not one figure of a fish occurs. 



On the other hand, evidence exists of practices in apparent 

 conflict with the above facts. Newberry, 3 provides two 



1 Erman, Egyptian Life, Eng. Trs. (London, 1894), p. 239, basing himself 

 on Mariette's statement in Monuments divers recueillis en Egypte, pp. 15 1, 

 152- 



2 Op. cit., p. 284 



» El Bersheh, Pt. I. (London, n. d.). PI. XXIIL 



