Page 61 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 6 1

Delphinia Salamin further states
“The hunter was always equipped with a bow for hunting....

In the evening, when the game had moved down the wadi to feed in the Sel (the wide
watercourse in the plain; dry but with sparse desert scrub), the dictis were attached to

posts and surrounded the area. When the sun rises and the animals return to the gorge,
more nets are stretched behind them and the animals are completely trapped. The hidden
hunter and the trained dogs have the frightened animals in their grip. In the hunting

scenes, the artist leaves an opening at the central point of the net, which only serves to let
the arrow fly free.

Theban artists show a clear preference for a northern location for hunting scenes in the
desert. This conclusion is based on Egyptian texts in which northern Egypt is mentioned

several times as a place of marshes where cattle breeding, papyrus, harvest fishing and bird
catching were practised. It may be concluded that hunting could be practised in any part of
the Nile, but the northern part of Egypt, where the hills become lower and recede, the desert
vegetation is more luxuriant, and oases lie between the valley and the unvegetated sandy

deserts, would be more suitable as a hunting ground.

The main animals hunted were gazelle, wild goat (ibex), oryx, wild ox, deer, wild sheep
(kebsh), hare and porcupine; their meat was a great delicacy on the table. Fox, jackal, wolf,
hyena and leopard were hunted for their fur. The ostrich was hunted for the value of its

feathers. Big game hunting of lions, wild bulls and elephants was a popular pastime for the
Pharaoh. His success in hunting a lion or wild bull was often recorded. The pharaoh in his
chariot, drawn by horses, shot at them with arrows and spear.”

This is followed by the artistic conventions used to describe and draw these jagged
scenes in the Ancient Egyptians. Let us look at a few examples. Delphinia Salamin notes
that the depictions are always based on real hunting events. The scenes, which seem
abstract, thus reflect the experience and description of these hunting experiences in
reality.