Page 73 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 7 3

And we call another witness, Maiherpri, whose tomb KV36 also dates from the 18th
Dynasty. He is a young man obviously of Nubian, sub-Saharan descent. He was a member
of the “Kap”, an institution in the royal palace to which the pharaoh’s children belonged,
as well as those under the pharaoh’s protection who were of foreign descent. He was
between 25 and 30 years old at the time of his death. His tomb is located near the tomb of
Amenophis II (KV35) and he held a high status at court, being “fan-bearer to the right of
the king”. His duties included keeping the pharaoh's hounds on a leash and looking after

them. The presence of two leather dog collars in his burial equipment seems to support
this hypothesis. They would then be the pharaoh's hounds [51].

Also close to the tombs of Amenophis II and Maiherpri is tomb KV50, which contained the
dog mummy that has already been presented in detail (Sloughi Review 7, pp.32, 33). The

spatial proximity of these three tombs allows for a temporal and thematic relationship
between them. The Nubian Maiherpri took care of the hounds imported from Nubia of the
younger Tesem type, which is phenotypically very similar to the Sloughi type. The spatial
relation to the Sahara and its inhabitants, the Berber tribes, seems closer than to
Palestine and the Levant. It must be taken into account that the spatial reference of
Lower Egypt, especially the Nile Delta, may very well have had a spatial reference to
Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula and the Levant.

Collar of a dog in the tomb of Maiherpri, Musée du
Caire, CG 24075 - Depicting hunting scenes with
gazelles and hounds. On the opposite side of the
seam is an inscription which gives the name of the
bitch for whom the collar was made in two
columns: ṯsm n pr.f t3 n.t nỉw.t, “sighthound of his
house, that of Thebes”. “Tsm” stands for “Tesem”,
here we have the younger type, similar in
appearance to the Sloughi type; therefore the term
“sighthound” is permissible for “Tsm”. The “house”
means the royal palace and court.