Page 34 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 6
P. 34
T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 3 4
Left: figure 11, Wikipedia; right: figure 9, Tesem.
Kush is located between the 1st and 5th, or Historically however, Sighthounds can only
6th, Nile cataracts. A further be found in the Orient but above all in
representation of the Tesem dates from Egypt; there are precise renderings of
2490 to 2323 BC.(Fig. 9). The depictions of them, which can be dated and there are
the Sighthound-type in the Mesopotamian also mummified dogs (21).
area are similar to those of the older prick-
eared Tesem in Egypt (4, figure 10). From the time of the Egyptian New
Kingdom (22) (1539 to 1069 BC), we can
In this context, representations of both the connect the Sloughi-type to some
Tesems are found, with prick and lop ears, indication of its origin.
but they share the common tail carriage
carried over the back; in this case we refer In the tomb paintings (23) of the “Rekhmire
to it as the “Basenji type” (20). Tribute” (24) we find the exact timing, 1427-
1401 BC*, when the Vizier Rekhmire was
presented with hunting dogs from “Central
Africa” (sub-Saharan Sudan) by the Kushite
Nubians as tribute to Pharaoh Thutmosis III
(25).
We need to look at this scene in more
detail (Fig. 12).
Figure 10: Beaker with Tesems, Susa, 4th century BC
