Page 38 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 6
P. 38
T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 3 8
DIVERSION I — HUNTING WITH HOUNDS In early Greece, hunting (on hares) was a
IN ANTIQUITY matter for all people, albeit mainly for the
upper classes. It took place on foot. In the
Hunting with dogs in antiquity, for instance early democratic structure of their
at the time of Alexander the Great had three society, a demonstration of power by
main objectives: the training of young men individuals is unlikely to have been
in the exercise of Warcraft, the acquisition opportune, likely resulting in this form of
of food, and keeping wild animals away from hunting.
crop fields and livestock.
The noble “art of coursing” as a
Archaeologists have calculated that only demonstration of political power on large
around 7% of the ancient Greek population wild game, i.e. lion, leopard or wild boar
were involved in subsistence hunting (29). and deer, which took place on horseback,
had been established only in Macedonia.
The Greek goddess of hunting, Artemis (30)
(the Roman Diana) is one of the oldest gods This is why it is relevant to emphasize
in the Greek pantheon. She mastered wild that hunting with Sloughis also shows two
nature and retained all the features of an different types of use. The coursing
untamed, uncivilised life; however, variant on horseback (for gazelle) is one
Artemis’ hunt was of course a competition form, but not the dominant one.
with wild animals, against their skill, agility,
speed and endurance. Hunting mythology The French Eugène Daumas (32), “Horses
played a major role in Greek secular and of the Sahara” 1851) describes the hunting
religious culture (30b). of gazelle on horseback with Sloughis as
purely an amusement with no economic
Gerd Sachs for example used Xenophon’s value, as opposed to hunting the
Greek “Cynegeticus" circa 400 BC (31), as a ostrich which has a substantial value.
base for analysing and distinguishing myth Only the exercise of strategic skills, as
from reality in his work from 2012. In his also mentioned by the early North African
foreword, he points out that the current Al-Mansur (“On Hunting” 1247) plays a
French and English translations interpret major additional role.
some passages differently, that is why he
has done his own translation. Hunting the hare, fox and jackal, which
damage farm fields and flocks, was the
more usual hunting form. The deserts and
their peripheral areas should be
distinguished from the more agricultural
landscapes of the Maghreb.
