Day 21 - Shards of containers
February 12, 2018
My heart sinks at first when I walk into Study Galley 120. On my left is a glassed-in display of five shelves, each 12 feet or so long, with dull-looking fragments of unpainted pottery. Additional potsherds are mounted above the shelves and in a case that directly faces me. On the right is a multi-shelved case with beads and polychrome glass fragments painted with the wavy pattern I described in an earlier entry. What in the world is new or interesting enough to write about?
But I look more closely, and I notice some small faience pendants and amulets-- and the molds that were used to make them. I clearly discern the forms of an upright hippo (no mistaking this for a monkey!) and of the dwarf god of fertility, Bes. (Lots of amulets about fertility, I realize.)
What's most interesting, though, is that the pottery fragments on the left have inscriptions, and placards beside them tell what the inscriptions say. They tell us what the contents of the containers were: wine, ale, fat, and meat. Sometimes they say where the products came from--what place, whose estate. Sometimes they say what year they came from -- e.g., Year 32 or Year 38, presumably of a particular dynasty or ruler. Sometimes they say that the products were provided for a particular festival. The ale shards talk about the "ale requirement" for a particular estate or festival, suggesting that taxes were levied and paid in the form of ale. The shards sometimes further note that the ale came from an official, like the royal scribe or the steward. Was providng these knds of goods a condition of gettng or keeping a good position? Kind of like making a sizable contribution to the winning presidential candidate and being named ambassador to someplace or other? Some of the inscriptions express a formulaic wish for long life, prosperity, and health to the pharaoh or to Aton, of whom I suppose the pharaoh is the human incarnation.
What makes me especially smile is that some inscriptions describe the wine as "fine" or "genuine" -- suggesting that some wine wasn't at all fine or genuine. Was it watered down? Were the grapes given insufficient time to ferment? Did the wine taste like vinegar? Who knew that the Egyptians were such oenophiles? But they had such an appreciation for other things of life, I shouldn't be surprised that they knew and valued good wine.
But I look more closely, and I notice some small faience pendants and amulets-- and the molds that were used to make them. I clearly discern the forms of an upright hippo (no mistaking this for a monkey!) and of the dwarf god of fertility, Bes. (Lots of amulets about fertility, I realize.)
What's most interesting, though, is that the pottery fragments on the left have inscriptions, and placards beside them tell what the inscriptions say. They tell us what the contents of the containers were: wine, ale, fat, and meat. Sometimes they say where the products came from--what place, whose estate. Sometimes they say what year they came from -- e.g., Year 32 or Year 38, presumably of a particular dynasty or ruler. Sometimes they say that the products were provided for a particular festival. The ale shards talk about the "ale requirement" for a particular estate or festival, suggesting that taxes were levied and paid in the form of ale. The shards sometimes further note that the ale came from an official, like the royal scribe or the steward. Was providng these knds of goods a condition of gettng or keeping a good position? Kind of like making a sizable contribution to the winning presidential candidate and being named ambassador to someplace or other? Some of the inscriptions express a formulaic wish for long life, prosperity, and health to the pharaoh or to Aton, of whom I suppose the pharaoh is the human incarnation.
What makes me especially smile is that some inscriptions describe the wine as "fine" or "genuine" -- suggesting that some wine wasn't at all fine or genuine. Was it watered down? Were the grapes given insufficient time to ferment? Did the wine taste like vinegar? Who knew that the Egyptians were such oenophiles? But they had such an appreciation for other things of life, I shouldn't be surprised that they knew and valued good wine.
I realize that everything above is speculative, arrived at through analogy with or extension of what I know. But for the first time, I think it must be really fun to be an Egyptologist and come up with such discoveries!
Comments
Post a Comment