[1] Erman: Life in Ancient Egypt, 193.
CHAPTER X.
Sports and Recreations.
The pastimes and diversions of any people fall easily in two divisions; those which are adapted to the open air, and those enjoyed indoors. The popular outdoor sports among the Egyptians were hunting, fishing and boating, while the banquet with its attendant dancing and music, helped them to pass those hours when Amon, god of the sun, concealed, reigned over all.
The wealthy Egyptian liked to take his wife or family in his light boat and wander at will among the reeds and marshy plants abounding in the little streams and lakes left still undrained. It was fine sport to flit in and out among the tall papyrus, rouse a flock of birds and bring some of them down with the boomerang. Fishes were plentiful in the streams, and the sportsman chose to get them with a two-pointed spear. If he became expert, he could spear two at once—one on either point. To be sure, the game dealers, requiring large numbers of fish and fowl, caught both in a net. Only the noble or the well-to-do had time to indulge in hunting and fishing for mere diversion. In the tomb pictures, gentlemen are shown seated in their gardens, on costly rugs, it may be, leisurely spearing fish in their own artificial ponds. This was too simple a process for any but the most indolent, and did not appeal to the true sportsman who loved the natural streams.
Great was the attraction of these marshy lakes. "Much of the country formerly covered by marshes and tropical forests was already arable land. At the same time old river beds remained; stretches of marsh and half-stagnant water, overgrown as of old with papyrus reeds, offered shelter to the hippopotamus, the crocodile and to numberless water-birds. This was the happy hunting ground of the great lords of ancient Egypt, the oft-mentioned 'backwaters,' the 'bird tanks of pleasure.' They played the same part in Egyptian life as the forest in German folk lore; the greatest delight perhaps that an Egyptian knew was to row in a light boat between the beautiful waving tufts of the papyrus reeds, to pick the lotus flowers, to start the wild birds and then knock them over with the throw-stick, to spear the great fish of the Nile and even the hippopotamus, with the harpoon. Pictures of all periods exist representing these expeditions, and we have but to glance at them in order to realize how much the Egyptians loved these wild districts, and how much poetry they found in them."[1]
Danger mingled with sport in capturing the larger game—the hippopotamus and crocodile. Pictures of crocodile hunts have not been found. Probably they were not painted, because in certain parts of Egypt these animals were held sacred to some god, and even those who did not share this belief might not have cared to record the killing of them in the tomb. No such feeling existed concerning the hippopotamus and he who was successful in securing one seldom failed to have the hunt pictured in his tomb. You will remember that in ancient Egypt, each person built his own tomb during his life time, and so decided for himself for what he was to be remembered.
The deserts and mountains on either side offered game to the hunter. Gazelles, antelopes, foxes, hares, and other small animals, such as rabbits, abounded. Did one crave greater adventure, he might follow the leopard and the lion. It was quite the custom for the wealthy man, who followed the chase for sport, to collect wild animals and add them to the menagerie usually found on the large estates. Here were elephants and baboons from Asia, giraffes from the upper Nile, lions, leopards, hyenas and gazelles from the deserts. Some became quite tame and were taught tricks. Lions were favorite pets, and kings often took them along on their campaigns. Monkeys were found in almost every household; and since hunting was so popular, various kinds of hounds were more numerous than other species of dogs.