Baboon

The Baboon in Ancient Egypt


 * Egyptian Name:**

//Y'n// or //Ian// (Hamadryas Baboon)

//'Nr// or //Aner// (Olive Baboon)

**Hieroglyphics:**

(Hamadryas Baboon)

(Olive Baboon)

During the Old Kingdom, baboons may still have lived in the southern part of Upper Egypt, but they quickly went extinct. The Hamadryas Baboon and the Olive Baboon were thus imported from the distant regions of the south, from the land of Punt in particular. A large, exotic menagerie, the world's first zoo, was excavated in Egypt in 2009. Dating to 3500 B.C.E., among the numerous exotic animals uncovered were the remains of eleven baboons. One of the baboons showed signs of bone fractures that can only have healed in a protected environment.

Baboons were very popular in ancient Egypt, and were sometimes kept as pets. Tomb scenes show the animal being led on a leash, or sitting under the chair of its owner. Pet baboons were often mummified when they died and buried with their owners, so that they could be reunited in the afterlife. Until X-rays were done, several of these carefully preserved pets were misidentified as the mummies of children, such as the baboon of Queen Maatkare. Tuthmosis II's beloved pet baboon was found sharing his tomb.

It has been revealed that pet baboons had their canine teeth surgically removed, in order to lessen the seriousness of any bites or loving nips that they might have bestowed upon their handlers. Despite being pampered pets, baboons in ancient Egypt only lived from six to ten years due to a lack of proper exercise and diet, and suffered from rickets, tumors, and tuberculosis.

It was only the gentle female baboons that were kept as pets, as male baboons are notoriously aggressive and bad-tempered (in fact, the image of a male baboon with a raised tail serves as the hieroglyph for “enraged.”) According to ancient records, baboons were kept as "police dogs" by authorities, led on leashes and used to help catch suspects. On an Old Kingdom tomb a police baboon is shown helping to arrest a fleeing thief in the village market by seizing his leg.

Thought by the Egyptians to be both a lunar and a solar animal, it was observed that baboons “sang” to the moon at night, and taken as a sign of worship. The Egyptians also observed baboons barking at the rising sun, which gave rise to a favorite theme in sculpture, paintings, and reliefs, of a baboon worshiping the sun with raised hands.

It was thought that baboons were the first creatures to pay proper religious observances. There was a belief reported by some Classical writers that the most learned Egyptian priests understood the secret language of baboons, the natural language of true religion. It has been suggested that the Egyptians saw the shape of a baboon in the lunar disk in a manner similar to our “Man in the Moon.”

Baboon gods have existed in Egypt from before written history. Since baboons exhibit many human characteristics, it was believed at least since the Predynastic Period that they were deceased ancestors. In particular, the alpha males were identified as deceased rulers, referred to as //Hedjwer// (“Great White Ones.”) Scholars believe that this title is derived from the silver-grey mane of a dominant Hamadryas baboon. Since baboons have noticeably high sex drives in addition to their high level of genital marking, virility gods such as Babi took the form of a baboon, and were evoked to ensure successful intercourse in the afterlife.

Images of baboons appeared on scarabs, offering stands, cosmetic containers, obelisks, and libation slabs. From the  New Kingdom onward, temple statues of baboons became common. Enormous quartz baboons belonging to the reign of  Amenhotep III have been found, grouped around a sacred lake. According to ancient texts, giant magical baboons were sometimes invoked to protect from drowning: "Hail to you, baboon of seven cubits whose eyes are electrum, whose lips are fire, and each of whose words is a glowing flame. Keep steady the swimmer, so that I may go forth in safety!"

Due to its high intelligence, the Olive Baboon was associated with the god of wisdom, Thoth. Thoth himself was often represented as a baboon, and colossal statues of baboons flanked the entrance to Thoth's greatest temple at Hermopolis. Sacred baboons were kept in his temples and were worshiped as a form of the god. By the Late Period, titles such as “Priest of the Living Baboon ” were held by individuals who served Thoth in his sanctuaries. These temple baboons often had individual names, and the baboons of the Ptolemaic Period buried at Saqqara had their genealogies inscribed on their coffins, along with their dates of birth and death.

Temple baboons had names such as “Thoth-has-come,” “Thoth-is-the-one-who-has-given-him,” and “Thoth-has-been-found.” One of these baboons would have been singled out as an oracular and given the name, “The-face-of-the-<span class="wiki_link">baboon -has-spoken.” One mummy of these baboons was found to have been born with a heavy deformation of the jawbone and is thought to have survived because of special human aid and feeding.

Upon their death, temple <span class="wiki_link">baboons were mummified and adorned with faience beaded necklaces and scarab amulets. The Opening of the Mouth ceremony was preformed on them, something usually reserved for humans. The <span class="wiki_link">baboons were buried in wooden or limestone coffins placed in rock-cut chambers. Religious spells from the Pyramid Texts were sometimes written on the outside of the coffins to protect them, and flower garlands covered the coffins. Some sacred <span class="wiki_link">baboons were worshiped after death as a form of the god Osiris.

In 1888 an entire necropolis of sacred <span class="wiki_link">baboons was emptied and sent to Germany to be ground up and used as fertilizer for beet fields. Today over five hundred mummified <span class="wiki_link">baboons reside in museums worldwide.

The Primates of Ancient Egypt