Kite

The Kite in Ancient Egypt

The Black Kite, Red Kite, and the Black-winged Kite live and breed in the Nile valley, as they did in ancient times. In modern day Cairo, kites are so numerous that they perform the valuable service of keeping the streets free of refuse. The kites are also known to raid market stalls, swooping down to carry off fish or fowl. These tricks were well known to the ancient Egyptians - there are several representations of kites perched on the posts or masts of barques, waiting to make off with the fowler or fisherman’s catch.

A magic spell used an acacia branch to prevent kites from robbing. First, the branch was stood upright, and an offering of cakes was placed around it. Then the person would say: "O Horus, he has stolen in the town and in the field, his thirst is for the birds' field; he shall be cooked and eaten."

Kites often feed on the fish entrails that fishermen discarded into the Nile. At least one scholar has suggested that it was the attendance of the kite at the embalmer’s – as it waited for the offal from the corpse – which allowed the association of the funerary goddesses Nephthys and Isis with the kite. The ancients also saw a correspondence between the kite’s scavenging for carrion and Isis’ search for the scattered pieces of Osiris’ body.

Isis is sometimes represented as a kite, often pictured hovering over her husband's body as she fans life into him with her wings. The particularly shrill, piercing cry of the kite is thought to have been suggestive of the cries of wailing women in mourning. The two chief women mourners at funerals – called the “Great Kite” and the “Little Kite” – represented Isis and Nephthys. As sacred birds, kites were sometimes mummified.

The Birds of Prey of Ancient Egypt