Ostrich

The Ostrich in Ancient Egypt


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The ostrich is the first species of bird for which we have pictorial evidence from Egypt. Its distinctive form can be recognized from the oldest series of rock drawings on cliffs of the Nile Valley and in the deserts of Upper Egypt and Nubia, dating from predynastic times. Ostriches are regularly represented in Egyptian art, and the ostrich feather, the sign of the deities Ma’at and Shu, was a common hieroglyphic.

As symbols of their purity, the justified dead were pictured wearing ostrich feathers. The ostrich feather was the weight against which the heart of the deceased was weighed in the judgment of the dead. According to Horapollo: "The man rendering justice to all, was represented by the ostrich feather; because that bird, unlike others, has all its feathers equal." Priests drew an ostrich feather on their tongues with green dye, so that the words they spoke were truth. In a text from the New Kingdom, the ostrich is said to greet the dawn by "dancing" in the wadis in honor of the sun. In Predynastic times, the ostrich was connected with a mother-goddess cult.

Ostrich feathers and eggs were often used for decoration. Ostrich eggshells were sometimes used as vessels, and were among the earliest objects of any kind from ancient Egypt, as are small ornaments made from them. An offering of ostrich feathers was found at Hierakonpolis, associated with the return of the goddess Hathor from the south, heralding the inundation. Officers, elite charioteers, and royal horses were decorated with ostrich feathers. The demand for ostrich eggs and plumes was such that additional supplies of them were imported and brought as tribute from Libya, Punt, Syria, and Nubia.

A large fan was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamen, made of wood and sheathed in gold. The remains of thirty ostrich feathers, alternating white and brown, were found next to it, a few of the stumps still fixed in the holes on the outer edges of the fan. The feathers, according to an inscription on the handle, were obtained by "His Majesty when hunting in the desert east of Heliopolis." Embossed on each face of the fan are scenes of the young pharaoh hunting the birds for feathers for the fan. On one side is a dramatic hunting scene, showing Tutankhamen and his hound pursing the birds with a horse-drawn chariot, and the reverse shows the triumphant return of the hunt, with two attendants carrying the slain birds slung over their shoulders.

In tomb paintings ostriches can frequently be observed amongst the desert fauna corralled together in large fenced-off enclosures which served as "reserves" for the hunting pleasures of royalty and noblemen. In ancient Egypt ostriches were domesticated and raised in special farms for their meat, feathers, and eggs, with as many as 1,400 kept at one time.

Paintings show adult ostriches tamely being led by their handlers. A statue of Arsinoe II riding an ostrich was found in her tomb in Egypt. Eight pairs of ostriches were said to have walked in harness in Ptolemy II's procession.

The ostrich is now extinct in its former range in Egypt due to overhunting.

The Other Birds of Ancient Egypt