Most Nile Valley animals were not dangerous, and were easy to hunt, herd, or domesticate. Egyptians trusted amulets and magic spells to protect themselves from the exceptions: crocodiles, scorpions, and several kinds of snakes with deadly bites. When hippos were common, they caused much damage to crops and fields and were hunted as nuisances. Rats and mice that consumed and fouled stored grain were a huge problem until the cat was domesticated during the Middle Kingdom.
Hunting, fowling, and fishing in the marshes was a popular sport and a source of food. Subsistence hunting (hunting for daily food consumption) by large numbers of people became less important as farming and animal husbandry (raising domesticated animals) became widespread.
In Predynastic times, settlers rounded up the wild cows, bulls, oxen, gazelles, oryxes, and goats that roamed the Nile Valley into domestic and temple herds. Animals were raised for milk, hides, meat, and sacrifice to the gods. Geese, ducks, cranes, and pigeons were bred and fattened for food. The Egyptians practiced selective breeding to improve domestic animals.
Hunters speared and netted fish. They brought down game birds with boomerang-like throw sticks. They captured birds for domestic flocks, or to be fattened as religious sacrifices. Nobles and the wealthy continued to hunt for sport. They speared hippos and crocodiles. Royals and the elite enjoyed game drives in the marshes and desert edges, especially in the early years when there were still plenty of large animals. They took hippos, lions, leopards, antelopes, gazelles, ibexes, oryxes, giraffes, and elephants.
Like us, the Egyptians cherished pet dogs and cats as companion animals. From ancient times, dogs guarded herds and helped in game drives. Later Egyptians were great dog fanciers, breeding companion animals that looked much like modern Salukis. Dogs, usually depicted in the company of men, were named for their looks: Ebony or Big were common names.
Cats, who arrived in the Nile Valley during the Middle Kingdom, were originally prized for their ability to kill rodents and protect food supplies. But they were soon adopted as household pets. They not only controlled rats, mice, and snakes, but also offered companionship and pleasure. In Egyptian art, cats were usually shown with women.
After the Hyksos introduced horses, the Egyptians became famous horse breeders and charioteers.
Pack Animals
Pack animals may well have been in use for thousands of years by the time the Nile Valley was settled. But the first certain evidence of pack animals at work comes from Upper Egypt in the early dynastic era, around 3000 b. c.e.
Early settlers in the Nile Valley had tamed the donkeys that roamed the valley and gathered them into domestic herds. It probably was not long before a weary farmer or water carrier lashed his burden onto the back of one of these sturdy, uncomplaining beasts. By 2000 b. c.e., caravans of heavily-laden donkeys were common in Egypt, the Near East, and the surrounding deserts.
They did not ride the horses, however; scholars believe the spines of their horses were too weak to support riders.
World History
