Subsistence and diet in Dynastic Egypt
As in other parts of the Near East, the transition from prehistoric to historical times in Egypt was accompanied by a fundamental shift of subsistence strategies that led to dietary change. About 7,500-6,000 BC (calibrated dates), sites along the Fayum lake shore and in southern Egypt indicate that fishing and hunting were both prominent, presumably in conjunction with wild plant processing. During the same time range, and even earlier, small mobile groups in the eastern Sahara followed game from one water hole to another, probably driving some domesticated cattle to take advantage of ephemeral pastures, and possibly planting a little sorghum or millet on an opportunistic basis. In each case, animal protein was a prominent dietary component.
When agriculture became a viable economy in the Nile Valley, after perhaps 5,500 BC, wheat and barley soon became important. However, even in late Neolithic and early Predynastic times (circa 4,500-3,500 BC), livestock remained important, and fishing or hunting provided important complementary foods. There is some evidence that cattle, for example, were stalled and fed with fodder, at least on a seasonal basis; but by the end of that millennium, the population was presumably expanding rapidly. By then, given the evidence for a hierarchical society, a system of land tenure was probably introduced, that would have begun to increasingly restrict access to resources for common people.
There is little information on the diet of rural or urban populations for either Old or Middle Kingdom times, because everything is skewed toward the lifestyle of the elites, as shown for example in the 5th and early 6th Dynasty tomb reliefs. The well-to-do evidently had sumptuous diets, including a variety of meats (with different cuts), several fowl, cooked in different kinds of oil, many types of breads and cakes, honey, a range of fruits and fresh plants, milk, and various kinds of beer and wine. The most common meat was beef, with that of sheep, goats and pigs enjoying less prestige. Hunting had become a prestigious sport for the elite, with more adventure linked to stalking wild cattle or boar in the marshlands than shooting at antelopes or gazelles in game enclosures. Geese and ducks, as well as cranes, were raised on estates or hunted in the wetlands. In short, elite diets remained diversified, including as much animal protein as did their prehistoric counterparts. Any dietary problems encountered would mainly have involved overindulgence and obesity.
For simpler folk, there is the New Kingdom evidence from Deir el-Medina, supplemented by other information on workmen’s rations and the comments of Herodotus. These diets were little varied, with an allocation of wheat and barley, complemented by fish, domesticated doves or pigeons, and beer, perhaps brewed mainly from barley. In sufficient quantities, that represented a balanced if monotonous diet. Any hunting was limited to catching hares or migratory birds. The limited skeletal materials that have been properly studied suggest a life expectancy of thirty years, which, if representative, implies a reasonably long and healthy life for the period.
The subsistence economy was increasingly based on irrigated agriculture. Despite some genetic roots and ritual survivals of North African origin, the agrosystem was of Mediterranean-Near Eastern origin, rather than African. That applies firstly to the essential crops, including wheat, barley and legumes planted in the autumn and harvested in late winter or early spring. Second, meat, labor and special products were provided by the standard Near Eastern herd animals. Oxen pulled the basic "scratch" plow, and although wooly strains of sheep were introduced during the Middle Kingdom, flax was woven into linen as the most common cloth. There is next to no information on the secondary dairy products potentially derived from cow’s, ewe’s or goat’s milk, although it is improbable that they were not used. In so far as small stock were owned and eaten, that probably was in times of shortfall. Third, fruit trees brought variety and vitamins to the diet, while also reducing subsistence risk. Indigenous tree crops such as dates, dom nuts and sycamore figs came first. Over time, pomegranates, sebesten "plums," persea fruits, Mediterranean figs, apples and grapes were added to the orchard component; but they were not deep-rooted and thus required irrigation as they matured during the spring and early summer.
Fortuitously, the Nile flood regime mimicked the seasonality of winter rainfall experienced in Greece, Syro-Palestine or the Zagros Mountains. That Mediterranean pattern begins with October showers that germinate the plowed and seeded fields, with the rainy season ending during the early spring months when the crop is about ready to harvest. The Nile floods crest over a six-week period, beginning in mid-August at Aswan and ending in early October at the head of the Delta. Four to six weeks later the fields emerge and can be seeded. Given the higher growing season temperatures, the grains and legumes can be harvested in late winter, drawing their moisture from the saturated clayey soils. Summer crops are another matter, requiring constant irrigation at a time when the river and ground-water level are down. Until an economical irrigation technology became available, this precluded green vegetables and non-indigenous fruit trees except in gardens or on commercial estates.
Grapes and olives had a special status in ancient Egypt. Wine and olive oil acquired ritual status in Early Bronze Age Syro-Palestine, to become a hallmark of Mediterranean civilization. They were being produced on a commercial scale by the late third millennium BC, and were an integral part of the exchange economy that supported urban growth in southwest Asia. Palestinian wine jars are found in quantity in the Abydos tombs (Umm el-Qa’ab) of late Dynasty 0 monarchs (immediately preceding the 1st Dynasty), suggesting that imported wines were a critical part of elite banquets. Vintages were distinguished by special marks. By Old Kingdom times, all aspects of wine production are documented in tomb reliefs and leave no doubt that irrigated viticulture was common on estates in Egypt. The role of olive oil is more obscure, although it too was imported since late Predynastic times. Olive cultivation is not depicted in Dynastic art, and a hieroglyphic designation, if current, was ambiguous even in New Kingdom times. Unlike grapes, irrigated olive trees produce much foliage but few fruits, so that efforts to acclimatize them in Egypt have been unsuccessful in regard to oil production.
Tanis (San el-Hagar)
Tanis lies in the eastern Nile Delta (30°59′ N, 31°53′ E), east of the Tanitic branch. It was a royal residence during the Third Intermediate Period, and the nome capital in the Late and Ptolemaic periods. Its ancient Egyptian name, "D’nt" (in Greek, Tanis), first appears in the Onomasticon of Amenemope (circa end of the 20th Dynasty) and the Report of Wenamen, but a "Field of Tanis" is mentioned on the walls of a Memphite temple dating to the reign of Ramesses II. Although the earliest datable building phase is from the reign of Psusennes I (21st Dynasty), Tanis must have begun to have a prominent role at least as early as the end of the 19th Dynasty, for in the Wenamen text it is the capital of Smendes and Tentamen.
The monumental remains of Tanis were first investigated by the scholars accompanying Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, and drawings and descriptions of the site appeared in the Description de l’Egypte. In 1825, Jean-Jacques Rifaud explored the site to procure statues for the antiquities market (which eventually ended up in museums in Paris, St Petersburg and Berlin). The first archaeological exploration of the city was undertaken by Auguste Mariette in 1860. Flinders Petrie excavated at the site and published some of the results of his work in 1884. In 1903-4, Alexandre Barsanti took most of the uncovered artifacts to the Cairo Museum. A systematic investigation of the site was undertaken by Pierre Montet (1928-56), and has been continued, first under the direction of Jean Yoyotte (1965-86) and later by Philippe Brissaud (from 1987 onward).
Initially, the great number of architectural elements and statues inscribed with the cartouches of Ramesses II and Merenptah found at Tanis prompted its identification with Pi-Ramesses, the capital of the Ramesside state. The discovery of the famous "Stela of the Year 400" also suggested an identification with the Hyksos capital, Avaris. It eventually became clear that no datable buildings were earlier than the Third Intermediate Period, and all of the Ramesside monuments, which included a number of Middle Kingdom sculptures, must have been usurped by later kings. The discovery at the neighboring sites of Qantir and Tell ed-Dab’a of the remains of a city identified as the actual Pi-Ramesses/Avaris led to the conclusion that the Ramesside monuments were brought from there to Tanis. Manfred Bietak has indicated that the probable reason for moving the capital from Pi-Ramesses to Tanis was that at the end of the New Kingdom the Pelusiac branch of the Nile was silted up, thus cutting off the Ramesside capital from access to the river and the sea. Labib Habachi has also suggested that the Third Intermediate Period loathing for the god Seth could have been reason enough to forsake Pi-Ramesses.
The most conspicuous archaeological features of Tanis are the remains of its temples and the royal necropolis. Temples of the Theban triad, consisting of the main temple of Amen, a temple of Khonsu, a temple of Mut and Khonsu Pachered, and a sacred lake, were evidently patterned on analogous monuments in Thebes. The Theban prototype is also stressed by the absence of local connotations in the inscriptions: Amen, Mut and Khonsu bear their typical Theban epithets, and Theban place-names occur more frequently than the name Tanis itself. The parallel is further enhanced by the moving of the seat of the royal necropolis from Thebes to Tanis in the 21st and 22nd Dynasties.
Tanis was the main royal residence during the 21st Dynasty, and remained a royal residence alongside Bubastis during the 22nd Dynasty. Evidence from the end of the 22nd Dynasty to the beginning of the 26th Dynasty, however, is scarce. In the Late and Ptolemaic periods, the city was the capital of Nome XIX of Lower Egypt. A phase of intense building activity began with the 30th Dynasty and extended well into the Ptolemaic period.
The limestone structures of the Tanis temples have suffered greatly from lime-making activities and robbing of the stones for use elsewhere. In general, only the granite parts of the aboveground structures have survived. However, the practice of building underground mudbrick retaining walls, to prevent the sand foundations for the buildings from sliding, has made it possible to recognize the ground plans of many of the structures. The foundation deposits associated with them, when preserved and not anonymous, have provided the most important source of information on the names of individual builders. The decrease in size of mudbricks from the 21st Dynasty to Ptolemaic times provides yet another criterion for dating, though not an error-proof one.
Three temple enclosures have been located. The best known and best investigated area comprises a northern precinct occupied by several temples, and a southern precinct, the so-called temple of Anat. In 1988, the remains of another temple precinct were unearthed at the south end of the tell (Tulul el-Bed).
The northern precinct is surrounded by two mudbrick enclosure walls. The inner one dates to the reign of Psusennes I, which is demonstrated by stamps on the mudbricks. The roughly rectangular outer enclosure wall, intersecting the inner one to the north and west, has been dated to the 30th Dynasty on the basis of the size of its mudbricks. The monumental pylon gateway of Sheshonk III (22nd Dynasty), the only one of granite, led into Psusennes I’s enclosure. It was largely made of reused blocks from monuments of Ramesses II, as well as from Old and Middle Kingdom ones. The lower reliefs depict Sheshonk III before the Theban triad and other deities. To the east, in the outer enclosure wall, is the pylon of Ptolemy I Soter, on the axis of the temple of Horus. Two more pylons of uncertain date are located in the east and north walls of Psusennes I’s enclosure.
The ground plan of the main temple (220x 72m), which was dedicated to the god Amen, is still recognizable. A limestone wall of Nectanebo I (30th Dynasty) delimits it to the east, and two foundation deposits of Osorkon II (22nd Dynasty) mark its northwest and south-west corners. Four pairs of large obelisks of Ramesses II marked the position of three pylons. In what was presumably the second courtyard, the remains of four sandstone colossi of Ramesses II were found, as well as maned sphinxes of Amenemhat III (12th Dynasty). A total of twenty-six obelisks, all but one of Ramesses II, were found in the temple. The central area of the temple, lying behind the large obelisks marking the pylons, has yielded thirteen stelae of Ramesses II, including the "Stela of the Year 400," as well as most of the 12th and 13th Dynasty sculptures and the remains of pillars, columns and lintels bearing inscriptions of King Siamen (21st Dynasty).
At right angles to the main temple, along a north-south axis, lies another temple whose ground plan is perceivable in the mudbrick retaining walls of the foundation. The temple was dedicated to Khonsu, and was built by Nectanebo I and his successor Teos over an earlier building, which is evidenced here by baboon statues with dedications to Khonsu by Psusennes I. Numerous blocks of Sheshonk V from the earlier temple were reused in the masonry of the sacred lake, along with blocks from a jubilee (heb-sed) hall of this king.
The walls of the basin of the sacred lake, in the northeast corner of the inner enclosure, also contained numerous limestone blocks from older buildings at Tanis dating from the Middle Kingdom (i.e. reused for the second time) to the 26th Dynasty (fragments of a relief depicting a procession of the nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt led by King Psamtik I).
In the outer enclosure, outside of the south-east corner of the inner enclosure wall on the axis of the east portal of Ptolemy I Soter, is a Ptolemaic temple whose ground-plan is still recognizable. It was apparently dedicated to Horus of Mesen, whose cult was on the island of Sile. Just east of the temple of Amen, between the two enclosure walls, are the remains of the so-called "east temple." Its only vestiges are the fragments of ten granite columns with palm capitals, originally from an Old Kingdom temple usurped by Ramesses II and then again by Osorkon II.
Other constructions in the northern enclosure include a large mudbrick building of uncertain purpose to the north of the main temple, a bronze workshop, a pottery kiln, pools, the royal tombs, and mudbrick structures of several phases of the Ptolemaic period, to the south of the temple and extending west over the royal tombs. In one of these structures, a remarkable statue of the falcon god Hauron protecting Ramesses II as a child was found. Hauron, like Anat, was one of several Canaanite gods worshipped in Pi-Ramesses. Northwest of the tomb of Sheshonk III, under the remains of Graeco-Roman mudbrick structures, a building erected in the 30th Dynasty has yielded amulets and dozens of Demotic papyri dating to the 30th Dynasty and early Ptolemaic period. Some of these are unreadable, but others contain accounts and lists of persons.
The southern precinct is delimited by a rectangular enclosure, and consists of a single building, called the "temple of Anat" because of the reused statue groups of Ramesses II with the goddess Anat, as well as the goddesses Uto and Sachmis. The post-Ramesside remains, however, indicate that it must have been a temple of Mut and Khonsu Pachered (Khonsu the Child). The main entrance to the enclosure was through the north pylon built by Siamen, on the axis of the temple. Between the pylon and the temple lie the remains of a Ptolemaic kiosk. The only visible above-ground structures of the temple are the ruins of its hypostyle hall, consisting of six reused Old Kingdom columns with palm capitals of the same type as those of the "east temple." Under these columns, foundation deposits of Apries (26th Dynasty) were found. The southern structures of the temple were built by Ptolemy IV.
The temple remains, which were discovered in the southern sector of the tell (Tulul el-Bed) in 1988, were surrounded by massive mudbrick walls. This temple was completely dismantled at the beginning of the Ptolemaic period, and was presumably replaced by another building which has yet to be found. Statues of private persons found here, including two of musicians, indicate that it was the site of a temple of Amenemope, dating to the 21st Dynasty and still in use in the Late and Ptolemaic periods.
Tanis, royal tombs
The royal tombs of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties lie at the southwest corner of the great temple of Amen at Tanis, within the inner enclosure wall built by Psusennes I (21st Dynasty), inaugurating the practice in the Third Intermediate and Late periods of burials inside temple precincts. They were discovered in 1939 by Pierre Montet under the remains of mudbrick houses of the Late and Ptolemaic periods, and their exploration has continued to the present, under the direction of Montet, followed by Jean Yoyotte (196586) and Philippe Brissaud (from 1987 onward). The area was already used as a necropolis in earlier times, as simple inhumations with poor grave goods (some arbitrarily interpreted by Montet as human sacrifices), stratigraphically earlier than the royal tombs, have also been recovered.
The royal tombs (nine have been recorded to date) consist of subterranean buildings of limestone and granite, much of which was taken from monuments at Pi-Ramesses made of reused blocks, both Ramesside and earlier. The majority of the sarcophagi show evidence of usurpation. The use of heavy stone beams for the ceilings of burial chambers, as well as the discovery of an offering table of Psusennes I, indicate that the tombs originally had superstructures, of which there are few traces.
Tomb 3 (the numbers refer to the order of discovery), which belonged to Psusennes I, was found intact after the last secondary burial. It consisted of a limestone antechamber, two granite burial chambers enclosed by a limestone wall, and two limestone chambers. The remains of the king were in the northern granite chamber (which was decorated with funerary texts and reliefs, including a hymn to Re-Horakhty), in a usurped, hawk-headed granite sarcophagus originally made for King Merenptah (19th Dynasty). In the sarcophagus was a black granite coffin and a silver inner coffin holding the mummy of the king with its rich jewelry. The chamber was closed by a granite plug and remained undisturbed until its discovery, although humidity damaged or destroyed some of the grave goods. Near the coffin lay an animal skeleton, vessels, the king’s shawabtis (servant figures), canopic jars for his viscera, and other grave goods. The contents of the burial chamber are now in the Cairo Museum.
The southern granite chamber, also inscribed and decorated with reliefs, was made for Queen Mutnedjemet, the mother of Psusennes I, but was appropriated by the latter’s successor, King Amenemope, whose remains were in a silver inner coffin. Amenemope’s gilt wooden coffin remained in the front part of the chamber because it was too large to fit in a usurped granite sarcophagus. This burial and its grave goods were also undisturbed. A limestone burial chamber was added for the prince and high official, Ankhefenmut, a son of Psusennes I. There was apparently a project to usurp his chamber as well, as his name was deleted from the walls and the sarcophagus was found empty. A fourth chamber within the limestone walls, but unconnected to the antechamber, was the burial place of a high official of Psusennes I, Wendjebawendjedet. It was decorated with funerary reliefs depicting the deceased with several gods and contained his canopic jars and a usurped granite anthropoid coffin of the New Kingdom, which was coated with plaster and gold leaf (badly preserved) for the added funerary texts and figures of the new owner. In this chamber were the remains of a gilt wooden coffin and a silver inner coffin, artifacts in gold and silver, various ornaments and weapons, and the mummy with its sumptuous coverings and jewelry. The rest of Wendjebawendjedet’s grave goods were in the tomb’s antechamber. Those bearing his name included a vase, small bronze artifacts and circa 360 faience shawabtis and some of bronze, as well as their model tools.
The mummy of Sheshonk II (22nd Dynasty), also richly ornamented, lay in the antechamber, in a falcon-headed coffin of electrum, to the sides of which were the scanty remains of two mummies in gilt wooden coffins. In the antechamber were piles of artifacts: gilt bronze necklaces, vessels, canopic jars, small artifacts of faience and bronze (including model implements for shawabtis), and shawabtis of Wendje-bawendjedet (see previous paragraph) and Sheshonk II. There were also two groups of statuettes (360 and 400 in number) of Siamen and a different Psusennes (probably Psusennes II), the last two kings of the 21st Dynasty.
Tomb 1 consists of three limestone rooms (an anteroom and two chambers) decorated with funerary reliefs (notably some extracts from the Book of Amduat) executed for Osorkon II (22nd Dynasty), and a large granite burial chamber, also decorated. The asymmetrical plan of the adjoining Tomb 3 of Psusennes I indicates that Tomb 1, later appropriated and renovated by Osorkon II, was built before the later modifications of Tomb 3, still under Psusennes I, and might be earlier than Tomb 3 altogether. Hence, it has tentatively been identified as the tomb of Smendes, the founder of the 21st Dynasty. The tomb had been broken into and partially plundered in antiquity. The huge uninscribed granite sarcophagus in the granite chamber contained the badly preserved remains of three mummies with some of their jewelry and amulets, including Osorkon II’s heart scarab, while his shawabtis and canopic jars were in the chamber. Fragments of more of the king’s shawabtis, presumably intentionally broken, were found in a deposit in front of the tomb entrance. The chamber was reopened and enlarged to accommodate the richly decorated mummy of Osorkon II’s nine/ten-year-old son, the High Priest of Amen-Re-sonter, Hornakht, in a granite sarcophagus and silver inner coffin (destroyed by humidity), and accompanied by canopic jars and shawabtis. The walls of this chamber are decorated with funerary scenes, some carved and others painted on plaster, which are now nearly destroyed.
Much later, King Takelot II of the 22nd Dynasty was buried in the southernmost limestone chamber. Inscriptions and scenes painted on plaster (of which nothing remains) were added for him over Osorkon II’s original reliefs. The chamber and coffin, which still contained bones and the remains of the mummy coverings, were plundered in antiquity. Grave goods, including Takelot’s shawabtis, canopic jars and vessels, still lay near the coffin.
Tomb 2, which consists of a limestone chamber preceded by a shaft, is anonymous and undecorated. It contained a large limestone sarcophagus, canopic jars and other remains of grave goods. The tomb was built in two phases, before and after the adjacent tomb of Osorkon II was constructed.
Tomb 4, also a single limestone chamber, contained a granite sarcophagus and some thirty shawabtis inscribed with the name of King Amenemope, whose remains were moved to the tomb of Psusennes I, presumably after having been buried first in this tomb. In the outer coffin was an unidentified mummy in a wooden coffin. Very little remains of this secondary burial, as the tomb was plundered in antiquity and remained open.
Tomb 5, consisting of a burial chamber preceded by a shaft, was for the burial of Sheshonk III, but contained a canopic jar and a heart scarab of Sheshonk I, who was possibly buried here. The chamber is decorated with funerary reliefs (extracts of the Book of the Night). Some of the masonry consisted of reused blocks from tombs built for a family of officials of Psusennes I.
Tomb 6 is of very uncertain date, possibly the beginning of the 22nd Dynasty. It now consists of a single chamber, but there is evidence suggesting that it once may have had more. Tomb 7 is an anonymous limestone chamber, later in date than that of Psusennes I, as evidenced by a reused lintel with the king’s name. It was destroyed when construction was undertaken for Osorkon II’s tomb.
