Lecture 3: Egypt and the Gift of the Nile

African. Sheep were mostly kept for wool, which priests weren’t

allowed to wear, and wealthy people seem to have avoided it.

 Egyptians loved fowl, including geese, ducks, cranes, pigeons, and

quails. All were hieroglyphic symbols, and all were also worshipped.

Egyptians didn’t eat falcons, but they used them for capturing other

birds as an elite sport. They also hunted bigger birds with a bow

and arrow. Waterfowl that were used for food were usually wild and

caught using big nets. Ducks and geese were captured and fattened

in pens but were not technically domesticated.

 Fowl were also used for temple offerings. In fact, cooked geese

were often included in funerary offerings and buried with the

deceased. Ibis were also sacred. They were associated with

Thoth and were forbidden as food; they’re extinct now in Egypt.

Falcons and vultures were also associated with specifi c gods that

were forbidden. Domestic chickens don’t seem to appear until

very late and were probably not used regularly until Ptolemaic or

Roman times.

 Egyptians loved fi sh. They fi shed for sport with spears, with a hook

and line, or commercially with nets and traps. It is very diffi cult

Amursanu-Pigeon Broth

M

ost Sumerian recipes were simple in preparation but quite

complex in the range of ingredients. For example, a broth

would be made by adding a piece of meat to a pot with

water, fat, salt, fl avorings—such as onion, cumin, coriander, and

leeks—and sometimes bread crumbs for thickness, or even blood.

Split the pigeon in two; other meat is also used. Prepare water and

add fat, salt to taste, bread crumbs, onion, samidu, leek, and garlic.

Before using, soak these herbs in milk. It is ready to serve.