Picture ostracon with mouse and cat at the dining table
| Bildostrakon with mouse and cat at the dining table | |
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 Bildostrakon
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| material | limestone |
| Dimensions | H. 10.5 cm; W. 15 cm; T. 2 cm; |
| origin | Deir el-Medina , |
| time | New Kingdom , 19th Dynasty , |
| place | Hildesheim , Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum , PM 3988 |
The Egyptian collection of the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim contains a polychrome drawing on a limestone chip ( ostracon ) from the New Kingdom , 19th Dynasty , approx. 1290–1190 BC. BC, which shows a satirical scene in which two animals are depicted at a sacrificial table instead of humans (inventory number PM 3988).
Site, size and state of preservation
The place of discovery is unknown, it can be assumed that the ostracon was found in Deir el-Medina, since most of the limestone ostraka preserved with comparable scenes come from there. The ostracon is 10.5 cm high, 15 cm wide and 2 cm deep and is well preserved, only parts have broken off at the lower edge.
Presentation and meaning
A kind of fable is depicted on the ostracon . On the right edge of the picture sits a mouse on a folding chair, elegantly dressed in a wide, puffed and pleated apron. This apron is to be seen as a male costume. The sagging chest as well as the bulging belly are typical characteristics of a stout high official. The little mouse, or rather a mouse, is thus characterized as a wealthy civil servant in the function of a victim recipient. The mouse is holding a cloth in his left hand, and with his right hand he brings a flower, probably a lotus , to his nose. A cat standing on its hind legs with a pinched tail stands across from the mouse and, in a serving function, fans him fresh air with a wide hand fan. A goose prepared for consumption lies on a low table between the two animals. The cat's mouth is open. Satirical themes like these can also be found in stories when inferior animals are courted by their natural enemies.
literature
- Katja Lembke , Martin von Falck, Bettina Schmitz : Life on the Nile and everyday life in ancient Egypt (= Ancient Egypt in Hildesheim. Volume 2). Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim 2011, and Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt / Mainz 2011, ISBN 978-3-8053-4330-5 , p. 104 f.
- Emma Brunner-Traut : Ancient Egyptian Fairy Tales. Diederichs, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-424-00237-2 .
- Emma Brunner-Traut: Ancient Egyptian animal history and fable. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1970 (from 1974: ISBN 3-534-04101-1 ).