8. The Life and Thought of the Surrounding Peoples

This is a delightful but frustrating study. More than a thousand drawings or paintings of animals dressed and acting like humans are known, especially from Deir el-Medina (near the Valley of the Kings). The four most common motifs are elite mice seated before a table of offerings, playing games, musicians in a banquet setting, and pastoral scenes. Many include mice dressed as elite individuals, in some cases with cat servants. One shows a mouse in a chariot, possibly fighting cats in a fortress. Many are on ostraca, perhaps suggesting disposability, but some are on papyri, so that the medium seems no comment on their value. The erotic nature of some of them suggests they were not aimed at children, but their exact aim remains uncertain: possibly satire (in certain cases) or to accompany oral tales or even subversive acts against the ruling elite. A long chapter on Egyptian aesthetic values shows that Egyptians—at least the elite—had a fine appreciation of art and artistry. The frustration comes from the images themselves. A number of clear and charming scenes are provided, but many of the images are less than clear. Of the 83 photos in an appendix, many are difficult and a few impossible to make out. The papyrus image in Cat. 1 is small but can be seen and is delightful. But Cats. 2–4 are only a centimetre or two in height and impossible to see, even with a powerful magnifying glass. The accompanying textual description is not a substitute for the visual. Why obviously obscure images were allowed in this book makes one question the judgment of the publishers and will stump the readers. LeSTer L. graBBe