Priests Food taboos in ancient Egypt, A case study from Dakahlia governorate

Hashesh, Zeinab Said

doi:10.21608/sjam.2022.166806.1772

Priests Food taboos in ancient Egypt, A case study from Dakahlia governorate

نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية

المؤلف

Zeinab Said Hashesh

Department of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Beni Suef University

10.21608/sjam.2022.166806.1772

المستخلص

The life of priests followed by strict rules, especially in purification and rituals practices. One of these rules was abstained to eating some kinds of food to guarantee purification. Food taboos are an extremely complex subject, not only because most of our information date back to late periods (e.g. Herodotus and Plutarch writings) but also because it was different between literary and illustrative evidence. According to Herodotus and Plutarch writings, some kinds of food were forbidden to eat for priests, for religious duty and other for purity before cult, while some kinds of food were related to God symbols themselves. The balanced diet which contains differing kinds of food ensure good health. Therefore, the stopping of eat onions, garlic, salt, and beans additionally some kinds of fish and meat probably effect negatively on priests’ health. Despite, the skeletal and mummified remains are one of the main sources to study the health and diseases in ancient populations alongside the medical papyri and artistic representations, the bioarchaeological studies are still limited in Egypt. The mummified and skeletal remains date back from late period to Ptolemaic period based on the analysis of the pottery by Sayed Talhawy. The microscopic analysis for ten individuals at Tell Tebilla displayed pathological cases including healed fractures, dental pathologies, degenerative joint diseases and possibly a Hyperostosis Frontalis Interna (HFI) case.

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