Sheep [1], goats, cattle, pigs [2] and geese were raised from earliest times and supplied repectively milk, wool, meat, eggs, leather, skins, horn and fat. Even the dung had its uses [7]. There is little evidence that mutton was consumed, while domesticated pigs were eaten at least since the beginning of the 4th millennium BCE [8], but pork had no place in religious ceremonies. Goat meat on the other hand was acceptable even to upper class Egyptians. Goat skins served as water containers and floating devices. The Egyptian farmers, in their early experimental phase, also tried to domesticate other animals such as hyaenas, gazelles and cranes, but abandoned these attempts after the Old Kingdom. The domestic chicken didn't make its appearance …show more content…
Cattle and oryx antelopes [19] destined for sacrifice are also known to have been fattened. The Harris Papyrus mentions fattening-houses containing fat geese, and one wonders whether the ancient Egyptians knew how to prepare pâté de foie gras.
Cattle
cattle
Cattle crossing a body of water
Tomb of
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Oxen [3] of a horned African breed were fattened to immense proportions and, adorned with ostrich feathers, displayed in processions before slaughter, as shown in depictions at Abydos and Medinet Habu. They also had a smaller breed, generally hornless, and wild longhorned cattle which resisted fattening. Zebu were introduced from the Levant during the New Kingdom [15] and spread subsequently throughout much of eastern Africa. The Egyptians developed a number of techniques for rendering these big animals more amenable. Unwanted horn growth was controlled by burning or scraping off budding horns. The story Lion in Search of Man also speaks of nose-piercing:
... an ox and a cow, whose horns were clipped, whose noses were pierced, and whose heads were roped.
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III, p.158
New Kingdom branding iron, source: Petrie Museum websiteSometimes the cattle were branded with red hot irons [14], above all on the great estates belonging to the pharaohs and the temples.
Bronze branding iron, New Kingdom
UC63717 Petrie Museum
Source: Petrie Museum