Egyptian Turtles

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Egyptian Turtles

Author(s): Henry G. FischerSource: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 24, No. 6 (Feb., 1966), pp193-200Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of ArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3258215 .

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Egyptian Turt l e sCuratorof EgyptianArt

It seemslikely that a considerablenumberof our five and a half million annualvisitorsprovide food and lodging for the more than five million turtles that are sold each yearin greaterNew York City. Turtles and tortoises do not pleaseevery taste, but they areexceptionallyself-sufficientpets, unlikely to sufferfrom neglect regardlessof how muchtime their ownersspend looking at exhibitions. If the statistics were pursuedin greaterdetail they might also reveal that testudophilesgravitate to the exhibitions featuringthe Far East, wherethe turtle is one of the four cosmicanimals,anda propitious symbolof longevity. Or they might prefer our collection of armor, for the same reasonsthatled its eminent founder, BashfordDean, away from the AmericanMuseum of NaturalHistory and his study of the protective armor of fish. Relatively few, however, couldbe expected to pursue the aesthetic ramificationsof their hobby in the Egyptian De-partment. Egyptian art tends rather to be favored by ailurophiles,on account of theelegant bronze cats that are so populara feature of every collection of pharaonicart,including our own. But statues of cats are but one example- and a relatively late ex-ample at that - of the ancient Egyptians' skill and delight in portrayingvirtually everyliving creature that existed in their corner of Africa. Since their life was sustained bythe Nile it was natural that riverine fauna, including the three-clawed turtle Trionyxtriunguis(Figure i), should be depicted most frequently. As it happens,our museumcontains a great many representationsof this particularsubject; as far as three-dimen-sionalexamplesareconcerned,we have more,in fact, thanany other Egyptian collectionin the world.

Our collection is characteristic n its exclusionof both land tortoisesand sea turtles,both of which are attested in ancient Egypt by artifacts manufactured rom theirshells.The high-domed carapaceof the land tortoise (Testudokleinmanni)made a serviceablesounding boardfor lutes in the New Kingdom, and at all periods the plates of the seaturtle were cut into strips to be heated and bent into bracelets(Figure 2). No such usecould be made of the leathery carapaceof the Nile turtle, although it may have servedas a shield at the very beginning of the First Dynasty. On the other hand, there isabundant evidence that the flesh of Trionyx was eaten by the earliest Egyptians. TheTrionychidae are relished throughout the world for their excellent flavor, which thewriter Gerald Durrell has comparedto "richand slightly oily veal," and turtle meat is

ContentsEgyptianTurtles

HENRY G. FISCHER

Andokides he Potterandthe AndokidesPainterDIETRICH

VON BOTHMER

FRONTISPIECE:Egyptian turtle amuletsof vperiods. Slightlymore than twenlarged; reatest engthI 8 iReading eft to rightand topbottom: carnelian, 10. 30.23quartz and hematite, 10o.30(bothgift of Helen Miller Gsteatite, 26.7.I275H (gift ofEdward S. Harkness); ametio. 30.2399, 0. z30.2400 (bgift of Helen Miller Gould);amethyst and inlay, 26.7. 35(gift of EdwardS. Harknessbone, 65.46.I4, 59. 00oo. (bRogersFund).ON THE COVER:Details of the amphora by Akidesdiscussedon pages 201-2

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HENRY G. FISCHER

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i. Trionyx triunguis,a youngfemale specimen rom the secondcataractof the Nile. (Plate 3 inVolume I of Zoology of Egyptby John Anderson)

still eaten by the Nubian population of theSudan and the southernmost region of modern.i :!~ ; S :Egypt. By the end of the Old Kingdom, how-ever, this item of Egyptian diet evidently fellunder a curious proscription that requires

some explanation.An aversion to river turtles might be ex-

r--!. t!Xt j 00 plained on many grounds; the animal is car-nivorous and grows to so formidable a sizethat it is capable of inflicting serious wounds

....GI (i;, l if not handled with great respect. Even rel-H1~~~~~~~ 2F6ativelyoung specimens, whose carapacesF?i':.--~.~ 'si> have attained only a fraction of the maximum! W,ilA,~'3.SRX'FLg L- recorded diameter of four feet, are capable ofcatching and devouring waterfowl; our own?_ iTI -, '5 -.! X native species of Trionyx, at any rate, havesometimes incurred the hostility of farmers

! ~ . ~:~,:i:,-'-,-for this reason. The predatory nature of an' $w-, + ~animal would hardly explain its exclusionL _~~~ > ~fromthe Egyptian diet, however. In theIj z; i4~i ~Middle Kingdom various parts of the turtle

'b !I3f~~-~ -Ewere prescribed as remedies (although for ex-ternal use only), and there is no reason to!f- | _suspect that its flesh was ever avoided formedical reasons. It is true that a family out-

0-! - --s ff e _=*~breakf salmonellosiswas traced to one of theNile turtle's American cousins last year, but!i]>~~~~ e3F this hazard does not seem to have been en-countered, or diagnosed, elsewhere.

?_a.,j r.S~~~~~ -aThe actual motives for the turtle's disreputewere apparently far less rational. In the firstplace, the ancient approach to the classifica-tion of fauna was totally pragmatic, like that

f:0 : i0 of the English railway clerk who consultedhis regulations to determine whether a pas-senger's pet was in a category requiring pay-ment of a fare, and concluded that it went

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART BulletinVOLUME XXIV, NUMBER 6 FEBRUARY I966Publishedmonthly from Octoberto Juneandquarterly romJuly to September.Copyright(?) I966by The MetropolitanMuseumof Art, Fifth Avenue and 82ndStreet, New York,N. Y. 10028. Secondclass postage paid at New York, N. Y. Subscriptions $5.oo00 year. Single copies fifty cents. Sent free toMuseum members. Four weeks' notice required for change of address. Back issues available on micro-film from University Microfilms, 3I3 N. First Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Editor-in-chief: GrayWilliams, Jr.; Editors: Suzanne Boorsch, Anne Preuss, Katharine H. B. Stoddert, and Leon Wilson.Designer: Peter Oldenburg.I94



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2. Predynastic raceletsmadefrom thecarapaceof a salt-water urtle.About 3400 B.C.Maximum diameter 3 inches.Museumexcavationsat Hierakonpolis,RogersFund, 35.7.47-49

free because: "This 'ere turkle is a hinsect."For the Egyptians a turtle was, only slightlymore plausibly, a fish. The connection mayseem much more innocuous than would itscorrect classification as a reptile, particularlysince tombs of the Old, Middle, and NewKingdom contain scenes of daily life repre-senting fish being caught by net, hook, orspear, as well as the preparation of fish andfish roe. Fish were clearly regardedwith somedisfavor, however, for no mention is made ofthem in any of the offering lists of the sametombs, and hieroglyphs representing fish areoften avoided in inscriptions located near thebody, on coffins,andin burial chamberswherethe coffins were placed.

An association with fish is admittedly notquite sufficient to explain why a Middle King-dom coffin text should go so far as to say, ina spell protecting the deceased against thedistressing possibility of having to eat excre-ment in the next world, "If you tell me toeat this, then Re will eat turtle." It must havebeen, more specifically, the shadowy andsecretive existence of Trionyx that broughtit into opposition with the powerful sun god,who was obliged to passbeneath its dark do-main on his perilousnightly journey. In muchlater times, when this opposition had greatlyintensified, the animal's name (stw) was writ-ten as though it meant "the mysterious one"(st3). The river turtle is, in fact, one of themost furtive creaturesof the Nile, quite apart

from its ability to retract its limbs more orless completely between its carapaceand plas-tron. Its most striking feature is a long double-tubed nose, which, like the snorkel of a sub-marine, it protrudes only very slightly abovethe water in order to breathe. And even thisclandestine emergence is only occasionallynecessary, since a gill-like apparatus in thethroat enables it to remain submerged for aslong as ten hours at a time. Although rela-tively shallowdepths aresometimespreferredfor warmth, an equal preference for darknesskeeps it out of sight most of the time, and,like the crocodile, it is nocturnal.

By the New Kingdom the sun god's hos-tility toward the umbrageous turtle was evenmore strongly formulated in the phrase,"May Re live and may the turtle die." Theexample of this passage n Figure 3 is interest-ing because it is, to my knowledge, the onlyrepresentation of the turtle that is wholly inprofile. An amusing touch is provided by thetwo pairs of very human legs that support ahigh-domed carapace like that of the landtortoise. One is reminded of Andrew Mar-vell's salmonfisherswho hoist up theirleathernboats

And like antipodes in shoes,Have shod their heads in their canoos.In view of the sinister reputation it had

acquired by the Middle Kingdom, it is pos-sible- although difficult to prove - that eventhe earliest representationsof the Nile turtle,dating back to predynastic and protodynastictimes, had magical significance and were

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3. "May Re live and may theturtledie." Text on a NewKingdomsarcophagus.Abo1300 B.C. (Plate 32 in Gurby G. Bruntonand R. Engel

4. Predynastic osmeticpaletteAbout 3500 B.C.Schist; lefwidth5 8 inches; above, le778 inches.RogersFund,io.I76.78, 07.228.I58

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5. Protodynastic turtle. About 3200 B.C. Serpentine, length 38 inches, thickness i /6 inches. Gift ofHelen Miller Gould, IO.I30.2605

6. Protodynastic urtle.About 3200 B.C.Serpentine, ength 5 inches,thickness2 inches. Gift ofAlice HampshireSilver, 61.33



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meant to ward off evil. Tombs of this periodfrequently contain flat schist palettes thathad been used for grinding eyepaint; theseobjects commonly take the form of eitherfish or turtles (Figure 4), and in one case twoturtles are fused in such a way that they seemto perform a lockstep dance. We have noexample of the next most important class ofobjects representing turtles, a seriesof therio-morphic vessels in either dark green or mot-tled stone. We do, however, possess two solidstone figurines that are related to both these

groups, but also show some individual fea-tures that place them among the most in-teresting and important sculptures of archaicEgypt. The smaller one, 38s inches long, iscarved from a piece of lustrous, mottled greenserpentine (Figure 5). The upper surface isdecorated with seven concentric circles thathave been scribed by means of a primitivecompass consisting of two points held ateither end of a short loop of string. This evi-dence for the use of such circles is apparentlyunique in Egyptian art of any period, or wasuntil we acquired a second and larger figurineof the same type, as a gift from Alice Hamp-shire Silver in i96i (Figure 6). It measures58 inches in length and is made of a blackand olive-yellow serpentine. On its back arefifteen concentric circles,with several straightlines radiating from the center. In both casesit seems likely that the circles were suggestedby the longitudinal lines of tubercles on thecarapace of Trionyx, which approximate thecurved contour of the shell as they near the

edge; the equally characteristic dark-rimmedwhite spots are more realistically conveyedby the mottling of the stone. The schematictreatment of the legs on the underside of thefigurines provides one of the most useful in-dications of their date, for similar rudimen-tary legs are likewise incised on the surfaceof some of the predynastic palettes.After the Archaic Period almost all three-dimensional representationsof the Nile turtleconsist of small pendants that could be wornashomeopathic amulets, to protect the wearer

from the baneful influences that the animalembodied. The examples in the Frontispieceillustrate the variety that was lent even to sosimple a subject. Most of them emphasizeone or more of the salient featuresof Trionyx:its round, flat carapace, protuberant nose(blunted for the sake of compactness), andwebbed feet. On the other hand, no attemptis made to reproduce the olive or olive-browncolor of the carapace, for the choice of colorin amulets generally bears little relation tothe subject represented, and depends to someextent on the period when they were made.Bone or ivory was favored for amulets of thelate Old Kingdom and the subsequent FirstIntermediate Period, for example, like thoseat the bottom of the picture, while the ame-thyst turtles evidently belong to the MiddleKingdom, when this most beautiful of semi-precious stones was frequently used.The two largest amulets emphasize thepatterning of the carapace-its longitudinalrows of small tubercles and profusion of spots.

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7. Middle Kingdomamuleticanimals. About I8oo B.c. Gsteatite, engthio7/8 inches.Gift of Edward S. Harknes26.7.I275

8. Middle Kingdom amuletic kAbout i8oo B.C. Ivory, lengabout ii inches.RogersFun22.1.154

9. Middle Kingdom eeding cuAbout I8oo B.C.Faience, le3Y8inches. Museum excavaat Lisht, RogersFund, 44.4.



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In the caseof the amethyst pendant the effectof this allover pattern is reproducedby meansof Io8 shallow pits, many of which still con-_AI!" '-: . ...........ain their original inlay, tiny disks of tur-.1S.4.__ | quoise, red jasper, and lapis lazuli. The eyes

f? I I J !! ',are indicated by similarpits, from which the!'1 l 2 g inlaid disks are missing. The use of this ob--ii }ect as a pendant is indicated by a hole drilled.'~ l ;Fthroughhe neck to accommodate a cord, but

there is also a fairly deep hole in the center ofiCri{|iV PF the underside, showing that at one time or'-~!:~ii~iIi another it was evidently affixed to a base bymeans of a round tenon.

The second of the two largest figurinesshown in the Frontispiece is made of green-New Kingdomturtle amulet. About 1400 B.C. Dark green aience, length i inch.Museum excavationsat westernThebesMutilated head of a kneelingstatue of Queen Hatshepsut.About I490 B.C. Redgranite, height about 2 feet 10 inches. Museum excavationsat Deir el Bahri,RogersFund, 29.3.1

glazed steatite. It was similarlyfixed to a baseby means of a tenon and is not, properlyspeaking, an amulet. Together with its base(Figure 7), however, it obviously did servean amuletic purpose. The base is a steatiterod made up of three segments. The sides ofthis pedestal show a crocodile and a cat, thelatter preceded by a lion in one instance, be-tween two similar groups consisting of awedjat-eye (emblematic of soundness), abrazier, and an ape; on the top is a singleturtle - obviously the centerpiece - flankedby two frogs, two crocodiles, and two lions.Most of these motifs, including the turtle,are incised on the so-called magical knives(Figure 8) that are a product of the sameperiod, the Middle Kingdom, and were in-tended, according to their inscriptions, toprotect the women and children of a house-hold. In these incised representations thecarapace of the turtle is frequently cross-hatched, although the effect is less realisticthan it is in the case of the steatite turtle.Similar crosshatching of the turtle's shell re-appearson yet another amuletic object of theMiddle Kingdom, a blue faience feeding cup(Figure 9) that shows an analogous processionof magical figures, intended to protect thechild who drankfrom it.

The very round carnelian amulet in theFrontispiece may be as late as the New King-dom, since a similarspecimen in the BrooklynMuseum is known to come from an earlyEighteenth Dynasty cemetery at Sawama,near Akhmim. The brown and white amulet,a mixture of quartz and hematite, is of un-known date but can hardly be much laterthan the other examples; it is perhaps to becomparedwith a brown stone turtle found byCarnarvon and Carter in a Theban burial ofthe Second Intermediate Period. No exampleswhatever can be assigned with any certaintyto the period following the mid-EighteenthDynasty, which is evidently the date of asmall headless faience turtle (Figure io), thatturned up during the Museum's excavationsin the palace of Amenophis III. Perhaps bythat time the subject was considered alto-gether too dangerous to keep about one'sperson. At all events, it is surely no coinci-



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.1iIIz.I>--I ^ ~ /I2. The turtlekilledas an enemyof Re. From a NineteenthDynastytomb at Thebes(no. I57).About 1250 B.C. (Figure i of an articleby T. Sdve-S6derberghn page I76 of Mitteilungendes DeutschenArchdologischennstituts,Abteilung Kairo, I4, I956)dence that representations of turtles are notfound among the increasingly plentiful sup-ply of amulets recovered from the succeedingdynasties.The subsequent misfortunes of the Nileturtle are dramatically illustrated by thepresent condition of the protodynastic fig-urine acquiredin i96i, which wasdeliberatelymutilated in antiquity. The eyes in particularhave been most assiduously pecked by a sharppointed instrument, and in addition to beingblinded, the animal was maimed. The lamingof the feet was carried out somewhat hap-hazardly, but the back, on the other hand,received a great concentration of blows, asevidenced by a worn patch between the cen-

ter and front of the carapace. Such mutila-tions are known from every period of Egyp-tian history; the New Kingdom statues ofQueen Hatshepsut, which were methodicallybroken by her stepson and successor Tuth-mosis III, afford the most striking example inour own collections. As the head in Figure i ishows, their destruction was begun by ham-mering away the uraeus cobra on the brow,the symbol of royalty, and, like our ill-fatedturtle, by pecking out the eyes.

The motive behind the mutilation of theturtle is readily explained by its evil reputa-tion as an enemy of Re. No other images ofturtles are known to have been dealt with inthis manner, however, and it therefore seems

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likely that the punishment was inflicted atsome period after the turtle ceased to be rep-resented. The immolation of Trionyx is firstdepicted in a tomb as early as the NineteenthDynasty, where the deceased is pictured har-pooning a turtle, accompanied by the familiarformula, "May Re live and may the turtledie" (Figure 12). In the succeeding dynastiesmagical stelae often show the demonic solargod Harmerti triumphing over his enemies,a procession of animals reminiscent of themagical knives of the Middle Kingdom; theanimals, all of which (including the turtle)embody evil, are enclosed by a ring to pre-vent their escape (Figure 13). By the Greco-Roman Period the extermination of turtlesalong with other malevolent creatures is fre-quently represented. Reliefs in the templesof Philae, Dendera, and Edfu show the turtlebeing ritually harpooned by the king, andthere is reason to think that perishablemodelsof wax or papyrus were destroyed by theking's priestly representatives who enactedhis role. In the present case, however, we ap-parently have evidence that such a ritual wasperformed upon a more durable figurine, one

made between two and three thousand yearsearlier, which was then reburied for an almostequal length of time to await a place of honorin our Predynastic Room.

NOTESI treat this subject in greater detail in AncientEgyptian Representationsof Turtles, a monographin the Metropolitan Museum Papers that is sched-uled to appear later this year.Descriptions of Trionyx triunguis: John Ander-son, Zoology ofEgypt, I, pp. 32-34; Gerald Durrell,The OverloadedArt (Penguin Books,1953), p. 22 I.Mythology: B. van de Walle, "La Tortue dansla religion et la magie egyptienne" in La NouvelleClio, V (Brussels, 1953), pp. I73-I89.Medical considerations: B. J. Rosenstein et al.,"A Family Outbreak of Salmonellosis Traced toa Pet Turtle" in New EnglandJournal of Medicine,CCVXXII (I965), p. 960.The couplet by Andrew Marvell is from "UponAppleton House," stanza 97. The remaining linesof the stanza unwittingly echo the anti-solar no-tion of the ancient Egyptians:

How tortoise like, but not so slowThese rational amphibii go?Let's in, for the dark hemisphereDoes now like one of them appear.

I3. Detail of a schist magical stela of the Thirtieth Dynasty. About 350 B.C. Height of areaillustrated 2116 inches. Fletcher Fund, 50.85

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