Fishes in Ancient Egypt

Hunting big kind of
fish in Ancient Egypt
(Inside the tomb ofKagemni, Saqqara)

River Nile of Egypt was mentioned of the greatest quality of its fish (eaten both fresh and cured or dried), many forms of which seem to have been peculiar to it. "The Israelites retrieved with regret the fish which they did eat in Egypt freely."

The kinds most highly regarded were the oxyrhynchus, "lepidotus" and "lotus".

The oxyrhynchus is now believed to have been the mormyrus or the "mizdeh" of the Arabs. It has a settled skin and a long nose, pointed down. In some dominions it was held sacred to Athor.

The "lepidotus" may have been "the salmo dentex" or "the binny" (Cyprinis lepidotus). As its name entails, its body was covered with long scales. Its flesh was prime.

The lotus, devoted in the area of Latopolis, is thought by De Pauw to be the perca nilotica.

Model of a Fishing Scene
(Inside the Tomb of Meketre
12th dynasty)

Other varieties much liked were: The oulti, to modern palates the first of all; the nefareh or Nile salmon, which at times accomplished the angle of one hundred pounds; the sagbosa, a sort of herring; a species of mullet, the shall, shilbeh byad, kilbel bahr, (the Nile dogfish) a coinages of carp, eels, and turtles of the soft-shelled variety.

Crocodiles were took sacred in the region of Lake Moeris and of Thebes, but were eaten by the indigene of the south frontier.