Abstract

According to the worldview of the ancient Egyptians, tomb scenes present depictions of the world, inhabited by the deceased’s Ka (‘double’), and this world incorporates only important things for tomb’s owner. In this regard, interpretations of frogs’ images in several noble tombs of the Old Kingdom still present problems for the researchers. To address this problem, the author considers several interpretation options of the tombs scenes, depicting amphibians, trying to find out the nature of the animal images — whether they are symbolic or not. Included here are also some other representatives of the animal world, depicted alongside with the frog in the scenes in question; briefly outlined are the main characteristics of the frog’s cult in the Old Kingdom and earlier. As a result, the author comes to following conclusions. Firstly, regardless of the meaning — sacred or not — underlying the tomb scene, the very fact of presence of animals and fish that actually live in the Nile marsh is very important. Secondly, all the scenes cover aspects of the so-called ‘scenes of everyday life’. Thus, the main purpose of those scenes is to provide the owner of the tomb with abundant offerings. To do this, it is necessary to depict and record them as accurately as possible in the moment of their acquisition. Therefore, the habitat of all the animals, depicted in these scenes, was very important, while the fact of their sacralization was not. Finally, we can conclude that the frog in this case is depicted as a typical inhabitant of the Nile marsh. In addition, it can be assumed that during the period of the Old Kingdom it was revered not only as a sacral element or the symbol of the goddess Heqet, but also as an amphibian with a special habitat.

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