one could recline at meals, till he had killed a boar without the help of nets. It was therefore, originally, a mark of honour and distinction, and sometimes confined to men; but in process of time it became general, and was afterwards adopted by all ranks. For we have evidence from many ancient authorities, that in early times neither the Greeks nor Romans reclined at meals. Homer's heroes* sat on the ground, or on chairs; Virgilt, Tacitus, Ovid‡, Philo, and others mention the same primæval custom; and Suetonius § says that even the grand-children of Augustus "always sat at the end of the couch when they supped with him."

The ordinary Egyptian round table was similar to the monopodium of the Romans, and instead of the movable tray used by the modern Egyptians, its circular summit was fixed to the leg on which it stood; which, as I have before observed, frequently presented the figure of a man, generally a captive, who supported the slab upon his head, the whole being either of stone, or some hard wood. On this the dishes were placed, together with loaves of bread, some of which were, apparently, not unlike those of the present day, flat and

Homer, Od. i. 108., &c. " Hμevoi."

Virg. Æn. i. 176. "Soliti patres considere mensis."

Ovid. Fast. vi. 305.

Suet. Aug. c. 64. " Neque cœnavit unà, nisi in imo lecto adsiderent."

Vide Juv. Sat. xi. 122.

"Latos nisi sustinet orbeis

Grande ebur, et magno sublimis pardus hiatu."

¶ "To set on bread" was the expression used, as at present, in Egypt, for bringing dinner. Gen Ixiii. 31. It is singular that lahm should signify, in Hebrew, "bread;" and, in Arabic, “meat.”

round*, as our crumpets, and others in the form of rolls or cakes, sprinkled with the seeds before noticed.

In the houses of the rich bread was made of wheat, the poorer classes being contented with barley, and flour of the sorghumt; for Herodotus, as I have had occasion to observe in a former work ‡, has been guilty of an error in stating S that it was considered among the Egyptians "the greatest disgrace" to live on wheat and barley, and that " they therefore made their bread of the olyral, which some call zea." It is doubtful whether the historian had in view the triticum zea, which is now no longer grown in Egypt, or the sorghum **, the doura of the present day; but it is probable that he gives the name of olyra to this last; and that it was grown in ancient times in Upper and Lower Egypt, particularly about the Thebaïd, is evident from the sculptures, though not in the same quantity as wheat. So far, how

These retain the form of the old "cake," baked " upon the hearth" (Gen. xviii. 6.), which are so generally used at this day by the Arabs of the desert, without leaven. The bread of Upper Egypt is more like the ancient Egyptian cake. + Holcus Sorghum, Linn.

§ Herod. ii. 36.

"Egypt and Thebes," p. 213.

Pliny (xviii. 7.) says, "Far in Ægypto ex olyra conficitur;" but not to the exclusion of any other grain; and we find in the same author," Ægyptus... e tritico suo." He also observes, that the olyra had been supposed the same as rice, " olyram et oryzam eandem esse existimant;" and afterwards (c. 8.), distinguishes it from the zea, with which Herodotus has confounded it. Homer feeds horses on the olyra, as well as wheat and barley; which last is now given them in the East. Homer, II. E. 196.

¶ Bearing no relation to the zea mays, or Indian corn.

** The Assyrian wheat and barley, he affirms, had "leaves four fingers in breadth," from which it has been conjectured that he there (lib. i. 193.) alludes to the sorghum; but the expression "wheat and

ever, were the Egyptians from holding wheat and barley in abhorrence, that they cultivated them abundantly throughout the whole valley of the Nile*, offered them to the gods, and derived from them a great part of their sustenance, in common with whatever other corn the soil produced; and I fear that this, and his assertion respecting the exclusive use of brazen drinking cupst, prove Herodotus not to have lived in the best society during his stay in Egypt. ‡

No. 282.

Drinking cups.

Fig. 1. An alabaster beaker, in the Museum of Alnwick Castle.

2. A saucer or cup of blue glazed pottery, in the Berlin Collection.

3. Side view of the same.

The drinking cups of the Egyptians, as I have already observed, were of gold, silver, glass, porcelain, alabaster, bronze, and earthenware.

"The barley

* Witness the sculptures, and Exod. ix. 31, 32.; was smitten..... the wheat and the rye (?) were not smitten; for they were not grown up." Wheat in Egypt is about a month later than barley.

+ Herod. ii. 37. Vide suprà, p. 201.

If Herodotus had travelled, a few years ago, in the north of our island, he might, perhaps, have made a similar remark about the English and oat cakes.

They varied greatly in their forms: some were plain and unornamented; others, though of small dimensions, were made after the models of larger vases; many were like our own cups without handles; and others may come under the denomination of beakers and saucers. Of these the former were frequently made of alabaster, with a round base, so that they could not stand when filled, and were held in the hand, or when empty, were turned downwards upon their rim: and the latter, which were of glazed pottery, had sometimes lotus or fish represented on their concave surface, which, when water was poured into the cups appeared to float in their native element. *

The tables, as at a Roman repast, were occasionally brought in and removed † with the dishes

No. 283.

1

The table brought in with the dishes upon it.

2

Tombs near the Pyramids.

on them; sometimes each joint was served up separately, and the fruit, deposited in a plate or trencher, succeeded the meat at the close of dinner, and in * Wood-cut, No. 282. fig. 2. Vide also the spoon in wood-cut, No. 261. fig. 1.

+ Wood-cut, No. 283. Conf. Virg. Æn. i. 723.

less fashionable circles, particularly of the olden time, it was brought in baskets which stood beside the table. The dishes consisted of fish; meat boiled, roasted, and dressed in various ways; game, poultry, and a profusion of vegetables and fruit, particularly figs and grapes, during the season; and a soup, or pottage of lentils*, as with the modern Egyptians, was not an unusual dish. Of figs and grapes they were particularly fond, which is shown by their constant introduction even among the choice offerings presented to the gods; and figs of the sycamore must have been highly esteemed, since they were selected as the heavenly fruit, given by the goddess Netpe to those who were judged worthy of admission to the regions of eternal happiness. Fresh dates during the season, and in a dried state at other periods of the year, were also brought to table, as well as a preserve of the fruit, still so common in the country, some of which I

No. 284. A cake of preserved dates, found by me at Thebes. At a is a date stone. have found in a tomb at Thebes, made into a cake of the same form as the tamarinds now brought

* Gen. xxv. 34. "Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils."