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Tracing the Source of the Elephant And Hippopotamus Ivory from ...

Tracing the Source of the Elephant And Hippopotamus Ivory from ...

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<strong>Ivory</strong> Workshops in <strong>the</strong> Aegean<br />

The now familiar Tomb <strong>of</strong> Rekhmire, in addition to depicting Nubians and<br />

Syrians as bearing elephant tusks, also depicts <strong>the</strong> Keftiu (generally agreed to be Cretans)<br />

as bringing a tusk in tribute (see Figure 25). But Crete had no sources <strong>of</strong> ivory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

own, and after importing it <strong>the</strong>y may have traded <strong>the</strong> material fur<strong>the</strong>r or presented <strong>the</strong><br />

ivory as a gift-exchange among ruling elites (Krzyszkowska 1990: 19).<br />

Figure 25: Keftiu bearing ivory to Egypt, <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tomb <strong>of</strong> Rekhmire<br />

(Krzyszkowska 1990: Fig. 5).<br />

In Homer (and <strong>the</strong> later authors Hesiod and Pindar) <strong>the</strong> word elephas (ελέφας)<br />

meant ivory, not <strong>the</strong> elephant (Scullard 1974: 32), as <strong>the</strong>y presumably had no familiarity<br />

with <strong>the</strong> animals <strong>from</strong> which ivory came. References to ivory in Homer include likening<br />

Menelaus’ white skin to <strong>the</strong> ivory <strong>of</strong> bridal ornaments after he is injured (Iliad IV.141),<br />

<strong>the</strong> ivory <strong>of</strong> Menelaus’ palace (Odyssey IV.73), <strong>the</strong> couch <strong>of</strong> Penelope as inlaid with<br />

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