Through the Eras

DanceTHANKS FOR A GIFT OF A DANCING PYGMYINTRODUCTION: In approximately 2286 B.C.E., the eight-yearoldKing Pepi II received a gift of a dancing pygmy fromhis expedition leader Harkhuf. Harkhuf recorded in histomb the thank-you note that the king sent him. Thenote reveals the role of African pygmies in ancient Egyptiandance. The young king tells Harkhuf that the pygmywill dance for the soul of the king’s predecessor, Neferkare.It seems that the king also eagerly awaits thepygmy’s arrival for his own enjoyment.The King’s own seal: Year 2, third month of the first season,day 15.The King’s decree to the Sole companion, Lector-priest,Chief of scouts, Harkhuf.Notice has been taken of this dispatch of yourswhich you made for the King at the Palace, to let oneknow that you have come down in safety from Yam withthe army that was with you. You have said in this dispatchof yours that you have brought all kinds of greatand beautiful gifts, which Hathor, mistress of Imaau, hasgiven to the ka of King Neferkare, who lives forever. Youhave said in this dispatch of yours that you have broughta pygmy of the god’s dances from the land of the horizon-dwellers,like the pygmy whom the god’s seal-bearerBawerded brought from Punt in the time of King Isesi.You have said to my majesty that his like has never beenbrought by anyone who did Yam previously.Truly you know how to do what your lord loves andpraises. Truly you spend day and night planning to dowhat your lord loves, praises, and commands. His majestywill provide you many worthy honors for the benefit ofyour son’s son for all time, so that all people will say,when they hear what my majesty did for you, “Does anythingequal what was done for the sole companionHarkhuf when he came down from Yam, on account ofthe vigilance he showed in doing what his lord loved,praised, and commanded?”Come north to the residence at once! Hurry andbring with you this pygmy whom you brought from theland of the horizon-dwellers live, hale, and healthy, forthe dances of the god, to gladden the heart, to delightthe heart of King Neferkare who lives forever! When hegoes down with you into the ship, get worthy men to bearound him on deck, lest he fall into the water! When helies down at night, get worthy men to lie around him inhis tent. Inspect ten times at night! My majesty desires tosee this pygmy more than the gifts of the mine-land andof Punt!When you arrive at the residence and this pygmy iswith you live, hale, and healthy, my majesty will do greatthings for you, more than was done for the god’s sealbearerBawerded in the time of King Isesi, in accordancewith my majesty’s wish to see this pygmy. Orders havebeen brought to the chief of the new towns and thecompanion, overseer of priests to command that suppliesbe furnished from what is under the charge of each fromevery storage depot and every temple that has not beenexempted.SOURCE: King Pepi II, in The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Vol. 1of Ancient Egyptian Literature. Trans. Miriam Lichtheim (Berkeleyand Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973):26–27.inscriptions as dancing the heby-dance for the cult of theApis bull. This cult worshipped the bull in his lifetimeand performed a special funeral for him. Dancing theheby-dance in his funeral was a particular honor.DANCING ANIMALS. The Egyptians depicted bothmonkeys and ostriches dancing. Dancing monkeys comprisedpart of the Egyptian tradition that depicted animalsin human pursuits. Artists included these depictionsin the Old Kingdom tombs of the high officials Ti andKagemeni. Monkeys may have been linked with pygmies,perhaps because both monkeys and pygmies hadtheir origins in the far south of Africa, the area Egyptianscalled “God’s Land,” which gave them special accessto the divine. A New Kingdom sketch depicted amonkey dancing with a Nubian dressed in a non-Egyptian costume of a red, leather kilt with a feather inhis hair. Monkeys also danced with Egyptian dancinggirls in the New Kingdom. One sketch shows a monkeydancing on a ship. Scholars consider many of these scenesto be satirical. They depict an upside-down world whereanimals wait on each other as servants. These scenes reversenormal preconceptions, for example, by showing acat serving a mouse. Yet, dance scenes with monkeysmight represent actual performances that included animals.The Egyptians believed that ostriches danced inthe wild. They called the violent movements with outstretchedwings that ostriches do at sunrise an iba, thesame word they used for human dancing. Modern ornithologistsalso have observed this behavior and independentlycalled it a dance. The Egyptians spoke directlyof the ostrich dance in a hymn to King Ahmose72 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)