The Beja herdsmen from Meir

Abstract EN

Ancient Egyptians had contact, whether friendly or hostile, with other civilizations.

Such a relationship with foreigners was revealed through artistic representations.

Among the latter, scenes of non-Egyptian herdsmen appeared on quite a number of walls in three Middle Kingdom tombs at Meir.

There is almost a consensus amongst scholars that these figures represent herdsmen from a nomadic tribe called “Beja".

They are a group of people who still live in modem times in the Sudan, Eriteria and the Egyptian Eastern Desert.

They include clans such as: the Bisharia, Hadendowa, Amrar and Ababda.

Mainly, the people of Beja speak Tu Bedawie, a kind of Afro-Asiatic language, as well as Arabic.

They are mostly herdsman of camels, cattle and sheep.

In modem times, the Beja who lives in Egypt sometimes cultivate land.

The Meir scenes, a total of seven, represent those Beja people in their distinctive features especially their fiizzy-wuzzy hair that continued to characterize this clan until present days.

The present study will examine such scene, while pursuing the fact that ancient Egyptian local artists at Meir featured non-Egyptians with their own distinctive features.

The study will also explore the relationship between the Beja people and the ancient Egyptians, and the fact that the Beja tribes still retain some of their ancient traditions in spite of raodemization.