Soulful Creatures. Edward Bleiberg

and the shrew, respectively. Shrews appear as the focus of worship particularly in the Late Period.

      Duck, Goose

      Indigenous and migratory birds were plentiful in the Nile valley. Waterfowl that appeared in Egypt during the annual migration brought together the elements of water and sky. Several religious texts imply that stars turned into fish in the waters of Nun, and flew up to the sky as birds. Tomb scenes depicted ducks being netted, consumed at banquets, and offered to the deceased. Appropriately, ducks are an example of mummified food offerings. Geese, on the other hand, were closely associated with important gods like Geb and Amun, who was referred to by the epithet “Great Gander.” (Compare this with the lowly sparrow, adopted as the hieroglyph for words like “small” and “bad,” the latter most likely because they ate the grain planted in the fields.)

      Ibis

      There were several species of ibis in Egypt. The most commonly known “sacred ibis” (Threskiornis aethiopicus), with a white body, black neck, legs, and wingtips, and a dark bill, disappeared from Egypt by the middle of the nineteenth century c.e. (figure 40). This is the species mummified in huge numbers in the Late, Ptolemaic, and Roman Periods.