Pharao und Sport.

• Author: Sullivan, Peter

Pharao und Sport. By WOLFGANG DECKER. Zaberns Bilderbande zur Archaologie. Mainz: VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2006. Pp. 108, illus. [euro]60.

Since the mid-1970s, Wolfgang Decker has contributed many articles and books on Egyptian sport, including parts of the Bildatlas zum Sport and Lexikon. This is an impressively illustrated volume analyzing "Pharaoh and Sport" in detail. The book has two parts. First, Pharaoh's own sporting activities are discussed, then sporting activities presented before, or ordered by, Pharaoh. Decker begins with a brief historical summary of the word "sport" and deals with the objections of those who see it as a necessarily Classical creation with later, post-industrial-revolution, developments. My view is that both Egyptian terminology, such as shmh-ib (L. H. Lesko, A Dictionary of Late Egyptian III [Berkeley: BC Scribe Publications, 1987], 87), and sporting practice seem more akin to the Greek/Roman activities than dissimilar.

Decker's work then delineates the ideological and religious filters that are always present in the portrayal of Pharaoh as the supreme victor who keeps the world from chaos and upholds order. This means that Pharaoh himself cannot be shown in any personal sporting contest with other humans, while any display he makes must be an expression of his divine power and shown in a suitably reserved religious area. Then follows a reconstruction, based on six reliefs and a replica course preserved in stone for Djoser in his funerary complex, of the ancient Jubilee heb sed ritual run which the King completed around a specified course to show his continuing fitness for office. The discussion of this ritual run is related back to an early hunter "coursing" culture and comparisons made to similar sporting qualities of Achilles in Homer and a Sulgi-Hymn of Ur-III Mesopotamia. Ritual archery and target shooting by Pharaoh are outlined, looking at both compound and single bows in detail and including excavated examples of actual copper archery targets. The chapter includes scenes of the Pharaoh using the relatively new compound bow and chariot to overawe and destroy his opponents.

Chapter four describes the elite status symbols of chariots and horse teams. The light construction of chariots and the provision for horses at royal residences are covered, followed by a discussion of royal pride in horse training and a comparable Hittite training regime. There follows a discussion of the athletic feats of...