Cat and Mouse, ca. 1295-1075 BCE. Brooklyn Museum, 37.51E.
According to the label, it dates to the late New Kingdom, and depicts a mouse seated on a chair holding a flower and a bowl, while a cat fans it, and offers it a cooked goose and a napkin (not bad for someone without opposable thumbs). The label further suggests that this is a satire on Ramesside society, or perhaps reflects a now-lost folktale.
These are both quite possible, of course, but I would like to offer a third interpretation: this is the work of a bored schoolboy who cannot face the prospect of copying out The Tale of Sinuhe yet again.
I went to see Dune Part 2 yesterday. Like the first installment it was spectacular, a sort of Lawrence of Arabia in space. But the film raised some significant questions. Why does everyone still use swords in the future? How does one get off a sand worm? And when did signet rings come back into fashion? But the biggest question for me is how do the Fremen all have such good teeth?
Souheila Yacoub as Shishakli
They must have orthodontists. After all, they are clearly technologically proficient, given their stillsuits, for example. But as we know from ancient Egypt, people who live in such constantly sandy conditions tend to have significant tooth wear. Consider, for example, this poor fellow, Khnum-Nakht, whose remains are now in the Manchester Museum:
Teeth of Khnum-Nakht showing extensive tooth wear (Manchester Museum, University of Manchester)
The reason for this, as anyone who has ever been to the beach will know, is that sand gets in everything. For the Egyptians, this included their food, and a lifetime of eating sand had an effect. Also, I don’t think they flossed.
The Fremen clearly take better care of their teeth than the ancient Egyptians did. Perhaps the secrets of Fremen dentistry will be revealed in the next film, which Part 2 was clearly setting up.
