Rearing sacred birds in ancient Egypt

Much research has focussed on ancient Egyptian temple complexes rearing sacred birds in a captive habitat close by, although very little has concerned the possibility that these may have contributed to the birds health and disease. Biological research has shown that specific components of a captive habitat are crucial factors for successful breeding and rearing programmes, in addition to the provision of an adequate diet and knowledge of the behavioural patterns of individual species. As a result of archaeological and literary evidence, a number of temple complexes are thought to have been places where sacred birds were reared. The main concern with this evidence is assessing its viability and attempting to understand if the ancient Egyptian priests had sufficient knowledge to successfully rear sacred birds. The examples of this evidence used in this research include sector 7, block 3 at Saqqara, which is described as an “artificial incubation area” (Martin, 1981: 27) for rearing Sacred Ibis and Falcon species; Tuna el-Gebel, which has been described as a “natural biotope” (Von den Driesch et al., 2006: 204) and the original Ibiotropheia, or Ibis feeding place; and the temple of Edfu, which describes the Festival of the Coronation of the Sacred Falcon, a celebration when a particular sacred bird is chosen from many kept within the temple in which the god Re is manifest for one year.