which no man has admission, unless he be a near relation." Wine, as I have already observed, was presented both to matrons and virgins at an Egyptian feast; and they were waited upon by handmaids and female slaves, as the men were attended by footmen and men slaves. An upper maid servant, or a white slave, had the office of handing the wine, or whatever refreshment was offered them, and a black woman followed her, in an inferior capacity, to receive an empty cup when the wine had been poured from it into the goblet, or to bring and take away what it was the privilege of the other to present. The same black slaves brought the dishes as they were sent from the kitchen, and the peculiar mode of holding a plate with the hand reversed, so generally adopted by women from the interior of Africa, is characteristically portrayed in the paintings of a tomb at Thebes, given in the No. 280. A black and white slave waiting upon a lady at a party. accompanying wood-cut. Thebes. To each person, after drinking, a napkin was presented for wiping the mouth, answering to the máhrama of the modern Egyptians, and other Eastern people; and the servant who held it on his arm, while the person was drinking, probably uttered a complimentary wish, as he proffered it, and received the goblet ; for the custom of saying "may it benefit you," or some similar phrase, being so general throughout the East, we cannot but suppose that it was adopted by the ancient Egyptians, and that the mode of welcoming a stranger with salt, the emblem of hospitality, was common to them, as to the Romans and other people of antiquity. THE DINNER. That dinner was served up at midday, may be inferred from the invitation given by Joseph to his brethrent, but it is probable that, like the Romans, they also ate supper in the evening, as is still the custom in the East. The table was very similar to that of the present day in Egypt, which is a small stool, supporting a round tray on which the dishes are placed, and it only differed from this in being raised upon a single leg, like many of those used for bearing offerings in the sacred festivals of their temples. In early times the Greeks as well as Romans, had similar round tables‡, in imitation, as some * Vide wood-cut, No. 281., fig. 12. + Gen. xliii. 16. “ Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon." The Hebrew expression slay" na nao is the same as the Arabic edbah dabeeh, "kill a killing." Whence called orbes by the Romans. Juv. Sat. i. 137. Plin. 13. 15. No. 281. From Thebes, and now in the British Museum. A party of guests, to whom wine, ointment, and garlands are brought. 5. presents a lotus flower; and 9. a necklace or garland, which he is going to tie round the neck of the guest, 10. 12. A female attendant offering wine to a guest; in her left hand is a napkin, 1, for wiping the mouth after drinking. things prepared for the feast: and beneath them are glass bottles of wine, b, g. The tables, a, f, have cakes of bread, c, r; meat, d, 9; geese, n; and other birds, m; figs, e, k;. grapes in baskets, h; flowers, p; and other imagine, of the spherical shape of the world*; and, occasionally, each guest had a table to himselft; but from the mention of persons sitting in rows, according to rank, it has been supposed that they were of a long figure, which may sometimes have been the case in Egypt, even during the Pharaonic ages, since the brethren of Joseph "sat before him, the first born according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth ‡," Joseph himself eating alone at another table. § It is not, however, certain that the table in this instance was long, or in any way different from their usual round table, since persons might, even then, be seated according to their rank, and the modern Egyptian table is not without its post of honour, and a fixed gradation of place. No tray was used on the Egyptian table, nor was it covered by any linen; like that of the Greeks, it was probably wiped with a sponge T¶ or napkin, after the dishes were removed, and polished by the servants **, when the company had retired. There has long been a question respecting the custom of reclining at meals, and its first introduction among the Greeks and Romans. Some * Myrleanus in Athen. lib. xi. c. 12. + Athen. i. 8. Gen. xliii. 33. Gen. xlii. 32. "And they set on for him by himself." Tablecloths were unknown in Rome, until the time of the emperors. Mart. xii. 29. 12. ¶ Homer Od. A. 112.: « Οι δ' αυτε σπογγοισι πολυτρητοισι τραπεζας Νιζον, και προτιθεντο, ιδε κρεα πολλα δατευντο.” ** Whether of stone or wood. Polished wood is frequently found in the tombs of Thebes. have supposed that it came directly to Greece from Asia, and to Rome, after the conquest of Carthage and Asia Minor: but it appears rather to have been gradually introduced, than borrowed at any particular time from a foreign people. With great reason, however, we may believe that the custom originated in Asia*; and the only notice of it among the Greeks, in early times, is found in sacred subjects, where the deities are represented reclining on couches †, evidently with a view to distinguish their habits from those of ordinary mortals. But when luxury increased, and men "inflated," as Aristotle observes, "with the pride of victory, laid aside their previous discrimination," new modes of indulgence were devised, their former simplicity was abandoned, and customs were introduced which their ancestors considered suited to the gods alone. That they derived their ideas respecting the use of couches from a positive custom is certain, since all notions about the habits of the deities could only be borrowed from human analogies; we may therefore safely ascribe to it a foreign origin, though not introduced at once, or merely adopted in imitation of an Eastern custom. The principal person at a festival is often described as having reclined, while the others sat on chairs or on the ground. At the Roman fête of the Epulum Jovis, Jupiter reposed on a couch, while the other deities were seated; and, in Macedonia, no * Eneas and the Trojans reclined. Virg. Æn. i. 700. |