A much more diverse range of snakes than we had imagined lived in the land of the pharaohs – which also explains why these Egyptian authors were so preoccupied with treating snakebites!
Like cave paintings, texts from early in recorded history often describe wild animals the writers knew. They can provide some remarkable details, but identifying the species involved can still be hard.
BROOKLYN PAPYRUS
Ancient texts, like the Brooklyn Papyrus from 660-330 BCE, offer unique insights into the animals that lived alongside ancient civilizations. While these texts provide remarkable details, identifying the exact species can be challenging. One such case involves venomous snakes described in the Brooklyn Papyrus, which has shed light on a more diverse range of snakes in ancient Egypt than previously thought.
GREAT SNAKE OF APOPHIS
The papyrus lists different types of snakes known at the time, their bite effects, and treatments. It also associates each snake with a deity or divine intervention for patient salvation. For example, the “great snake of Apophis,” a god in snake form, was said to cause rapid death. Interestingly, it was described as having four fangs, a rare feature in snakes today.
The papyrus lists 37 snake species, with 13 descriptions lost. Present-day Egypt has far fewer snake species, prompting researchers to speculate about the identities of these ancient snakes.
One striking example is the “great snake of Apophis” with four fangs. Modern Egyptian snakes, including vipers and cobras, have only two fangs. The boomslang, a snake with four fangs, is found more than 400 miles south of Egypt. Could this snake be the ancient Apophis, and how did it live so far north?
To answer this, the researchers used climate niche modelling to explore how the ranges of various African and Levantine snakes have changed over time. This modelling reconstructs the conditions in which a species can live and identifies suitable areas. By adding maps of past climate conditions, the researchers could determine where these species might have lived in ancient Egypt.
HUMID CLIMATE OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Their study suggests that the more humid climate of ancient Egypt could have supported many snake species not found there today. This includes venomous snakes like the black mamba, puff adder, and boomslang, which could have inhabited regions of ancient Egypt that are part of modern Sudan and the Red Sea coast.
Other snakes described in the papyrus, like one “patterned like a quail” that “hisses like a goldsmith’s bellows,” could also have had larger ranges in ancient Egypt. The puff adder, for instance, now lives south of Khartoum in Sudan and in northern Eritrea, but it may have extended further north in ancient times.
The drying of the climate and desertification about 4,200 years ago significantly impacted the region. However, factors like farming and irrigation in the Nile valley and along the coast could have slowed these changes, allowing many snake species to persist into historical times.
This study exemplifies how a combination of ancient texts and modern technology can reveal valuable insights. Even imprecise descriptions can be informative when combined with modelling of modern species‘ ancient ranges. This approach enhances our understanding of how ecosystems change over time due to environmental shifts and human interactions with wildlife.
