Mohamed Abd Elrahman
18Nov2025
Giraffes in Ancient Egypt.
According to petroglyphs found in the Sahara, giraffes used to be indigenous to North Africa, but apparently had died out by historical times.
In a demotic story giraffes are counted among the mountain animals.
Gazelles, giraffes, leopards and other animals were often brought to Egypt through tribute or trade.
Sometimes these animals were kept in the pharaoh’s private gardens for his family to enjoy.
Other times, these animals were traded to other countries, or sent to foreign rulers as gifts.
In the Book of the Dead there are occasionally daemons called Giraffe:
The god who guards you, his name is Giraffe.
His name came into existence when no cedar tree had grown yet, no acacia had come into being and no metal had been created in his mountain land.
