Symbols of unification -4

Perhaps stranger still, again at Beni Hasan, is a garishly painted female griffin with closed wings, wearing a collar and held on a leash in the dynasty XI tomb of Khety (BH 17). Since this griffin appears nearby the tombowner, it was undoubtedly intended to be regarded as a weird pet of Khety’s. The distinguished British Egyptologist, Norman de Garis Davies, who spent some time working in these tombs during the early 1930’s, plausibly suggested that it might, in fact, be a domestic dog, disguised to liken it with this ferocious mythical beast, or that the artist may have intended it to be some sort of a joke. A number of other griffins are also discernable in the decorative program of the Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombchapels at the nearby site of Deir el-Bersha. In one instance, this legendary creation can be seen ambling along in a desert landscape, following a troop of four pet(?) monkeys. If these primates are really tame pets, which seems to be the case, there is also a reasonable possibility that this griffin was also yet another common household dog in full masquerade. One can only then imagine the discomfort these dogs had to endure wearing such elaborate getups, and to what purpose could this serve? Merely a jest or rather in some way a prestigious possession of these nomarchs’, which would follow them into the next world?