Introduction: The brown bear (Ursus arctos) was never native to ancient Egypt, yet numerous representations of the sub-species, the Syrian brown bear (Ursus arctos syriacus), are attested dating from the Early Dynastic (c. 3000 BCE) right through to Roman times (c. 30 BCE). Due to the rarity of the bear’s appearance in Egypt’s history, Egyptologists have often neglected to discuss its existence in detail.
Methodology: This paper is intended to comprehensively review the historical representations of, and the Egyptians interactions with, the Syrian brown bear in order to determine whether brown bears were imported to Egypt by the Egyptians, and the significance of the bear in Egyptian culture.
Archaeological evidence indicating bears being brought to Egypt during dynastic times is non-existent, therefore analysis must rely on artistic and textual representations. In Egyptian iconography, only two extant examples are known from the Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2181 BCE), and five more from the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BC-1077 BC). Other representations are far more dubious, and their validity will be discussed. This study will incorporate both art historical and ethological approaches.
Main Results: The zoological accuracy of these images tells us that the artists must have studied the animals in person in order to have recreated them with such detail, but this does not necessarily imply that they were imported into Egypt. Animals featured prominently in Egyptian art and, as all artwork was chosen with specific meaning and reason in mind, why such an exotic creature was incorporated into these reliefs is a crucial element in analysis of these reliefs as a whole. The representations indicate that, to the Egyptians, the brown bear served as an exotic expression of the power of the king to their neighbours, implying a subjugation of foreigners and therefore legitimising the authority of the king to the Egyptian people.
Principal Conclusions and Implications for the Field: In ancient Egyptian art which included depictions of animals, the human actors usually receive the most scholarly attention, limiting our understanding of the scene. Yet, animals dominate the visual record, and therefore possess the potential to reveal unique information about both the practical and metaphysical lives of the ancient Egyptian people.