Egypt-Museum:
Baboons were Trained in Ancient Egypt to Catch Criminals
The most surprising use for trained baboons was as police animals. Hieroglyphs and artwork has survived the ages depicting Egyptian authorities using baboons on leashes to apprehend criminals, in much the way modern police would use a dog. One shocking bit of classical Egyptian artwork depicts authorities unleashing a baboon on a thief in a marketplace, and the criminal begging them to call the animal off as it bites his leg.
Now there's something I did not know.
Baboons can be VICIOUS, so this makes a lot of sense...
ReplyDeleteYes, trained baboons would be terrifying, but as I understand it they are very hard to train.
ReplyDelete@John
ReplyDeleteOh, no doubt - but it's also hard to buil colossal stone pyramids to house your dead rulers in. I imagine it helps tremendously when the authority figures are God-Kings, and your entire society is one big vertically integrated command economy.
Pharaoh wants trained attack baboons? Pharaoh GETS trained attack baboons.