Amarna calf

This talatat from Amarna depicts a farmer with his hand within a cow’s mouth, it is likely the farmer is helping the calf to digest its food.

Agriculture was the most important thing to cultures of the ancient world, and Egypt was no different. A major part of the Egyptian religion or spirituality itself was focused on fertility and maintain the flourishing agriculture of the Two Lands.

The inundation of the Nile flood was of vast importance to the Egyptians, as it meant literal survival. In an otherwise desert type climate that would be barren without the Nile, Egyptians naturally felt the Gods had blessed them by providing annual floods to leave the land black with fertile damp silt or soil to grow endless fields of green. This is where the name Kemet comes from, it literally translates to black land, as opposed to Deshret, the red land…which was the desert sand of Egypt, where the Egyptians would usually bury their dead. Green was also a colour that represented life and resurrection because of the agriculture that would blossom from the damp soil, explaining why Osiris is often painted green.

Farming has seldom changed in Egypt, and the production of foods and cotton is still of vast importance to Egypt’s economy.

Summary:
Limestone relief of a farmer with his hand in cow’s mouth
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1352-1336 B.C.
Tel el-Amarna, Egypt.
Brooklyn Museum. 60.197.4