Buffles et Zébus au Proche-Orient Ancien

Abstract

Despite the quasi absence of representations and the uncertainty of the faunal remains, and against a common opinion, it is possible to suggest the presence of buffalos (Bubalus bubalus) in the Near East during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and the Classical periods. Buffalos could appear as r’umm in Ugaritic texts. Moreover, buffalo could have been installed and domesticated in Anatolia after a military expedition by Sargon of Akkad, and according to a passage of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, confronted with the archaeo-geographical situation of the territory, have existed in the coastal low valley of Xanthos in Lycia. Like the buffalos, but totally different in aspect and nature, zebus (Bos indicus) come from India and South-Eastern Asia. Their presence and different races (in Syria, in Caria) are well attested in the ancient Near East at different periods. The zebus were often used for agriculture as the iconography shows. It seems there were important in Afghanistan as in Babylonia during the Achaemenid period. Some iconographical interpretations are difficult to put, and we can hesitate sometimes between zebus and simple bulls (Bos Taurus). An Egyptian document could show a kind of Watussi bull, result of the inbreeding between zebu and Nile bull (a kind of buffalo). It is not exaggerated to advance as a hypothesis that the ancient peoples used to create new races for a better exploitation of lands. The famous Mesopotamian and Persian Royal parks (paradises) were not only botanical gardens and wildlife reserves, but also experimental laboratories of new techniques.