Dwarfs and Pygmies in Ancient Egypt
A surprisingly respected class in the ancient society
With discrimination based on height, and especially against those with dwarfism, still being very much of a thing these days, one might think that such people got the short end of the stick in ancient times as well, even more so than now. However, that was not the case, at least in one of the major civilizations, that being, of course, ancient Egypt.
In fact, in ancient Egypt dwarfs were not just equal members of society, they were highly respected and higher up on the social pyramid than the average citizen. This was because they were thought to have been gifted by the gods, rather than being born with a disability, and so naturally that raised their status. It’s difficult to say when exactly did the Egyptians adopt this attitude, however dwarfs were venerated as early as around 3000 BCE - the time of the First Dynasty of Egypt - so it seems they enjoyed their benefits right from the start of the civilization.
Dwarfs From All Around the World
Now the question may arise as to how many dwarfs were there in Egypt, as this condition isn’t a very widespread one, after all. It is estimated that there are around 650 000 people with dwarfism in the world right now, which would put it at around 0.008% of the population. We don’t know the exact population of ancient Egypt, but the numbers I found are around 2 - 3 million, if we’re talking before the Bronze Age Collapse. So this would mean that, on average, there would only be around 200 dwarfs in all of Egypt at any given time, and less than half of them would be adults, due to ancient population pyramids skewing towards children much more than now.
However, it is very likely that dwarfs in Egypt were not only locals, but many (if not most) came from foreign lands, which is suggested by there being many more dwarf tombs than there naturally would be in a population of such size. Some researchers suggest that Egypt was a sort of center attracting dwarfs from all over the Near East, and many of them travelled there to enjoy their privileges, as other civilizations didn’t consider them that highly. In other cases, it is said that Egyptian officials or priests would buy dwarfs (presumably slaves) from the surrounding regions so they could have one in their household. And lastly, there were the pygmies - ethnic groups whose average height is inherently short - who also came (or were taken) to Egypt in droves. Modern pygmy people live in Central Africa, and historically (before the Bantu migrations) they might have been even more widespread in Africa, so it’s not unfeasible that some would find their way to Egypt. All these factors could raise the dwarf population in Egypt to thousands at any given time and make them much more noticeable than in any other society.
Egyptian Dwarfs vs Pygmies
So, what privileges did these people enjoy exactly? Well, that depends on which group we are talking about - the native Egyptian dwarfs or the Pygmies from other regions in Africa. Because it does seem like they were treated somewhat differently and had different functions.
The native Egyptian dwarfs usually worked in temples, households of wealthy and important officials, and even the royal palace itself. They were employed in a variety of positions: as royal cup-bearers, tailors, zookeepers (yes, zoos were, in fact, a thing in ancient Egypt), and jewelers (I do wonder if the fact that dwarfs are often depicted in modern fantasy fiction as a race centered around mining and refining all kinds of metals and precious stones was influenced by this). Dwarfs were also often adopted into a new, much more prestigious, family and could be given a wife to start their own family (guess we can safely say that the Egyptian society didn’t have the problem of incels blaming their inability to get a girlfriend on their short height). And to add to all this, dwarfs were expected to retain this high status even in the underworld, as many of them were buried very close to the pharaohs, in spots reserved only for the best and most loyal servants.
Yet dwarfs could achieve even more than the position of respected craftsmen serving wealthy Egyptians. They could be wealthy and powerful people themselves. An official named Seneb proves this. He lived around 2500 BCE and apparently had thousands of cattle, twenty palaces, various religious and administrative titles, and a high ranking priestess as his wife. He had connections with the pharaoh, was the overseer of over a dozen professions within the palace, was named the priest of Wadjet, and was eventually buried in the Royal Necropolis in Giza, right next to the Pyramid of Khufu himself. Seneb certainly made a name for himself and I think we can safely assume that he was far from the only dwarf in such a position. Well, maybe the others didn’t have twenty palaces each, but the point stands.
And what of the pygmies? Did they enjoy the same high-ranking positions and respect from the officials? Well, not exactly. Pygmies from Africa were mostly employed as exotic dancers and acrobats to perform during various ceremonies, religious rituals, or just for the entertaining of the upper classes. And they seem to have been hired exclusively just for these occasions, whereas Egyptian dwarfs would be hired exclusively for office or palace work. The question would then be why, and it could be logically answered with one word - racism. It is known that Egyptians were, to put it mildly, not very charitable to their southern neighbors Kushites (who were also black, like the pygmies), committing all sorts of atrocities when campaigning there, even in the context of ancient history and other Egyptian campaigns. So it may have been the case that the Egyptians just didn’t like black people and so that lowered their respect of pygmies.
But, to play Seth’s advocate here, it may not have been necessarily due to racism. Some Egyptologists say it was just, or for the most part, due to the different skills of the dwarfs and pygmies. For one, pygmies would come from far away lands and not know the Egyptian language, let alone their writing system, so it would take a very long time to teach them to work in an administrative or religious setting. It may also have been the case that they came there only for a short while (say, part of a trading expedition) so employing them for a show or two would make more sense than for a full time position where they would need to be replaced in a month or two. It’s difficult to say what was exactly the case, but probably it was some combination of all those factors. Still, in any event, pygmies were respected in Egypt and could potentially earn quite a lot, considering Egypt was the richest place in the world at the time (possibly only behind Mesopotamia), so it would have been a worthwhile venture for them to come there.
The Dwarf God Bes
And, as a final note on this topic, there was even an Egyptian god named Bes, who was a dwarf. He might not have been of Egyptian origin and instead could have originated in Kush or somewhere more to the south, but the Egyptians eventually adopted him into their pantheon by the 1500s BCE. He was worshipped as a protector of households, as well as a fertility deity - a god of mothers, children, pregnancy, childbirth, all that stuff. His cult later spread even outside Egypt’s borders and he became quite the popular deity for over a millennium, even after dwarfs lost their special status in Egypt.
So, all in all, ancient Egypt seems to have been quite a great place for short kings.
Image Credits
Nephiliskos, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Moyogo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Unknown author - Self-photographed by Jon Bodsworth of egyptarchive.co.uk, 10 December 2007
Meme gif by me
Meme by Filmore Lorenz Alvarez in the Facebook group We Pretend It's Bronze Age Internet
Can I get an Amun!