Egyptian Cat
Egyptian Cat
The Ancient Egyptians believed in animal-worship. The Egyptian cats was
sacred throughout the whole of Egypt, and woe to the man who injured
them! Cats were not only protected by the people but also by the law. If
a human killed a feline, either intentionally or unintentionally, the
person was sentenced to death. A Roman delegate who accidentally caused
the death of a cat was immediately lynched by the enraged populace. In
any house where a cat or a dog died, the inmates were expected to mourn
for them as for a relation. Both cats and the other sacred animals were
carefully embalmed after death, and their bodies were interred in sacred
cemeteries.
History of Ancient Egyptian Cats
The domestication of Ancient
Egyptian cats is believed to date as far back as 3000BC. The first
domesticated Egyptian cats in Egypt were used for warding off snakes and
rodents. There are two species of cats which are native to Egypt are as
follows:
The Egyptian Cat
becomes a God
However, with the
popularity of animal worship, the cat became more to the
Egyptians than just a normal animal and amulets were
worn showing cats as protection against everyday
problems. Cats then began to appear as coffin
decorations. Cats were said to accompany the Sun God on
the descent into the Underworld at every dusk of the day
and the feline then became associated with the daughters
of the Sun God. The cat then became a god. The earliest
feline goddess recorded was called Mafdet and is
described in the Pyramid Texts as killing a serpent with
her claws but the most famous goddess associated with
felines was the goddess Bastet.
The Egyptian Cat
God - the Goddess Bastet (aka Bast) and the Goddess Sekmet
The history of the Egyptian cat god
achieved cult status due to the rise of the city of Bubastis in the
eastern Delta during the 22nd dynasty. The goddess adopted by the city
was Bastet who was depicted with the body of a woman and the head of a
cat, or lioness. The symbols of the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet were the
cat, lioness, sistrum and Udjat (the Eye of Horus). The feline goddess
Bastet was worshipped as the life giving god of fire, cats, the home and
pregnant women. In Egyptian religion the evil counterpart of Bastet was
the goddess Sekhmet who represented the destructive force of the feline
and worshipped as the goddess of war and pestilence.
The Cat in Ancient Egyptian
History
Cats in Ancient Egyptian History was
worshipped as a goddess during the periods associated with animal cults.
Every home in Bubastis would have a small shrine to the goddess Bastet
as a protector of the home. Temples were built in honor of Bastet and
the forms of worship included burying mummified cats in her honor in a
massive cat cemetery near the temple. The death of a feline was treated
seriously by these Ancient Egyptians. When a cat died the members of the
family would shave off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning.
Arrangements would then be made for the dead animal to be embalmed and
mummified and then buried.
Egyptian Cat
Mummies
The process of mummification was
extended to cats in Ancient Egypt. The process of mummification
included:
-
Removal of the
Organs, except the heart
-
The body was
dried out using Natron salt and packed with sand
-
The Greek
historian, Diodorus recorded that "Cedar oil and such spices
as have the quality of imparting a pleasant odour and of
preserving the body for a long time, they lay it away in a
consecrated tomb."
-
The body of the
feline was placed in a sitting position with with the
forelegs lying down the front and the hind legs drawn up
beside the pelvis
-
The body of the
feline was elaborately wrapped
-
Facial details
or decorations were painted on the wrappings as it was
important that the mummy's head should resemble a living cat
The Cat Cult in
Ancient Egyptian History
The cult of the cat and the goddess Bastet changed over the years and
cats began to be raised for the specific purpose as offerings to the
goddess. Cat mummies were sold to people and these would be left at the
temple as an offering to the god. This change led to the killing of
hundreds of thousands of Egyptian cats.
Egyptian Cats
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