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Ancient and ArchaeologyΒ  permalink

Egypt and cats.

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Zork (U9018754) on Friday, 10th August 2007

  Why Did the Egyptions worship cats?

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• Message 2

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  Posted by Elkstone (U3836042) on Friday, 10th August 2007

  Cats killed rats and mice which attacked food stocks. They were seen as sacred because they were natural protectors of food.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by malacandran (U1813859) on Friday, 10th August 2007

  As Elkstone points out, cats were useful domestic animals to the Ancient Egyptians.
  
  But, horses were useful domestic animals to the Victorians.
  
  In the 19th Century, before the invention of the motor-car, horses pulled the omnibuses and Hansom Cabs around the streets of Victorian London.
  
  So the Victorians relied on horses.
  
  But they had more sense, than to actually worship the horses.
  
  Doesn't this show, that by worshipping cats, the Ancient Egyptians were a bit dumb.
  

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• Message 4

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Monday, 13th August 2007

  Hi Malacradan,
  
  
  I agree - and even more dumb when you realise that their food protecting cats were useing their stores of grain as kitty-litter trays...
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF
  
  

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• Message 5

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Monday, 13th August 2007

  They didn't really worship cats anyway. They did worship Bast, and the cat - for reasons lost in antiquity such as why a Anubis ended up as a jackal - was the deity's specified animate form. Though this gave the humble cat quite an elevated status in Egypt's zoological pecking order when it came to being treated nicely by the human species, Bast had traditionally a few functions that cats in Egypt must have been very p!ssed off about never the less.
  
  Her close relationship with Ra (daughter) meant that she was particularly often invoked as a 'good mate' to help a dead human over to wherever it was Egyptians fancied they were headed for after death. If a cat had happened to form an affection for the stiff (or vice versa) prior to their demise, the poor creature ran a good risk of being stuffed, wrapped in bandage, and incarcerated with their old buddy - unless of course they did the typical cat thing (nibble at the owner a bit and then scarper before the mummifiers came knocking on the door), which of course was attributed to Bast's nastier side to her nature (she was responsible for women's mood swings as well as cats) and the cat was deemed best left alone until it calmed down and came back of its own accord.
  
  There is a theory that the Bast/cat association predates even the domestication of cats, so while the cat's undoubted help around the silo did indeed become much appreciated in time, there is a good chance that it was the capricious nature of cats (in human terms) that lent itself to the deity's worship originally. Which just about accords with my own view of the creature - vile little spite-balls that they are (cats, not necessarily women).

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• Message 6

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Monday, 13th August 2007

  I think it was not that much the domestic help that cats offered (not without self-profit of course!) but more the more subtles side of this amazing animal: tracing people without using sight or smell, while not supposed to know where these are, sensing of deaths even before these came etc. While wih the dogs we know they find things by smelling and hearing well, cats are known to have some not explained yet capabilities that back then were recognised as witchcraft, hence it must had been often the priests favoured pet.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Monday, 13th August 2007

  The Cats insisted on it.

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• Message 8

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  Posted by Elkstone (U3836042) on Tuesday, 14th August 2007

  re message 5. I heard on Radio 5 last week of a cat in a nursing home in the US. It had an uncanny skill in knowing precisley when one of the residents is about to die. well before the doctors or nurses. The cat (forgot its name) was very moody and unfreindly and kept to itself. However in the final hour someone is about to die it would jump on their beds and cuddle up next to the patient/resdient. It would leave twenty minutes after they were pronounced dead or when the body started to lose heat.
  
  The doctors said it was useful because they would know when to call relatives who wanted to see them for the last time. Many times they would give estimates of how much time they had left and usually got it wrong. But the cat was always right and was a valued 'staff' member.
  
  Now if modern professionals can see the value of cats with matters concerning death, imagine how the Ancients would have
  valued them, when they were more spirtual than we are?
  
  

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• Message 9

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Tuesday, 14th August 2007

  The Now Show on Radio 4 reported that the cat had been destroyed. Apparently it got so that the cat's predictions had become ridiculously accurate, mainly because its mere presence instilled a sense of morbid fear in all and sundry - so much so that it only took the cat to jump on someone's lap and the result was instant coronary. When the last five happened to be nursing home staff the directors decided enough was enough.

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• Message 10

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  Posted by Elkstone (U3836042) on Tuesday, 14th August 2007

  
  On Radio 5 report on Up All Night, they were at pains to rule out whether the cat's presence brought on the deaths as you described. A lot of the residents were infirm or with severe alzheimers and were not even aware of the cat

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• Message 11

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  Posted by terakunene (U9761462) on Monday, 19th November 2007

  There are indeed statues of a cat headed goddess from ancient Egypt but there function seems a little obscure.
  
  The only details about the Ancient Egyptians worshipping cats comes from Herodotus and I'm highly sceptical about how much of a line a rich Greek tourist was fed by the local Egyptian "guides".
  
  Was there never a feral cat problem in Egypt?
  
  Never rely on one source no matter how esteemed.

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• Message 12

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  Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Monday, 19th November 2007

  Never rely on one source no matter how esteemed.Β 
  
  Yes.
  
  In 4 thousand years time archaeologists might suggest that late 20th century Western civilization worshipped cats:
  
  'Just look at the evidence and the imagery. They even gave their deities names - Felix, Tom, Garfield, Bagpuss etc.'
  
  

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• Message 13

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  Posted by Jim Reuss (U10298645) on Monday, 19th November 2007

  Many native groups in the US are said to have revered and felt kinship with animals as related but different, more attuned manifestations of sentient spirits. Thus, a person, clan, or tribe had totemic representations whose mannerisms and forms of existence could inform them as to proper behaviors in their own lives.
  
  I wonder if the ancient Egyptian beliefs sprang from similar impulses (as the divinities have such close associations with animal forms and mannerisms) and simply evolved as the Egyptian society developed.

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• Message 14

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Monday, 26th November 2007

  Hi Vizzer,
  In 4 thousand years time archaeologists might suggest that late 20th century Western civilization worshipped cats:
  
  'Just look at the evidence and the imagery. They even gave their deities names - Felix, Tom, Garfield, Bagpuss etc.'Β 
  
  I'm wondering what will happen in 4 thousand years when they dredge the canals and find all the supermarket trollies:
  
  "As you can see these primitive metal vehicles were votive offerings to the 5 great water gods: Safeway, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons"...
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF
  

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• Message 15

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  Posted by terakunene (U9761462) on Tuesday, 4th December 2007

  Rainbowfolley,
  
  I couldn't resist your mention of trolleys dredged out of canals in 4,000 years time.
  
  Take the same time period and a small house being excavated. If the barbecue was carefully excavated and perfectly good cooking facilities found in the house,.....would the obvious conclusion be that some sort of ritual sacrificial altar had been found?
  
  Then there that almost indestructable object, the toilet pan with the ritual prayer "please wash hands befor leaving".

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• Message 16

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Tuesday, 4th December 2007

  Hi terakunene,
  
  Yup, and they'll probably analyse the sacrificial remains and determine that a creature once roamed these lands that was part pig, part cow, part gerbil, but mainly gristle.
  
  Anyway back to the original question:
  Why Did the Egyptions worship cats?Β 
  Because dogs hadn't been invented at the time.
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF

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