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Cat-headed deity Bastet. In ancient Egypt, cats were represented in social and religious scenes dating as early as 1980 BC. [2] Several ancient Egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat-like heads such as Mafdet, Bastet and Sekhmet, representing justice, fertility, and power, respectively. [3]
The Obsequies of an Egyptian Cat, by John Reinhard Weguelin (1886). Ancient Egyptian religion was characterized by polytheism, the worship of multiple deities. [4] Prior to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, there were a tremendous number of these deities, each patron of a different element of the natural world. [5]
Cats, known in ancient Egypt as the mau, played a large role in ancient Egyptian society. They were associated with the goddesses Isis and Bastet. [4] Cats were sacred animals and the goddess Bastet was often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness.
In ancient Egypt, for example, cats were viewed as integral parts of the culture and they were even thought to carry an important role in the afterlife, which explains why they were discovered in ...
The native Egyptian rulers were replaced by Greeks during an occupation of Ancient Egypt in the Ptolemaic Dynasty that lasted almost 300 years. The Greeks sometimes equated Bastet with one of their goddesses, Artemis. [14] Bastet was depicted by Egyptians with the head of a cat and the slender body of a woman.
The Cats of Ancient Egypt". The Dawn of Art in the Ancient World: An Archaeological Sketch. New York: Macmillan and Co. pp. 172−185. Cooper, JC (1992). Symbolic and Mythological Animals. London: Aquarian Press. ISBN 1-85538-118-4. Engels, D.W. (2001). Classical Cats. The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Cat. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415 ...
E. A. Wallis Budge agreed that the Sphinx predated Khafre's reign, writing in The Gods of the Egyptians (1904): "This marvelous object [the Great Sphinx] was in existence in the days of Khafre, or Khephren, [b] and it is probable that it is a very great deal older than his reign and that it dates from the end of the archaic period [c. 2686 BC]."
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