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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 deity Mut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of ...
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]
The cat was the sacred and peculiar animal of Bast, who is represented with the head of a cat or a lioness and frequently accompanies the deity Ptah in monumental inscriptions. The tombs at Bubastis were accordingly the principal depository in Egypt of the mummies of the cat. [15] [16]
Cat mummies were used as votive offerings to the goddess, mostly during festivals and by pilgrims. [47] Hundreds of thousands of cat mummies were excavated at cat cemeteries in Bubastis, Saqqara, Speos Artemidos and Gizeh. [48] [49] [50] There was a lion god at Baalbek. The pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped the lion god Yaghuth.
The women engaged in music, song, and dance on their way to the place. Great sacrifices were made and prodigious amounts of wine were drunk—more than was the case throughout the year. [22] This accords well with Egyptian sources that prescribe that lioness goddesses are to be appeased with the "feasts of drunkenness". [6]
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.
Black cats specifically are associated with superstitions of bad luck and associations with witchcraft or satanic rituals. Because of that, some shelters annually suspend the adoption of black ...
Ancient Egyptian deities were an integral part of ancient Egyptian religion and were worshiped for millennia. Many of them ruled over natural and social phenomena , as well as abstract concepts [ 1 ] These gods and goddesses appear in virtually every aspect of ancient Egyptian civilization, and more than 1,500 of them are known by name.