Cats are sacred animals. Why is a cat considered a sacred animal? Death of cats in ancient Egypt

Everyone has probably heard at least once in their life that in Ancient Egypt cats were revered like deities. They were respected and considered sacred animals, and archaeologists continue to find statues and images of cats on various valuable objects. According to historians, on the day when one of the cats that lived in the pharaoh's palace died, seventy days of mourning was declared, and the pharaoh himself cut off his eyebrows as a sign of respect. Moreover, mummies of these animals were found more than once during excavations of ancient pyramids. It is believed that cats were the guides of the pharaohs to the kingdom of the dead. Many of you have probably seen mummified animals in the Egyptian Hall of the Museum of Art History. A.S. Pushkin in Moscow.

Accustomed to perceive all this as historical fact, do we ask ourselves - why is this so? As a result of what and for what reasons did the Egyptians have such love and respect for cats?

Cats appeared in Egypt around 2000 BC, while these animals were domesticated about nine and a half years ago. For starters, Egyptians valued cats for protecting them from small rodents, and thanks to rat hunting, cats gained even more respect. By destroying snakes, cats made the area safer to live in. In addition, cats were admired for their gentleness, independence and grace. Residents fell in love with cats very much. For killing an animal you could be sentenced to death.

For the first time in world history, it was in Egypt that cats were endowed with sacred and divine qualities. In some images, the god Ra (the sun god) was a red cat who every day absorbs Apophis, personifying evil and darkness. At the same time, Bast, the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, hearth and cats, was depicted as a woman with the head of a cat. It is with the goddess Bast that cats began to be mummified: Bast was personified by cats, and the honors that they received posthumously indicated why cats were worthy of these honors.

For the sake of cats, the Egyptians were ready to perform heroic deeds. For example, it happened that people rushed into burning houses to make sure that there was not a single cat in the room. This once again proves how respectful, reverent, loving and serious people were towards cats in Ancient Egypt. These were not just domesticated animals that were aesthetically pleasing and arousing affection. These were helpers and even protectors. But is this really the only help to people described above? main reason this attitude towards these animals? Did their involuntary and unconscious help to man lead to an entire cult? Alas, we will never know the exact and complete answer.

The cats of Ancient Egypt became famous throughout the world thanks to the respectful attitude of the Egyptians towards these delightful animals. They endowed them with positive human qualities. It was believed that cats have mystical powers and they know what secrets are kept in the other world. Cats witnessed religious ceremonies. They protected their owners and homes from evil spirits.

This is what is written on one of the pedestals in the Valley of the Kings:

“You, Great Cat, are the embodiment of justice, the patron of leaders and the holy spirit. You are truly a Great Cat."

The high role of animals in Egyptian society is declared by the fact that the main industry in the state was farming. This meant that there was a constant need to combat infestations of mice, rats and snakes. Apparently, the Egyptians learned that cats could hunt uninvited guests and specially planted food for them so that they would come to warehouses and fields more often.

All this happened next to settlements, so cats gradually began to get used to people and began to live with them. Kittens began to appear in a safe shelter - a human house. Cats were used to interpret dreams. They could predict whether the harvest would be good.

There was no difference between wild and domestic cats in Egypt. They were all called "miu" or "miut". The origin of these words is unknown, but it is likely that they arose from the sound that animals make - meowing. Even little girls were called this, emphasizing their excellent traits: gentleness of character, cunning and intelligence.

Cats in the history of Ancient Egypt

Cats of Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, there were two breeds of cats. "Junge Cat" and "African Wild Cat". The latter had more calm character and were domesticated. There is evidence that the entire ancestry of all domestic cats came from Egypt.

It is believed that the first animals were brought to Egypt from around 2000 BC. from Nubia during the New Kingdom. Although in fact this opinion is erroneous, since archaeologists found a man interred with a cat in a mound near Asyut in the south of the country. The burial dates back to around 6000 BC. It is believed that cats were domesticated around 2000 BC. And dogs - approximately 3000 BC.

During the New Kingdom, images of cats can be found in human tombs. Owners often took cats with them on hunts to catch birds and fish. The most common drawings are those where the cat sits under or next to the chair of the owner of the house, which means protection and friendship.

When the city of Bubastis (Per-Bast) was built as a royal residence for Shoshenq I (XXII Dynasty), the cult of the cat Bast was at the center of the administration of the great power.

Herodotus visited Bubastis around 450 BC. and noted that even though the temple of Bast was not as large as in other cities, it was richly decorated and presented an interesting sight.” He also confirmed that the annual Bast festival was held in one of the most popular cities in Egypt.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims came from all over Egypt to have fun, drink wine, dance, sing and pray to the cat. The festival was so famous that the prophet Ezekiel warned that “The young men of Aben and Bubastine will fall by the sword, and their cities will be captured” (Ezekiel 30:17, 6th century BC). Bubastine was destroyed by the Persians in 350 BC. The cult of Bast was officially banned by imperial decree in 390 BC.

Cult of the cat in ancient Egypt

The most famous cat cult was Bast. There were also several other ancient idols associated with the animal. Nate sometimes took the form of a cat. The cat was one of the sacred symbols of Mut.

The Book of Gates and the Book of Cave indicate that the cat represented a sacred animal called Miuti (Mati). The 11th section of the Duate in the Book of Gates (the pre-dawn hours) is dedicated to her. And the time when Ra fights enemies in the Book of Caves. It is possible that this cult was associated with Mauti, depicted in the tomb of Pharaoh Seti II and refers to Mau or Mau-Aa ("Great Cat") as one of the manifestations of Ra.

In Chapter 17, Ra takes the form of a cat to kill the snake Apep:

“I, the cat Mai, rushed into the trees of Perse on the night of Anna, when the enemies of Neb-er-tcher” (a form of Osiris) were destroyed!”

Cats were also associated with the "Eye of Ra" and Isis because they were perceived as great mothers.

Killing a cat in ancient Egypt

Cat mummy in ancient Egypt

Many animals, especially in early period development of civilization, were assigned magical powers, such as crocodiles, hawks and cows. Each cat was associated with other world and defended common man upon his entry into the Kingdom of the Dead. Only the pharaoh was considered so powerful that all animals were under his care.

Very high fines were levied for harming her throughout Egyptian history.

During the popularity of the Bast cult, killing a cat was punishable by execution.

Diodorus Siculus wrote:

« Whoever kills a cat in Egypt will be sentenced to death, whether he committed this crime intentionally or accidentally. People are going to kill him. Unhappy Roman, he accidentally killed a cat, but his life cannot be saved. So commanded King Ptolemy of Egypt.".

However, studies of cat mummies suggest that they were either injured or deliberately killed at Bubastis.

The smuggling industry of illegally exporting cats to the center of the country flourished. Court records confirm that the pharaoh's army was sent to rescue the stolen animals.

Herodotus claimed that when there was a fire in the house, the cats were taken out first. This was explained by the fact that, frightened by the sight stranger cats can “jump into fire.” This story may be exaggerated, but it highlights the animal's high status in Egyptian society.

The philosopher tells a story about the Egyptians' love for cats. Apparently, the Persians captured several families of cats and took them outside of Pelusia. When the Egyptian troops saw the frightened cats on the battlefield, they surrendered, helping out their loyal friends.

The process of mummification and burial of cats in Egypt

When the cat died, the owner's family went into deep mourning and their eyebrows shaved. The cat's body was mummified and buried, setting up a warehouse with mice, rats and milk. Some graves have been discovered in Bubastis, Giza, Dendera, Beni Hassan and Abydos. In 1888, a cat necropolis with 80 thousand cat mummies was found in Beni Hassan.

The cat's body was embalmed. Diodorus wrote:

« Processed cedar oil and spices to add pleasant smell and preserving the body for a long time.”

I have read several versions explaining why the cat earned the title of sacred animal in Egypt. The Egyptians were the first to domesticate the cat and were able to appreciate it. The cult of the cat in this country has reached its full apogee and there are many reasons for this, both religious and economic.

Reasons for the cult of cats in ancient Egypt

1. Scientists have suggested that the cat’s extreme fertility played a significant role in the formation of the cult. The ancient Egyptians depicted the revered goddess of motherhood and fertility, Bast (Bastet), as a woman with cat's head. Sometimes the supreme god of the Sun, Ra, appeared in the form of a cat who entered into battle with a serpent. Even a cat’s ability to change its pupil was considered the highest gift; the same ability was described in myths by the god Ra.

2. Cats helped the Egyptians protect their crops from damage caused by rodents. Cat-catchers helped avoid the plague, and their hostility to snakes was also associated with the divine principle: according to legend, God Ra went down into the dungeon every night to destroy the snake Apophis.

3. Egyptian priests have always been considered the best specialists in the magical arts and interpretations in the world. From their point of view, a cat living in a family contributed to the well-being of this family and performed the function of karmic unloading of the family. The Egyptians saw the cat as the embodiment of the soul of a deceased relative, so a kitten that strayed by chance was revered and surrounded by care and attention.

4. The Egyptians believed that cats could smell and protect against evil spirits their home, it was assumed that even vampires were capable of falling from the soft paws of a cat.

The cat is a sacred animal

The Egyptians revered cats, fed and looked after them, mummified them after death and observed mourning, long time they were prohibited from being taken out of the country. Killing a cat was considered a terrible act and was punishable death penalty. Even during a natural disaster, the cat was the first to be rescued from the house. One day, the Egyptians destroyed the Greek quarter, destroying and dispersing its inhabitants, only because one of the Greeks drowned the kittens.

After the cult was banned Bast cats have ceased to be an object of worship, but even now in Egypt they try not to offend them; obviously, the genetic memory of their ancestors makes itself felt.

We are so used to our furry for a pet who will always come up and comfort us if we feel sad, who will purr loudly, curled up in a ball on our laps and burying his wet, cold nose in our hand. Of course, a cat is the most gentle and at the same time freedom-loving and rebellious pet.

For example, it’s not easy to put your cat in your purse and drag it all day around the city and to boutiques for animals, not to mention small dogs. And there’s no reason to carry them, because they are hunters and love to lie down in the shade, watch for birds, and then, when they see their owner, beg for “Kitekat.”

They are so playful that they have already unraveled all of grandma’s balls around the apartment and conquered Everest several times by climbing onto the curtains. Perhaps cats cause a lot of trouble: damaged furniture, hair all over the house - but how can you blame this fluffy, because a cat is a sacred animal.

However, everyone knows about this, even the smallest children, although people often do not take this fact into account. Let's just restore justice and find out why this animal with pink pads on its paws received this high title.

The meaning of cats in the culture of ancient Egyptians

It all started in Egypt. There are many legends that explain holiness in elementary economic factor: they say that the stoats did not know how to catch mice, and the grain harvest was spoiled due to rodents, and then she comes, Mademoiselle Cat, who copes with pests at once, saves the Egyptians from hunger, which means she instantly rises to the skies, that is, to the pharaoh and queen.

But this is not the only reason why the cat became a Cat and acquired immunity. The priests, who were revered in Egypt no less than the dynasty of the pharaoh, saw in the cat a karmic mission: ridding the home and family in which the animal lives from adversity and stagnant bad energy.

It was also believed that a cat is the embodiment of a deceased person, usually the owner.

Why else were these animals revered, considering them sacred creatures?

1. The gracefulness of these animals, their ability to appear and disappear almost imperceptibly and silently evoked admiration;
2. Fertility and the ability to care for offspring also became an invaluable asset;
3. Cleanliness and independent character distinguished cats from other animals.

For all these merits, cats were given special honor: they were fed the best food, looked after them, never offended them. After the death of a pet, rich Egyptians embalmed its body and buried it in cemeteries designed specifically for cats. Rats and mice were embalmed along with them so that they would accompany them in the afterlife.

Energy potential of the animal

Egypt died down, and mystical meaning and the influence of cats is still one of the mysterious pages in the study of animal psychology. Speaking of reincarnation, indeed, a cat is capable of absorbing a certain matrix and energy of a deceased person, thereby cleansing the house. But, in addition, the animal is capable of resembling living owners, which is also explained by the energy, the flows of which the pet captures.

Often a cat is able to see the spirit of a deceased person, when people do not have such abilities. There are many known cases when a cat froze in the doorway, looked into the room and meowed loudly, looking somewhere in the air. And in all cases, this was in those houses where a person had recently died.

• In the East, the role of cats is significant: in China they are considered a kind of symbol of motherhood, and also a guardian of culture. Until now, the inhabitants of this country believe in the animal’s ability to scare away evil spirits. The Chinese believe that if you walk around a sown field with a cat in your arms, the harvest will certainly be abundant;
• In Japan almost complete absence rats and mice are associated specifically with magical influence, which is exerted not only by living cats, but also by their figurines and images;
• It is noteworthy that in ancient times the Japanese awarded a person who became famous in any field with the title Master Cat. This once again emphasizes the respect for the glorious furry pet. In modern Japan, Cat Day is celebrated annually, which is a national holiday. This happens on February 22, because three deuces in a row in Japanese(22.02) sound like a cat's meow;
• In America they believe that a stray black cat that you adopt will bring happiness into your home. They are considered harbingers of good luck, despite all the prejudices associated with black cats.
• In Slavic culture, the cat is still considered the guardian of the family hearth. In addition, weather changes are often predicted by the behavior of cats. For example, if you notice that an animal is thoroughly washing its ears, then you can wait for rain. If your cat is rushing around the house, jumping and scratching objects, you should wait. strong wind. When a cat is in a playful mood, rolling on the ground is a sure sign that a rainstorm is about to begin.

And evil spirits are afraid of cats. That is why when moving to new home is the first one to cross the threshold furry pet, who, with his throne-like procession through the new apartments, drives out evil spirits and bad energy. There is also plenty of mysticism in stories where ghosts literally attacked the animal, trying to kill it. That is, a cat is a lightning rod for strong evil spirits - evil spirits focus on the pet and do not touch the person. Although scary cases is definitely a rarity. IN ordinary life the furry guy just cleans our house and scares bad aliens from a parallel world.

There are cases when a cat died instead of its owner, taking over in some way the fate of fate. This was also practiced in Egypt, only there for the pharaoh, of course. died who agreed to die and accepted a special ritual.

Warnings from cats are also not uncommon, when more sensitive animals can predict cataclysms or natural disasters. By the way, they not only save their owners from natural disasters, but also from people. For example, there was a case when a cat scratched thieves who threatened the female owner of the animal. The seasoned pet tore the intruders' clothes to shreds and for a long time chased the criminals along the road away from his home.

Of course, these are not all unique stories, let alone that we are still at the subconscious level afraid of black cats and clutching at the button. In general, the Egyptians are a wise people, and it is certainly not for nothing that they awarded the harmless furry animal the status of a sacred animal. And the cases described above only confirm this, although, of course, this is not all about cats.

In any case, a cat will want to protect and stand up for its owner only when it loves its breadwinner, so the cat needs to be groomed and cherished and, of course, respected and adored. Then the pink pads will hide their claws and reciprocate your feelings.

IN Ancient world Representatives of many nations domesticated cats and kept them as pets. However, the Egyptians undoubtedly admired them more than others, declaring them sacred animals.

BAST, GODDESS WITH THE HEAD OF A CAT

The goddess Baet, whose name literally means “tearing apart,” was most often depicted as a woman with a cat’s head. Like Hathor, Maat or Sekhmet, Baet was the daughter of the sun.

She held an honorable position, serving as the eye of Ra, the solar god, and thus participated in the act of creation, shedding light on the earth and fighting the twilight. The Egyptians often associated her with the lioness Sekhmet, the goddess of war, and both of them, being daughters of the sun, paradoxically embodied both meekness and gays.

Archaeological excavations carried out at the site of Jericho in Palestine have uncovered cat bones dating back to the Neolithic. Skeleton of a cat dating from the 6th millennium BC. e., was found in Cyprus.

However, scientists cannot come to a conclusion general opinion on the issue of origin domestic cat. Some researchers claim that it descended from the African wild cat (Felis sylvestris libyca) and was domesticated by the ancient Egyptians around two and a half thousand years BC, while others believe that its ancestor was the wild Asian cat (Felis sylvestris manul). Be that as it may, it appears that the cat was domesticated around two thousand years BC, and this happened in Ancient Egypt. Before that, cats were found exclusively in the wild.

Of course, the ancient Egyptians domesticated cats not only and not so much because of their beautiful appearance, but primarily because they hunted rats and mice, effectively exterminating these plague carriers, a real disaster for grain harvests.

The role of a cat in everyday life

Starting around the second millennium BC, wild cats, the ancestors of the domestic cat, pursued their prey, rodents, all the way to human habitation in the Nile Valley, attracted by the smell of food and the warmth from the hearths. At that time, this region achieved particular prosperity, mainly due to the development agriculture and grain granaries.

Since 1600 BC. e. Egyptian sailors began to take cats with them on voyages to protect their goods and supplies from the ubiquitous rodents, thereby violating the harsh Egyptian law, according to which it was forbidden to take them out of the country on pain of death. In addition, sailors secretly transported cats to exchange them under the counter as jewelry wherever maritime trade exchanges developed.

This is how cats gradually settled along the entire coast Mediterranean Sea. But the Egyptians used cats not only for catching rodents, but also for hunting. Indeed, these little predators were irreplaceable assistants in bird hunting. They were kept on a leash while the hunter killed the birds with a boomerang, and then, when the prey fell to the ground, they were lowered to bring the bird to their owner.

And finally, cats were credited with the ability to protect people from fire. The ancient Greek writer Herodotus said that the Egyptians did not fight fire, arguing that if it suddenly started strong fire, cats will run to the scene and rush into the flames, giving their lives to save people caught in the fire. Everyone present mourns the cat, and the fire goes out without anyone's intervention. In short, cats not only played vital role in the economic life of Ancient Egypt, but they were also real positive symbols that were worshiped by an entire people.

Revered animal

The ancient Egyptians believed that all animals should be treated with respect. However, cats were apparently revered much more than others, because Egyptian law, on pain of death, prohibited scolding cats, mistreating them, and especially killing them. After all, Egyptian cats were not just beloved pets, but above all sacred creatures.

Since 1567 BC. e. the cat was a symbol of the sun, and the cat was a symbol of the moon, so the Egyptians revered these animals as gods. Egyptian cats, incarnations of Baet, the goddess of femininity and fertility, or the shining cat who ensures the return of the sun after the night, occupied an enviable position both in the world of the living and in the afterlife of Osiris.

The goddess Baet was considered the embodiment of meekness, but she, like real cat, could well have released her claws. The Egyptians treated this cat-headed goddess with undisguised admiration, who was invariably accompanied by a litter of her kittens. Every year, prisoner sacrifices were made in honor of Baet. Every home had at least one cat, and when it died, family members shaved their eyebrows as a sign of grief and mourned for seventy days. The inconsolable head of the family wrapped his deceased pet in linen and took her to the embalmers, and then buried her.

Since embalming was very expensive, the head of the family had as many as seventy days to collect the necessary amount. One of the most visual evidence of such worship on the part of the Egyptians is in the city of Beni Hasan, where archaeologists discovered an entire cemetery of cats. Thousands of mummies of these sacred animals rested here! Cats lived at every temple, and the position of cat keeper was a very enviable one; it was passed down by inheritance, from father to son.

Only very successful Egyptians could keep a cat at home, because caring for one was expensive. They didn't just eat mice! Indeed, these animals were so revered that they were the first to be fed, and they got the best pieces of meat or fish. In addition, when the Egyptian sought to ingratiate himself with the goddess Bayet so that she would fulfill his request, he attributed best fish as a gift to her earthly incarnations - cats.