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Cats in Egypt part 3

Bronze cat Unlike other animals, the cat wasn't in the right place at the right time to be associated as a local deity at the beginning of Egyptian history. It never attained that elevated status that would let it become a full member of the Egyptian pantheon encountered on temple walls. You can search in vain there for a cat headed goddess. In spite of this, the cat's popularity eventually surpassed that of all other animals and spread far beyond Egypt itself.

Its strength lay in its humble beginnings and its atropaic (protective) qualities which first brought it widespread respect and a prominent place with the common people. These characteristics soon led to the association of the tomcat with the sun god and the complex beliefs of the sun's night journey through the underworld. This secured it the highest connections. An unexpected twist in history helped here because in c. 10000 BC Bubastis in the delta provided some of the rulers for an Egypt again struggling through a period of disunity. Apparently the linking of Bastet with the female cat started then. Popular religious beliefs, based on the gods manifesting themselves through animals, proved to be more vital to the people than the elaborate and more abstract religious systems of pharonic Egypt. State and temples now began to skillfully manipulate these ideas to their own advantage and they were supported enthusiastically by the vast majority of Egyptians.

It is unusual in a country where the king held such a centralized position that the religion was a vast and unsystematic collection of diverse ideas. Attempts were made to order ideas concerning deities in the most important religious centers such as On, Memphis and Khemenu, but no effort to introduce a uniform system for the whole country. Fluctuating fortunes in areas like Thebes, Luxor and Per-Bastet (Bubastis) had a direct standing on their local deities.

Cat It has to be understood that the term religion for Egyptians covered more than we consider religion today: it covered the state ideology and theory of kingship and the king and his relationship with the gods. It was the ideological property of the minority - only priests associated with the temples could read the inscriptions there and see the representations, because the majority of people were not allowed beyond the temple's monumental gateway - the pylon. Temples were not places to spread and reaffirm religious dogma with the ordinary people. A great diversity existed between the various sections of Egyptian society: the personal beliefs of the owners of large decorated tombs were not those of the poor. This divide was deepened as many high officials also held priestly functions.

There was a certain amount of interchange, like when the temple images were brought out and carried in procession. The lowliest peasant could see that. The beliefs of the poor usually went unrecorded, were sometimes promoted and received official recognition so they became part of the religion and were recorded for us to read.

There are 4 dimensions of ancient Egyptian religion - the first three belong to the restricted official sphere such as those concerning local deities and their temples, cosmic events and the maintenance of order in the universe, nature and society and primitive mythology, then finally the religious beliefs of individuals - personal piety. To the Egyptian there was no division between people, animals and gods - they were all living beings.

Cat herding ducks Deities were worshipped primarily in their visible manifestation as a cult image. Animals were chosen to act as a god's image for the length of its natural life because of special external characteristics, like the markings on the Apis bull. This has nothing to do with zooaltry - animal worship - and to talk about the deification of cats misses the point. Thus the fact a deity could manifest itself in the form of a particular animal did not stop them exploiting others of the same type - though likely the cow that bore the Apis bull, and his young would be treated differently. The Egyptians were a practical people.

Picture 1 is of a bronze cat from the late period, 664-332BC. It's a representation of Bastet, the cat goddess, found at the cult centre for Bastet at Bubastis. It was probably placed as an offering by a wealthy official. The eyes would originally have been inlaid with precious stones and would have been a tan colour when it was made.
Picture 2 is from the Middle Kingdom, about 1800BC, and was found in a tomb at Thebes. It's crouching position was to symbolise the cat's symbolic role of hunter and protector of the dead.
Picture 3 is an excerpt from the satirical papyrus of cats showing one herding ducks; sketch by Miut

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