Read on for a primer on Bastet: the Egyptian cat goddess. Mummies were used for votive offerings to the associated deity, mostly during festivals or by pilgrims. The daughter of Re, the sun god, Bastet was an ancient deity whose ferocious nature was ameliorated after the domestication of the cat around 1500 bce. When they died, they were embalmed, coffined and buried in cat cemeteries. [18] The domestic cat was regarded as living incarnation of Bastet who protects the household against granivores, whereas the lion-headed deity Sekhmet was worshipped as protector of the pharaohs. Product #: gm497687733 $ 12.00 iStock In stock It is larger than the average domesticated cat of today. This classic Egyptian cat statue is cold cast resin with a black finish and.. $25.00 Add to Cart. [27], In 1799, members of the French Commission des Sciences et des Arts surveyed the old city of Lycopolis near Asyut for the first time and found mummified cats and remains of other animals. In the Late and Ptolemaic periods large cemeteries of mummified cats were created at both sites, and thousands of bronze statuettes of the goddess were deposited as votive offerings. "[36][37] https://historyplex.com/significance-of-cats-in-ancient-egypt The larger ones were bandaged in cloth of different colours with decorated heads and ears formed of rubberized tissue. Seals and stone vessels with her name were found in the tombs of the pharaohs Khafre and Nyuserre Ini, indicating that she was regarded as protector since the mid 30th century BC during the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties. The cat was the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, a great and benevolent Egyptian goddess. It's named after Major Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, who donated the statue to the British Museum in 1939. Corrections? The path became strewn with mummy cloth and bits of cats' skulls and bones and fur in horrid positions, and the wind blew the fragments about and carried the stink afar. 4,349. Playful Cat on Back Statue . Email. [45], In the 2nd century, Polyaenus accounted of a stratagem allegedly deployed by the Persian king Cambyses II during the Battle of Pelusium (525 BC): Cambyses II ordered placing of cats and other animals venerated by Egyptians before the Persian front lines. This activity is appropriate for ages 10 and up. [13], A tomb at the necropolis Umm El Qa'ab contained 17 cat skeletons dating to the early 20th century BC. © Kathleen R Grilley/Fotolia Represented as a woman with a cat’s head, Bastet carries an ancient percussion instrument , the sistrum , in her right hand; a so-called aegis , or breastplate (in Bastet’s case, surmounted with the head of a lioness), in her left hand; and a small bag over her left arm. [39], In 1907, the British Museum received a collection of 192 mummified cats and 11 small carnivores excavated at Gizeh by Flinders Petrie. [21][22], Mummifying animals grew in popularity during the Late Period of ancient Egypt from 664 BC onwards. She wears an elaborately ornamented dress. He called this cat Felis bubastis. Egyptians purportedly stopped their defending operations, and the Persians then conquered Pelusium. The Egyptians built large statues with a restricted number of tools and equipment. [5] Cat and Mouse Garden Sculpture . Updates? Another 184 cat mummies were found in a different part of this tomb in the 1990s, comprising 11 packets with a few cat bones and 84 packets containing mud, clay and pebbles. She was native to Bubastis in the Nile River delta but also had an important cult at Memphis. In the 1820s, the Louvre Museum exhibited cat statues made of wood, bronze, and enameled pottery that originated mostly in Bubastis. Cat Rain Gauge . In the years between 60 and 56 BC, outraged people lynched a Roman for killing a cat, although pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes tried to intervene. A mural from this period in the tomb of Baqet III depicts a cat in a hunting scene confronting a rat-like rodent. In this period, cats were systematically bred to be killed and to be mummified as sacrifices to the gods. Egyptian cat statue representing the goddess Bastet. The feline's tawny, yellow-gray fur, long tapering tail and striped markings, affording it ideal camouflage among the … The origins of the Abyssinian cat are still a mystery. The name later evolved into Bastet, a diminutive form that has a more feminine connotation. ‘Bastet could be represented either as a cat, or a cat-headed woman,’ continues the specialist. During the First Dynasty (c. 3100 BC – c. 2900 BC), she was regarded as protector of the pharaoh's chambers against snakes, scorpions and evil. 99 The analysis revealed that they were deliberately strangulated before they reached the age of two years. Cats in ancient Egypt were represented in social and religious practices of ancient Egypt for more than 3,000 years. Throughout history, parts of her myth changed. Adorable plush stuffed Bastet is 4 x 3 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches tall in black and.. $22.00 ... Name. Roman Pudgy Cat Garden Figure . It lay in the Nile Delta near what is known today as Zagazig. Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered dozens of mummified cats along … Coy Cat Garden Statue . [29][30] They were probably used to supply the demand for mummified cats as votive offerings. The Bastet statue is made of resin and is vividly hand-painted in faux gold and silver of Ancient Egypt. In the biblical Book of Ezekiel 30:17, the town appears in the Hebrew form Pibeseth. Most of them were cat mummies. She took the less ferocious form of a domestic cat in the first millennium BCE. Cats were depicted in association with the name of Bastet. Egypt Pharaoh Bookends Decoration Creative Home Study Office Desktop Resin Art and Craft Figurines $ 86.76 $ 133.49; Egyptian Mythology Isis Goddess Resin Sculpture Craftwork Earth Patron Saint Egypt's Eye Creative Bookcase Decoration $ 77.18 $ 118.72; Egypt Pharaoh Ramesses II Resin Art and Craft Storage Box Statue Creative Bedroom Dressing Table Jewel Case $ 91.22 $ 140.34 Cat statues and statuettes from this period exist in diverse sizes and materials, including solid and hollow cast bronze, alabaster and faïence. Make your own papercraft Egyptian cat sculpture with our printable PDF template! [3], Cats were praised for killing venomous snakes and protecting the Pharaoh since at least the First Dynasty of Egypt. It was located in the midst of tombs with crocodile mummies. [25], Egypt has since experienced a decline in the veneration once held for cats. During the reign of Pharaoh Osorkon II in the 9th century BC, the temple of Bastet was enlarged by a festival hall. For the Egyptians, the goddesses Bastet and … [46], Case for animal mummy surmounted by a cat; Metropolitan Museum of Art, A bronze statue dated to 664−332 BC, exhibited in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre, Sarcophagus for cat mummy, ca 305 BC; Brooklyn Museum, Mummified cats in the Natural History Museum, London, Blue Egyptian faience cat figurine dated to 1981−1802 BC, Cat eating a fish under a chair, mural in the tomb of, Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose's cat, exhibited in the Museum of Fine Arts of Valenciennes, France, Cat mummies exhibited in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre, "The cat as sacred animal of the goddess Mut", "Speculations on the role of animal cults in the economy of Ancient Egypt", "Technological Examinations of Ancient Egyptian Theriomorphic Hollow Cast Bronzes – Some Case Studies", "Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt, Part XXXIX: Statues of Cats, Dogs and Lions", "Down-Stream to the Cat-Goddess: Herodotus on Egyptian Pilgrimage", "The end of Ancient Egyptian religion: The prohibition of paganism in Egypt from the middle of the 4th to the middle of the 6th century A.D.", "Descriptions de Syout, et des antiquitiés qui paraissent avoir appartenu à l'ancienne ville de Lycopolis", "Le Chat et la Chatte, emblême du Soleil et de la Lune, ou d'Osiris et d'Isis", "De Africae orientalis et Asiae occidentalis Felibus in genere, appendix", "Notes on some mummy cats, &co., from Egypt", "The Catacombs of Anubis at North Saqqara", The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cats_in_ancient_Egypt&oldid=1021891303, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 7 May 2021, at 07:31. 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