Egyptian Cat Statue Meaning

Several ancient egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat like heads such as mafdet bastet and sekhmet representing justice fertility and power.

Egyptian cat statue meaning. Bastet ancient egyptian goddess worshiped in the form of a lioness and later a cat. This showed that the cat had become an integral part of ancient egyptian family life. Aug 23 2018 explore raminderbhogal rimibarmi s board egyptian cat followed by 214 people on pinterest. Tens of cat mummies and around 100 wooden statues of cats were discovered near a pyramid in saqqara egypt.

As the most commonly used symbol among the ancient egyptian symbols the ankh which is also known as crux ansata by coptic christians represents life and immortality. See more ideas about egyptian cats egyptian bastet. The ancient egyptians took their cats on hunting trips instead of dogs and statues of cats were placed outside the house to protect the inhabitants and to ward off evil spirits. Several archaeological remains point towards the domestication of cats in ancient egypt.

Learn more about bastet in this article. Over 300 000 mummified cats were found when the cat god bast s temple was. Owing to this cats came to be regarded as protectors of evil by the ancient egyptians and were domesticated by them. Cats in ancient egypt were represented in social and religious practices of ancient egypt for more than 3 000 years.

Ba bubastis or bastet. The area seems to have been used for cat burials thousands of years ago. Statues of cats and seven sarcophagi some dating back more than 6 000 years have been discovered at a site on the edge of the pyramid complex in saqqara south of the egyptian capital cairo. In fact the first domesticated cat has been proven to have been in ancient egypt.

It was also used as the symbol of the union between men and women particularly the union of osiris and isis which was believed to flood the river of nile thus bringing fertility to egypt. Ankh the egyptian symbol of life. Cats were not only protected by almost every occupant of egypt but also by the law. Some cats were even found mummified and buried next to their owners.

Once egyptians domesticated cats the images of these gods also changed into cats. The deity mut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of a cat. 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. The cat was associated with the egyptians cat goddess bast a k a.

Cats were called mau in ancient egypt and initially the animals attained an important place as the protectors of the country s grain as they killed rodents and snakes.