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Cat-headed deity Bastet. 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]
Cats were very familiar to the Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Ancient Greeks and Romans even before their conquest of Egypt, so it is likely they would have been familiar to the Ancient Hebrews, making their omission from the Bible unusual. Other members of the cat family are mentioned in the Bible, namely lions, leopards, and ...
Eighteenth century folk art, Cat of Kazan. Unlike in Western countries, cats have been considered good luck in Russia for centuries. Owning a cat, and especially letting one into a new house before the humans move in, is said to bring good fortune. [18] Cats in Orthodox Christianity are the only animals that are allowed to enter the temples.
[16] [18] The town, known in Egyptian as pr-bꜣstt (also transliterated as Per-Bastet), carries her name, literally meaning House of Bastet. It was known in Greek as Boubastis ( Βούβαστις ) and translated into Hebrew as Pî-beset , spelled without the initial t sound of the last syllable. [ 6 ]
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]
Apep (Ancient Egyptian: ꜥꜣpp), also known as Aphoph (/ ə. ˈ f ɒ f /, Coptic: Ⲁⲫⲱⲫ, romanized: Aphōph) [1] or Apophis (/ ə. ˈ p ɒ. f ɪ s /; Ancient Greek: Ἄποφις, romanized: Ápophis), is the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied darkness and disorder, and was thus the opponent of light and Maat (order/truth).
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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]