Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Though the animals were undoubtedly considered sacred, Egyptians did not worship the individual animals themselves, but rather the invisible deity present within the animal symbolizing the deity. In certain cases, such as the Apis bull, the animal could even be a way to communicate the desires of the deity.
Among the mummified animals excavated in Gizeh, the African wildcat (Felis lybica) is the most common cat followed by the jungle cat (Felis chaus). [7] In view of the huge number of cat mummies found in Egypt, the cat was certainly important for the country's economy; cats were bred for the purpose of sacrifice and mummification, requiring a ...
Animal worship (also zoolatry or theriolatry) is an umbrella term designating religious or ritual practices involving animals. This includes the worship of animal deities or animal sacrifice . An animal 'cult' is formed when a species is taken to represent a religious figure. [ 1 ]
In ancient Egyptian religion, Apis or Hapis, [a] alternatively spelled Hapi-ankh, was a sacred bull or multiple sacred bulls [1] worshiped in the Memphis region, identified as the son of Hathor, a primary deity in the pantheon of ancient Egypt. Initially, he was assigned a significant role in her worship, being sacrificed and reborn.
Animal sacrifice was general among the ancient Near Eastern civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, as well as the Hebrews (covered below).Unlike the Greeks, who had worked out a justification for keeping the best edible parts of the sacrifice for the assembled humans to eat, in these cultures the whole animal was normally placed on the fire by the altar and burned, or ...
According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. In Egyptian belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with "power" or "dominion", and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen ...
The native Egyptian rulers were replaced by Greeks during an occupation of Ancient Egypt in the Ptolemaic Dynasty that lasted almost 300 years. The Greeks sometimes equated Bastet with one of their goddesses, Artemis. [14] Bastet was depicted by Egyptians with the head of a cat and the slender body of a woman.
Animal cults, a characteristically Egyptian form of worship, became increasingly popular in this period, possibly as a response to the uncertainty and foreign influence of the time. [136] Isis grew more popular as a goddess of protection, magic, and personal salvation, and became the most important goddess in Egypt.