| Animal-Ancient Egyptian Relations By Amy Kaplan Animals have played a role in every country. The Middle East used hawks to aid them in hunting. Spaniards used horses for transportation. The Chinese even had a calendar based on animals. But Egypt is perhaps the country that has used animals in their culture the most. Some animals in Egypt were loved so much, that if one were killed, the killer would be put to death. But some animals were scorned from the tips of their feathers to the edge of their fins to the surface of their skin and fur. Animals surly gave the Egyptians a head start in their civilization. Cats were one of the most sacred animals in ancient Egypt; perhaps the only more sacred animal was the scarab. The penalty for killing a cat in Egypt was death. Diodrus Siculus once said: �Whoever kills a cat in Egypt is condemned to death, whether he committed this crime deliberately or not. The people gather and kill him. An unfortunate Roman, who accidentally killed a cat, could not be saved, either by King Ptolemy of Egypt or by the fear which Rome inspired.�It probably wasn�t just the law that kept people from killing cats. People seemed to love cats in general. One example that I found particularly amazing was the capture of the Egyptian city of Pelusium. When the Egyptians were at war with the Persians and were wearing down the Persian army, a Persian general came up with plan. Knowing that Egyptians loved their cats so much, he ordered his soldiers to capture as many cats as possible from the city. When they had enough, they returned to the city of Pelusium and lined up for battle. The Egyptians were horrified at the number of their cats that were running all over the battlefield. Rather than harm the cats, they surrendered the city to the Persians without a fight. It was a devastating loss for the Egyptians. Cats were owned by many Egyptians, and were usually buried with their owners when the owner died. The process of feline mummification had six steps, 1) Remove internal organs, then 2) Stuff body (body was stuffed with sand or other packing materials), and 3) Placed in sitting position, 4) wrapped tightly, 5) faces painted on wrappings with ink, and 6) Natural dehydration (did not use chemicals). House cats in Egypt were probably descended from the African Wildcat, little swamp cats, and the jungle cat, as domesticated cats were often captured from the wild as kittens. Cats were often used to aid hunters instead of dogs. A cat would most likely retrieve birds shot in marshes. Cats helped people by killing harmful animals: cobras, vipers, rats, mice, and other vermin. The cat usually represents the goddess Mafdet, her twin sister Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of fate, Ra, the sun god, and Bast, the protector of all cats, the moon, and fertility Dogs were important in the world of ancient Egypt. Being kept as pets, war dogs, watchdogs, and hunters, dogs definitely had a reliable quality to them. Egyptians treasured their dogs, and it was illegal to kill one. Sloghi and Saluki were breeds of dogs that were kept as watchdogs, hunters, and pets. These dogs were sleek, swift, and were often called �sight hounds� because they relied mainly on their sight to guide them through the world than their nose. Consequently, they became great hunting partners for the Egyptians. They would chase hares, fennecs, and gazelles to round up for their masters. They would also help protect sheep and cattle by warding off jackals and hyenas. They were a great value to any family and made great pets. Greyhounds looked a lot like the Sloghi & Saluki, and were perhaps originally bred from them. Greyhounds were kept by the royal families of Egypt, and so prized were they that the birth of one was treated with the same excitement as the birth of a prince. Basenjis were also sight hounds kept by the Egyptians, but they were kept mainly for amusement because of their yodel-like bark. Ibizan Hounds were one of the most elegant dogs found in the Egyptian region and were kept as pets. Scarabs (dung beetles) were probably the most sacred animals in all of Egypt. They were made as amulets and rings, and were supposed to bring good luck to the owner and ward off evil. There were many kinds of scarabs. There were ornamental, heart, winged, marriage, lion hunt, and commemorative scarabs, to name a few. Scarabs were usually used as seals, but they were also a cheap and common form of a charm. Since they were cheap and very �good�, both the rich and poor used them. The underside of a scarab was usually inscribed with a name, a saying, a religious expression, ext. Although most scarabs were inscribed, an uninscribed scarab was probably just as holy as an inscribed one. Most scarabs were made for the living, but sometimes the dead also used them. Some scarabs, like the heart scarab, would be placed on a mummy�s throat or chest to insure good luck and fortune in the afterlife. Scarabs were made out of steatite, carnelian, lapis lazuli, basalt, limestone, malachite, schist, serpentine, turquoise, colored glass, alabaster, clay, amethyst, gold, silver, cloisonn� You get the idea. After being carved with knives, drills, gravers, and simple tools, the scarab would be painted green, green-blue, or blue, perhaps colors that the real blue-greenish beetle inspired. The scarab then might be glazed and inscribed with flint or obsidian tools. The scarab was symbolically as sacred to the Egyptians as the cross is to the Christians, and they represented Khepri, the rising sun god. Fish in Egypt were both sacred and scorned. In Egypt, some common fish were carp, perch, and catfish. Rich people often kept fish in ornamental ponds for decoration, amusement, and food. Although a lot of people ate fish, poor people ate lots of fish. Poor people ate more fish than meat. Pharaohs, priests, and the Ankhu could not eat fish because of their association with Set. Even though some fish were sacred, they could be eaten in some areas of Egypt and not in others. The Goddess Hatmehit was called the �Chief of Fish�, and was often worshipped as a fish or a woman with a fish emblem on her head. Cattle in Egypt were very precious. Cattle were often used in sacrifices. Beef was used in religious ceremonies, but pork was NEVER used in religion. Among the many species of domesticated animals, there were sheep, cows, goats, pigs, and horses. Horses and cows were some of the animals considered to be �large cattle.� Pigs, sheep, and goats were usually considered to be �small cattle.� Cattle and animals were kept to supply milk, wool, meat, eggs, leather, skins, horns, fat, and manual labor. Goat skin was used as water containers and floating devices. Shepherds usually grazed their cattle in the Nile valley during the winter months, then moved them to the Delta during the summer months. Cattle belonging to Egyptian temples, pharaohs, and rich people were branded using - irons. The following piece is called �The Song of the Herdsman.� �You have goaded the oxen on all the roads. You have walked over the sand. Now you are trampling on the grass. You are eating the rich plants. Now you are sated. May it become your bodies well.� There were special farms for fattening oxen up, and just before they were going to be sacrificed, they were adorned in ostrich feathers and led through the city in a grand procession. The cow was sacred to many goddesses, but the cow usually represented the goddess Hathor specifically. Bulls were sacred to Ra, the sun god. The wild bull was synonymous with pharaoh in Egypt, but wild cattle represented royalty in general. |