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Could cats be killed in ancient Egypt?
Question
#89198. Asked by Flem-ish. (Nov 29 07 12:46 PM)
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Flem-ish
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But could it be that ritual killings were part of temple-practices? In other words that cats could not be killed except as offerings to Bastet?
 http://www.akhet.co.uk/cat.htm
Cat Mummies
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Baloo55th
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I remember something from New Scientist (I think) about many of the cat mummies being of cats killed to produce the mummies. This would lend weight to Flem-ish's site if I could produce a reference......
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author
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The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that in the event of a fire men would guard the fire to make certain that no cats ran into the flame. Herodotus also wrote that when a cat died, the household would go into mourning as if for a human relative, and would often shave their eyebrows to signify their loss.
Such was the strength of feeling towards cats that killing one, even accidentally, incurred the death penalty. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, describes an interesting example of swift justice imposed upon the killer of a cat: about 60 BCE, he witnessed the chariot of a Roman soldier accidentally run over an Egyptian cat. An outraged mob gathered and, despite pleas from pharaoh Ptolemy XII, killed the soldier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_in_ancient_Egypt
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author
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It appears that the goddess of Bast was strongly revered as the patron of cats, and thus it was in the temple at Per-Bast that dead (and mummified) cats were brought for burial. More than 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when Bast's temple at Per-Bast was excavated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bast_%28goddess%29
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Baloo55th
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Are cats particularly noted for running into fires? Herodotus is known for repeating stories without checking them. (He'd have been at home on the internet....)
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author
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Still, I think the answer is yes.
According to this the killing of kittens was normal and legitimate. This quote refers to Bubastis, chief centre of the goddess Bast. Apparently the kittens were mummified and sold to pilgrims as relics.
Quote:
Bast developed into an immensely popular and important deity representing fertility, motherhood, protection and the benevolent aspects of the sun - along with Sekhmet, she was known as the Eye of Ra. The cult of the cat garnered a huge following and thousands of pilgrims journeyed each year to Bubastis to celebrate. Bubastis also became another name by which the goddess was known.
Close to the centre of the city lay a large temple to Bast.(....)
Of this Herodotus, who visited the city in 450 BCE, wrote that although the size of the shrine to Bast was perhaps 'not as large as those of other cities, and probably not as costly, no temple in all of Egypt gave more pleasure to the eye'.
He went on to describe the temple in detail. A canal within this depression gave the temple the appearance of a man-made island. In the courtyard was a grove of trees leading the way to the interior, which contained a massive statue of Bast - and a great number of sacred cats, cared for by the temple priests with donations from pilgrims. The temple's cat population, while respected, was extremely large and needed to be moderated by the periodic sacrificial culling of kittens, which were then mummified and sold to pilgrims as relics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_in_ancient_Egypt
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Flem-ish
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I wonder if any link can be made with what Vittorio Agamben in "Homo Sacer" describes as life that can be killed, but cannot be sacrificed. Cats in this case being life that can be sacrificed, but not killed in any other context.
http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?book_id=3217%203218
Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life - Giorgio Agamben Translated by Daniel Heller-Roazen
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Flem-ish
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Sorry not my favourite pianist Vittorio (Bresciani) but the philosopher Giorgio (Agamben) of course.
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