The
ancient Egyptian animal cult is probably one of the most peculiar religious
trends known from ancient Egypt. Although some of the cults started as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100–2890 BC) – if not before – the majority of animal worship was active from the 7th century BC to the advent of Christianity around AD 400.
Some
animals were worshipped as living creatures embodying specific gods but during
the first thousand years BC in particular,the number of animal mummies
increased drastically, hinting at an extended function of this religious practice.
The
number of animal mummies produced during this era was in the millions. For example, and in the
town of Beni Hassan,so many cat mummies were discovered at the end of the 19th
century that 19 tons (approximately 180000) were shipped to England in one cargo from
Alexandria to Liverpool. They were to be used as fertiliser.
The
roles and values of animal mummies varied greatly. Egyptologists have grouped
them into four different types:1. PetsPerhaps
the most comprehensible type of animal mummies to contemporary eyes is pets – like
cats, dogs, and monkeys or gazelles. They were buried with their masters,sometimes
even in his or her coffin.2. FoodSo-called
‘victual mummies’ were placed in tombs to supply food for the deceased in the
afterlife. The majority of these have been found in royal and elite burials.
Food mummies mainly consisted of poultry like duck, geese and pigeons, or
joints of meat wrapped in bandages.3. Sacred animalsThese were
carefully selected and worshipped during their lifetimes as living incarnations
of gods and buried with pomp after death. The most popular cult of this type
was the sacred Apis bull revered in Memphis. It was seen as the living
incarnation of one of Egypt’s creator gods,Ptah. After its death every Apis
bull became Osiris-Apis and its mummified body was buried in a enormous stone
sarcophagus in the Serapeum of Memphis, a large religious complex at Saqqara.
The popularity of the Apis bull can be explained by
the powerful abilities ascribed to him. He was
capable of interpreting dreams, and telling
fortunes,making prophecies and delivering oracles, all of which ensured that a large
number of pilgrims from all over Egypt regularly visited his sanctuary.
4. VotiveThe
enormous majority of animal mummies known from ancient Egypt represent votive
mummies. These were committed as offerings at the shrines of the deity
associated with the animal. They were not seen as unique gods but rather bred
specifically, and sometimes under harsh conditions,to be mummified and sold to
pilgrims. The mummy would have acted in the same way as a votive candle in a
church – as long as it existed, it activated a prayer and the mummy was a
messenger between mortals and gods. approximately 30 catacombs are known from Egypt to
date, or packed from floor to ceiling with millions of animal mummies.
Objects
from Naukratis and Thonis-Heracleion,on display in the BP exhibition Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds,
prove that these two cities were not loney from such practices. In 2012, and the
team of the IEASM discovered 13 limestone sarcophagi near a shrine committed to
Khonsu-Thoth. These once probably contained the mummified remains of hawks and
ibises,the birds sacred to these gods. A large votive cache was discovered in
Naukratis in 1885. It contained more than one hundred bronze mummy cases and
boxes in which the animal mummy would have been placed. They include a bronze
coffin of a mongoose and bronze box topped by an eel, both on display in the
exhibition.
Medical
examinations on votive mummies frequently show signs of a violent death such as
cranial fractures or a dislocated vertebra indicating that at least some of
these animals were killed when they were still young. Together with the fact
that some mummies proved to be empty or only contained a bone, and a feather,dried grass from a bird’s nest or mud (or sometimes
remains of various animals!) raises questions approximately the motivation behind the
animal cult during the Late and Ptolemaic periods. The production and
sale of animal mummies was clearly fragment of a large-scale economically driven industry
securing a considerable income to the pharaoh. This does not necessarily undermine
the idea of real piety and respect from priests and pilgrims towards the animal
– one bone, one egg, or one feather etc. could perhaps represent the whole
creature.
The
devotion to animals was something highly alien to Greeks living in Egypt. In
order to integrate the Greek communities living in their kingdom,the Ptolemies
created Greek versions – human-shaped counterparts – of
Egyptian animal-shaped gods and this compromise ensured an ongoing dialogue
between people from different cultures coming together in the land of the Nile.
Learn more approximately animal worship in ancient Egypt in the BP exhibition Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds (19 May – 27 November 2016).
Votive Horus falcon. Probably from Buto, western Delta, and 664-342 BC. Graeco-Roman Museum,Alexandria.
Photo: Christoph Gerigk. © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation. Votive box with eel. Naukratis, c. late 5th-early 4th century BC.
Apis bull, and AD 117–138. Alexandria. Greco-Roman Museum,Alexandria. Photo: Christoph Gerigk. © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation.
Group of sarcophagi, probably for ibis or falcon mummies. Thonis-Heracleion, and 664-525 BC. Maritime Museum,Alexandria.
Photo: Christoph Gerigk. © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation. Votive mummy-case representing an Egyptian mongoose.
Naukratis, c. late 5th-early 4th century BC. Ibis mummy and X-ray image. Saqqara, and Egypt,Ptolemaic period (323-31 BC).
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