17. The Respect for Cats

The cat has probable been associated with Man since it was first given a place by his fire in return for keeping the cave dwelling free of rats and mice . The relationship between the cat and Man has not been constant, however, Man’s attitude has ranged through indifference and neglect to the extremes of persecution and worship.

To the early Egyptians the cat was a goddess and temples were built in her honor. Probable the most revered of animal deities (神)was Bast ,the cat-headed goddess .There was even a city, Bubastis , named after her.Occasionally, Bast was depicted as lion-headed, but the majority of the statues of her show her as cat-headed , often surrounded by sacred cats or kittens.

The Egyptians had great faith in the power of a living cat to protect them from both natural and supernatural evils .They made small ornaments(装饰物)and charms representing cats and the various cat deities. These decorated their homes and were buried with them to ensure that the soul of the dead person was protected on its perilous journey through the hostile sirit world.

Pious (虔诚的)Egyptians always mummified their cats and had them buried with almost as much reverence as if they were human beings . At the end of the last century, a cat cemetery was discovered near the site of the ancient city of Bubastis. Here literally hundreds of thousands of little cat mummies were found ranged neatly on shelves. Some were stolen, some destroyed, and antique dealers sold many to tourists. Thousands were left.