Animals in ancient Egypt

By
Venice I Attia
Throughout the history of Ancient Egypt, animals were highly respected. In no other
culture have animals been as influential in so many aspects of life, nor has any culture
depicted animals as often in their artwork or writing. It is estimated that 1 in every 4 or 5
Egyptian hieroglyphs relates to animals. Egyptians believed that animals were crucial to
both physical and spiritual survivalvital to physical survival because they were a major
source of food and to spiritual survival based on how well a person treated animals during
their life on earth. Some animals were considered to be literal incarnations of the gods, and
therefore, it is understandable why Egyptians would have wanted to hold such animals in
the highest regard, giving them a proper burial through mummification. The Egyptian
religion taught of life after death. In order to determine a persons admittance or denial to
the afterlife, the gods would ask a series of judgment questions. One of these crucial
questions would be whether they had mistreated any animals during their life on earth.
Because of this religious belief, the killing of an animal was considered a serious crime
punishable by death. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian from the 1st century B.C.,
witnessed the lynching of a Roman who had accidentally killed a cat during a visit to
Egypt., this punishment frightened Egyptians to the point that if one would happen upon a
dead animal, they would flee from it as to avoid the accusation of being its killer.

Types of animal mummies

Votive offerings
The majority of Egyptian animal mummies were religious offerings. If an Egyptian sought
a favor from a god, he would purchase or make an offering and place it at the appropriate
temple of the god he wished to please. Before animal mummification became common,
these offerings were usually bronze statues depicting the animals. However, eventually a
cheaper alternative to bronze statuesanimal mummiesbecame the most popular form
of offering. Literally millions of these mummified animals have been discovered throughout
Egypt. Inspection of these mummies, usually done through CT scans which allow
researchers to examine the skeletons of the mummies without damaging the outer
wrappings, has suggested that these types of animals were bred for the sole purpose of
offerings. As the process of animal mummification for the purpose of offerings grew,
mummification techniques became progressively less meticulous. Studies have revealed
many of the large-scale animal offerings to be fakes the wrappings containing only a

few bones, feathers, reeds, wood, or pieces of pottery. The animals were raised in temples,
and sold to pilgrims or regular citizens. The animals necks were often broken, an
indication that their sole purpose was to be sacrificed as offerings.

Religious purposes
Ancient Egyptian religion was characterized by polytheism, which means the belief in
multiple gods, thus before the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, there were a
tremendous number of gods, each representative of a different element of the natural
world, after the unification, a more limited list of gods developed. These gods were usually
depicted as having a human body and an animal head.
Over time, religious cults
emerged for the worship of each specific god, thus two main types of worship distinguished
the cults
1- worshiping the god through mass mummified animal offerings and
2- selecting an animal to represent the god, which was mummified at the time of its death.

Afterlife food
Egyptians believed that the afterlife would be a continuation of this one, allowing for the
transportation of items from this life to the next. In order to bring food to the afterlife,
Egyptians would surround human mummies by what are known as victual mummies.
These animals were prepared by dehydrating the meat and wrapping it in linen bandages,
to indicate that the animals were food, not pets. They were not mummified to the same
meticulous extent that a pet or human mummy would be, but the animals were nonetheless
carefully preserved using natron salt and other special salts. This food was included in
tombs in order to sustain the deceased persons soul, called the ka, during the journey to
the next world. A variety of food has been found in many tombs, mostly breads, meats, and
fowl.
King Tutankhamens tomb contained several coffin shaped wooden boxes containing this
type of mummified animal, such as duck and other types of meat.

Pets

Long before animal mummies were used as religious offerings, animals in Egypt were
occasionally mummified for a more personal reasonas beloved pets that were to keep the
deceased company in the afterlife. The most common Egyptian pets included cats, dogs,
mongooses, monkeys, gazelles, and birds. Many Egyptians loved their pets, and the

customary process of mourning the loss of a loved pet included crying and shaving ones
eyebrows. Ancient Egyptian pets were given names like we name our pets today, evidenced
by over 70 names deciphered inscriptions identifying pet dog mummies. Pets were often
depicted on the tombs of Egyptians, indicating their masters affection toward the animals.
Egyptians believed that mummification was imperative in order to gain admittance to the
afterlife, and therefore the mummification of these pets would ensure the animals
immorality.
Archaeological findings confirmed that pets were mummified, and the most famous
example is the Theban Queen Makares adult Green Monkey (Chlorocebusaethiops), thus
when her tomb was discovered, there was a small, mummified bundle near her feet, which
was believed to be her child, but this was not possible because Queen Makare was a High
Priestess who had taken a vow of celibacy. If this had been her child, it would have meant
that she had broken the oath she had taken as High Priestess. Finally, in 1968, an x-ray was
done on the small mummy, and it was determined to be an adult Green Monkey
(Chlorocebusaethiops), not a child. Similarly, Makares half-sister, Esemkhet, was
discovered buried with a mummified gazelle in her tomb. Prince Tuthmosisof the Dynasty
XVIII was also buried with his cat which was mummified and placed in a stone coffin in his
tomb, another Egyptian, named Hapymen, had his dog mummified, and placed at the side
of his coffin.

Examples of Egyptian mummified animals

Cats

Cats were mummified as religious offerings in enormous quantities and were believed to
represent the war goddess Bastet. This cult was primarily centered at Thebes and BeniHasan beginning in the Ptolemaic Period. At Beni -Hasan, there were so many cat
mummies that at the end of the 19th century, a total of 19 tons of mummified Egyptian cats
were shipped to England to be used as fertilizer. In addition, thousands of cat mummies
have been found at the catacombs of Saqqara. Cats that were bred to become offerings of
this type usually died due to strangulation or the breaking of their necks. During

mummification, the cat bodies would be dried and filled with soil, sand or some other kind
of packing material. They were either positioned with their limbs folded closely to their
bodies or in a sitting, lifelike position. The wrapping was usually completed through
intricate, geometric patterns. Early in the development of animal mummification, cat
mummies were placed in little bronze or wooden sarcophagi. More expensive mummies
were typically adorned with features drawn in black paint and colored glass, obsidian or
rock crystal eyes. Kittens and fetuses were mummified and buried inside the stomach of a
statue that represented their mother. As time went by, like all mummies designed for this
purpose, the mummification became less precise.

Ibis birds

The ibis cult was established during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods and was dedicated
to the god of wisdom, Thoth. The number of mummified ibises is extraordinary. Saqqara
alone is estimated to contain nearly 500,000 of these mummies and is also thought to have
produced 10,000 mummified offerings per year, approximately four million ibis burials
have been discovered at the catacombs of Tuna el-Gebel area. Mummification of the ibis
included desiccation and evisceration. Usually, the head and neck of the bird were bent
backwards and pressed on the body. The body was then dipped in tar and wrapped tightly
with linen. The vast number of mummified ibises suggests that this was done in a mass
production, as many times the mummies contained only a part of the body. After serving
their ritual purposes, the mummified bodies were placed in ceramic pots, coffins or
sarcophagi.

Baboons

Baboons also represented the God Thoth, the god of the moon as well as the god of wisdom.
The appearance of baboons on canopic jars, which contained the organs of human
mummies, indicates the animals cultural significance, baboons were reared in mass
quantities at temples, though the numbers of baboon mummies that have been discovered
are not as large as cats or ibises. Around 400 were discovered at the tombs of Saqqara.
Most baboons were mummified with plaster and buried in wooden coffin boxes. Baboon
mummies that have been discovered have provided significant evidence that they were bred
and mummified as offerings.

Crocodiles

The crocodile was regarded as an extremely fierce animal, often used to terrify enemies
during war. The crocodile cult was devoted to Sobek, god of fertility, and the sun god, Ra.
Typically, crocodiles were raised in a life of complete luxury, indulged until they died. In
the early years of this cult, dead crocodiles were lavishly mummified with gold and other
precious things. However, as mummification gradually became a production process, less
effort was exerted in their mummification and eventually consisted simply of cloth
wrappings and the application of resin, a preserving agent. When found in extremely large
quantities, crocodile mummies, like many other sorts of animal offerings, contained only
reeds or random body parts.

Bulls

The Abis bull cult originated as early as 800 B.C.The earliest and largest of all animal cults,
the Abis bull cult considered the bull to be a symbol of strength and fertility, representing
the creator gods Ptah and Osiris. Mummification was a key part in the worshipping of
these animals. While alive, the bull would be housed in a special temple, lavishly pampered
for its entire life. Priests believed that the Abis bull was a medium of communication
between the two creator gods, so its movements were carefully observed and sometimes
consulted as an oracle. These sacred animals were allowed to die a natural death unless
they reached the age of 28, at which time they were killed. When an Abis bull died, the
entire country went into mourning, afforded an elaborate funeral and intricate burial
procedures. Because the bulls were so large, the process of mummification was
complicated. At Memphis, the center of the cult -big alabaster embalming tables were
constructed with engravings and fluid drainage channels, after the funerary ceremonies,
the bull would be transported to these tables where it would be strapped to the table. Its
internal organs would be destroyed through intra-anal oils. The animals body would be
dried using natron salt and packed with sand then wrapped in linen sheets. Artificial eyes
and an artistic plaster head would be added, ensuring the bull still looked like itself.

Fish

Fish were mummified in mass quantities as offerings to the god. They were wrapped in
linen and held together by bands of cloth soaked in resin, permanently encasing the
mummies. Many times, black circles representing the eyes were painted on the hardened
linen. Several species of fish have been identified, but due to the deteriorating condition of
the mummies, scientists are unable to conclude if the organs were typically removed during
the process of mummification.

Other animals
Other animals were mummified corresponding to the god they represented
Beetles (Cherpera)
Mongoose/Shrew (Horus)
Dogs/Jackals (Anubis)
Serpent/Eel (Atum)