Dogs Think We're Gods; Cats Think They're Gods

We're Not Worthy, We're Not Worthy

As Wayne and Garth's iconic scene rattles around in my skull, I can't help but see the relevance of this article for cat lovers–oh, and other animals, too. Animals have been used to depict deities for thousands of years. Whether the Coyote from Native American legend, the Eagle of Zeus from the Greeks, or the Norse mythos that offers us the Mountain Goats of Thor.

But what about the cat? Cats were considered welcome companions and the Gods' vessels. Prized for their hunting skills and for killing dangerous scorpions, cats became the guardians of the Underworld and were often depicted in royal tombs and mummified with their owners.

Indeed, cats held a special place in the heart of Egypt.

Bastet: Goddess of Cats

Bastet, the most important of the cat gods was believed to ride through the sky with her father Ra — the?Sun God ?— protecting him as he flew from one horizon to the other.?She appeared in her heavenly form during the day.

But at night, when Ra slept, she would transform into a cat and protect him from his enemy, Apep, Demon of Chaos .

One night, armed with her excellent night vision–something her father didn't possess–she went and killed Apep. And with his death, crops would yield their harvests and the people would multiply.

So that made Bastet the Fertility Goddess of the people of Egypt. But cats multiply, too. Enter Bastet’s Siblings Mut and Sekhmet

Mut: the Mother Goddess & Sekhmet: Goddess of War

Mut , the older sister was a primal deity, associated with creation and the primordial waters of Nu from which sprang everything. She was the mother of all that was in the world. However, she was mostly considered to be the mother of the lunar child god Khonsu .?

Another sister of Bastet, Sekhmet is known as the goddess of power and force, representing war and vengeance. She rode with the Pharaohs into battle but was also known to be a curator and protected them during times of war. I don't make this stuff up, folks.

King Khafre at Giza

Bastet is also closely linked to one king in particular, King Khafre. And, in a rare twist, only two gods are depicted in the temple, Hathor –the mother of Ra–and Bastet.

At the temple, Bastet is depicted as the king's mother and his nurse. From the protector of the Sun to the slayer of the Demon of Chaos, to the mother of the king, Bastet cultivated quite a following.

And cats everywhere rejoiced.

The Cult of Bastet

Bastet had her very own cult, located in the northeast delta of the Nile. It was in a city known as Bubastis, which translates to the ‘house of Bastet’. Egypt overflowed with temples to Bastet, and the largest one at Bubastis housed and cared for hundreds of cats.

From the New Kingdom on, many faithful worshipped as part of the Bastet cult . Around 450 BC Herodotus described the ritual to Bastet:

"Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims drinking copious amounts of wine in honor of the goddess, dancing and celebrating in ecstasy."

The orgiastic nature of the yearly festival in Bubastis perfectly corresponds to the nature of felines and their fertility rates. Eat your heart out, Caligula !

But Herodotus Said It All

The historian, Herodotus, wrote of the Egyptians' love of cats and their sorrow from the loss of a pet cat:

"After a cat died a natural death, all the household members would shave their eyebrows as a sign of grief."

Another report tells us of Egyptians caught in a burning building who saved their cats before saving themselves or attempting to put out the fire.

Well, duh!

OK, So What About Dogs?

Anubis, the God of the Dead is the most well-represented canine deity in Egyptian mythology. Associated with mummification and the afterlife, Anubis' image was probably based on the Ibizan Hound or the Pharoah Hound . Anubis certainly had a following, but let's face it, do you want a Chaos-Demon-Killing-Shapeshifting Cat or a dog who takes your soul?

Hiss........