Holy souvenirs

Skulptures of Basted, The Cat Godess, is sold everywere on tourist markets in Egypt. But live cats, who were ones holy creatures, are in no high esteem today. At Beni Hasan, an Egyptian archeological site, more than 300,000 mummified cats were unearthed. Cats were regarded with something approaching veneration, to the extent that to kill one was a capital offence. They were also very important in ancient Egypt. Cats guarded the royal granaries and kept them free from rats and mice that threatened the food supplies. Grains provided the egyptians with the main staple foods of bread and beer... Cats and dogs used to be holy animals in ancient Egypt, but not any more.

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Filename: theholycat.jpg
Copyright: Bente Haarstad
Image Size: 5616x3744 / 1.4MB; holy cat Basted Bast tourist souvenirs Egypt tourism ancient godess hellig katt animal welfare Egypt souvenir souvenirs cat cats Anubis bast bastet holy dyrevern Spare Africa Afrika images bilder hellig gud guder faraotid
Contained in galleries: Animal rights and welfare

Skulptures of Basted, The Cat Godess, is sold everywere on tourist markets in Egypt. But live cats, who were ones holy creatures, are in no high esteem today. At Beni Hasan, an Egyptian archeological site, more than 300,000 mummified cats were unearthed. Cats were regarded with something approaching veneration, to the extent that to kill one was a capital offence. They were also very important in ancient Egypt. Cats guarded the royal granaries and kept them free from rats and mice that threatened the food supplies. Grains provided the egyptians with the main staple foods of bread and beer... Cats and dogs used to be holy animals in ancient Egypt, but not any more.