06 | Animal gods

[flapping, padding footsteps]

CLEO: Meow. Or should I say, me-wow? AHMOSE: What?

CLEO: Look. At. This. [Cleo purrs]

AHMOSE: Oh yes, this cat statue looks like you.

CLEO: Not quite as good looking.

AHMOSE: Well, how could it be, my fine feline friend?

But look, there’s a bat statue and an eel statue too.

Many Egyptian gods appeared as animals, or as humans with animal heads, or as animals with human heads.

Look at me for example. [Ahmose extends wings]

CLEO: Oh yeah, very impressive.

AHMOSE: Fine. Well, the cobra and the scorpion represented dangerous gods,

although sometimes they could be protective too.

The mongoose could kill snakes, so it was associated with gods like Re, the sun god,

who had to [theatrically] battle the evil snake Apophis on his voyage through the underworld every night!

CLEO: Back to the cat statue though.

AHMOSE: Right, of course. The goddess Bastet was–

CLEO: I’ve got this one. [speaking faster and faster] Ancient Egyptians first liked cats because they kept all the rats and snakes away

but later cats became associated with the goddess Bastet who was the goddess of war, pregnancy, childbirth and more.

These are all Very. Important. Things. So Bastet was depicted as a cat.

AHMOSE: Naturally. CLEO: What can I say?

AHMOSE: Let’s look at the statue of a bat next to it.

Some nocturnal animals were worshipped as symbols of rebirth.

CLEO: Hmm, interesting. Back to the cat statue.

Bastet was believed to be able to transform herself into a cat.

So people started treating cats even better,

making special jewellery for them and statues of them.

AHMOSE: Ooh, and look at the statue of an eel next to the bat.

CLEO: They even started painting cats on their tombs.

Sometimes when a cat died, they were mummified just like people to preserve their bodies forever.

AHMOSE: Interesting.

The eel statue is made of bronze and– [interrupts] CLEO: The cat statue is also made of bronze,

and I’m pretty sure it’s of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great–

AHMOSE: I get the idea. CLEO: Grandfather.

AHMOSE: Notice the bat statue also has a human head?

The eel statue is thought to be of the god Atum, the creator god.

Atum brought the world into being by creating himself

[theatrically] out of the primordial waters of chaos!

From there he formed the other gods and the world including Bastet.

CLEO: My great-great-great– AHMOSE: Stop now.

CLEO: Meow. AHMOSE: Now, the eel statue.

Atum was also associated with new life.

He was believed to have the power to regenerate himself and the world.

Pictures and statues of Atum often combine him with other gods in Egyptian mythology,

such as Re, who was also a sun god, and Osiris, who was a god of the afterlife.

CLEO: Back to the cat statue.

AHMOSE: Or onto the next stop! [flapping]

CLEO: Fine. Did you know that in exceptional circumstances,

[fading out] cats were buried with their owner when they died so they could live together forever in the afterlife?

Ahmose? Did you know that?