New-York tribune., 1901-03-24
THE CAT AND THE MOON.
ITS SUPPOSED RELATION TO THE
EARTH'S SATELLITE OFFERED As
AN EXPLANATION OF EGYP-
TIAN ADORATION
RELATION TO THE
TIAN ALTERATION.
F'rom The GentIeman,s Masazine.

From The Gentlemans Magazine.
Visitors to the British Museum inspecting the
antiquities in the Egyptian Rooms, are much
Interested in the array of cat mummes in
OF the wall cases. Wonder Is often expressed
W by cats and crocodiles should have been EN-
balmed, and why the gods of Egypt should
have various animal heads. such the hon,
the jackaL the ibis and the hawk. II
incredibly stupid as Well as so sup arstitiII
considering how advanced the Egy ptials were
IN civilization and culture. They could build
temples, erect massive ObeliSkS and carry out
great engineering works There are ulptIred
figures in the Museum which date from ;;-rOt
B. e. There are manufactured articles 2nd
si t'imthS OF writing pro3aoiy thousand years
older than that. This ancient people toSsesse,l
an ingenious form Of hIerogIyphic writing in
which a feather was the letter \, and lion
the letter l.. But a feather was also the emblem
Of truth: and all the letters had been
blems or symbols of things and qualities
Does 1t not occur To US that perhaps the ami
mai heads We're symbolic also. and the Cats and
crocOdiles We're enhalmed because Of their
cred significance? The Egyptians were not fools
ana We must not laugh at their worship Cf the
cat without seeking To understand it, Perhaps
they did not really Worship it, any more than
devOut Christian @orships the cruCiiX. Tres
and serpents and many other things mad a
place in the religious symbolism Of the Egyptians.
The persea tree seems 10 mark the place sf sun
rising on midsummer day, and curiOuslv there
was great cat connected with this tree
In the NNIIth Chapter Of the Book Of the Dead
the at IS explained to be Ia himself. thr chief
god y serpent Vas often carried in long myS-
ucal procession, and in some Of the pictures 4
cat is represen-- I'd IN the act Of cutting of us
head Along with the ass. the cat is called a
sayer Of great words in thu Hail of the Two
Truths. These instances are enough TO show
that the cat had 4 ulaCe IN the IiGiouS YIN
holism Of the Egyptians. Thr lion, the serpent.
IN" crocodile. the 1uIl and other animals each
had lis Spr' letl significance. The bull was i'm
p"rtant that a sacred bull called the Apis. Was
kept at Memphis, and treated with great To-
Si~tJ But he was not allowed t. live more
than twenty-five years. and the most likely
reason that n represented a lunar cv-l.. II
. Er "a term rl.
utlIy. When hr was taken through IN" tity i'm
annual procession people would ask and tell
!nS "'mti'a. /, he dit not di- naturally hr vas
dr"N ned az the age Of Twenty-Five. because IN.
u"N cycle had o. begin. and new divine APIS
Hl..~t b" FOUND Hut he was hcnored ty being
,n.ua'r mod. ard buried in granite sarcoplGEIo.
in th" n-irhh"rhood az th~ pyramids Tn burial
Ila"" ~ the sacred bulls was discovered .v
Ma-ett~ in l>Il. and every visitor TO Esyat
goes 20 se~ th-se t1mhs Eacn of the stone
s1ffns had It's memorial Inscription. For tN-
ample. In the twentieth Year. the month
N-sorl. tho twentieth dIy. under the reign ~
Ming Istmetik [. the Majesty Of the living Apis
d'i-F'"I ~ heaven. IhlS god Was carried IN
r. ar. q" his nurah % the beautiful land ~
Now, there was a burial place Tor sacred
vas no doubt tn namely thai they lad
"a place In IN" symbolic Worship. \ cemetery Of
cats existed near Euhastis which = the modern
Tel Pasta. not far tr'U ZaS-t -ziE Junction. on
the railway. Buried iU the mound NJ Navfll-
f-N years ago found the ruined temple ~
fIdSl 'l l'A-Nt IN cat goddess. IS no gave n r
name tp the city. The foundation of BubastlS
carries US back 70 the beginning Of the historical
times - Egypt. AMI is Contcmp orary with the
Pyramids, the oldest monuments. HerOdOtus
says. The temple stands in the middle of the
city. ana Is visible all sides walks
round il. FOR. the city has been raised up by
an cmh1nkmrut. while the temple has been left
untouched IN its original condition you look
d' Wn upon IL wherever YOU y low wall
runs round the incloSure having figures en-
graved upon il. AMI inside there is a grove of
beautiful tall trees grow ing round the shrine
which contains th- image oI the goddess" And
Ct uCerulnS the goddess ,rsrlf h. says The
BUha5tis Of the Egyptians IS the same as the
ArtemiS OF the Greeks To TINS may add
that the Artemis Of the Greeks IS generally
said to 1- the same the Diana Of the Romans
goddess 1f light, repres antinE The moon
Thus wr S-c that Fast. PIsht was
UectrI with the cat the hand and the
moon on the other. So it is quite feasible that
!.uSS, when Sn- figures a symbol in th-
Egyptian worship. represents sonnet thing in the
domain Of astronomy ami the calendar. ovid
calls the cat the sister of the moon. and says
that Fasht took the form Of cat avoid
TyphOn. According To Plutarch a eat placed
in lustrum denoted the moon. II is a night
animal. and is eyes gsteu in the dark. Hyde
Clarke remarks that there PHENOMENA ~
reriodicity in tn cat, which are supposed
have given rise To its relationship the moon.
What | think have discovered-or at least
made clearer than it bef0re-iS that the
cat was an inter, alary month. added in the
l.uJh year. - rectify the calendar