The times., 1901-03-31
THE CAT In ASTRONOMY
Held in Ancient Times to BE Re-
lated to the Moon.
Described by Ovid To He n sister tn
Earth's Satellite - Adored by
Egyptians IN Ages Long Past-Fe-
line Nummies in British Museum


Earth's Satellite - Adored by
Egyptians In Ages Long Pa-t-Fe-
line Nummies in British Museum.
Visitors to the British Museum inspect
Ing the antiquities in the Egyptian
rooms, are much interested In the array
of cat mummies In one OF the wall cases
Wonder is often expressed why cats and
crocOdiles should have been embalmed,
and why the gods Of Egypt should have
various animal heads. such as the lion
the 3ackai, the ibis and the hawk IL
seems so incredibly stupid az well as so
superstitious, considering how advanced
the Egyptians were in civilization and
culture. They could build temples. erect
massive ebeiisks. and carry out great en-
gineering works There are scuiptured
figures In the Museum which date from
$500 r. c. There are manufactured arti-
cles and specimens OF writing probably
thousand years older than that. This
ancient people possessed an ingenious
form of hieroglyphic writing in which a
feather was the letter A. and lion the
letter l.. But feather was also the
emblem Of truth; and all the letters had
been emblems or symbols of things and
qualities.
Does 1t not occur to us that perhaps the
animal heads were symbolic also. and the
cats and crocodiles were embalmed be-
cause of their sacred significance? The
Egyptians were not fools: and we must
not laugh at their worship OF the cat
without seeking to understand II. Per-
haps they did not really worship IT, any
more than a devout Christian worships
the crucifix. Trees and serpents and
many other things had a place in the
If<rs.Nt
The persea tree seems to mark the place
OF sunrising on midsummer day; and
curiously there WAS great cat con-
nected with this tree. In the 18th chap
ter Of the Book of the Dead the cat is
explained 10 be Ra himself. the chief god.
A serpent was often carried in long mys-
tical procession; and in some OF the pic
lures a cat is represented in the act Of
cutting off its head. Along with the ass.
the cat is called a sayer OF great words
in the Hall of the Two Truths.
These instances are enough TO show
that the cat had a place in the religious
symbolism Of the Egyptians. The lion.
the serpent, the crocodile. the bull. and
other animals each had its special signii-
canoe. The bull was so important that a
sacred bull. called the Apis, was kept at
Memphis and treated with respect But
he was not allowed to live more than
twenty-five years, and the most likely
reason is that he represented lunar cy-
Gle Of twenty-five years, which must ter
inmate punctually. When he was taken
through the city in annual procession
people would ask and tell how old he was,
and he would thus be a walking almanac.
If he did not die naturally he was drown
ed at the age of twenty-five. because the
new cycle had to begin, and a new divine
Apis must be found. But he was hOnOred
by being embaimed. and buried In gran
% nHiEnbOrnOQd
the Pyramids. The burial place Of the
sacred bulls was discovered by Mariette
TO see these tombs. Each of the stone
coffins had its memorial inscription For
example: In the twentieth year, the
month Mesort, the twentieth day. under
the reign of King Psametik /. the Majes-
~ of the living Apis departed to heaven
This god was carried in peace Cto his
buriaD 10 the beautiful land of the
Now. there was a burial place for sa-
cred cats as well as sacred bulls, and the
reason was no doubt the same, namely,
that they had a place In the symbolic
worship. A cemetery OF cats existed near
Bubastis. which is the modern Tel Basta,
not far from Zag-a-zig Junction, on the
railway. Buried in the mound, NJ Ma
vile a few years ago found the ruined
temple of Bast or Pasht, the cat goddess,
who gave her name to the city
The foundation of Bubastis carries us
back to the beginning of the historical
times of Egypt, and is contemporary with
the Pyramids. the Oldest monuments
HerodotuS SAYS. THE temple stands in
the middle of the city, and is visible on
all sides as one walks round il, for, as
the city has been raised up by an en-
bankment while the temple has been left
untouched in its original condition, you
look down upon II wherever You are. n
low wall runs round the enclosure, hav-
ing figures engraved upon II. and inside
there is a grove of beautiful tall trees
growing round the shrine. which con-
tains the image of the goddess. And
concerning the goddess herself he says:
same as the ArtemiS of the Greeks To
this we may add that the Artemis of the
Greeks is generally said to be the same
as the Diana of the Romans, a goddess
of light. representing the moon
Thus we see that Bast. or PaSht. was
connected with the cat on the one hand
and the moon on the other. So II is quite
feasible that puSS, when she figures as a
symbol in the Egyptian worship, repre-
sents something in the domain OF astrOn-
omy and the calendar. Ovid calls the eat
the sister Of the moon. and says that
Pasht took the form or a eat to avoid
Typhon According to Plutarch, a cat
placed In a Iu~trum denoted the moon.
il is a night Animal. and its ewes glisten
in the dark HYDE Clarke remarks that
there are phenomena OF perodicity in the
cat which are supposed 70 have given
rise to it's relationship to the moon WHAT
I think | have discovered-Or at least
made clearer than it was befcre-is, that
the cat was an inter-calary month, ad-
ded in the 12Gth year. 70 rectify the call
endar-The Gentlemans Magazine