Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1901-07-03
THE SACRED BULLS.
THEIR POSITION IN EGYPTIAN RE-
LiGlOUS SYMBOLISM.

Visitors to the British museum, In
specting the antiquities in the Egyp-
tian 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 .jackal; the
ibis and the hawk. 1t seems so incred-
IDLY stupid as well as so superstitious,
considering how advanced the Egyp-
tians were in civilization and culture.
They could build temples, erect mass
I've obelisks and carry out great engi-
neering works. There are sculptured
figures In the museum which date from
$500 B. G. There are manufactured ar
ticles and specimens Of writing proba-
bly, thousand years older than that.
This ancient people possessed an in
genious form Of hieroglyphic writing
In which a feather was the letter A
and a lion the letter L.. But feather
40 dAoO IhC CLAOiCh VI tlutut anu
the letters had been. embiems or SYM
bols of things and qualities.
Does 1t not occur to us that perhaps
the animal heads were symbolic also
and the cats and crocodiles were en-
balmed because of their sacred signifi-
canoe? The Egyptians were not fools.
and we must not laugh at their wor-
ship of the cat without seeking to un-
derstand it,
Trees, serpents and other things
had a place in the religious symbolism
Of the Egyptians. The persea tree
seems to mark the place of sunrising
on midsummer day. and, euriously,
there was great cat" connected with
this tree. In the seventeenth chapter
Of the Book Of the Dead" the cat Is
explained to be Ra himself, the chief
god. A serpent was often carried In
long mystical procession, and in some
Of the pictures 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 sig
nifcance. The bull was so important
that a sacred bull, called the Apis, was
kept at Memphis and treated with
pvpk hn - nll
to live more than % years, and the
most likely reason 10 that he represent
ed lunar cycle Of 25 years. which
must terminate 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
q walking almanac. II he did not die
naturally. he was drowned at the age
Of %, because the new cycle had to be-
gin, and new divine Apis must be
found. But he was honored by being
embalmed and buried in granite sar-
cOphagus in the neighborhood of the
pyramids.
The burial place OF the sacred bulls
was discovered by Marietta in 1851,
and every visitor to Egypt goes to see
these tombs. Each Of the stone collins
had its memorial Inscription. For ex-
ample, I'm the twentieth year. the
month Mesori. the twentieth day, I'M
der the reign of King Psametik I, the
majesty of the living Apis departed to
heaven. This god was carried In peace
Ito his BURIAL to the beautiful land of
the west"
Now. there was a burial place for sa-
cred cats as we'll as sacred bulls, and
the reason was no doubt the same
namely. that they had 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. Naville some 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 be-
ginning OF the historical times Of Egypt
and Is contemporary with the pyra-
mids. the oldest monuments.
AAShouotuo says. LIE temple SIuluS
In the middle Of the city and Is visible
ON all sides as one walks round It:
for, as the city has been raised up by
an embankment while the temple has
been left untouched in It's original con-
dition, you look down upon it wher-
ever you are. A low wall runs round
the Enclosure. having figures engraved
upon 1t, and inside there is a grove of
beautiful tall trees growing round the
shrine which contains the image of the
goddess" And concerning the goddess
herself he says, THE Bubastis OF the
is the same as the Artemis
OF the Greeks" To this we may add
that the Artemis of the Greeks is gen
orally said to be the same as the Diana
Of the Romans. goddess of light rep.
the moon.
Tbas we see that Bast or Pasht was
with the cat on the one hand
and the moon on the other. So it Is
quite feasible that puss when she
figures as symbol in the Egyptian
represents something In the
domain of astronomy and the calen.
lar. Ovid calls the cat the sister of
the moon. and says that Pasht toe
the form of cat to avoid Typhon.