The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 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 to
Earth's Satellite - Adored by
Egyptians In Ages Long Past-Fe-
line Mummie. in British Museum.

Described by Ovid to He u sister to
Earth's Satellite - Adored by
Egyptians In Ages Long Past-Fe-
line Mummies 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
crocodies 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 IL
seems so incredibly stupid as 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-
cheering works. There are scuiptured
figures In the Museum which date from
$500 b. c. There are manufactured arti-
Giles and specimens of writing probably
thousand years older than that This
ancient people possessed an ingenious
form of hieroglyphic writing in which
feather was the letter A. and Hon the
letter L. But a feather was also the
emblem of truth; and all the letters had
been emblems or symbols of things and
qualities.
Does It 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 1t. Per-
haps they did not really worship 1t. any
more than devout Christian worships
the crucifix. Trees and serpents and
49,.
religious symbolism of the Egyptians.
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 nth chap
ter of the Book OF the Dead the cat Is
explained to be Ra himself. the chief god.
serpent was often carried in long mys-
teal procession; and in some of the pic
lures cat is represented In the act of
cutting off its head. Along with the ass.
the cat is called a sayer OF great words
II 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
sacred bull. called the Apis, was kept at
he was not allowed to live more than
twenty-five years, and the most likely
reason is that he represented a 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 new divine
Apis must be found But he was honored
by being embamed, and buried in gran
tie sarcophagus 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
example: I'm the twentieth year, the
month Mesori. the twentieth day. under
the reign of King Psametik /. the Majes-
ty of the living Apis departed to heaven
This god was carried in peace Ito his
buriaD to the beautiful land of the
West
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 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,
temple of Bast or Pasht, the cat goddess.
who gave her name to the city.
The foundation of Bubastis carries us
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 it; 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 IT wherever you are. A
low wall runs round the enclosure, hav-
ing figures engraved upon it. 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:
THE Bubastis of the Egyptians is the
same as the Artenis 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. 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 1t is quite
feasible that puss. when she figures as a
symbol in the Egyptian worship. repre-
sents something in the domain of astron-
the sister of the moon. and says that
Pasht took the form OF cat to avoid
Typhon. According to Plutarch, cat
placed in a Iu~trum denoted the moon.
il is night animal, and its ewes glisten
in the dark Hyde Clarke remarks that
there are phenomena OF perodicity In the
cat which are supposed to have given
rise to it's relationship to the moon What
| think | have discoyered-or at least
made clearer than it was before-is. that
the eat was an inter-calary month, ad-
ded in the 120th year. TO rectify the call
endar-The Gentleman's Magazine