Page 63 - Trends

both power and protection for the per-
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Cats: from amulets to furniture
Images of felines were also used for pro-
tection — not only do we see them on
furniture, but also on major points of
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Statues of protective lions pre-dated
the use of gargoyles, which we would
later see on cathedrals throughout Eu-
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were commonly worn in Ancient Egypt
by the middle and upper classes,” Catan-
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“Bastet was one of Ancient Egypt’s
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er-goddess with protective and mater-
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think of how a docile mother cat can be-
come ferocious to protect her kittens,”
Catanzariti said, explaining why the an-
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“Sakhemet was another feline god-
dess (and) she was known as the ‘the
powerful one,’ so powerful that she was
thought to even be able to protect the
king while in battle and also in his ev-
HU\GD\ OLIH µ VKH QRWHG “The lions’ paws you’ve seen on the feet of chairs were a symbol of status that
“In ancient Egypt, the king or pha-
raoh would always travel with objects indicated both power and protection for the person sitting in the chair.”
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Lions were used for protection and The pharaonic people believed that the the lion’s power and danger to humans
power during his war activities in other complex personality of a cat — its com- paralleled the corresponding qualities of
FRXQWULHV µ VKH UHYHDOHG )RU D NLQJ WR bination of care and aggression; nurture the sun because the sun itself has a two-
have a lion at his side was viewed as and power — as the sort of duality that fold quality akin to the complex nature
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to control the lions to demonstrate to RI VSLULWXDOLW\ &DWV ERWK ELJ DQG VPDOO and warms the earth and its habitants,
his citizens that he was in control of ORYHG ZDUPWK DQG EDVNLQJ LQ WKH VXQOLJKW EHQHÀWLQJ DOO OLIH ZKLOH RQ WKH RWKHU
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“This was why they were portrayed in and yellow fur of Egyptian cats matches ly dangerous, burning the unprotected
hunting scenes with the pharaohs; they the colors of the rising and setting sun in traveler, destroying crops and causing
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Interestingly, the Egyptians paid a these natural links with the sun, several Similarly, the feline skill at killing
very close attention to the appearance Egyptian gods appeared in the form of snakes found support in myths that de-
DQG EHKDYLRU RI IHOLQHV 7KH\ YLHZHG LWV cats and lions, including the sun god, Re, scribed the sun god, Re, taking the form
grace, prowess at hunting, ability to see DQG WKH JRGGHVVHV ZKR JXDUGHG KLP of a cat in order to battle the evil serpent,
in the dark, and high rate of fertility as But the relationship of cats and the sun Apep, who attempted to stop the solar cy-
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February 2018 | TRENDS 63