54:37 Now playing Two Faces of Bastet | Egyptian History Podcast 4.9K views 7 days ago
0:00 [Music] 0:10 basted is the oldest and one of the best known Egyptian filine goddesses her 0:16 countless cat images are today one of the symbols of fonic Egypt in the times 0:22 of the Great Pyramid Builders she was worshiped as the most important solar 0:28 goddess the mother of the son the mother of the Pharaohs a cosmic Guardian maintaining 0:36 creation bringing the floods of the Nile the lady of the northern hemisphere of 0:42 the sky worshiped especially in the Nile Delta busted together with her Southern 0:48 counterpart haur were a symbol of their two lands the Empire of the Old 0:55 Kingdom she was then imagined as a Divine lioness the solar eyee of the 1:01 Creator although generous and gracious yet terrifyingly 1:08 dangerous she had to be constantly tamed and calmed down the mythological stories 1:14 of her escape from Egypt were among the most popular her return was a reason for 1:20 Celebrations by millions of Believers it seems that bastard had abandoned her 1:26 people for a thousand years but with the fall of the the New Kingdom her cult saw 1:32 a Renaissance it was then that this fearsome goddess received a new gentle 1:38 face of a cat bastard of the late period and the 1:44 GRE Roman times became the patroness of motherhood and children love and 1:51 happiness this sensual creature also personified female sexuality and her 1:57 cult was characterized by orgastic rituals festivals of last and 2:03 [Music] 2:09 drunkenness hello everyone my name is Ira welcome to my channel Ancient Sid 2:14 girl I invite you to a podcast about the history of ancient Egypt today I'll try 2:20 to introduce you to the figure of the Cat Goddess which isn't an easy task 2:26 because the nature of the cult of bastard changed significantly over the Millennia so we will learn about the two 2:34 phases of the goddess of course we will use the original ancient 2:42 [Music] texts the lion-headed bastard was the 2:48 oldest filine Goddess of Egypt woried in the north probably already in 2:53 predynastic times although the oldest evidence of her cult has been found on 2:59 early dynastic vessel inscriptions they were discovered in the underground Gallery tombs in Sakara 3:06 belonging to the first rulers of the second Dynasty reigning somewhere 3:12 between the 29th to 27th century BC although the most important bastard 3:20 surely wasn't the only lion godess of Egypt the presence of lions in the Nile 3:26 Valley wasn't unusual in those times the Egyptians noticed their increased 3:32 activity in the cultivation areas in July the hottest period immediately 3:39 preceding the annual floods of the Nile at a time of greatest water 3:45 shortage Lions using natural paths such as wadis dry riverbeds searching for 3:52 water and prey entered the pastures from the desert areas spreading Terror among 3:58 cattle breeders particularly Troublesome to the Egyptians were the most active 4:05 lionesses at the same time with their strength and aggressiveness they 4:11 represented Divine majesty and the determination with which they Protected 4:16 Their young was to symbolize the kingship very early on Lion goddesses 4:24 became the embodiment of the aggressive and feminine aspect of the Sun the 4:30 punishing hand of the Creator but lioness's approaching Egyptian homes 4:36 also heralded the flooding of the Nile the return of greenery and new 4:45 life we know that the cult of basted was born in the Nile Delta however it's not 4:51 certain where exactly the city of bubastis with its famous sanctuary in 4:57 predynastic times wasn't yet the capital of The Gnome but was administratively 5:03 subordinate to the city of yum heliopolis the great center of the cult 5:09 of atum RA so it's no wonder that from the very 5:15 beginning the Theology of bubastis was shaped not independently but within the 5:21 framework of the solar cult together with the priesthood of heliopolis bases 5:28 strove for a greater concentration of political power in the hands of the 5:34 Pharaoh as we know already at the beginning of the Old Kingdom the solar 5:39 cult enjoyed great interest among the rulers and its importance was constantly 5:46 increasing the growth of bastard's popularity was part of this 5:52 process at the beginning of the fourth Dynasty from the time of snr's Reign we 5:58 can observe a close CL relationship between the king and bastard including 6:03 her in the theological program of the royal family whose members started to 6:09 perform the functions of her priests titles of priests and 6:15 invocations dedicated to basted from these times were found throughout Egypt 6:21 basted undoubtedly became a national deity in the time of the Great Pyramids 6:27 her names and images adorned the Monumental architecture of Giza the 6:33 Magnificent Granite faced walls of the cafre valley Temple the real gate to his 6:39 gigantic funerary complex are decorated only with two inscriptions on the door 6:46 frame of the Southern gate we read cafre beloved of haur on the other Northern 6:54 gate we find cafrey beloved of basted giving life 7:00 [Music] bastad and haur were probably referred to in all the valley temples of Giza 7:08 hathur appears as the patroness of Upper Egypt as the Incarnation of the southern 7:14 hemisphere of the sky with her sanctuary in distant dandera basted woried in the 7:20 Delta represents Lower Egypt a northern and aggressive counterpart of hather the 7:28 functions of these two goddesses overlap in many aspects they are complimentary both goddesses are the 7:36 mothers of the king they are the ones who give birth to and breastfeed the 7:41 Pharaoh haur as a Heavenly cow bastard as a 7:49 lioness mustard as the mother of the king takes their title chesed and as the 7:55 punishing Force the aggressive aspect of the sunat and his eye is titled seet 8:02 which means powerful they both aspects of the great 8:07 bastard in the 24th century BC pyramid text of unas we 8:13 read unas has emerged from the inat thighs unas has been conceived by seat 8:20 and chesed is the one who gave birth to unas a star with sharp front and 8:27 extensive Goings who fetches what the above has for their son every day unas 8:34 has come to his seat with the two ladies on it appearing as a 8:42 star the southern counterpart of bastard hather quickly came to be identified 8:48 with these lion headed goddesses both haic and lion elements 8:55 became omnipresent in Old Kingdom Egypt and both s goddesses were its Heavenly 9:01 patronesses at the same time the Earthly patronesses of the state and mothers of 9:07 the king were believed to be the vulture negat and the Cobra 9:13 waget so bastard of the Old Kingdom is a powerful goddess who is the mother of 9:19 the king which in the times of the fourth Dynasty meant that she's the mother of the son itself and its 9:27 protector by drinking her milk the Pharaoh achieves Divine status obtains 9:33 an and was life and domination also over the cosmos as atuma ra 9:43 himself bastard is a cosmic goddess who promotes the Regeneration of the 9:48 universe ures renewal and prosperity for Egypt in particular takes care of the 9:54 cyclical flooding of the N her role changes as the theology of kingship 10:00 evolves from the time of cafra pharaohs are called sons of the sun basted like 10:07 haur becomes the spouse of Rah and there his eye also a daughter she's positioned 10:14 in this role by the new religion of Osiris which appears during the fifth 10:22 Dynasty the fall of the Old Kingdom in the 22nd century BC saw a weakening of 10:28 the solar culture and a weakening of bastard's position as a national deity 10:34 still woried in the Nile Delta she was identified with other goddesses who 10:39 played a similar role besides hather of dandera and wet of BH these were tefnut 10:47 of hopis meid of thinis Isis of f mut of 10:53 Thieves and Pad of spos idos as the the daughter of the son 11:01 bastard is the heroine of one of the most popular myths of Egypt in general 11:06 known as the myth of the solar eye also known as the myth of the wering goddess 11:13 or the returning goddess known today from many versions given by different 11:19 mainly late and toic sources it describes the fate of the Gods after zap 11:25 tapi after the first time and focuses and the difficult relationship of the 11:31 creator atuma with his beloved daughter depending on the source the 11:38 daughter of the son in the myth is teod haur basted mood or RI tawi the latter 11:47 is the female form of Rah once woried in thieves her name can be read as son of 11:53 the two lands as the ancient Egyptian word tawi means fonics 12:00 State other versions of the myth mention the female form of Horus hit as well as 12:08 the Lioness segment clearly associated with the destructive aspect of the eye 12:13 of rra or her Nubian counterpart manhit and sometimes even Isis 12:21 herself as you can see the heroine of the myth could have been any solar goddess including those lesser local 12:29 Daughters of the son according to the myth Ra was pleased 12:34 with his work of creation and most of all with his daughter who personified M 12:40 truth and Divine Law that maintained Divine Creation in order and balance and 12:46 also was the solar eye the mysterious powerful tool of the Creator an 12:52 extension of his divine power it was thanks to her the original female 12:59 principle that everything went as it should each thing was in its place one 13:05 day however for some unknown reason this beloved daughter was offended at her 13:11 father and left the kingdom going to a distant 13:17 land the most complete records of the myth come from the so-called mythological manuals written in the late 13:25 period and copied in the Greco Roman times they contain contain ancient stories about the gods of Egypt set in 13:32 local reality specific to a given region stories of the Goddess the daughter of 13:39 Rah leaving Egypt and eventually returning were originally intended to 13:44 explain natural phenomena such as the recurring floods of the Nile the waning 13:50 of the moon or the hcal rising of 13:56 Sirius the absence of the goddess personifying mat is the collapse of all 14:02 natural laws we learn that day turned into night hours and seasons were mixed 14:09 up and the Nile stopped flooding or even float against the 14:15 current the departure of the first female being also caused the collapse of 14:21 sexual life the world was threatened with infertility barrenness and 14:27 destruction the mythological Manual of the Delta from the 26th s Dynasty compares the 14:36 goddess's journey to the heliacal rising of Sirus she becomes female Horus hit 14:43 and the cycles of the Nile floods are somehow connected with her menstrual cycle we read 14:52 quote concerning bastard who is in bubastis this is the alux when she came 14:58 for as hored on the Eastern Mountain of hopis the blood came forth from her and 15:06 it transformed into a turquoise she is in the form of a female 15:12 statue with a face of a lion she is kneeling with her ties beneath 15:20 her her appearance on the Eastern Mountain of helops is the rising Sirus 15:27 soed as the Egyptians called the star which after about 70 days of absence 15:33 from the sky Returns heralding the flooding of the Nile some sources suggest that the 15:41 goddess's Escape was caused by the incredible harm she had suffered the true archetype of the 15:48 wondering goddess the daughter of the S tefnut according to the 15:55 heropanti by her own son Gab also identified with bastard hit was violated 16:03 by her own father Osiris and according to other sources by her uncle Seth in 16:09 the Delta Manuel we read then Seth greatly harmed this 16:16 goddess in a lower image he copulated with her by 16:24 force since bastard is called hored in the same text during her Escape 16:29 it's easy to Guess that she was also harmed the wrong goddess purifies 16:35 herself in the river then she's supposed to have her first menstruation thus 16:41 dramatically ceasing to be a child and in the eyes of the Ancients achieving 16:46 sexual maturity unimaginably wronged by someone close the young goddess reacts with 16:54 uncontrolled anger in the form of a lioness or a Nubian cut as the Ancients 17:00 probably called black panthers spreading Terror among all living 17:06 things the mighty weapon of atum RA the solar eye which the goddess represented 17:12 was beyond the control of the Creator it became the powerful one that is seet 17:19 titled more Mighty than the gods a solution by force was therefore out of 17:25 the question the king of the Gods sent his intelligence to make her come back 17:31 the wise God taught in the form of a small inconspicuous 17:37 baboon the goddess travels abroad where she vents her anger on the foreign 17:43 non-egyptian people who according to the ancient Egyptians are Servants of efat 17:49 which means Servants of chaos finding the goddess wasn't difficult most sources point to Egypt's 17:56 Southern neighbor Nubia but persuading her to return required much effort Tod 18:03 occupies the goddess with numerous Parables demonstrating the need to restore order and balance to the world 18:11 skillfully using flattery gradually calming the agitated 18:16 gathers these attempts are described in a demotic Papyrus their so-called Laden 18:22 384 from Roman times this is how a clever baboon made the goddess Miss home 18:30 quote my heart longs for Egypt my country its fragrance comes to me its 18:36 winds entice me the hungry leave their city but the satiated remain there will 18:43 you go with me to Egypt I will convince you of what I say I will satisfy you 18:48 with what you desire I will make you fresh like a plant that grows in the water I will revive your body I will 18:56 strengthen your bones I will make you praise the happiness of this mountain that made me meet 19:03 you we read further the little monkey opened his mouth and spoke saying oh may 19:11 you live oh may you be healthy oh you the one of whom a raah boasts the lands 19:18 know your fearsomeness but it's your gentle from which you should take do not 19:24 become angry you should love mercy your power is great do not abandon your 19:30 reputation I know your Mighty greatness you are the greatest of the great do not 19:36 reject your kind blessed is he who has spoken to you he who Alters your command 19:44 will be seized by the plague and he who uses violence against you will 19:49 immediately be rejected to then tells the goddess allegorical stories in which he condemns 19:57 perjury wickedness and justifies punishment for the harm done among them 20:02 we learn the story entitled the cat and the vulture quote there was once a female vulture 20:10 who had a nest on top of a desert tree not far from a cat who had given birth 20:17 at the foot of a hill however the vulture was afraid to go looking for 20:22 food for her chicks for fear that the cat would take the opportunity to destroy her Young ones similarly the cat 20:31 was afraid to look for food for her kittens for fear that the vulture would 20:36 eat them the vulture said can we not coexist 20:42 in peace if we take an oath before Rah the great God in these terms when one of 20:49 us goes to get her little one's meal the other must not harm them they exchanged 20:55 oats before raah to comply with these terms as it turns out the PCT didn't last very 21:02 long knowing that Vengeance of raah had left the country and gone to Syria the 21:10 vulture decided to betray the 21:15 cat one day the cat went to get some food for her young ones and the vulture 21:20 destroyed them when the cat returned she could no longer find her kittens she 21:25 then looked up at the sky and backed around recognize my rights towards this vulture 21:32 who has exterminated my children after betraying the oats we swore 21:37 together her request Was Heard by Rah a divine power was sent to bring Vengeance 21:43 to strike the vulture who had exterminated the cat's Offspring he found Vengeance under the tree where the 21:51 vulture had her perge now the vulture had seen a Syrian who was roasting a 21:57 desert dun she took a piece of food when he wasn't looking she carried the piece of meat in 22:04 her beak and brought it to her nest but she didn't notice that the glowing 22:09 Embers were still attached to it the Embers burned the vulture's nest 22:16 and her cheeks fell to the ground beneath the tree the cat came up and spoke to the 22:24 vulture by the life of Rah it was you who broke your oath and and who destroyed my children now Vengeance has 22:31 struck your little ones who have been consumed by fire the little monkey said ra makes 22:41 Vengeance strike to continued to manipulate the 22:48 goddess with subsequent Parables and laudations in her honor never leaving 22:53 her sight saying my lady Egypt lies sorrowful at your feet there is no day 23:01 of celebration in your temples the woman and man have a sad face the beautiful 23:07 woman walk along the street without a smile but when you turn your face 23:13 towards them you are like the Nile that floods the dry 23:19 fields their drums are silent their hearts are covered with dust your 23:26 dancers beat on the tambourine but there there is no sound in their hands your dancers call for you your tambourine 23:34 players have not come to the arcades of the street your singers are in 23:39 mourning your flute players have stopped in fear at the entrance of the street 23:45 your florists are all in despair they ask about your ways their eyes turn away 23:51 from you they call for you like the rain like the astronomers awaits serus 24:00 the young goddess seemed to gradually succumb to her little companion's ministrations quote you have my heart 24:09 heavy although it had become calm my heart was content after I succeeded in 24:15 forgetting Egypt behold by your love for your country you have made me long again 24:21 for my Egypt which was like the scent of weed to my heart 24:29 there were moments however when the daughter of Rah was clearly tired of thought's intrusiveness so she tried to 24:36 scare him by transforming into the terrifying segment we 24:42 read she transformed into a furious lioness who had divine power in her 24:47 height and likewise in her breath she shook her hair man forwards and her fur 24:54 smoked with fire her back turned to the color of blood her face Shone like the 25:01 disc of the sun her eyes glowed like Flames her gaze burned like fire 25:07 throwing out Flames like the midday sun and all around her was 25:15 incandescent everyone around her became afraid of her Display of Power the 25:21 desert rose to dust when she flicked her tail the sand rose up when she bed her 25:28 teeth the desert threw out Flames when she sharpened her claws The Thorn bushes 25:35 dried up when her nostrils blew smoke and many blowflies came out she let out 25:41 a mighty Roar with the full force of her voice the desert opened its mouth the 25:48 stone spoke to the sand and the hill trembled for 2 25:55 hours the brave Todd who had kept his schol until then panicked 26:01 quote his body trembled like that of someone in the grip of an illness he 26:07 became like a frog and he hopped like a grasshopper full of humility the little 26:15 baboon said I know that you are called cat the one who isn't subject to the 26:21 power of the Avenger I also know that you are the instrument of death and that 26:27 you never die you are the instrument of the Avenger and Justice the daughter of 26:34 raah you are called Whispering cat because you whisper in the ears of the 26:40 inhabitants of the earth these beautiful words made her 26:45 turn her face towards Egypt and the dog monkey rushed to the goddess to entertain her while her heart was truly 26:53 glad he said to her my lady this is the way to Egypt it is not the desert path 27:00 on which you have walked for so long I will make you cover the distance in a 27:06 few days she laughed and said why didn't you tell me this 27:12 before the goddess's change of heart resulted in the immediate restoration of 27:17 the natural order of the world quote then the north wind came from Heaven 27:24 bringing with it the scent of pun the Nile Rose and it became a light in the 27:29 morning when ra appeared as a great flaming disc of the sun his looks were 27:35 full of joy and his rays were full of life there were no clouds in the path of 27:41 Sirius whose Rays Shone on Egypt however the forces of chaos didn't 27:48 remain passive according to many sources when they arrived together in Egypt an 27:54 unpleasant surprise awaited them while traveling north the goddess then in the 27:59 form of a gazelle was unexpectedly attacked during a night stop by a 28:05 scorpion acting on the orders of their son's greatest enemy apep who wanted to 28:12 prevent M from returning to Egypt the goddess owed her salvation 28:18 solely to their vigilance of to who woke her up and together they ran on to the 28:23 ferry where she could safely continue her journey down the river then the 28:29 daughter of Rah returned to her true form a beautiful young goddess and the 28:36 whole land celebrated her return the long awaited meeting of RA 28:42 who longed for his daughter took place in Memphis finally as basted the goddess 28:48 reached her beloved City in the Nile Delta bubastis where a joyful Festival 28:54 was celebrated in memory of this event we will return to to the festival itself 29:05 later The Cult of the one's powerful bastard during the Middle and New 29:10 Kingdom weakened significantly becoming almost a local cult limited to the Nile 29:16 Delta although in Egypt of the New Kingdom that is from the 16th century BC 29:21 was a Renaissance of the solar cult but its Center was a new deity a mon ra with 29:28 his powerful theban sanctuary in carnak after the death of the last of 29:34 the ramases rames the 11th in the 11th century BC the priests of Amon took 29:41 power over thieves controlling only the southern part of Upper Egypt the rest of 29:47 the country was plunged into Political chaos the Delta became the prey of 29:53 Libyan tribes the Libyan great chief shosen who 29:59 occupied bubastis established his own 22nd Dynasty in the 10th Century BC 30:06 called the bubas dynasty the third intermediate period 30:11 saw the collapse of the cult of amona which would remain a local cult and at 30:17 the same time a great flourishing of local folk Cults and zul Tre of course 30:24 it was also the great return of bastard who became the patroness of the 22nd 30:30 Dynasty and even one of its rulers called himself pami which means he who 30:37 belongs to the cat at that time we see the 30:43 transformation of the Goddess into a cat the mild and gracious goddess the 30:49 counterpart of the cruel lioness we don't know why a bastard 30:54 began to be woried as a cat but in this form she certainly became closer to her 31:00 followers less exclusive than the dangerous lioness associated with 31:06 royalty in the language of the ancient Egyptians the cat was called by the onomic word Mew or meat in its feminine 31:17 form in Egypt there were two species of smaller cats the jungle cat and the 31:23 African wild cat it's commonly believed that the Egyptians were the the first to 31:29 domesticate cats but this isn't true the oldest known burial of a human with a 31:35 cat probably a tamed one was found in Cyprus and is dated to about 9 and 31:41 12,000 years ago new genetic studies point to Mesopotamia as the first place 31:48 where cats were domesticated the oldest evidence of potential domestication of cats in Egypt 31:56 is a joint burial with humans from 6,000 years ago discovered near 32:03 asut in ponic Egypt cats were domesticated quite late they were shown 32:10 sporadically on the reliefs of Old Kingdom mastabas as part of the natural 32:15 FAA in the Middle Kingdom from about 2,000 BC images of cats become more 32:22 common and were shown in context suggesting their domestication 32:29 in the Egyptian Agricultural Society the primary function of the domesticated cat 32:34 was of course to control pests in time the animal became a popular companion of 32:41 the household in the funerary art of the Middle and New Kingdom it was shown 32:47 among family members or everyday objects sitting under the chair of the Tomb 32:52 owner or on his lab if the deceased wasn't a cat person 32:59 he was portrayed with a dog or a 33:04 monkey cats which moved very well in difficult terrain accompanied Hunters 33:10 tracking birds and guarded homes against the real nightmare of the Ancients 33:15 snakes and scorpions the Egyptians certainly noticed how eager cats were to rest in 33:22 doorways or on window sills and perhaps interpreted this as guard guarding the 33:28 entrances to their homes similarly to the way sphinxes guard the entrances to 33:34 the temples they were considered Defenders 33:40 of their family home and especially newborns basted once the lion-headed 33:47 guardian of the royal family the heavenly mother of the Pharaoh was now 33:53 associated with an animal that in the minds of the Egyptians actually played the same role but now she became the 34:01 mother goddess of all 34:07 Egyptians this is how the father of History Herodotus described Egyptian 34:12 customs in the 5th Century BC quote when a fire breaks out very 34:19 strange things happen among the cats the Egyptians stand around in a broken line 34:25 thinking more of their cats than of quenching the burning but the cats sleep through or 34:31 leap over the men and spring into the fire when this happens there is great 34:37 mourning in Egypt the occupants of a house where a cat has died a natural 34:42 death shave their eyebrows cats weren't considered living 34:49 incarnations of the Goddess as in the case of the Sacred Bulls appies of 34:55 Memphis or Nevis of hopis however they were considered the souls of the Gods 35:02 contact with them was a religious experience enabling a close relationship 35:07 with the Divine without priests without intermediaries the cult of bastard was 35:13 becoming a domestic and folk cult thanks to which its popularity was constantly 35:19 growing in the first millennium BC thousands of artifacts related to The 35:24 Cult of bus that were produced the famous cat figurines one of the symbols 35:30 of ancient Egypt they served their faithful both in public ceremonies as 35:36 votive offerings given to temples and private celebrations these objects had 35:42 preventive value protecting against evil in the late and toic periods votive 35:49 statues of cats made of bronze decorated with jewelry and magical symbols were 35:55 particularly popular they often served as containers for relics for example a 36:01 fragment of a mummified cat in the Roman times these figurines 36:07 decorated home altars equally popular were statuet and amulets in the form of 36:13 a cat-headed woman sometimes shown in the company of kittens holding a Papyrus 36:19 scepter characteristic of bastet a sign of emerging life a Cy or a basket which 36:27 res assembled an Egyptian housewife female cats as we know can 36:33 give birth to even a dozen or so kittens a year so they were a true symbol of 36:38 fertility and motherhood it was believed that female cats present in the house prevented 36:46 miscarriages basted assisted in childbirth and guarded newborns although 36:52 according to most Traditions she didn't have children herself hence the Greeks 36:58 identified her with Artemis figurines of naked women and 37:04 children objects associated with fertility and raising Offspring were a 37:10 permanent element of her cult the immense popularity of bastard 37:17 in the late period and the special devotion given to her animal image would 37:23 take a toll on the Egyptians during the Persian invasion in 525 BC the ruler of 37:30 the aamin Empire cuses II defeated the young Pharaoh samik III of the 26th 37:38 Dynasty at the Battle of pelusium when he ordered his soldiers to display 37:44 images of basted on their Shields while releasing cats and other sacred for the 37:51 enemy animals in front of Persian army of course the Egyptians would never lay 37:57 their hand on the sacred images and instead retreated in this array which 38:03 sealed their fate this is how the Persian Victory is 38:08 described by the Macedonian historian from the 2 Century ad 38:15 poas when cuses attacked pelosium which guarded the entrance into Egypt the 38:21 Egyptians defended it with a great resolution they Advanced formidable engines against the besiegers and H 38:29 missiles stones and fire at them from their catapults to counter this destructive 38:36 barrage cuses ranged before his front line dogs sheep cats iises and whatever 38:45 other animals the Egyptians hold sacred the Egyptians immediately stopped their 38:51 operations out of fear of hurting the animals which they hold in great 38:57 veneration cisus captured pelium and thereby opened 39:02 up for himself the route into Egypt shortly after the fall of Memphis 39:10 the Persians captured samik ending the rule of the S Dynasty and Egypt became a 39:16 Persian satrapy for the first 39:22 time according to Herodotus in Egypt taking a cat's life was was punishable 39:28 by death and doing it unintentionally was punishable by a fine owners of 39:35 deceased cats from all over the country made pilgrimages to bubastis to bury 39:40 their remains it's not known how many cat mammies have been found in Egypt to this 39:46 day According to some the Ancients mummified millions of these 39:53 animals the oldest known mommy was found in the Tomb of the prematurely deceased 39:59 eldest son of Aman hotab thei Crown Prince and high priest of p in Memphis 40:06 toos from the mid 14th century BC his pet was buried like a member of the 40:12 royal family in a beautifully decorated Limestone sarcophagus with an 40:18 inscription informing about the cat's name t mu which literally means she cat 40:29 a cut mommy from this time seems to be an extravagance of the prince even though the first cemeteries of these 40:36 animals appeared already in the New Kingdom the peak of popularity of these 40:41 practices was however the late and GCO Roman period large cemeteries with thousands 40:49 of cat mammies were found in bubastis benih Hassan and 40:55 Sakara most of them belong to the so-called votive mammies made on a large 41:01 scale by Temple workshops pilgrims visiting sanctuaries 41:06 paid for mumification hoping for the intercession of the animal before the gods to receive Grace 41:14 or as a form of Thanksgiving Temple Ulmer dried their 41:20 remains with nron a locally sourced mixture of sodium and salt and then 41:26 anointed them with oil and resin the bodies were filled with sand or cloth 41:32 and then wrapped in bandages sometimes a death mask was added or the cat's face was painted to 41:40 give a realistic appearance some mummies were stylized as anthropomorphic with 41:46 human arms and feet molded onto them in general however cat mammies took 41:54 the form of a tight cylindrical BN the great popularity especially in toic 42:01 times of pilgrims buying readymade votive mummies made this business 42:07 extremely profitable to meet the demand a large Temple cat Farms were 42:12 established intended solely for Slaughter as you can see their law 42:18 wasn't very binding on the priests studies of the mummies indicate that 42:24 most of them were annihilated at a young age by breaking their necks or 42:35 skulls cheaper methods were also used in the production of mummies as many as 42:41 one3 of all mommy fight cats found in Sakara were incomplete or contained only 42:48 a fragment of the animal's body in false mammies we find Twisted 42:54 pieces of material robes or hay sometimes cunningly weighed down with 42:59 stones we don't know whether this is a product of the cynicism of priest 43:04 dishonest towards pilgrims or a solution caused by the lack of raw material that 43:11 is that animals necessary for making [Music] 43:20 mummies we don't know how the ancient Egyptians pronounced bastard's name in 43:26 the hieroglyphic Rec record we find the symbol of an ointment jar the word 43:31 bastard could therefore mean she of the ointment jar in Greco Roman times the 43:37 Egyptians might have pronounced her name as ubasa as the cops called her 43:46 alasta some see in her name she of the ointment jar a connection with perfumes 43:52 others with ceremonial ointments with special properties one of the elements 43:58 of bastard's scult were small colorful vials with unknown 44:05 contents along with figurines and small tablets they were given as votive offerings during festivals may you be as 44:12 happy as the lady of bubastis these were the wishes that the Egyptians made to 44:18 each other they cat patroness personified Joy 44:23 music dance and love especially their physical kind her priests provided various Services 44:30 related to sex and love foretold whether marriage plans would succeed and 44:36 delivered love spells young Egyptian women entrusted 44:42 their Affairs of the heart not only to hather but also to the sensual bastard 44:48 she symbolized female sexuality patronized orgastic entertainment and 44:54 was the patroness of sex workers representatives of the oldest profession 44:59 in the world it's no wonder then that religious 45:06 celebrations in honor of basted were orgastic in nature regardless of whether 45:12 they were private or Collective sex and alcohol had cultic significance the love 45:19 and lust Festival associated with the mythological return of their daughter of 45:24 their son took place both at the haur sanctuary in dendera and in bubastis 45:31 where Egyptians from all over the country gathered to celebrate the New Year the hcal rising of Sirius the 45:39 coming flood of the Nile and the end of the 45:44 Harvest during this summer several Day Festival people thanked the goddess for 45:50 the favors received in the past year and asked for more 45:58 as we know each local Center had its own festivals and rituals but not all were 46:04 equally popular celebrations in honor of local deities were usually gathered only 46:10 by the local community but some festivals took on a national character 46:16 and mass participation in them took place this applies above all to the oyan 46:22 mysteries in abidos and busiris the op Festival in thieves or the popular from 46:29 the late period the Festival of lamps at sais in honor of NE and of course the 46:36 enthronement of the bull appies in Memphis countless crowds from all over 46:44 the country also flocked to bubastis Herodotus rights the Egyptians do not 46:50 hold a single solemn assembly but several in the course of the year of 46:56 these the chief which is better attended than any other is held at the city of 47:02 bubastis in honor of Diana the next in importance is that which takes place at 47:09 busiris a city situated in the very middle of the Delta it is in honor of 47:15 Isis who is called in the Greek tongue DEA there is a third Great Festival in 47:22 siis to minava a fourth in heliopolis to the Sun a fifth in B to Lona and a sixth 47:32 in papis to 47:40 Mars the following are the proceedings on occasion of the assembly at bubastis 47:46 men and women Come Sailing all together vast numbers in each boat many of the 47:53 women with castanets which they strike while some some of the men pipe during 47:58 the whole time of the voyage the reminder of the voyagers male and female 48:04 sing and make a clapping with their hands when they arrive opposite any of 48:10 the towns upon the banks of the stream they approach the shore and while some 48:15 of the women continue to play and sing others call aloud to the females of the 48:21 place and looved them with abuse while a certain number danc and some standing up 48:28 uncover [Music] 48:35 themselves after proceeding in this way all along the river course they reach 48:41 bubastis where they celebrate their feast with abundant sacrifices more Grape Wine is consumed 48:48 at this Festival than in all the rest of the year besides the number of those who 48:54 attend counting only the and women and omitting the children amounts according 49:00 to the native reports to 49:08 700,000 the provocative behavior of female pilgrims described by Herodotus 49:13 was related to Ritual obscenity the women lifting their skirts in bubastis 49:19 can be compared to the exposure of breasts during the hather festival in 49:25 dendera what was considered indecent during the rest of the year during the 49:31 festival could be expected Behavior by the goddess and her priests who according to Roman sources incited the 49:39 crowd to a boisterous celebration we read a priest inites a crowd of the 49:46 goddess's worshippers at her Feast to drink to the point of intoxication as they listen to him the 49:54 members of the crowd grow more excited until they scream with joy finally in a 50:00 state of rapture they Proclaim that bastard has arrived among 50:07 them another Papyrus from the early 2nd Century lists their cheers of joy of 50:14 Festival participants let's drink let's eat let's have fun let basted come to 50:21 our celebration let's get drunk on the occasion of her Festival of drunkenness 50:27 of course such accounts allowed Roman authors to perpetuate The Stereotype of 50:33 the Egyptian as a promis was drunken and dancing 50:40 Barbarian of course apart from having a good time the aim of most annual 50:45 festivals was to bring the sacred statue of the Goddess before the people the 50:51 crowds participating in the procession could thus have direct contact with with 50:56 the deity and receive a special 51:02 blessing other gods also took part in the procession both cult statues of 51:08 local deities brought here from small religious centers as well as images of 51:13 important Gods ceremoniously brought by priests on special barks for whom 51:19 separate rituals were performed near the temple of 51:25 bastad located on an island surrounded by the Waters of the Nile the Temple of 51:31 bastad was built in the Old Kingdom expanded in subsequent periods it 51:37 flourished during the third intermediate period under the previously mentioned 51:42 Lian pharaohs of the 22nd Dynasty its last reconstruction was carried out by 51:49 Necto II of the 30th Dynasty the last native pharaoh of Egypt from the 4th 51:55 Century BC the temple was destroyed in the 4th 52:01 Century ad and now all that remains of it are rebels of course bubastis is the Greek 52:09 name of the city the Egyptians called it per Bast which means House of Bast it 52:15 was the capital of the 18th gnome of Lower Egypt an important Trade Center 52:21 located on the Bastian branch of the Nile a strategic point in the the Eastern Delta from which The Roots 52:29 leading to Syria started interestingly this city is 52:34 mentioned in the Bible in Chapter 30 of Ezekiel we read I will set fire to Egypt 52:41 pelusium will wri in agony thieves will be taken by storm Memphis will be in 52:49 constant distress the young men of heliopolis and bubastis will fall By The 52:55 Sword and the cities themselves will go into 53:02 captivity the second important center of the cult of bastard was Alexandria in 53:09 the 3rd Century BC on the orders of Queen Baran II the bason was 53:16 built identified with Isis bastard achieved some success outside Egypt 53:23 ultimately however she shared the fate of Isis and her cult disappeared 53:28 completely in the sixth Century however I have the impression 53:34 that among Christians and Muslims among whom I live here in Egypt a special 53:39 respect for cats 53:46 continues I hope you learned something new about the beliefs of ancient Egyptians thank you for listening please 53:53 let me know in the comments what you'd like to hear next time I would also like to thank all my 53:59 patrons I truly appreciate your contribution if you don't support me yet but would like to I placed my patreon 54:07 link below in the description don't forget to like my video And subscribe to my channel goodbye and see you on the 54:15 next one 54:25
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• Egypt's Most Beloved Goddess: Isis PH... 
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