Art

Though it is hard to believe that the commonest of the domesticated animals like the cat could ascend to the rank of a powerful goddess, that was exactly what happened in Egypt long time back and such a tradition lasted no less four thousand years, if researched evidences are anything to go by (Scott, 1958). In that period cats were even found to share graves with Egyptians (Bisno, 1997).  Accordingly, a special branch of art called cat-art stemmed out of this association and spread all across the Egyptian society in many forms, covering religion, lifestyle and fashion. In the process, it adorned their buildings, temples, and even their ornaments in the shape of paintings, relics, murals, mummies, amulets or earrings and what not. Therefore, this study explores cat-art to find how a religious bond between Egyptians and cats influenced a particular line of art.

Background
In a 2000 B.C. Egyptian version, cats were mentioned as good hunters (Wilkinson, 1988) and according to the scientists Egyptian cats belonged to the family of African wildcat and they matched the description of two species (Felis silvestris libyca and Felis chaus). Both the species are larger in size than the average domesticated cats. Egyptians called them Mit-s or Miuts, and placed them to the rank of divinity.


Figure 1  2 Hunting cat of Egypt (Scott, 1954)
The documentations on cats social rise were found in the tombs built around 1540 to 1069 B.C (Springer, 2001). For example, a pyramid script had recorded a duel between a serpent and the cat-goddess Mafdet, who won the battle, but soon lost her fame to Bastet (known in many names like Bast, Miw, Pasch, and Ubasti), who emerged as the new cat-goddess with a body of a woman and a head of a cat, after defeating another cat-goddess Sekhmet, who was lioness-headed. Accordingly the Egyptians enthroned her to the highest pedestal by dedicating a whole city to her.
According to mythology, Bastet was the grand daughter of the sun god Ra (Milo, 1997). However, Scott (1954) argues that Bastets original animal was in reality a lioness, which in all probability could be an imported item with the invasion of Libyan kings as a totem of their origin and then was posited with pomp.

Figure 3 Bastet in Bronze
Bastets influence as a divine power gained momentum in 1600 B.C., when she received high attention from the kings, especially in the time of the XXII Dynasty (Scott, 1954). In the process, cats, which were considered as the embodiment of Bastet, became prominent in the daily lives of the Egyptians and started appearing on objects in many forms. 

Figure 4 Modern Imagination of Bastet
The city dedicated to Bastet called Bubastis, meaning realm of the cat, was strategically well placed at the southwest portion of Nile River and prospered accordingly. It hosted an annual festival each year to celebrate Bastets coronation, which continued till 350 B.C., before Persians invaded the area (Cats, 2007). That was quite a long stretch of time, if one counts the initiation of this festival at Bubastis since 3200 B.C. There was even a fixed date for this festival  October 31 of each year, when people from all around including Memphis would gather there for both praying and partying.


Figure 5 Goddess Bastet at Bubastis

Gradually the cult of cats engulfed the Egyptians and it is widely believed that they even surrendered to the Persians to save their cats, who were kept hostage by the wicked general of the Persians, who knew about the vulnerability of the Egyptians regarding their pets (Scott, 1954 Coll, 1997).
According to the account of Herodotus (Briar, 1994), the Egyptians even enacted death punishment for anyone found guilty of killing a cat, and there was the custom of mourning at the death of a cat in an Egyptian family, where the family members would shave their eyebrows as a part of the ritual. Herodotus also highly praised the beauty of Bastet temple at Bubastis (Scott, 1954), besides presenting an account of its great annual festival. The fall of this civilization was also linked with the cat, according to some researchers who assume that Persian king Cambyses gained his victory at Pelusim in 525 B.C. by using cats as the shield of his army, as he knew that Egyptians would never kill the cats (Scott, 1954).
Content and Form of Cat Art
Egyptian Cat Art is a formal and statuesque form of art, and the sculptures fit more in building decorations, as most of them carry a similar profile, which, by modern features of cat shows some difference, where it has a little longish face, with a long forehead leading to a longish muzzle. That creates the impression that the cats depicted in the statues do not represent its domesticated species, and instead, they reflect the thought of the then craftsmen who wanted to add divinity on this animal since it was considered as the embodiment of Bastet and was worshipped in temples (Egyptian, 2009). The cat artifacts can be divided into five categories, such as bronze artifacts, wooden artifacts, marble artifacts, paintings and moldings. All cat figures are represented in the same seated position, but there is a difference in the styles and skill of the craftsmen, however, overall it creates an impression that then artists wanted to frame certain characteristics of cat in their figures, such as dignity, grace and aloofness (Scott, 1954)



Figure 6 Mummied cat
The picture above can be considered as a sample of Egyptian cat art expressed in mummy. Cats were embalmed in this manner, before their burial in special cemeteries. There are two contrasting views regarding such lavish treatment of Egyptians on cats after their death  one, it could have been the religious awe, and two, it could have been the Egyptians penchant for mummy-making art.

Figure 7 Cat-Art
In the later part of the Egyptian civilization cats became an instrument of Egyptian symbolism, as Egyptians considered it a sacred animal of the Sun God, where the male cat was regarded as an incarnation of the Sun God and the female cat was considered as the solar eye. Feline figures displayed a scarab, the symbol of the rising sun, engraved on the head or breast thus depicting their solar significance. Hundreds of cat figures were set up as votive offerings in the temple at Bubastis in order that the donor might share in the Goddesss grace.

Figure 8 Cats all around
Bastet was regarded as the goddess of sunrise, music, dance, pleasure, family, fertility, birth and protection. This state of affairs heavily influenced the art of the region for a long time, where it engulfed every sphere of the Egyptian world. There are innumerable tomb paintings around Egypt that contain a same theme, like a cat seated below a chair, which corroborates that assumption, since such artworks create the impression that Egyptians wanted to remain close with the embodiment of Bastet and thus such theme of art came into being. Then all classes of population in Egypt wore little amulets in the form of or engraved with figures of Bastets cat to guard them against misfortune and to ensure fertility. The earrings with cat figures were also popular.