Posted on 06/19/2015 12:28:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
In ancient Egypt, so many people worshiped Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death, that the catacombs next to his sacred temple once held nearly 8 million mummified puppies and grown dogs, a new study finds.
The catacomb ceiling also contains the fossil of an ancient sea monster, a marine vertebrate that's more than 48 million years old, but it's unclear whether the Egyptians noticed the existence of the fossil when they built the tomb for the canine mummies, the researchers said.
Many of the mummies have since disintegrated or been disrupted by grave robbers and industrialists, who likely used the mummies for fertilizer. Even so, archaeologists have found enough evidence to suggest that the Anubis animal cult was a large part of the ancient Egyptian economy.
Ancient Egyptians built the temple and catacomb in honor of Anubis in Saqqara, a burial ground in the country's ancient capital of Memphis. Archaeologists have also found catacombs with the mummified remains of such other animals as the ibis (long-legged birds), hawk, baboon and bull, suggesting the ancient Egyptians also worshipped other animal gods.
"When you go to Saqqara now, you see an area of attractive desert with the pyramids sticking up and one or two of the prominent monuments" associated with animal cults, said the study's lead researcher, Paul Nicholson, a professor of archaeology at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.
But during the Late Period (747 to 332 B.C.), if one were to visit Saqqara, they would have seen temples, merchants selling statues of bronze deities, priests conducting ceremonies, people offering to interpret dreams and tour guides jostling for business, Nicholson said. Not far off, animal breeders likely raised dogs and other creatures that would later be mummified in honor of the gods.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
You can know where you are, or how fast you are traveling...but not both for any given moment.
Sounds like doggone heaven.
During the New Kingdom there was a great deal of interest in the somewhat more ancient Egypt; Hatshepsut built a famous mortuary temple right next to a Middle Kingdom structure that isn’t even generally included in pictures of hers. Constructed by one of the Pharaohs named Mentuhotep, its exact construction is not known, because it was stripped for building materials, possibly to construct Hatshepsut’s. In their turn, the Middle Kingdom pharaohs had appropriated Old Kingdom stones carved in relief for inclusion in thei own monuments.
The NK’s 18th dynasty also revived interest in the Giza monuments; the most famous evidence is the Dream Stele which stands between the paws of the Great Sphinx. The minor, “lost” god Aten was recovered in that same dynasty, and not by Akhetaten — his father Amenhotep III actually started the process.
cats are too stuck up to ever comb a Dog
Counted tirelessly by a million government workers, one by one, at a $15 hourly wage. (It was the coffee breaks that padded the time frame.)
I’ll betcha dog mummies were a lot faster than human mummies: none of this shuffling along and dragging a foot.
They should do a new mummy movie: `The Curse of the Cur’. But something original out of Hollywood? No way.
Somewhere, a cat smiles...
...sounds like a pregnant pause!
in Cheshire?
“the Late Period (747 to 332 B.C.)
“The Egyptian culture went to the dogs sooner than previously thought?
Interesting. Thanks. I often wondered if Set was a god of a defeated nome
Interesting idea!
It’s not well known, but Egypt conquered Canaan because they misread the map as “Canine”.
“The Egyptian culture went to the dogs sooner than previously thought?”
Certainly, this thread has! ;-)
My thought too Civ ... Looks like everything did happen at the same time ...!?
I agree that 8 million is a lot of dog mummies. Maybe some were actually dog daddies. I demand a recount.
wow
This will really louse up The Stones.
LOL ... I’m missing you already ... Show ‘em Civ, what is really true, please ...
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