DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4993#0061
40
sacred animals.
with, which the Temples were endowed, and every care taken of their health,
and even companions of the other sex provided, although, as in the case of
the Apis, their issue was not necessarily sacred. There were no doubt diacritical
marks by which they were known, the most obvious of which was colour, but
no details have been handed down on this point. On the tablets they are
sometimes seen worshipped in place of the deities themselves, and the gods to
which they were sacred generally have the head of the animal placed on
them instead of the human head. The animals not deemed sacred were
either those into which the soul of Set or Typhon may have been thought to
have been divided, or those into which such souls as transmigrated passed.
Even the maleficent deities had certain animals sacred to them, as the hippo-
potamus, pig, and ass. Other sacred animals appear from the inscriptions not
to have been assigned to the deities which the Greeks said they represented, but
these are chiefly men or gods of the Pantheon, and do not disturb the general
question.
Like the other section of the Pantheon, the sacred animals are illustrated
by objects of various classes, representations on tablets or other objects, votive
bronzes consecrated or deposited in the Temple, stone objects used as amulets
or pendants of the dead and arranged in the necklaces. of the living, por-
celain and glazed steatite figures which formed part of the net-work which at
a later period adorned the mummy, bronze or wooden cases in which mummies
of the animals of smaller size were deposited, and which were often surmounted
or engraved with a representation of the sacred animal. Large wooden figures
of these animals were also deposited in the tombs, some made for the under-
taker, others perhaps employed in private chapels. Great difference prevails as
to the number found in different materials, some animals being very rare in
all substances, and others only occurring in particular metals or other material.
360. Cynocephaltts, ape, aani, emblem of the lunar deities x0NS» son °^
Amen-Ra and Mut, and third person of the Theban triad, and of Tahuti, or
Thoth, seated, erect, the tail curled round at the left side, forepaws on knees.
On the head is a hole for the plug for the insertion of the lunar disk, which
is often placed on its head in this character. It is seated on a small pedestal
having three steps in front. 4f in. high. Dark slate.
361. Cynocephalus, aani, seated as before on a pedestal in shape of a
sacred animals.
with, which the Temples were endowed, and every care taken of their health,
and even companions of the other sex provided, although, as in the case of
the Apis, their issue was not necessarily sacred. There were no doubt diacritical
marks by which they were known, the most obvious of which was colour, but
no details have been handed down on this point. On the tablets they are
sometimes seen worshipped in place of the deities themselves, and the gods to
which they were sacred generally have the head of the animal placed on
them instead of the human head. The animals not deemed sacred were
either those into which the soul of Set or Typhon may have been thought to
have been divided, or those into which such souls as transmigrated passed.
Even the maleficent deities had certain animals sacred to them, as the hippo-
potamus, pig, and ass. Other sacred animals appear from the inscriptions not
to have been assigned to the deities which the Greeks said they represented, but
these are chiefly men or gods of the Pantheon, and do not disturb the general
question.
Like the other section of the Pantheon, the sacred animals are illustrated
by objects of various classes, representations on tablets or other objects, votive
bronzes consecrated or deposited in the Temple, stone objects used as amulets
or pendants of the dead and arranged in the necklaces. of the living, por-
celain and glazed steatite figures which formed part of the net-work which at
a later period adorned the mummy, bronze or wooden cases in which mummies
of the animals of smaller size were deposited, and which were often surmounted
or engraved with a representation of the sacred animal. Large wooden figures
of these animals were also deposited in the tombs, some made for the under-
taker, others perhaps employed in private chapels. Great difference prevails as
to the number found in different materials, some animals being very rare in
all substances, and others only occurring in particular metals or other material.
360. Cynocephaltts, ape, aani, emblem of the lunar deities x0NS» son °^
Amen-Ra and Mut, and third person of the Theban triad, and of Tahuti, or
Thoth, seated, erect, the tail curled round at the left side, forepaws on knees.
On the head is a hole for the plug for the insertion of the lunar disk, which
is often placed on its head in this character. It is seated on a small pedestal
having three steps in front. 4f in. high. Dark slate.
361. Cynocephalus, aani, seated as before on a pedestal in shape of a