Roles Of Animals In Ancient Egypt

Animals and Egyptians have been around for many centuries, but their connections have never been entirely explored. Animals and Ancient Egyptians have a lot to do with each other and they benefitted through that relation. In this essay we will discuss the origin, uses, and religious depiction of animal in Ancient Egypt. Many of the Egyptian Gods and Goddess were depicted with animal heads and bodies. One of the most famous animal God depiction is that of Anubis, who is a seen with a jackal head and sometimes jackal body. Anubis is portrayed like this because many thought that Jackals were commonly seen by the Egyptians in cemeteries so naturally they assumed that Anubis, who was the Protector of the Dead, would be a jackal. Another
They tended to rely on animals to help with their day to day tasks, and some animals like cats had a preference over the others. They were many domesticated and wild animals in ancient Egypt that appeared over the dynasties, like the horses. The wild animals included; lions who were often seen as very brave and heroic much like the pharaohs. Lions began to be used as representations of the pharaohs. The bees were once wild animals until they were domesticated for their honey, many of the Egyptians would go out and hunt the bees for honey. Honey was not the only reason that bees were so popular with the Egyptians, honey was used as sacrifice to their gods, it was used as an agent in their makeup, boat building, to make medicines, and it was used to help with mummification. While the pharaohs or priests were not allowed to eat fish because of its association with Seth from the Osiris myth. The poor people of Egypt were the ones who ate fish instead of meat because fish was so easily available to them through the Nile. The Egyptians domesticated many animals that included, sheep, pigs, cattle, geese, goats and later on horses. They domesticated these animals for milk, meat, clothing, horns, and fats. A lot of these animals were used in sacrifices before which they had to be fattened. In the 5th and 6th dynasties a lot of proof has been shown that hints at the fact that, these animals were force fed to be fattened to sacrifice but these practices were over after the Old Kingdom. Pigs were never used for religious purposes but they were eaten. Goats were eaten and their skin was used as floating devises and water containers. For all the different types of animals they did use, the Egyptians would always use the whole animal to not upset the Gods by wasting life. Cats were very special to the Egyptians; cats were so important that it was a crime to kill a cat