Happy #Caturday from the Brooklyn Museum! This is a monthly celebration of cats based on our exhibit
Happy #Caturday from the Brooklyn Museum! This is a monthly celebration of cats based on our exhibition Divine Felines: Cats in Ancient Egypt. Althoughmost ancient Egyptian feline divinities are female, several male gods withfeline features were also venerated. The most popular of these are Bes andTutu, who often appear together as they are both closely connected with healingand magic. Unlike most Egyptian deities, they were not portrayed in the form ofan animal or an animal-headed human. Rather, they appeared as human-felinecomposites, bizarre by Egyptian standards. Bes is shown as an achondroplasticdwarf with a frontal leonine face brandishing a sword; and Tutu as a sphinx withthe body of a lion and head of a king. Tutu’s power is emphasized by the sevendemons pictured above him - their heads of crocodile, bull, lion, baboon,jackal, ibex and hare harness various powers of the animal world. The gods’feline features signified protection of the most precious and dangerous aspectsof life.Reliefson stelae such as this one were intended to placate the gods, keeping them in afavorable disposition. Alternately, likely placed in a temple, they served avotive function, expressing the donor’s gratitude for protection againstillness and misfortune.See Bes and Tutu and other ancient Egyptian cats on view now in #DivineFelines! Posted by Yekaterina Barbash -- source link
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