Humans have considered pets precious throughout time and the
ancient Egyptians were a great example. They wanted their beloved pets to join
them in the afterlife and believed it - as we do today (finally). It's
interesting that all the knowledge and understanding we had about the afterlife
got lost somewhere along the way,and has recently been re-discovered. Sadly,
some man-made religions (they're all man-made) have given people the wrong
ideas about the afterlife.
Every living thing transitions to the afterlife. It's all
about energy. When we die, people or
animals, our energy combines with our memories and personalities and joins the
energies of the universe, or heaven, paradise, Valhalla, etc. and we all become
a spirit- all a part of a 'god' energy if you will.
This article provides a fascinating look at how ancient
Egyptians revered their precious pets as many pet parents do today. - Rob
Millions Of Mummified Dogs Found In Ancient Egyptian Catacombs
SOURCE: NPR
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/04/418079713/millions-of-mummified-dogs-found-in-ancient-egyptian-catacombs
LISTEN TO THE STORY HERE:
Click to listen
In catacombs south of Cairo, researchers have
discovered burial sites filled with huge numbers of mummified animals — nearly 8 million of them, mostly dogs.
The catacombs, at a site called Saqqara, are dedicated to
Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the afterlife.
Archaeologist and Egyptologist Salima Ikram, a professor at the
American University in Cairo who has worked extensively at the site,
writes that animal mummification
began in ancient Egypt
"to allow beloved pets to go on to the afterlife, to provide food in
the afterlife, to act as offerings to a particular god and because some
were seen as physical manifestations of specific gods that the Egyptians
worshipped."
Speaking with NPR's Arun Rath, Ikram explains
that "each [animal] mummy would be a symbol of something a pilgrim had
given as a gift to the god. So nowadays, people go to a church and light
a candle.
"But the Egyptians were in for the long haul, so
instead of a candle, they would offer a mummy. So clearly, this means
that there were a lot of very religious people out there who were asking
Anubis for intercession and for help for a variety of things."
Since
ancient Egyptian gods and divinities are associated with nature, Ikram
says, "The faces of the gods are also associated with different animals
that have the same attributes as the gods do. So, for example, Anubis,
god of embalming and travel, is associated with canines because they run
through the deserts, they don't lose their way and you find them around
graveyards."
An X-ray of a dog mummy from the catacombs reveals what's
beneath the binding. Some of the mummies were found in much poorer
condition than this.
Courtesy of Salima Ikram
Ikram says the huge number of dog mummies suggests the existence of ancient Egyptian puppy mills.
"You
don't get 8 million mummies without having puppy farms," she says. "And
some of these dogs were killed deliberately so that they could be
offered. So for us, that seems really heartless. But for the Egyptians,
they felt that the dogs were going straight up to join the eternal pack
with Anubis. And so they were going off to a better thing."
There is much more left to explore at Saqqara, Ikram says.
For
now, she says, "We have been into as many of the tunnels as we could,
because some of them are very dangerous. But this does mean that for
future generations, there will be things to explore and discoveries to
be made."
