CHAP. XIV. CATS TAKEN TO BUBASTIS. l6S 



raised them from the rank of emblems, to that of 

 representatives of the Deity herself. The Cjno- 

 cephalus kept in the temple of Hermopolis, or the 

 sacred hawk adored at Heliopolis, enjoyed, in like 

 manner, a consideration far beyond the rest of 

 their species, though all were sacred to Thoth 

 and Re, the Gods of those cities : and this remark 

 equally applies to all the sacred animals of Egypt. 

 I have already observed, that in places where 

 the Deities, to whom particular animals were con- 

 secrated, held a distinguished post in the sanctuary, 

 the ceremony of removing them, after death, to an- 

 other city was dispensed with.* We consequently 

 find that the bodies of cats were embalmed and 

 buried at Thebes, and other towns, where the rites 

 of Pasht were duly observed : and if some indi- 

 viduals, as already stated, preferred, from a bigoted 

 fancy or extravagant affection, to send the body of 

 a favourite to the Necropolis of Bubastis, it was 

 done with the same view, as when a zealous votary 

 of Osiris requested, on his death-bed, that his body 

 should be removed from his native town to "the 

 city of Abydus. This, as Plutarch sayst, " was 

 in order that it might appear to rest in the same 

 grave wdth Osiris himself;" but it was merely a 

 caprice, in no way arguing a common custom. A 

 few instances of a similar kind probably induced 

 Herodotus to infer the general practice of removing 

 the cats which had died in other places to Bubastis, 

 as the Ibis to Hermopolis. t 



* Vide supra, p. 100. f Plut.de Is. s. 20. 



X Herodot. ii. 67. 



M 2 



