From the text, and this is very, very clear, it's written down in the economic texts, that around these cat temples there would be large pens where cats were raised. - Ah! - Catteries. What were they doing with the cats?

- Well... - [both chuckle] [bright music] I'm taking you to one of my favorite hidden gem museums in Chicago, but the problem is I don't want it to be a hidden gem. It is one of the coolest places I have come across.

It's on the University of Chicago campus. It is free, but they close at four o'clock, so I gotta hustle. Right across the street from the main quad is this archaeology museum, known as the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.

I came here to learn more about cat worship in ancient Egypt, but first wanted to talk with the museum's chief curator, Dr. Marc Maillot, to learn more about the museum itself. So, from a chronological standpoint,

we cover everything from prehistory to the Early Middle Ages, basically 5,000 BCE right up until the 6th century AD. With new integrations like the Islamic collection display case, we can go as far as sometime before the 14th century.

Our main focus is the Middle and Near East, the entire Nile Valley, so Egypt and Sudan. But also a very particular aspect of ISAC is that it's relying on an archaeological collection of approximately 350,000 artifacts.

Only 2% of them are on display. What are some of the highlights, not only in the collections themselves, but also what people can see in the gallery? There is one specific wooden painted stela that I love,

where you have the divine priestess of Amun, Djed-Khonsu-Amun, who is presenting an offering to the god Ra-Horakhty, Third Intermediate Period. This is an exceptional piece because of the artist's imagination

that was able to recreate a feeling of transparency in the costume without mastering perspective. You can see the artist's emotion radiating from the object. (Emily)
Oh wow. Is that something that surprises you, the way that we, today, feel so separated

from ancient people and ancient cultures? But are there things that come up where you're like, "Ancient people are just like us"? (Marc)
On an archeological site,
for example, you can find in a brick that's not perfectly cooked

the footprint of a dog that was just passing by. Having access to that puts you into a specific mindset regarding your own meaning in life. Like, no big deal, just everything you see elicits an existential question within yourself when you come here.

I'm French.
I guess that goes with it. [both laugh] -It's a cultural necessity.
-Yes, exactly. That's what I want people to experience when they walk into a museum like this: each one of these objects is like a little snapshot in time.

(Marc)
We should get rid of the idea that visiting
a museum is exceptional; it should be a reflex—as I like to say often,
a cultural reflex.  Namely, you come here
when you want to check something, like
a dictionary, for example.

You should tailor your visit
depending on your curiosity and your eagerness to learn, and to do that more as a city—I mean Chicago.
-Yeah. And not just neighborhoods. (Emily)
I told Marc that
I was super curious

about cat worship, so we
had to go check it out. So as you can see here, this is the mask
of a cat mummy, so you have this
constant interplay in Egyptian art between the lioness
and the cat,

to actually make sure
that the entire scope of any given attribution also
linked to the female nature is covered by
the god in question. (Emily)
I had to know more, and for that, I was
lucky to talk with one

of the most world-renowned
scholars in Egyptology. Well, I'm Emily Teeter. I'm an Egyptologist. My specialty is the
languages and the culture. And my special interest
is objects—the weirder, the better.

[light upbeat music] Yeah, and that's
when I start rooting through textual
evidence and comparanda and try to figure out
what this thing is and how it fits into
that larger question of religion and daily life. (Emily G)
We're looking at the topic
of felines, cats.

I'm a cat person; lots of cat people at home. There's a general understanding that cats had a huge cultural importance, religious importance, in ancient Egypt. But I don't even think I understand the extent of it.

(Emily T) Cats are huge in ancient Egypt. A particular interest that I have in them is their function in religion and the economy, because these two things very much overlap. First of all, we're used to seeing these beautiful statues of cats,

and there are some accounts. For example, Herodotus talks about cats being so beloved that people would run into burning houses to save a cat, and that there were rituals when a cat died. People would go into mourning.

There were cats all over Egypt. Some of them lived happy, long lives. In fact, we know that there were cat pets. And I love, the ancient Egyptian word for cat is miu. -Aw. -(both) Miu.

(Emily T) A very famous cat monument is, there's a big stone sarcophagus. The cat's name is Ta Miu, which means "the kitty." -Aw. -Made by one of the kings of the 18th dynasty apparently for his pet cat

who passed away. But on the other hand, what we know from archaeology and contemporary texts is a little bit different. They had a huge religious significance. For example, this statue here that shows a lioness, Sekhmet,

And you see she has a sun disk on top of her head because this goddess was the daughter of the sun god Ra. Ra is one of the most important gods in Egyptian religion. And so you get this idea of the feline

being among the very top levels of the pantheon. The myths about Sekhmet talk about her getting really cranky with mankind because they were disrespecting her father, Ra. She told the gods she's going to go out and kill everybody,

kill all humankind. -Ah, okay, cool.
-Just kill 'em all. Yeah, sounds good. And so the gods' solution was even better. -Ah.
-They dyed a lot of beer red and spread it all over Egypt.

And it looked like rivers of blood, and she started lapping it up, and she got drunk and fell asleep. -Nice.
-And just forgot about the whole thing. [both laughing] -Oh, classic.
-So that's the fierce side.

That is a fierce side of Sekhmet, and you didn't want to mess with Sekhmet. And then here we have a really cute little one. This is the goddess Bastet, and she's holding ritual objects.

She's holding what's called a sistrum in her right paw. And then in her other hand, she is carrying another ritual instrument. The Egyptians loved duality; when the goddess is happy, she is Bastet. When she's not happy, she's Sekhmet.

Ah, what is this context? It's her, another deity, and then Osiris? Is this like a trifecta of strength and power? -Yeah. -It's loading them on. -Okay.

If you can have three gods, why not have three gods? And here in front of you, we have—it looks like a torpedo. -(Emily G) Yeah. With little pointy ears, and that is a cat mummy.

Some cats were eviscerated, as were human mummies. More often they were not. But they would be purified with incense and smeared with a tar-like substance, like a resin or a bituminous substance, and then wrapped with linen.

And the whole idea of the wrapping alludes to the god Osiris, who's the main god of the dead. He was the first mummy. Egyptian myths are kind of bizarre. He is killed by his brother,

and his body is chopped up into a lot of pieces. And his faithful wife, Isis, gathers the pieces together, wraps them as a mummy, and then he impregnates his wife. The dead guy impregnates his wife.

So that is the icon of "from death becomes life." So they indicate rebirth. From the text, and this is very, very clear, it's written down in the economic texts, that around these cat temples, there would be large pens where cats were raised.

-Ah.
-Catteries. What were they doing with the cats? -Well...
-[both laugh] So we know from the remains of cat mummies and also from texts that the priests who raised these cats would cull the herds,

and they'd take the kittens, like three or four months old. -Oh no.
-And wring their necks. Oh no! -No!
-And then mummify them -and present them as--
-That's so sad. It is sad, but it made the deities so happy.

(Emily G)
Ah, okay. And when the gods are happy, Egypt is happy. It means the sun comes up. It means the river floods. It means everything is just wonderful. -Yeah.
-And so this is part of this big cycle of the universe.

This was very, very big business in ancient Egypt. In gift shops, you'll see statues of Egyptian cats standing very regally and sometimes a little gold earring, and those are usually cat coffins. The cat was actually considered to be the representation

of the *ba*, or the spirit of these feline goddesses. Egyptian religion was really transactional. You give something to the god because you want something from the god. So offerings are major, major, major. For example, a cat deity like Sekhmet,

you would offer her like a little statue or a mummified cat. We have cat cemeteries. -Wow.
-They're actually "catacombs." [laughs] Of course. Is that really where the word catacomb comes from?

-No, no.
-Oh gosh. -I don't believe so.
-That would be hilarious. How can you not say "catacomb," right? No, yeah, that makes sense. So this whole process is that the cats would be mummified.

They'd be presented to the deity, and then, according to the text, several times a year, all of these cat mummies, some of them in containers—bronze coffins or wooden cases—would then be taken by the priest down

to the catacombs underneath the temple. In the late 1800s, there's a record of something like about 180,000 cat mummies that were exported to the UK for fertilizer. -A hundred eighty thous--
-Thousand cats.

Cats for fertilizer? -Kind of sad, isn't it?
-Oh. [laughs] -I mean--
-I'm sorry to laugh. No, I think it's really interesting because-- -It's just amazing--
-Yeah.

180,000 cat mummies, and that's from one site apparently. Oh goodness. What are these itty-bitty things? (Emily T) These are called amulets, and amulets are kind of like good-luck charms.

So these were often protective charms worn by living people. They were also placed on mummies. They're beautifully detailed. They're made out of faience, which is like a quartz-based pottery. And when it's fired, it gives this sort of blue-green,

or green and then blue-green. And they show Sekhmet in this little itty-bitty one, which would probably be put on a necklace and worn. And so these could be sold to people who wanted something to show their love

-Yeah.
-For Sekhmet or Bastet. The love for cats. Today, even today, people are still wearing amulets and jewelry of cats. -(Emily T) That's right.
-To show our cat love. Not very Egyptian.

Part of the reason I wanted to do this video is, like, I love cats; the audience loves cats. There's just something universal, whether or not we today are assigning god-like power to our own felines.

It's almost even today, they have a sort of mystical quality to them. Maybe that's why we're still like, "Can't quite figure you out." There's some mystery there. (Emily T)
Well, exactly, because they are unpredictable.

With many things, the Egyptians were so prolific, created so much wonderful architecture and statues, and it's just amazing, the output of this group. Every time I learn something new, every time I look at a temple wall a little differently.

Luckily with this culture, we have got an endless supply of material culture, of objects. And then the written texts are also just phenomenal. And so we have the ability to try to go in and get into their heads. What were these people like?

And that's what really got me interested in this study. It's like, who were these people? (Emily G) I do keep thinking about something that Dr. Teeter mentioned, which is about the abundance of material that still exists from this culture,

including objects removed from Egypt and placed in museums like ISAC's. Also, until 2023, they were still using the name "Oriental Institute," which is geographically confusing and also seemed to ignore the use of "Oriental" as an offensive term.

So I went back to Marc with my questions. Can't deny that in a place like ISAC, there is a little bit of a colonial background. And what are you doing now in light of that, knowing that a lot of the collections come

from those places, but also knowing that you're continuing to work in those areas? Pedagogy and partnerships—these are the two main pillars. So after 1972, it was no longer allowed to buy or own artifacts and collections coming from overseas.

As for everything that's coming before 1972, this is a collection that's a wonderful tool for fundamental research; also the spreading of knowledge for general human history.

We are open to changing trends in the modern era, and we are listening to the people who are actually visiting our galleries. Most of the time, it's in partnership with hosting authorities and very concretely, for example, where

through co-directorships on archaeological excavations. So it only works if you have a very long-term approach where you actually have the equipment, the staff, and the time to train the people on a long-term basis.

So it's not even that, like, the conservation science is the only part that's advancing in terms of technology, but also like the way that you're able to deepen social partnerships and be able to look at synergies

in research, like what you're doing here and what you can facilitate in Chicago—and how that can go overseas.

-Exactly. It's an extension of the museum. The museum doesn't exist here in just this space, but it's—

-No.
-You have a partnership with people, educators, researchers all over the world. One of the particularities of ISAC as a museum is that it's not just interested in the big, monumental, shiny things.

It's also trying to recreate the mindset of the people that created all these artifacts in the first place, through the context but through social practices, too. So yes, as you can see, the ripple effect can cross millennia.

Yeah, I love that. I love this museum because it's about the human experience. Sometimes that means relating to it, like looking for cat lovers throughout history, and sometimes that means using it as a basis for change.

Either way, acknowledging the past is critical to growing, both as people and as places. Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education. [light upbeat music] It still has brains on it.

Why were Ancient Egyptians obsessed with cats?

thebrainscoop

고대 이집트 고양이 숭배와 고대 문화 연구 연구소(ISAC)

경제 관련 텍스트에는 고양이 사원 근처의 대형 케이지에서 고양이를 키우는 모습이 나와 있습니다.

시카고 대학교 캠퍼스에 있는 무료 고고학 박물관인 ISAC에 대해 소개합니다.

박물관의 컬렉션은 선사 시대부터 중세 초기에 걸쳐 있으며, 중동과 근동, 나일 계곡에 중점을 두고 있습니다.

수석 큐레이터인 마크 마이요 박사와의 인터뷰를 통해 박물관의 컬렉션과 하이라이트에 대해 알아보세요.

라-호라크티 신에게 제물을 바치는 여사제를 묘사한 나무로 그린 비석에 대해 논의합니다.

고대 문화와 인간의 경험에 연결하기

불완전하게 조리된 벽돌에서 강아지의 발자국을 발견하면 실존적 질문을 이끌어냅니다.

박물관 체험은 사전을 찾는 것처럼 문화적 반사가 되어야 합니다.

개인의 호기심과 배움에 대한 열의에 맞춰 박물관 방문을 맞춤화합니다.

고대 이집트의 고양이 숭배로 초점이 이동합니다.

고양이 미라 가면과 이집트 예술에서 암사자와 고양이의 상호작용을 살펴봅니다.

고대 이집트에서 고양이의 종교적, 경제적 중요성

언어, 문화, 사물을 전문으로 연구하는 이집트 학자 에밀리 티터를 소개합니다.

고대 이집트에서 고양이는 문화적, 종교적으로 매우 중요한 존재였습니다.

헤로도토스의 기록을 예로 들어 종교와 경제에서 고양이의 역할에 대해 논의합니다.

고양이 반려동물과 고양이를 뜻하는 고대 이집트어 "미우"의 증거.

18세기 왕조의 애완 고양이였던 타미우와 그 석관에 대한 언급.

고양이 여신 세크메트와 바스테트

라의 딸인 암사자 여신 세크메트와 그녀의 사나운 본성에 대한 설명입니다.

인류를 죽이려던 세크메트의 시도와 신들의 해결책인 붉은 색 맥주에 관한 신화.

온화한 고양이 여신 바스테트와 그녀와 세크메트 사이의 이중성을 소개합니다.

고양이 미라와 미라화 과정에 대한 토론.

고양이 미라화 관습과 오시리스 신과의 연관성에 대해 설명합니다.

텍스트는 고양이 사원 근처에서 고양이를 키우던 대형 펜스를 묘사합니다.

사제들은 고양이 무리를 도태시켜 새끼 고양이를 미라로 만들어 제물로 바쳤습니다.

고양이 미이라화는 중요한 사업이자 우주 순환의 일부입니다.

고양이 조각상과 관은 *바*(영혼)의 표현입니다.

고양이 미라를 포함한 고양이 신에게 바치는 제물, 고양이 묘지의 존재.

고양이 미라, 부적, 고양이 숭배의 유산

고양이 미라를 카타콤으로 운반하고 나중에 비료로 수출하는 일입니다.

부적은 살아있는 사람이 착용하고 미라에 붙이는 행운의 부적으로 설명합니다.

세크메트 또는 바스테트를 묘사한 부적의 재질과 모양에 대한 세부 정보입니다.

고양이 부적과 장신구는 현대에도 계속 이어지고 있습니다.

고양이의 변함없는 신비로운 특성과 예측할 수 없는 본성.

풍부한 물질 문화와 고대 이집트 연구

이집트 문화의 다산성, 풍부한 물질 문화와 문자로 기록된 텍스트.

고대 이집트인과 그들의 생활 방식에 대한 연구.

ISAC와 같은 박물관의 유물을 포함한 풍부한 물질 문화.

ISAC의 명칭이 '동양 연구소'에서 변경된 것은 식민지배의 배경을 인정한 것입니다.

수집과 식민지 유산에 대한 ISAC의 접근 방식

식민지 시대의 과거와 현재의 관행에 대한 ISAC의 대응.

1972년 이후 해외에서 유물을 구매하지 않고 교육과 파트너십에 집중하고 있습니다.

주최 기관과의 파트너십 및 고고학 발굴에 대한 공동 감독직.

사람들을 교육하고 보존 과학을 발전시키기 위한 장기적인 접근 방식.

사회적 파트너십과 연구 시너지 강화.