Animals As Gods
I have always been a huge fan of superhero shows (love the Marvel movies!) The idea of having cool powers and saving the world was appealing to me as a kid and I would obsessively watch them growing up (still do watch them).
Most of them had powers like super-speed, super-strength, magic laser-eyes, and more. But quite a few of them also had animalistic powers like Black Panther (my favourite), Spider-man, Beast Boy, Wolverine, and others.
I guess as humans we do sometimes want the strength, speed, and agility of animals morphed with ourselves so that we could become stronger (and also that it would be extremely cool!) and hence, we have these powerful individuals.
I suppose this fascination of ours has been around for ages considering that the ancient Egyptians did the same- except that they used their minds to create gods.
If we do a quick search of pictures of ancient gods, we will see that they have human features. Of course, the Greek and Roman gods could turn into animals, but they are never half-human and half-animal (satyrs and centaurs don’t count as gods).
But for a majority of the Egyptian deities, you will see that they have the face of an animal and the body of a human (there are exceptions like Isis, Osiris, and others but it is a small amount).
But why did this hybridization happen here? I guess that based on how we perceive superheroes as individuals with immense power, the Egyptians considered the combination of the two- human intellect with animalistic prowess as immense power and this made the deities divine.
The range and variety of gods like this is a lot (I’m not kidding, there are a lot). So to show you what I mean, I’m going to compile a small list of animals and the few deities who were attached to them:-
- Baboon- Thoth (god of knowledge), Khonsu (god of the moon), Hapy (guardian of the canopic jar that held the lungs), Babi (fertility god)
- Falcon- Horus (god of kingship), Montu (war god), Sokar (a god of death), Qebehsenuef (guardian of the canopic jar that held the intestines)
- Cow- Hathor (goddess of beauty and sexuality), Isis (goddess of healing and magic), Nut (sky goddess), Mehet-Weret (goddess of the sky and water)
- Cobra- Wadjet (goddess of Lower Egypt), Renenutet (fertility goddess), Meretseger (goddess of punishments)
- Frog- Heqet (fertility goddess), Nun, Amun, Heh, Kek (Primeval gods/creator gods)
- Jackal/Wolf/Dog- Anubis (god of the dead), Duamutef (guardian of the canopic jar that held the stomach), Sed (god of pharaohs/royalty), Wepawet (god of funerary rites)
- Lion- Sekhmet (protectorial goddess), Shu (god of air), Tefnut (goddess of moisture), Mut (war goddess)
There are a lot more but I’ll stop here (as my eyes hurt) but you get the point. The ancient Egyptians were unnecessarily (but amazingly) creative.
This aspect of amalgamation between man and animal to show the gods in the human world was interesting to me. It makes one think (I did).
Did the Egyptians believe that the deities they worshipped were too divine for their world and that the fauna around them were the only forms of heaven that could be seen on Earth? Or did they see the power of nature and assume it to be the godly power sent from above?
Whatever the answer may be (we might not ever truly know their reason), it sets the relationship between man and animals. Cats, bulls, ibis, crocodiles, baboons, and various other creatures became icons of deities and were heavily worshipped in Ancient Egypt. They had a place in temples and after their deaths (and sometimes even before) were mummified and placed in tombs.
Ancient Egypt saw the power of nature and immediately assumed that this was a sign of god. I agree with them as I find the power of nature impressive and I believe that something as beautiful as nature and wildlife is a divine creation
