IN ancient Egypt, animals were of great importance: their elegance and beauty were admired and their force feared. Above all, they were worshiped, as many animals were regarded as carryingdivine force. The deity Horus was often depicted as a falcon, Bastet was the catgoddess and Sobek a crocodile-shaped god. The exhibition "Hawks, cats and crocodiles", which will run from June 25 to November 14 in Museum Rietberg, ZurichSwitzerland, presents about 100 animal figures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) and the Egyptian Museum (Cairo) spanning a period of 4,000 years, showing the crafts and sophistication of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. The birds and animals known to the ancient Egyptians played an important role in every aspect of their culture. Ancient Egyptians believed that the world was inhabited by all manner of powers andforces and this unseen world could in some way be made manifest by the behaviour and characteristics of living creatures. Thus, ancient Egyptian deities could take the form of animals, which were considered to be the earthly manifestation of a god or goddess. However, even if a deity might adopt a certain animal form, not all members of that particular species were necessarily held to be sacred. Others might labour for man or be part of the Egyptian household, many would be hunted, trapped or slaughtered for food. Some animals were never associated with a deity but may have had a symbolic significance, while others appear only as hieroglyphic signs in the written Egyptian language. The Egyptians believed that the spirit of the god would enter into the body of a sacred animal and animate it. And so, during the lifetime of the animal, it would be like the god incarnate and people would pray to it, worship it in many ways and it would have oracular powers. So if people had a question, for example about property or an inheritance, or wanted to foretell the future, they would, instead of going to a judge, go to the god at the temple and ask him. The priest would then interpret the movement. So, if the animal such as the sacred Apis bull would be asked the question, he would move his head in a certain way or he would emit a sound and then the priest would interpret this and tell the people what they should do or how they should resolve any conflict they had. The ancient Egyptians associated specific gods with specific animals. And so we have Sekhmet, for example, who is the goddess of strength, rage and plagues. Then, we have gods such as Toth, who is the god of wisdom and writing whose main animal is an ibis. The sacred ibis has a long beak that bends down and looks like a pen and since Toth is the god of writing that makes sense. Horus is represented by a raptor. Now people generally say Horus is a hawk, but, actually, Horus is made up of composite of different hawks ��" he is a superhawk. So he has falcon's eyes and the plumage of an eagle. Horus, like the sun god, flies very high. He has wonderful eyesight and can see things from afar.
