Cat Mummies

by Kelly Trumble, Laszlo Kubinyi (Illustrator)

Clearly written text offers an answer to the question of why ancient Egyptians mummified thousands and thousands of cats. An easy-to-understand introduction to ancient Egyptian history.

Genres: History, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Egypt, Cats, Ancient History

56 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Jbondandrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book about cat mummies.

[ConnieLettow · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the summer of 1888 a farmer in the Egyptian town of Beni Hasan found the entrance to a catacomb filled with hundreds of thousands of intricately mummified cats. Each pit had 20 layers of cat mummies. Many of the mummies were wrapped in linen dyed in two different colors, woven together to make intricate patterns. The head was covered with a mask made of a material similar to paper-mache. Pieces of linen were sewn onto the mask to look like eyes. Ears were made from the midribs of palm leaves, set in a natural position. Some had the faces covered with a thin layer of gold. Some also were buried with intricately detailed coffins and Ka statues. ( a Ka statue was a statue built in the likeness of the mummified to let the spirit enter the statue instead of the body should the body become destroyed). The book goes over why, where, when and how the cats were worshiped. It details first person's account of daily life in the area through the eyes of Greek Historian, Diodorus Siculus, who witnessed a Roman soldier getting killed over an accidental killing of a cat, by a religious mob, and Herodotus, who wrote about people protecting their cats when there was a fire as opposed to saving anything or one else. Two important Goddess's are mentioned who were worshiper at the time and appeared in the likenesses of cats: Sekhmet, and Bastet. The book also tells about how embalming became so important and tells the story of the Goddess Isis and how she brought her husband Osiris back to life. The last chapter of the book talks about the end of a religion, the battles, wars and other religions that subsequently took over. Sadly, at the 1888 excavation site of the cat tombs, tons upon tons of cat mummy bones were gathered up by children, loaded on ships bound for England, and turned into fertilizer. There is an appendix at the end that describes human mummification, and lists some animals and the gods they symbolized. This book is genius in that it can be read by so many age groups and still be interesting. It is fascinating reading and well worth ownership. My 5yo daughter asked to be read this book over and over, and I don't mind because I learn a little myself every time we read it.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more like a story than many history books with lots of little pictures and little snippets of info. Traces the history of animal/cat worship in ancient Egypt, include notes, references to Herodotus and other historians, and even comes into the 20th century to touch on discoveries and despoiling of ancient artifacts. The illustrations are lovely, the appendices include a brief but pretty thorough account of the human mummification process, where in the US Egyptian artifacts or exhibits might be found, as well as a glossary of names and short bibliography.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the recommended books to use along with Story of the World, Vol 1. I didn't really enjoy it and honestly neither did my kids. It was choppy and difficult to follow along with, even for an adult.

The paragraphs were long, esp. for a picture book, and the writing was chaotic at best.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didnt know anything about egyptian cats. This book has some good stories. High interest for kids who love cats.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an interesting read and contained a ton of facts I didn't know about the cats of Egypt.

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book looked EXTREMELY familiar, so I'm pretty sure I read it as a kid (probably a lot). It feels a bit disjointed, but it has a lot of interesting information and very nice pictures. Also, at the end I was able to add to my list of things I'm angry at the Victorians for doing (also sad how Egyptians catered to that destructiveness).

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked this out to preview for their middle school years. They saw the book and begged me to read it to them. I thought they'd get bored quickly but they LOVED it. We read the whole thing. The book moves fairly quickly and is easy to follow. They acted out several of the battle scenes described.

It does deal with animal worship and spirits so we talked about that in reference to our beliefs.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on research, Cat Mummies describes the historical and religious role cats played in Egyptian religion. It uses beautiful illustrations to present information on cat worship, Bubastis, Persian conquest and the end of animal worship in Egypt. I plan to use this book with my children as part of our home school study on Ancient Egypt.

[Silme · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books was about how special cats were to the Egyptians. They were mummified, just like kings. Cats were worshiped in ancient Egypt. There were statues of cats created, also. It also instructed how cats came to be so revered in ancient Egypt

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cat mummies! Ancient Egyptians worshiped cats! One day a farmer was digging a hole, and he discovered thousands of cat mummies!! There were other sacred animals like jackals, crocodiles and lions. They were sometimes mummified also. Learn more by reading the book!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good children's book about ancient Egyptian religion. There is an appendix at the end with a bit more in depth explanation about mummification.

[Sheri Gauld · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, looking back at Ancient Egyptian obsession with cats and other animals.