The ancient Egypians didn’t only mummify people. They also mummifed animals.

Some of the most popular animal mummies were ancient Egyptian cats, which were said to be looked after by the god Bastet. The bodies of favourite cats were taken to the city of Bubastis. There they were embalmed and wrapped in cloth before being buried in the cat cemetery!

One ancient Egyptian, called Hapymen, was so fond of his pet dog that it was mummified, wrapped in cloth and placed at the side of his feet in his coffin.

Other pets and sacred (holy) animals were mummified in ancient Egypt, too. The strangest was probably the Nile crocodile. Some of these fierce, human-eating crocodiles were kept as pets by Egyptians, where they were fed the best meats and wines. When one of the crocodiles died, the Egyptian mummy-makers would wrap it up in cloth and begin the mummy-making process.

Filed under: Egyptian