Why was the mummy afraid of cats
In the 1999 film The Mummy. Why was the mummy afraid of cats?
I know that they were the guardians of the underworld etc. But what could the house cat that Connor had actually have done?
Or was the Mummy just so knee deep in his superstition that he never actually stopped to realise it was a harmless kitty?
Best Answer
Egyptians worshipped cats. Cats were deified, were thought to be holy, and the mummy was an unholy undead creature.
I am relatively certain that the movie makers wanted it to be similar to a vampire confronted with a cross, or something to that effect.
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Why is the mummy so afraid of cats?
Imhotep fears cats because "cats are the guardians of the Underworld". In Egyptian mythology, cats were associated with the goddesses Bastet (fertility, motherhood and protection) and Sekhmet (healing) and not the Underworld.Why are cats considered guardians of the Underworld?
The most widespread belief was that domestic cats carried the divine essence of Bastet (or Bast), the cat-headed goddess who represented fertility, domesticity, music, dance and pleasure. For that reason, cats were to be protected and venerated.Why did Egyptians get buried with cats?
Cats were also pets, just like they are today, and were sometimes mummified and placed in tombs with their owners. The belief was that by placing cats and their owners in the same tomb the pair could remain together in the Afterlife.Did Egyptians worship cats?
But Egyptians did not worship felines. Rather, they believed these 'feline' deities shared certain character traits with the animals. Bastet is probably the best-known feline goddess from Egypt. Initially depicted as a lioness, Bastet assumed the image of a cat or a feline-headed woman in the 2nd millennium BCE.More answers regarding why was the mummy afraid of cats
Answer 2
The Mummy was afraid of the cat because of the Egyptian belief that cats are the guardian of the dead. Having been risen from the dead, Imhotep probably thought that the cat could possibly send him back, hence being afraid of them. I know if I was risen from the dead and believed something could send me back I'd avoid it and be scared of it.
Answer 3
Cats were especially revered by Egyptians and were seen as protectors and were also directly protected by the goddess Bastet. Bastet was the daughter of Ra. Ra was the fierce flame of the sun who burned the deceased should they fail one of the many tests in the underworld.
Answer 4
After researching this question, it seems to me that the mummy was afraid of cats in the 1999 movie because this was a popular plot element in previous mummy movies. Similarly, vampires are afraid of crosses and garlic in most vampire movies because it was a medieval myth. Not because there is any "reason" for it. The difference with the mummy vs. cat connection is that this seems primarily invented by movie producers who got it from the idea that cats were "guardians of the dead" in Egyptian mythology. There were other denizens of the underworld in Egyptian mythology that it would have made more sense for the mummies to be afraid of. For example in the original mummy movie with Boris Karlof, a cat is protecting the mummy and the mummy is afraid of Isis. That was more logical. However cats are cute and it was certainly brilliant to make mummies afraid of them in movies. I love the idea myself. I always wondered why in the movies the potential victims did not walk around with a half dozen cats in cat carriers. But then perhaps the plot could not progress as swiftly. Enough said.
I am looking for a list of movies with mummies afraid of cats. Evidently there were not as many as I seem to remember. I took it for granted the mummies were afraid of cats. However it seems that not many of my friends got the same impression from classical mummy movies. Perhaps some of what I remember was from television episodes. All I can say is that whoever wrote the 1999 mummy film must have seen the same films that I saw.
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