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In ancient Egypt one animal was held so sacred that it was preserved by the millions as offerings, and some tombs held so many they were later dug up and shipped abroad as fertilizer.

Which animal did the ancient Egyptians mummify by the millions?

Cats
Cats were sacred to the goddess Bastet, and Egyptians mummified millions of them as offerings. Some tombs held so many that they were later dug up and shipped abroad as fertilizer.

Cats held deep religious significance in ancient Egypt through their association with Bastet, a goddess linked to protection and the home, making cats considered sacred and worthy of ritual care. Egyptians mummified cats using techniques similar to those for humans, wrapping them carefully with offerings, and archaeologists have found enormous animal cemeteries with vast numbers of cat mummies produced over centuries.

Horses and elephants held practical and military value but were not mummified on anything close to this religious scale, since their significance was tied to labor and warfare rather than sacred symbolism.

In a strange twist, some mummified cats were later excavated in the 19th century not out of respect but as cheap ground-up fertilizer shipped to European farms, an unceremonious fate for once-sacred animals.

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