In Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians sacrificed animals, but not the cow because it was sacred to goddess Hathor, and also due to the contemporary Greek myth of Io, who had the form of a cow.
In Egyptian mythology, Hesat was the manifestation of Hathor, the divine sky-cow, in earthly form. Like Hathor, she was seen as the wife of Ra. In hieroglyphs she is depicted as a cow with a hat.
Read more about this topic: Cattle In Religion
Famous quotes containing the words ancient and/or egypt:
“Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness.”
—Dewitt Bodeen (1908–1988)
“It is evident, from their method of propagation, that a couple of cats, in fifty years, would stock a whole kingdom; and if that religious veneration were still paid them, it would, in twenty more, not only be easier in Egypt to find a god than a man, which Petronius says was the case in some parts of Italy; but the gods must at last entirely starve the men, and leave themselves neither priests nor votaries remaining.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)