this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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Historical Artifacts

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Just a community for everyone to share artifacts, reconstructions, or replicas for the historically-inclined to admire!

Generally, an artifact should be 100+ years old, but this is a flexible requirement if you find something rare and suitably linked to an era of history, not a strict rule. Anything over 100 is fair game regardless of rarity.

Generally speaking, ruins should go to !historyruins@lemmy.world

Illustrations of the past should go to !historyillustrations@lemmy.world

Photos of the past should go to !HistoryPorn@lemmy.world

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[–] marine_mustang@sh.itjust.works 9 points 23 hours ago (8 children)

How do they know it’s a god in cat form and not just a statue of a normal cat?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

Some manner of inscription, maybe? It looks like there's a symbol on its head in the link. I'm not very well informed on Egyptian religious idols, though.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Reading the PDF on their site it just says "This exceptional bronze cat represents the renowned Egyptian goddess Bastet" and then shows other statues in other collections that are virtually identical which are Bastet.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It does have a symbol, though.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

It actually has two. The beetle and also a heart on a pendant necklace. I don't think the scarab identifies it as Bastet though. Here is all they say on the scarab:

Quite detailed, the insect has six legs, two mandibles, a narrow abdomen and wings that are folded over its back. Scarab beetles, which are very common in Egyptian iconography, are the symbol of the rising sun. They favour life and fertility and embody rebirth.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 3 points 19 hours ago

Yes, this - afaik for it to be undoubtedly Bastet for like religious purposes it needed to be not a normal animal (so sigils, items, un-animal acts), but normal cats would still held symbolism bcs of Bastet.

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