Earliest record of cat’s involvement with man in Ancient Egypt is from 2600 BC.
In the Old Kingdom (2686 – 2181 BC) of Ancient Egypt, few records of cats exist.
In the Middle Kingdom (2182 – 1566 BC), there are pictures of cats, but it is uncertain if those are pictures of wild or tame cats. However some believe by 1600 BC, cats were domesticated and are found in evidence of tomb paintings, showing the cat’s role in society.
In the New Kingdom (1567 BC – onward), cats lived with and were worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians. However, it is believed the Egyptians domesticated cats around 2000 BC.
So by 2000 BC, cats became a vital and integrated part of Egyptian life. Cat images were found on many objects, such as paintings on tomb walls depicting a cat under furniture or stealing food from a banquet. And cats adorned paintings in noblemen’s tombs and in the home, usually shown under a chair with the wife or couple.
In Ancient Egypt, cats were thought of as gods. If anyone killed a cat, it was murder, and the offender was executed.
Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats so much that anyone mistreating or hunting cats was also given a death sentence.
When a cat died in Ancient Egypt, it had to be examined by a holy man to determine cause of death.
When a cat died from an Ancient Egyptian family, the family members would shave their eyebrows in mourning as if a human had died. After death, cats would get embalmed, wrapped, and buried in tombs with respect shown by funeral rites. As well, several mice were mummified and put into the tombs. In one discovery, 300,000 mummified cats were found in one ancient city.
One consignment of cat mummies weighed in at 19.5 tons. All of these mummified cats were pulverized and ground into fertilizer and sold in England. Only one skull was rescued.
Of other cat remains surviving being pulverized, 187 were African Wild Cat, with three being Jungle Cat. However, it is unlikely the Jungle Cat was domesticated; rather it was captured, as it was fearful of people.
There have been modern discoveries of massive amounts of cat mummies, like at Saqqara by the west bank of the Nile in 1982 and in 1990 at Pakhet’s Temple at Beni Hassan. Discovered in the 1880s, cat mummies numbering in the thousands were found in Beni Hassan.
Ancient Egyptians so loved their cats they wanted to take them into the afterlife, so after death the cat would be mummified along with the master. For example, Prince Tuthmosis of Cairo was entombed with his pet cat, Mit. The Egyptians would also provide provisions for both cat and human for the long trip into the afterlife.
In Egyptian tombs, cats’ names are inscribed on the walls.
The Ancient Egyptians also left behind many cat statues.
In Ancient Egyptian papyri, a humorous or satirical war of mice and cats appears.
Ancient Egyptians thought that cats kept the sunlight in their eyes overnight so they could hunt in the dark.
The Egyptian religion had cat forms and images even before cats entered into the Ancient Egyptian cities.
The focus of cat worship in Ancient Egypt revolved around the goddess Bastet (a.k.a. Bast or Pash) who had a woman’s body and a cat’s head. Her statue stood at Bubastis in her temple.
In honor of the goddess of fertility, Bastet, female felines were valued for their fertility and mothering skills.
By 664 BC, both cat sexes were deemed sacred and were bred and kept in sanctuaries near temples.
Males were favored for Ra, the sun god. Male cats were believed to have the sun’s glow in their eyes at night and hold Ra’s power against the forces of evil. Ra was also known as the Great Cat.
Reaching its peak in 2000 BC, the religion of Bastet was important to the Ancient Egyptians as it related to cats. Every year about 500,000 Egyptians would go to Bubastis to celebrate the fertility of Bastet, making it one big cat show.
After living 1 – 4 months, sacred cats were killed by breaking the neck and were eviscerated, dried, covered in resin, and wrapped with linens. These mummified cats were sold by temple guardians to be used by visiting worshippers as offerings to their deity. The temple priests then took the dead cats and buried them ritually in nearby, often vast, cemeteries.
Older non-breeding males were killed and sold to poorer worshippers for offerings.
It later became religious commonplace to offer a little bronze cat statue to the temple.
Before becoming cats of the temple, wall paintings on worker tombs show cats being house pets of villagers, who lived far away from the temple, with the cats shown being fed from bowls, sitting by the fire, and laying on laps.
From their living in towns, cats were quickly able to multiply and build a population they couldn’t do in the wild.
The word “puss” is believed by some linguists to have originated from the cat goddess Pash.
The Ancient Egyptians called cats “mau” which means, “to see.”
The scarce Egyptian Mau bears a striking resemblance to cats of Ancient Egypt that are found on tomb paintings and papyrus scrolls from thousands of years ago. From hieroglyphics in Egyptian tombs, the Mau was first domesticated over 4,000 years ago.
The Abyssinian is believed to be the direct descendants of Ancient Egyptian Sacred Temple Cats. Mummified cats from ancient tombs and painted frescoes in tombs compared to modern day Abyssinians support this belief.
Tabbies appeared in Egyptian paintings in tombs about 3,500 years ago during the 18th and 19th Dynasties and are one of the oldest breeds.
In 525 BC, a battle of the Persians and Egyptians occurred near Pelusium where the Persians paraded sacred Egyptian animals, including cats, before their army for protection. As the Egyptians were afraid to kill or injure these animals and risk offending their gods, they refused to fight back and lost the battle.
Ancient Egyptians prohibited the exporting of cats and would chase down any stolen from the country and return them home. However, this policy wasn’t always successful.
Spreading & Shedding Around the World
Out of Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, a law against exporting cats existed. However, some cats made it out of Egypt and into India, Japan, China, and even Norway where the Vikings used them to kill rats.
Cats spread out slowly from Ancient Egypt, making it to Greece at about 500 BC. Over several centuries afterward, cats made it across the Roman Empire.
Cats were kept in homes and on ships and were sold and traded across the Ancient World for pest control, spreading felines throughout the world.
Europe
By 1000 BC, the keeping of pet cats spread to Europe, probably by ships crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
The Greeks found cats were great mousers to have and stole cats from the Egyptians who refused to give or trade any away. The Greeks, after successfully breeding these stolen cats, sold their offspring to the Romans, Celts, and Gauls.
When cats spread to Rome, they were held as an exotic and rare pet.
Cats hunting skills were written about by Pliny in Natural History (77 AD). Another Roman writer, Palladius, working in the 3rd century, advised using cats to catch mice.
In many Roman art forms, the goddess Diana is depicted with cat(s) at her feet, proving a religious connection.
Some believe Phoenicians first brought cats to the U.K., but it is also thought before 4 AD, the Romans introduced the cat to the British Isles.
When the Romans left the British Isles, they left their cats behind. The felines adapted to this new environment and continued a tolerance of humans.
The Norwegian Forest Cat is an ancient breed, appearing in Nordic mythology frequently.
In other European countries, cats spread out and were valued for their pest control. In 10th century Wales, if someone failed to care for their cat, they were fined.
In the eighth or ninth century, Celtic monks wrote poetry and drew beautiful artwork for their beloved pet cats.
Later, Celts often sacrificed cats as they symbolized evil.
In Southern Europe by 500 B
C, felines became ingrained in folklore and civilization.
In an Ypres, Belgium 800 years old tradition, cats were thrown off a 200-foot high tower. The crowd cheered the survivors as they hit the ground and ran off. The practice began in 962 AD to show that the townsfolk had stopped worshipping cats. They stopped using real cats after 1817 and replaced them with toy cats in the 20th century.
Cats were persecuted in Europe during the early Christian era as cats had been used in old pagan religions.
Cats were adorned in art by 1700 BC in Israel and in 1400 BC in Greece.
Middle East
The prophet Mohammed favored cats and forbid cruelty to all animals. It is said one day Mohammed’s cat was sleeping on his cloak when he was summoned to prayers. Instead of disturbing his cat, he removed his cloak and attended prayers.
A suspicion of cats spread into India where few are kept as pets in the modern world.
Cats moved through Persia to India and to the Far East.
Far East
The keeping of cats spread eastward into China and Japan.
Cats were treasured in the Far East.
Cats were introduced to Chinese society during the Common Era and became common by the Tang Dynasty. During that time, cats were subjects of paintings and drawings, showing them with affectionate realism.
Also in China, one of the farming gods, Li-Shou, was worshipped after the harvest for protection of the grains from rats and mice. He took the form of a cat.
In Ancient China, cats were admired for their agility, quickness, and laidback readiness when a threat arose. Chinese martial arts are partially based on a cat’s fighting ability. In karate and kung fu, many strikes and stances are named after cats. For instance, the “cat stance” is taught early to martial arts students.
Originating centuries ago, many yoga routines use the cat pose that was discovered by wise men (Eastern Vedas) when they observed how a cat stretches and arches its back after sleeping. They found the reason for this was to get rid of the stiffness and sleepiness from long periods of inactivity, and they incorporated it into yoga routines.
Cats became favored in the Japanese court in the 7th century and were kept to keep rats from damaging the silkworm industry.
The Japanese Bobtail breed has a long history in Japan and is native to Japan and Southeast Asia. Japanese myth and legend are related to this breed, appearing in pieces of ancient art.
It is speculated that the first domesticated Birmans lived in Buddhist temples in Burma. The Birman is known as the Scared Cat of Burma where it is revered as a near-deity. Those early Birmans were said to be under the protection of the Great Lama.
In Thailand, cats have been bred for centuries.
The rare breed the Korat originated in Thailand. It is an old breed whose name means “good fortune.” A pair of these cats was traditionally given to new brides. Korats were also gifts to nobility from subjects to show loyalty and reverence.
Korats have been cherished in their native Thailand for hundreds of years. They have been the subjects of writings as early as 1350 AD in “The Cat-Book Poems,” which is preserved in the National Library in Bangkok.
In a book of poetry from about 1350 AD, the Burmese was first described in Siam.
Later in Thailand and Burma, Birman and Siamese cats were venerated as guardians of Buddhist temples. In these areas, it was believed that spirits of the dead were housed in cats. In Burma, Sinh is a sacred cat.
South America
In Ancient Peru, the Mohics worshipped Ai Apaec, the god of copulation who was depicted as a cat.
The Dark Times of the Middle Ages
Historically, Europeans have kept cats for over 1,000 years.
In the early Middle Ages, Henry III of England authorized cat hunting to control cat populations and to provide monks with fur to wear.
In 1348, the Lord Mayor of London decried that all cats be put to death, because it was believed the cats spread the Black Death. However, it was rats and their fleas that spread the disease.
The superstitious link of cats, witchcraft, and the devil began before the plague in the 13th century and lasted approximately 450 years. During Lent, cats were particularly persecuted as they were tossed into bonfires to burn the devil out of them. Superstitions against cats were backed by papal decrees and believed by Puritan Protestants.
During these times, the Church condemned cats as symbols of pagan worship, and the persecution of cats spread out across Europe. In the Annual Festival of St. John, cats were burned alive in town squares, and cats were nearly extinct by 1400.
During the Middle Ages, cats were thought of as witches that turned themselves into cats and were viewed as agents of Satan. They were burned at the stake, resulting in cats almost being wiped out in England and Germany. Cats and those believed to associate with them were tortured, splayed, and burned to death on a regular basis. Elizabeth I of England had a penchant for cat burnings.
During Medieval times, cats were related to black magic and witches. Cats were symbols of cruelty and lasciviousness and were viewed suspiciously as always scheming and plotting evil. Belief was that witches would ride on a cat’s back to celebrate their Sabbath.
With cats travelling at night and caterwauling, tales of evil doings and orgies started. In those unenlightened times, cats bonded with older, single women who were targets of witch hunting by ignorant and superstitious people.
Cats’ reluctance to be subservient unlike other domesticated animals also led to the belief that cats were sinister. During those times, parts of a cat’s body were believed to be dangerous. Cats had venomous teeth, poisonous flesh, lethal fur (in that it caused suffocation), and their breath caused or spread consumption.
The female’s reproductive behavior of mating with more than one male was thought promiscuous, ungodly, and sinful. Also, the high voice and reflective eyes that changed color when struck by light were considered evidence of deceptiveness and a connection to the devil.
The mass killing of cats has led some historians to believe the absence of these cats to kill rats contributed to the plague outbreak. With few cats to kill the millions of plague carrying rats, the disease spread, resulting in millions of dead Europeans.
During the Spanish Inquisition, cats were thought of being of the devil and were tortured and burned alive.
In folk tales of the time, cats were shown as being linked to bad luck and magic.
During Shakespeare’s time, cats were associated with witchcraft and spurned by the people. Shakespeare’s negative references to cats in his plays are revealing: In Cymbeline, he wrote, “Creatures vile as cats.” And in All’s Well That Ends Well, he wrote, “I could endure anything but a cat. And now he’s a cat to me…A pox on him! For he is more and more a cat.” Further, in Much Ado About Nothing, it says, “What though care killed a cat.”
Also in England in the Middle Ages, abandoned wells were used to get rid of garbage and cats that were dead and discarded, thrown in alive, or fell in. This led to the nursery rhyme below:
Ding, dong, bell,
Pussy’s in the well!
Who put her in?
Little Johnny Green.
Who pulled her out?
Little Tommy Stout.
What a naughty boy was that
To try to drown poor pussy cat,
Who never did him any harm,
And killed the mice in his father’s barn.
When the Lutherans and Protestant religion began to spread, cats were hated as they were seen to be a symbol of Rome and the Catholics.
In the second half of the 16th century in Essex, England, the cat was considered as a symbol of the Pope and the devil on earth. Sam sez, “Quite a mix.” And so cat persecution continued.
In Protestant Europe, baskets of live cats were burned in huge fires in effigies of the Pope.
During the later years of the Black Death in Europe, cats regained some status for killing disease carrying rats.
Tod
ay’s Modern Cat
In Europe by the end of the 1600s, cats regained some popularity by being rat killers, as the rats had overrun many cities and towns.
In the 17th century, there was a reversal of attitudes toward cats as witches were not seen as having power over people and that cats could kill plague-bearing rats.
It took a long time for cats to be seen as valuable pest controllers and loved pets, again. In the 1700s, a more enlightened Europe stopped persecuting cats, and it was acceptable to be a cat or be associated with cats again.
Cats became more acceptable because of the invasion of the voracious brown rat from the east and into 18th century Europe. With this new rat threat, cats seemed to be the only protection against these pests so it became acceptable to have cats in homes and factories.
The Wonder of Cats Page 11
