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Cats in the Ancient World (Article)Although it has been commonly accepted that cats were first domesticated in Egypt 4. Wild cats are now known to have lived among the people of Mesopotamia over 1. BCE at about the same time as dogs, sheep, and goats. Archaeological excavations in the past ten years have provided evidence that the Near Eastern Wildcat is the closest relative of the modern- day domestic cat and was bred by Mesopotamian farmers, most probably as a means of controlling pests, such as mice, which were attracted by grain supplies. The writer David Derbyshire cites a 2. CE research project in which, “the study used DNA samples from 9. They looked for markers in mitochondrial DNA - a type of genetic material passed down from mothers to kittens which can reveal when wild and domestic cat lineages were most closely related.” This project was headed by Dr.

Andrew Kitchener, a Zoologist at the National Museums of Scotland, who writes, . The last common ancestor of wildcats and domesticated cats lived more than 1.

Derbyshire). Dr. Kitchener’s findings built upon the evidence of cat’s domestication provided by the discovery in 1. CE of a cat skeleton in a grave dating to 9,5. BCE on the island of Cyprus.

This find, made by the archaeologist Alain le Brun, was important because Cyprus had no indigenous cat population and it is unlikely that settlers would have brought a wild cat, by boat, to the island. Cats in Ancient Egypt. How To Speed Up Graboid Downloads Music.

The cat’s association with ancient Egypt, however, is understandable in that Egyptian culture was famous for its devotion to the cat. The export of cats from Egypt was so strictly prohibited that a branch of the government was formed solely to deal with this issue. Government agents were dispatched to other lands to find and return cats which had been smuggled out. It is clearly established that, by 4. BCE, the penalty in Egypt for killing a cat was death (though this law is thought to have been observed much earlier). The goddess Bastet, commonly depicted as a cat or as a woman with a cat’s head, was among the most popular deities of the Egyptian pantheon.

She was the keeper of hearth and home, protector of women’s secrets, guardian against evil spirits and disease, and the goddess of cats. Her ritual centre was the city of Bubastis (“House of Bastet”) in which, according to Herodotus (4. BCE), an enormous temple complex was built in her honour in the centre of the city. Herodotus also relates that the Egyptians cared so much for their cats that they placed their safety above human life and property. When a house caught fire, the Egyptians would concern themselves more with rescuing the cats than with anything else, often running back into the burning building or forming a perimeter around the flames to keep cats at a safe distance. When a cat died, Herodotus writes, “All the inhabitants of a house shave their eyebrows .

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Cats which have died are taken to Bubastis where they are embalmed and buried in sacred receptacles” (Nardo 1. The period of mourning was considered completed when the people’s eyebrows had grown back. Mummified cats have been found at Bubastis and elsewhere throughout Egypt, sometimes buried with, or near to, their owners as evidenced by identifying seals on the mummies. The greatest example of Egyptian devotion to the cat, however, comes from the Battle of Pelusium (5.

BCE) in which Cambyses II of Persia defeated the forces of the Egyptian Pharaoh Psametik III to conquer Egypt. Knowing of the Egyptian’s love for cats, Cambyses had his men round up various animals, cats chiefly among them, and drive the animals before the invading forces toward the fortified city of Pelusium on the Nile. The Persian soldiers painted images of cats on their shields, and may have held cats in their arms, as they marched behind the wall of animals. The Egyptians, reluctant to defend themselves for fear of harming the cats (and perhaps incurring the death penalty should they kill one), and demoralized at seeing the image of Bastet on the enemy’s shields, surrendered the city and let Egypt fall to the Persians. The historian Polyaenus (2nd century CE) writes that, after the surrender, Cambyses rode in triumph through the city and hurled cats into the faces of the defeated Egyptians in scorn. The Egyptians are also responsible for the very name `cat’ in that it derives from the North African word for the animal, “quattah”, and, as the cat was so closely associated with Egypt, almost every other European nation employs variations on this word: French, chat; Swedish, katt; German, katze; Italian, gatto; Spanish, gato and so forth (Morris, 1. The colloquial word for a cat - `puss’ or `pussy’ - is also associated with Egypt in that it derives from the word Pasht, another name for Bastet.

Cats are mentioned in the two great literary epics of ancient India, The Mahabharata and The Ramayana(both c. BCE). In the Ramayana, the god Indra disguises himself as a cat after seducing the beautiful maid Ahalya as a means to escape from her husband. As was the case everywhere else, cats in India were found to be particularly useful in controlling the populations of less desirable creatures like mice, rats, and snakes and so were honoured in the homes, farms, and palaces throughout the land.

That the cat was seen as more than just a method of pest control is substantiated by the reverence accorded to felines in the literature of India. The famous story of Puss in Boots (best known through the French version by Charles Perrault, 1. CE) is taken from a much older Indian folk tale in the Panchatantra from the 5th century BCE (though the character of the cat’s master has a very different personality in the older tale than the one in Perrault’s story). The esteem in which cats were held is also evident in the Indian cat goddess, Sastht, who served much the same role as Bastet and was as greatly revered. The Persian Cat. A Persian tale claims the cat was created magically. The great Persian hero Rustum, out on campaign, one night saved a magician from a band of thieves. Rustum offered the older man the hospitality of his tent and, as they sat outside under the stars, enjoying the warmth of a fire, the magician asked Rustum what he wished for as a gift in repayment for saving the man’s life.

Rustum told him that there was nothing he desired since everything he could want, he already had before him in the warmth and comfort of the fire, the scent of the smoke and the beauty of the stars overhead. The magician then took a handful of smoke, added flame, and brought down two of the brightest stars, kneading them together in his hands and blowing on them. When he opened his hands toward Rustum, the warrior saw a small, smoke- grey kitten with eyes bright as the stars and a tiny tongue which darted like the tip of flame.

In this way, the first Persian cat came to be created as a token of gratitude to Rustum. The prophet Muhammed was also very fond of cats. According to legend, the `M’ design on the forehead of the tabby cat was made when the prophet blessed his favourite cat by placing his hand on its head.

This cat, Meuzza, also features in another famous story in which Muhammed, called to prayer, found the cat asleep on his arm. Rather than disturb the cat, Muhammed cut the sleeve from his robe and left Meuzza to sleep. The status of the cat, therefore, was further enhanced by its association with a figure of divinity.

This was also true in China where the goddess Li Shou was depicted in cat form and petitions and sacrifices made to her for pest control and fertility. She too, was a very popular goddess who was thought to embody the importance of cats in the early days of creation. An ancient Chinese myth relates that, in the beginning of the world, the gods appointed cats to oversee the running of their new creation and, in order for communication to be clear, granted cats the power of speech.