History

Cats in Ancient Egyptian

Cats were highly classed to Egyptians, they were used for worship, protection, and as a way to show high esteem. There is abundant archaeological evidence, however, of cats serving multiple roles. Cats were depicted protecting households against rodents and venomous snakes, but also as helpers for bird hunters and as pampered pets. Cats have been found buried in human graves, although the exact relationship between cat and human isn’t always clear. Some cats were buried with offerings, indicating that someone was planning for the animals’ afterlives.

Cat mummies.

Cats were sacred to the Egyptians. In the city of Bubastis, the largest center of cat worship cats were embalmed, wrapped, and placed in cat-shaped coffins before being buried in a cat cemetery.
In 1800s, around 300,000 cats mummies were discovered in bubastis.
They were shipped to England to be made into fertilizer and sold.

Cat worship.

The Ancient Egyptians held cats in the highest esteem, the penalties for injuring or killing a cat were severe. They worshipped a Cat Goddess, often represented as half feline, half woman, whom they called Bastet.
The main center for the worship of Bastet was in northern Egypt at the city of Bubastis. The festival honoring Bastet was described as one of the largest and most enthusiastically celebrated in all of Egypt by the visiting Greek historian Herodotus.
As a sign of mourning, the cat owners shaved off their eyebrows, and continued to mourn until their eyebrows grew back.

Cat protection.

Imagine living in a time and place where every home was teeming with tiny, dangerous beasts. Some new threat lurked at every corner: asps hiding in clay jars, rats spoiling massive amounts of stored grain, venomous scorpions creeping under cradles. In this time and place– Ancient Egypt– one creature existed that could make the world safe from these little monsters: the cat.

Cats, gods, and goddesses.

“Mau” is the Middle Egyptian word miw for “cat,” or “one who mews” The Egyptian Mau appears in numerous papyri, tomb paintings, and carvings from about 2000 BCE onward, including the sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose’s cat
Somewhere around 1500 BCE the sun god Ra took on the characteristics of a spotted male cat and, according to the myths of the time, journeyed to the underworld every night, where he killed the snake demon Apophis, who nightly tried to prevent the sun’s rising.

Wild cats in Egypt

1. Three different species of cats existed, the lynx, the swamp or jungle cats and the African wild cat. The jungle cats were largest and the heaviest. The name “Felis Chaus” is derived from the Coptic word “shau” which means tomcat. The jungle cats roamed the marshes and swamp lands in the northern Nile Valley. These cats were had long legs but a relatively short tail and weighed around 3.5 – 6.5kgs. There are no hieroglyphics or tomb paintings found which indicated that the Egyptians differentiated from the wild cats and the domestic cats. 2. Examinations revealed that the majority of the mummified cats recovered from the earliest dynasty were found to be surprisingly larger than the general wild cats. Among the mummies, a few of the “serval cats” were found, but it is unclear if these exotic cats were native to Egypt or if they had been imported from the south. 3. Wild Cats (Felis Silvestris) 4. Swamp Cats (Jungle Cat, Felis chaus) 5. Sand Cats (Felis margarita) 6. Caracal (Felis caracal) 7. Cheetah (Hunting Leopard, Acinonyx jubatus) 8. Leopards (Panthera pardus) 9.

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