It is thought that wild cats began to live and hunt near to human settlements in Western Asia and the Middle East during the Early Neolithic period (also known as the New Stone Age) around ten to eleven thousand years ago. This was because the development of agriculture encouraged mice and other scavengers to congregate… Continue reading Prehistory of the cat
Category: History
Genetic origins of the cat
It is thought that cats originally evolved around 200 million years ago from reptiles. The shape and composition of the teeth of modern cats is fairly similar to that of a creodont (a primitive fish-eating mammal that lived during the Paleocene and Miocene periods – from around 65 million years ago to around 5 million… Continue reading Genetic origins of the cat
Cats in ancient Rome
The Romans respected the vermin-catching abilities of the domestic cat, but also saw them as exotic pets and sacred animals. They associated the cat with liberty and divinity, so the cat was the only animal allowed to walk freely around their temples. Libertas (the goddess of liberty) was often depicted with a cat at her… Continue reading Cats in ancient Rome
Cats in ancient Greece
Gata is Greek for cat, but ancient Greek words such as ailurophobia (fear of cats) are derived from the name Ailuros which was the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian goddess Bast. The ancient Greeks saw Bast as a version of their lunar goddess Artemis. In one legend (recounted in Metamorphosis by Antoninus Liberalis) Artemis… Continue reading Cats in ancient Greece
Cats in Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians were without a doubt the most cat friendly society. The cat was central to their religion and was considered to be sacred. Many animals in Egypt were linked to gods and goddesses, but only the cat was considered to be semi-divine in its own right. As a demi-god, a cat could not… Continue reading Cats in Ancient Egypt
Expansion of the territory of the cat
The ancient Egyptians did not allow the export of cats. This was partly because they were very useful for a society based on agriculture, and partly due to the respect accorded the cat in Egyptian society. Not only was the cat semi-divine, but as such they could not be the property of anyone other than… Continue reading Expansion of the territory of the cat
Domestication of the cat
The ancient Egyptians are often thought of as the first civilisation to domesticate cats, breeding them to produce a distinct new species as long as 4,000 to 3,900 years ago. However, although domesticated cats (as well as wildcats, jungle cats, and other felines) appear in Egypt with great regularity in the art works of the… Continue reading Domestication of the cat