Cats in Ancient Egypt and Their Place in Culture

Ever since the Egyptians discovered, admired and cultivated the many marvelous attributes of cats-about 4000 years ago-humans have made cats an important part of their culture. Some societies have worshipped them; others have demonized them. In some societies, it was a crime to kill a cat even by accident; in others, cats were considered a tasty part of their menu.

In the Beginning

Experts believe that the domesticated cat descended from the Libyan wild cat (Felis silvestris libyca). This feline was larger than the domesticated cat and resembled today's tabby. There is evidence from the island of Cyprus that cats and humans had some form of relationship about 8000 years ago, according to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.

Archaeologists have found the bones of cats, mice and humans together. "It was a symbiotic relationship between cats and humans," says Stefanie Schwartz, DVM, MSc, DACVB, board certified veterinary behaviorist at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts. "People found that cats were a useful creature to have nearby." Apparently, the ancient people of Cyprus appreciated how cats killed the mice that probably plagued their food supply.

True domestication-with cats becoming household companions-probably occurred in Egypt about 2000 BCE. The ancient Egyptians, who ended up embracing the cat more than any other culture on earth, most likely captured the kittens of wild cats and hand-reared them.

The cat became the friend of the farmer while the dog, domesticated many centuries earlier, was the partner of the hunter. Egyptian cats were tamed, fed and kept to control the mouse population in the fields and granaries, according to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. The major difference between cats and the other animals domesticated by the Egyptians-cattle, sheep, fowl and baboons-was that the cat was free to come and go as it pleased.