Cat History:
       Where did it all begin?

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." - Unknown

Your little curtain climber has a long and illustrious history, and even if her most ancient ancestors would have considered her no more than a hairy hors d'oeuvre, the resemblance goes deeper than you might imagine. From dizzying heights to cataclysmic depths, cat history is a tail of wonder and woe ... but it has a happy ending.

Origins  All cats are members of the family Felidae. From the largest, the tiger, to the smallest, the house cat, felids are characterized by supple, low-slung bodies, finely molded heads, long tails that aid in balance, and specialized teeth and claws that adapt themselves admirably to a life of active hunting. Cats belong to the mammalian order Carnivora, the "flesh-eaters." The 'cat pattern' was established very early in the evolution of modern mammals. It proved to be an extremely successful one. Early cats took pretty much the form we recognize today at a time when other early mammals were still trying body parts on for size. They first appeared in the early Pliocene Epoch (about 7,000,000 years ago) and have changed remarkably little since. Evidently those ancient cats knew a good thing when they found it...they dug their claws in and have hung on to this day.

Archaeological, genetic and behavioral evidence suggest that the domestic cat (Felis catus) is descended from the African wildcat (Felis libyca). There are also etymological reasons for this assertion: The English word "cat," the French "chat," the German "katze," the fourth-century Latin "cattus" and the modern Arabic "quttah" likely derive from the Nubian word for cat - "kadiz." The ancient Egyptian word for cat was "mao," pronounced similarly to that of the modern Chinese. English speakers, of course, recognizes this sound as the utterance of a hungry feline.
Click here for more information about cats in prehistoric times.

Domestication   Although its origin is hidden in antiquity, the domestic cat has a history that dates nearly 3,500 years to ancient Egypt. Authenticated records can trace the domestication of African wildcats (Caffre) back as far as 1500 BC, but there's a strong possibility that it took place as much as a thousand years prior to that. There are records indicating that the cat was proclaimed a sacred animal in the 5th and 6th dynasties (about 2500-2200 BC), but this does not necessarily mean that they had been domesticated. The Egyptians most likely domesticated cats when they realized their value in both hunting and protecting the granaries from rodents, who easily chewed through the reed containers. It wasn't long before they were persuaded to move into private homes to perform the same useful function, and being naturally affectionate, a bond between the cats and their human caretakers became firmly established. Like the ascent in favor of the cow in India, the Egyptian's respect and fondness for this helpful little predator led to the development of religious cat cults and the temple worship of cats.

Cats were originally afforded the privilege of being buried with their devoted owners, funds willing; modern x-rays indicate that the cats were allowed to die naturally, and were not necessarily killed upon the death of their owners. This courtesy and deference evolved until a time (around 900 BC) when the belief predominated that cats were the embodiment of the goddess Bastet (also known as Bast, Pasht, and other variations), who symbolized fertility, fecundity and motherhood, and was depicted as a woman with the head of a feline. During this peak in popularity, particularly at the chief seat of worship in the city of Bubastis, cats were raised in and around temples built specifically for the purpose of honoring this goddess. Upon dying a natural death, the cats were carefully mummified and often buried in large, communal graves. In a 19th century excavation, one such cemetery yielded over 300,000 bodies. Many thousands of cat mummies have been found, leading to the speculation that there may actually have been millions of them created. Archeologists have also found a number of mouse and rat mummies, along with saucers of food, presumably to provide sustenance for the cats on their journey through the afterlife. This reverence for cats was strong and pervasive. For instance, cats were the first to be rescued from a burning house. In the 5th century BC, the Greek scholar Heroditus noted that owners of a cat would shave their eyebrows in mourning when it died. Diodorus Siculus, visiting Egypt in the 1st century BC, witnessed the lynching of a Roman who had accidentally killed a cat.

Although the Egyptians may have revered cats, their behavior toward them seems to have deteriorated over time. For a period of about 300 years, beginning c. 332 BC, cats were being raised specifically for the purpose of mummification. Kittens as young as 2 to 4 months would be killed either by strangulation or having their necks broken, then they would be mummified and sold to pilgrims on their way to the temples to be offered as sacrifices. These kittens were killed in such huge numbers that, in the late 1800s, a British company bought nearly 19,000 tons of these mummified carcasses to be ground up for fertilizer. This one shipment alone probably represented about 180,000 cats.

Association with Human Culture
The cat figured prominently not only in Egyptian religious practices, but also those of Norse countries and various parts of the Orient. In the Bible 'cat' is mentioned only in the apocryphal Letter of Jeremiah (1:22). Cats have long been known to other cultures as well, in spite of the fact that Egypt enacted laws restricting their export. Wall tiles in Crete dating from 1600 BC depict hunting cats (see image at left). Evidence from art and literature indicates that the domestic cat was present in Greece from the 5th century BC and in China from 500 BC. In India cats were mentioned in Sanskrit writings around 100 BC, while the Arabs and the Japanese were not introduced to the cat until about AD 600. The earliest record of cats in Great Britain dates back to about AD 936, when Howel Dda, prince of southern central Wales, enacted laws for their protection. The first domestic cats in the United States date from around 1750, brought by traders, explorers and colonists, who no doubt appreciated them for their companionship as much as for their ability to keep the vermin at bay.
Click here for more information about the different cat breeds.

Satanic Panic  More often, unfortunately, the cat has been associated with sorcery and witchcraft, and the superstitions regarding cats, common in all countries, are innumerable. These practices and irrational beliefs have resulted in the bitter fact that cats have been treated with more vicious cruelty than perhaps any other animal. Black cats in particular (and anyone befriending them) suffered as the targets of ignorant ailurophobes. They became innocent scapegoats, something to blame for the hardships of medieval life. So many cats were tortured and killed during the Middle Ages that the rodent population grew to alarmingly disproportionate numbers, which historians speculate may have contributed to the rapid and devastating spread of the bubonic plague, a disease carried by rat fleas. The Black Death, as it was known, had killed one third of the population of Europe within 5 years.

The Comeback  But typical of cats, they landed on their feet. By the 17th century, their luck had begun to improve. Cardinal Richelieu was noted for his fondness for cats. Many writers in France and England kept cats and wrote of their virtues. They have since become familiar figures in nursery rhymes and stories. The English legend of Dick Whittington and his cat is a particular favorite. The writers Theophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire have paid it homage, and, in the 20th century, Rudyard Kipling, Colette, and T.S. Eliot all wrote of cats. Cat shows and cat fanciers' organizations - begun in the late 1800s - have sprung up in many places.
Click here to find cats in literature.

In 1986, cats surpassed dogs as the most preferred companion animal. They are enjoying a surge in popularity comparable only to the golden age of ancient Egypt. But the cat still evokes complex emotions in people. One recent survey of Americans revealed that 17.4 percent of respondents felt some animosity toward cats, while only 2.6 percent admitted to a similar dislike of dogs.

The information on this page was culled from many sources, but specific mention should be made of the 15th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, © 1988.