CATS IN ANCIENT EGYPT

WORSHIPPING CATS

• In ancient Egypt animals were a big part of everyday life.
• But only one was so important that the Ancient Egyptians chose to base their entire lives upon it, and this animal was the cat.

WORSHIPPING CATS

• One feline goddess was known as Mafdet and was said to have protected Egyptians against poisonous snake bites.
• After worshipping Mafdet for a while, the Egyptians chose to move on to a different cat based goddess named Bastet who was half woman, half cat.

WORSHIPPING CATS

• Both of these goddesses are said to have originated from a jungle cat named Mau who defended an ancient tree from an evil serpent (The Veneration and Worship of Cats in Ancient Egypt pg 1).
• From this information historians can infer that cats were one of the most respected and cherished animals in Egypt and were worshipped very often.

CAT MUMMIFICATION

• Unlike the pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, cats were not looked at as gods themselves but simply symbols of the gods they worshipped.
• Because they were not seen as gods they were mummified, like humans, for two different reasons.

CAT MUMMIFICATION

• They believed that the only way to make this happen was to mummify them just as they would be if they had died.
• They used the cats as offerings to the feline god that they were symbolic of.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• As stated before cats were very important to the Ancient Egyptians, and were highly respected.
• When the people learned that cats ate mice and snakes, they would kill these animals and leave them out to attract the cats to their homes. The Egyptians would protect cats from any outside threats and would feed them. These actions are what lead to the domestication of cats.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• When the Egyptians domesticated the cats there began to be many physical changes to the cats' appearances.
• For example their bodies shrunk due to the fact that they were eating differently thanks to the Egyptians.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• Along with that they became more vibrant because they did not have to hide from predators.
• Their brains shrunk as well because they had the humans to protect them 24/7 and they no longer needed their instincts.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• Once the Egyptians had begun domesticating cats they also started using them to their advantage.
• They trained cats to hunt fish and would bring them on their hunting trips.
• They also trained cats to hunt down rodents and unwanted snakes in the village.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• Because cats were so important the penalty for harming one was high.
• If you killed a cat you would be put to death.
• When a cat died, the family that owned it would shave their eyebrows in reverence to the cat.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• It was also illegal to trade cats with outside nations.
• This led to cats being smuggled by other outside enemies, and these cats were used to make Egyptian armies surrender to the Persians.

CAT DOMESTICATION

• Evidence to show that the domestication of cats was started in Egypt is the paintings found from Ancient Egypt, with families and their cats.
• We also learned truly how much the people cared about cats when the cats' tombs were found with rats and milk within them. This shows the sentimental connection between the cats and their owners.