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Inancient Egypt,cats were represented in social and religious scenes dating as early as 1980 BC.[2] Severalancient Egyptian deities were depicted and sculptured with cat-like heads such asMafdet,Bastet andSekhmet, representing justice, fertility, and power, respectively.[3] The deityMut was also depicted as a cat and in the company of a cat.[4]
Cats were praised for killingvenomous snakes, rodents and birds that damaged crops, and protecting thePharaoh since at least theFirst Dynasty of Egypt. Skeletal remains of cats were found among funerary goods dating to the12th Dynasty. The protective function of cats is indicated in theBook of the Dead, where a cat representsRa and the benefits of the sun for life on Earth. Cat-shaped decorations used during theNew Kingdom of Egypt indicate that the domesticated cat became more popular in daily life. Cats were depicted in association with the name of Bastet.[5]
Cat cemeteries at the archaeological sitesSpeos Artemidos,Bubastis, andSaqqara were used for several centuries. They contained vast numbers ofcat mummies and cat statues that are exhibited in museum collections worldwide.[6] Among the mummified animalsexcavated inGiza, theAfrican wildcat (Felis lybica) is the most common cat followed by thejungle cat (Felis chaus).[7] In view of the huge number of cat mummies found in Egypt, the cat was certainly important for the country's economy; it is speculated that cats were bred for the purpose of sacrifice and mummification, requiring a trading network for the supply of food, oils andresins forembalming them.[8]
Mafdet was the first known cat-headed deity in ancient Egypt. During theFirst Dynasty, she was regarded as protector of the pharaoh's chambers against snakes, scorpions and evil.[9] She was often also depicted with a head of aleopard (Panthera pardus) or acheetah (Acinonyx jubatus).[10] She was particularly prominent during the reign ofDen.[11]
The deityBastet is known from at least theSecond Dynasty onwards. At the time, she was depicted with alion (Panthera leo) head. Seals andstone vessels with her name were found in the tombs of the pharaohsKhafre andNyuserre Ini, indicating that she was regarded as protector since the mid 30th century BC during theFourth andFifth Dynasties.[12] A wall painting in the Fifth Dynasty's burial ground atSaqqara shows a small cat with a collar, suggesting that tamed African wildcats were kept in the pharaonic quarters by the 26th century BC.[13]
Amulets with cat heads came into fashion in the 21st century BC during the11th Dynasty.[5] Amural from this period in the tomb ofBaqet III depicts a cat in a hunting scene confronting a rat-likerodent.[14]
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A tomb at thenecropolisUmm El Qa'ab contained 17 cat skeletons dating to the early 20th century BC. Next to the skeletons stood small pots that are thought to have contained milk for the cats.[16] Several tomb murals in theTheban Necropolis show cats in domestic scenes. These tombs belonged to nobles and high-ranking officials of the18th Dynasty and were built in the 15th and 14th centuries BC. The murals show a cat sitting under a chair during a buffet, eating meat or fish; some show it in the company of agoose or amonkey. A cat in hunting andfowling scenes is another recurring motif in murals ofTheban tombs.[17]
The first known indication for the mummification of a cat was found in an elaborately carvedlimestonesarcophagus dated to about 1350 BC. This cat is assumed to have beenPrince Thutmose's beloved pet.[18]
From the22nd Dynasty at around the mid 950s BC onwards, the deity Bastet and her temple in the city ofBubastis grew in popularity. She was later shown only with asmall cat head.[3][12]Domestic cats (Felis catus) were increasingly worshipped and considered sacred. When they died, they were embalmed, coffined and buried in cat cemeteries.[19] The domestic cat was regarded as livingincarnation of Bastet who protects the household againstgranivores, whereas the lion-headed deitySekhmet was worshipped as protector of the pharaohs.[20] During the reign of PharaohOsorkon II in the 9th century BC, the temple of Bastet was enlarged by a festival hall.[21] Cat statues and statuettes from this period exist in diverse sizes and materials, including solid andhollow castbronze,alabaster andfaïence.[22]
Mummifying animals grew in popularity during theLate Period of ancient Egypt from 664 BC onwards. Mummies were used forvotive offerings to the associated deity, mostly during festivals or bypilgrims.[8]Catacombs from theNew Kingdom period in the Bubastis, Saqqara andBeni Hasan necropoli were reused as cemeteries for mummies offered to Bastet.[6]
In the mid 5th century BC,Herodotus described the annual festival at the Bubastis temple as the largest in the country, attended by several hundred thousand pilgrims.[23]
During theHellenistic period between 323 and 30 BC, the goddessIsis became associated with Bastet and cats, as indicated by an inscription at theTemple of Edfu: “Isis is the soul of Bastet”. In this period, it is speculated that cats were systematically bred to be killed and to be mummified as sacrifices to the gods.[20]
As described byDiodorus Siculus, killing a cat was regarded as a serious crime. In the years between 60 and 56 BC, outraged peoplelynched a Roman for killing a cat, although pharaohPtolemy XII Auletes tried to intervene.[24]
Cats and religion began to be disassociated after Egypt became aRoman province in 30 BC.[3] A series of decrees and edicts issued byRoman Emperors in the 4th and 5th centuries AD gradually curtailed the practice ofpaganism and pagan rituals in Egypt. Pagan temples were impounded and sacrifices prohibited by 380 AD. Three edicts issued between 391 and 392 prohibited pagan rituals and burial ceremonies at all cult sites. Death penalty for offenders was introduced in 395, and the destruction of pagan temples decreed in 399. By 415, theChristian church received all property that was formerly dedicated to paganism. Pagans were exiled by 423, and crosses replaced pagan symbols following a decree from 435.[25]
Egypt has since experienced a decline in the veneration once held for cats.[20] They were still respected in the 15th century, whenArnold von Harff travelled to Egypt and observedmamluk warriors treating cats with honour and empathy.[26] Gentle treatment of cats is part ofIslamic tradition.[27]
In 1799, members of the FrenchCommission des Sciences et des Arts surveyed the old city of Lycopolis nearAsyut for the first time and found mummified cats and remains of other animals.[28]They also found mummified cats and cat skeletons in the Theban Necropolis.[29][30] In the 1820s, theLouvre Museum exhibited cat statues made of wood, bronze, and enameled pottery that originated mostly in Bubastis.[31]
In 1830,Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg accounted of having observed three different small cat forms in Egypt: the jungle cat, the African wildcat, and a sacred cat that was intermediate in size between the jungle cat and the domestic cat. He called this catFelis bubastis.[32]
TheEgypt Exploration Society fundedexcavations in Bubastis in the late 1880s.Édouard Naville accounted of numerous cat statues already available inCairo shops at the time. At the city's cemetery of cats, he and colleagues emptied several large pits up to a volume of 20 m3 (720 cu ft) filled with cat andEgyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) bones.[33] Among the bones, some embalming material, porcelain and bronze objects, beads and ornaments, and statues of Bastet andNefertem were also found. By 1889, the cemetery was considered exhausted.[34]
In the late 1880s, more than 200,000mummified animals, most of them cats, were found in the cemetery ofBeni Hasan in central Egypt.[35] In 1890,William Martin Conway wrote about excavations in Speos Artemidos near Beni Hasan: "The plundering of the cemetery was a sight to see, but one had to stand well windward. The village children came from day to day and provided themselves with the most attractive mummies they could find. These they took down the river bank to sell for the smallest coin to passing travelers. The path became strewn with mummy cloth and bits of cats' skulls and bones and fur in horrid positions, and the wind blew the fragments about and carried the stink afar."[36][37] In 1890, a shipment of thousands of animal mummies reached Liverpool. Most of them were cat mummies. A large part was sold as fertiliser, a small part was purchased by the zoological museum of the city's university college.[35]
TheMuseum of Fine Arts of Lyon received hundreds of cat mummies excavated byGaston Maspero at Beni Hasan, Sakkara and Thebes. The cats were of all ages from adult to kittens withdeciduous teeth. Some of them were contained in statues and sarcophagi. The larger ones were bandaged in cloth of different colours with decorated heads and ears formed of rubberized tissue.[38]
TheInstitut Français d'Archéologie Orientale funded excavations nearFaiyum wherePierre Jouguet found a tomb full of cat mummies in 1901. It was located in the midst of tombs withcrocodile mummies.[39]
In 1907, theBritish Museum received a collection of 192 mummified cats and 11 small carnivores excavated at Gizeh byFlinders Petrie. The mummies probably date to between 600 and 200 BC.[7] Two of these cat mummies wereradiographed in 1980. The analysis revealed that they were deliberately strangulated before they reached the age of two years. They were probably used to supply the demand for mummified cats as votive offerings.[40]
Remains of 23 cats were found in the early 1980s in a smallmastaba tomb at the archaeological site Balat inDakhla Oasis. The tomb was established during theOld Kingdom of Egypt in the 25th century BC and reused later. The cats were probably mummified as tissue shreds were still stuck in their bones.[41]
Excavations in theBubasteum area at Saqqara in the early 1980s yielded 200 cat mummies in the tomb of the VizierAperel.[42] Another 184 cat mummies were found in a different part of this tomb in the 1990s, comprising 11 packets with a few cat bones and 84 packets containing mud, clay and pebbles. Radiographic examination showed that mostly young cats were mummified; most cats died of skull fractures and had dislocatedspinal bones, indicating that they were beaten to death. In this site, the tomb ofTutankhamun's wet nurseMaia was discovered in 1996, which contained cat mummies next to human mummies.[6] In 2001, the skeleton of a male lion was found in this tomb that also showed signs of mummification.[43] It was about nine years old, probably lived in captivity for many years and showed signs of malnutrition. It had probably lived and died in thePtolemaic period.[44] Mummified remains of 335 domestic and 29 jungle cats were excavated in the catacombs ofAnubis at Saqqara during works started in 2009.[45]
In the 2nd century,Polyaenus accounted of astratagem allegedly deployed by the Persian kingCambyses II during theBattle of Pelusium (525 BC): Cambyses II ordered placing of cats and other animals venerated by Egyptians before the Persian front lines. Egyptians purportedly stopped their defending operations, and the Persians then conqueredPelusium.[46]
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