Egyptian Myth a Treasury of Legends Art and History Mla Citation
Cats and humans have shared in each other'due south lives for thousands of years and, fifty-fifty though they have not always been regarded as highly as in the present, have played an of import role in a number of cultures. Always enigmatic, the cat has sometimes been mistrusted by diverse civilizations but always managed to prove their worth.
Although information technology has been unremarkably accepted that cats were showtime domesticated in Egypt 4000 years ago, their history amongst human being beings goes back much farther. Wild cats are at present known to have lived amidst the people of Mesopotamia over 100,000 years agone and to have been domesticated there approximately 12,000 BCE at nigh the aforementioned fourth dimension as dogs, sheep, and goats. Archaeological excavations in the past x years have provided show that the Well-nigh Eastern Mutiny is the closest relative of the modern-solar day domestic true cat and was bred by Mesopotamian farmers, most probably equally a ways of controlling pests, such every bit mice, which were attracted by grain supplies.
The writer David Derbyshire cites a 2007 CE research project in which, "the study used DNA samples from 979 wild and domestic cats to piece together the feline family tree. They looked for markers in mitochondrial Dna - a blazon of genetic material passed down from mothers to kittens which tin can reveal when wild and domestic cat lineages were most closely related." This project was headed by Dr. Andrew Kitchener, a Zoologist at the National Museums of Scotland, who writes, "This shows that the origin of domestic cats was not Ancient Egypt - which is the prevailing view - just Mesopotamia and that it occurred much earlier than was thought. The last common antecedent of wildcats and domesticated cats lived more than than 100,000 years ago" (Derbyshire).
Dr. Kitchener'south findings built upon the testify of cat's domestication provided by the discovery in 1983 CE of a true cat skeleton in a grave dating to nine,500 BCE on the island of Cyprus. This notice, fabricated by the archaeologist Alain le Brun, was of import because Republic of cyprus had no indigenous cat population and it is unlikely that settlers would have brought a wild true cat, past boat, to the island.
Bastets & Sekhmets
Cats in Ancient Arab republic of egypt
The cat's clan with aboriginal Egypt, however, is understandable in that Egyptian culture was famous for its devotion to the true cat. The export of cats from Egypt was so strictly prohibited that a branch of the government was formed solely to deal with this upshot. Government agents were dispatched to other lands to detect and return cats which had been smuggled out. It is clearly established that, by 450 BCE, the penalty in Egypt for killing a true cat was death (though this constabulary is thought to accept been observed much earlier). The goddess Bastet, commonly depicted as a cat or equally a woman with a cat'due south head, was among the most popular deities of the Egyptian pantheon. She was the keeper of hearth and abode, protector of women's secrets, guardian against evil spirits and illness, and the goddess of cats.
Her ritual centre was the city of Bubastis ("Business firm of Bastet") in which, according to Herodotus (484-425 BCE), an enormous temple complex was built in her honour in the centre of the metropolis. Herodotus also relates that the Egyptians cared so much for their cats that they placed their prophylactic above human life and property. When a firm caught fire, the Egyptians would concern themselves more with rescuing the cats than with anything else, often running back into the burning building or forming a perimeter effectually the flames to keep cats at a safe altitude.
When a cat died, Herodotus writes, "All the inhabitants of a house shave their eyebrows [equally a sign of deep mourning]. Cats which take died are taken to Bubastis where they are embalmed and buried in sacred receptacles" (Nardo 117). The menstruum of mourning was considered completed when the people'due south eyebrows had grown dorsum. Mummified cats take been found at Bubastis and elsewhere throughout Egypt, sometimes buried with, or near to, their owners as evidenced by identifying seals on the mummies.
The greatest example of Egyptian devotion to the cat, nonetheless, comes from the Battle of Pelusium (525 BCE) in which Cambyses Two of Persia defeated the forces of the Egyptian Pharaoh Psametik III to conquer Egypt. Knowing of the Egyptian's dearest for cats, Cambyses had his men round up diverse animals, cats chiefly among them, and drive the animals before the invading forces toward the fortified urban center of Pelusium on the Nile.
The Persian soldiers painted images of cats on their shields, and may have held cats in their arms, as they marched behind the wall of animals. The Egyptians, reluctant to defend themselves for fear of harming the cats (and perhaps incurring the death penalty should they kill one), and demoralized at seeing the epitome of Bastet on the enemy'due south shields, surrendered the city and allow Egypt fall to the Persians. The historian Polyaenus (2nd century CE) writes that, after the surrender, Cambyses rode in triumph through the city and hurled cats into the faces of the defeated Egyptians in scorn.
Cat Mummy
The Egyptians are besides responsible for the very name `true cat' in that it derives from the North African word for the animal, "quattah", and, equally the cat was so closely associated with Egypt, almost every other European nation employs variations on this discussion: French, chat; Swedish, katt; German, katze; Italian, gatto; Spanish, gato and so forth (Morris, 175). The colloquial word for a cat - `puss' or `pussy' - is besides associated with Egypt in that information technology derives from the word Pasht, another name for Bastet.
Cats In India
Cats are mentioned in the two great literary epics of ancient India, The Mahabharata and The Ramayana (both c. fifth/quaternary century BCE). In Mahabharata a famous passage concerns the cat Lomasa and the mouse Palita, who help each other escape from death and discuss at length the nature of relationships, specially those in which ane of the parties is stronger or more powerful than the other. In the Ramayana, the god Indra disguises himself as a cat after seducing the beautiful maid Ahalya as a means to escape from her married man. As was the example everywhere else, cats in Republic of india were found to be peculiarly useful in controlling the populations of less desirable creatures like mice, rats, and snakes and so were honoured in the homes, farms, and palaces throughout the country.
That the true cat was seen as more than just a method of pest control is substantiated by the reverence accorded to felines in the literature of India. The famous story of Puss in Boots (all-time known through the French version by Charles Perrault, 1628-1703 CE) is taken from a much older Indian folk tale in the Panchatantra from the fifth century BCE (though the character of the true cat's chief has a very different personality in the older tale than the ane in Perrault's story). The esteem in which cats were held is also evident in the Indian cat goddess, Sastht, who served much the aforementioned function every bit Bastet and was as greatly revered.
The Persian Cat
A Western farsi tale claims the true cat was created magically. The great Persian hero Rustum, out on campaign, one night saved a magician from a band of thieves. Rustum offered the older man the hospitality of his tent and, as they sabbatum outside under the stars, enjoying the warmth of a fire, the magician asked Rustum what he wished for as a gift in repayment for saving the homo's life. Rustum told him that there was nothing he desired since everything he could want, he already had before him in the warmth and comfort of the burn down, the scent of the smoke and the beauty of the stars overhead. The magician then took a handful of smoke, added flame, and brought downwards 2 of the brightest stars, kneading them together in his hands and blowing on them. When he opened his hands toward Rustum, the warrior saw a pocket-sized, smoke-gray kitten with eyes bright every bit the stars and a tiny tongue which darted like the tip of flame. In this way, the first Farsi cat came to be created as a token of gratitude to Rustum.
The prophet Muhammed was also very addicted of cats. According to legend, the `M' design on the forehead of the tabby true cat was made when the prophet blessed his favourite cat by placing his hand on its caput. This cat, Meuzza, also features in another famous story in which Muhammed, called to prayer, constitute the cat comatose on his arm. Rather than disturb the cat, Muhammed cut the sleeve from his robe and left Meuzza to sleep. The status of the cat, therefore, was further enhanced past its association with a effigy of divinity.
The Gayer-Anderson Cat
Cats in Communist china and Nihon
This was also true in Cathay where the goddess Li Shou was depicted in cat form and petitions and sacrifices made to her for pest control and fertility. She likewise, was a very popular goddess who was thought to embody the importance of cats in the early days of creation. An aboriginal Chinese myth relates that, in the beginning of the world, the gods appointed cats to oversee the running of their new cosmos and, in order for advice to be clear, granted cats the ability of speech. Cats, withal, were more than interested in sleeping beneath the cherry-red trees and playing with the falling blossoms than with the mundane chore of having to pay attention to the performance of the world.
Three times the gods came to check on how well the cats were doing their job and all three times were disappointed to find their feline overseers asleep or at play. On the god'southward third visit, the cats explained they had no involvement in running the world and nominated human beings for the position. The power of spoken language was and then taken from the cats and given to humans just, equally humans seemed incapable of understanding the words of the gods, cats remained entrusted with the of import job of keeping time and and so maintaining order. It was thought that i could tell the time of day by looking into a cat'southward eyes and this belief is still maintained in China.
In Japan, the famous image of the `Beckoning Cat' (the maneki neko effigy of the cat with 1 raised paw) represents the goddess of mercy. The legend goes that a true cat, sitting exterior of the temple of Gotoku-ji, raised her hand in acknowledgement of the emperor who was passing past. Attracted past the cat's gesture, the emperor entered the temple and, moments later, lightning struck the very spot where he had been standing. The cat, therefore, saved his life and was accorded great honours.
The Beckoning Cat image is idea to bring good luck when given as a gift and remains a very pop present in Japan. The cat was regularly considered a guardian of the home and was thought to be the special protector of valuable books. Cats were oftentimes housed in private pagodas in Japan and were considered so valuable that, by the 10th century CE, only the nobility could afford to own one.
Mosaic, Pompeii
Cats in Hellenic republic and Rome
Although cats were kept by people in Greece and Rome, the appreciation for the fauna as a hunter was not as bang-up in those cultures owing to the Greek and Roman do of keeping domesticated weasels for pest control. The Romans regarded the cat every bit a symbol of independence and non equally a animal of utility. Cats were kept equally pets by both Greeks and Romans and were regarded highly.
A showtime century CE epitaph of a young girl holding a cat is amid the earliest pieces of evidence of cats in Rome and, in Greece, the playwright Aristophanes (c. 446-386 BCE) frequently featured cats in his works for comic effect (coining the phrase, "The cat did it" in assigning blame). Amongst aboriginal civilizations, however, the cat was probably least pop among the Greeks owing to its association in certain myths with the goddess of death, darkness and witches, Hecate, who is more commonly associated with the canis familiaris (as is her Roman conterpart, Trivia). A much subsequently development in Greek appreciation for the cat is evidenced in the legend that the cat protected the infant Jesus from rodents and snakes and so is accorded the best of spots in a Greek home only, originally, they do not seem to take been regarded highly.
Cats are thought to have been brought to Europe by Phoenician traders who smuggled them out of Egypt. As the Phoenicians are acknowledged to have extensively traded with every known civilisation of the fourth dimension, cats could have been spread around the region on a adequately regular ground. Information technology is well documented that cats were kept on ships to control vermin during the time of the 15th century CE Age of Discovery and, most probable, they served the same purpose for the Phoenicians. If the Phoenicians did bring the cat to Europe, every bit seems very likely, they may have also introduced the Greek association of the cat with Hecate. As noted above, Hecate was associated with dogs regularly just one story in item, which was quite pop, links the dark goddess with the cat.
The Greek myth which suggests this link is the well known story of Heracles (the Roman Hercules) and concerns Galinthius, a maid-servant to Heracles' mother, the Princess Alcmene. The god Zeus seduced Alcmene and she became pregnant with Heracles. Zeus' married woman, Hera, was thwarted in her attempt to kill Alcmene and Heracles through the cleverness of Galinthius. Enraged, Hera transformed Galinthius into a cat and sent her to the underworld to always later on serve Hecate. This story was popularized past the Latin writer Antoninus Leberalis (2nd century CE) in his Metamorphosis, a retelling of older tales, which was popular plenty to be copied and distributed up through the 9th century CE and to enjoy a wide readership through at to the lowest degree the 16th century CE. This myth, then, associated cats with darkness, transformation, the underworld, and witchcraft and, in time, these associations would prove very unfortunate for the cat.
Cats as Demonic Figures
Although cats seem to take enjoyed their ancient high standing in European countries at commencement (in Norse mythology, for example, the peachy goddess Freya is depicted in a chariot drawn by cats and in both Ireland and Scotland cats are depicted every bit magical in a positive sense) the Christian Church, following their regular form of demonizing important heathen symbols, drew on the pre-existing link between the cat and witchcraft to associate cats with evil as personified in the Devil. The medieval writer Walter Map (c. 1140-1210 CE) associated the cat with demonic forces in his piece of work (although it is possible Map was being stirical) and there are records of cats existence ritually killed in Cambridge England in the early 13th century CE.
The reputation of the cat took a more serious downward turn, nonetheless, afterwards Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241 CE) issued his papal bull known every bit Phonation in Rama in 1233 CE denouncing cats as evil and in league with Satan, cats - and particularly black cats - were demonized to the point where they were regularly killed all beyond Europe. It should not be assumed that the common people would take read Vocalism in Rama and responded to it, nor fifty-fifty that the bull was widespread (it was issued only to Henry 3, Count of Sayn, in Germany) merely the stance of the church toward cats would certainly take filtered downward from the highest levels to the lay-people of the congregations.
It has long been argued that the expiry of then many cats allowed the mice and rat populations to thrive and that the fleas these vermin carried brought about the Bubonic Plague of 1348 CE. While this theory has been disputed, there seems no incertitude that a subtract in the cat population would event in an increase in the number of mice and rats and it is established that there was such a subtract in the number of cats prior to 1348 CE. Even though recent studies take concluded that the plague was spread through human interaction (not through interaction with rodents) it was even so the parasites from rats and mice which carried the plague. People of the time, withal, had no idea where the plague came from (the bacterium Yersinia pestis,which causes plague, was not isolated until 1894 CE) and saw no correlation between the number of rodents, cats, and the affliction; therefore cats continued to be suspect of all fashion of sick-will and dangerous attributes.
Desmond Morris writes, "Because the cat was seen equally evil, all kinds of frightening powers were attributed to it by the writers of the day. Its teeth were said to exist venomous, its flesh poisonous, its hair lethal (causing suffocation if a few were accidentally swallowed), and its breath infectious, destroying human lungs and causing consumption" and further states, "As belatedly as 1658 Edward Topsel, in his serious work on natural history, [wrote] `the familiars of Witches practise most normally appear in the shape of Cats, which is an argument that this beast is dangerous to soul and body" (158). The inhabitants of the European nations, believing the true cat to exist evil, shunned non only the beast but anyone who seemed overly fond of the cat. Elderly women who cared for cats were specially susceptible to punishment for witchcraft simply on the grounds of being so accused.
The Victorian Historic period and True cat Vindication
Cats survived these frenzied superstitions ameliorate than many of their human companions and during the Enlightenment of the 18th century were elevated to the status of pampered pets. This was due to the spirit of the age and the new paradigm of reason prevailing over superstition. The ability of the church in dictating popular opinion had been broken past the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648 CE) and in the Historic period of Enlightenment people could choose to believe what they wanted to regarding cats or any other bailiwick.
During the Victorian Historic period (1837-1901 CE) cats were again elevated to the previous high standing they had enjoyed in aboriginal Egypt. Queen Victoria of U.k., who had always kept dogs as pets, became interested in cats through the many stories of archaeological finds in Egypt being published regularly in England. Many of these stories included descriptions of the Egyptian reverence for cats, images of statues of Bastet, and the feline association with the gods and monarchy. The queen's involvement in the true cat led her to adopt two Blue Persians whom she treated equally members of her court. This story was carried past the newspapers of the 24-hour interval and, as Queen Victoria was a very popular monarch, more and more people became interested in having cats of their ain.
This trend spread to the U.s. and was encouraged by the well-nigh pop magazine in America at that fourth dimension, Godey's Lady's Volume. Published by Louis A. Godey of Philadelphia from 1830 -1878, this monthly journal featured stories, manufactures, poems, and engravings and is perhaps best known for helping to institutionalize the do of the family Christmas tree in America (although it also advocated for women's rights, education, the celebration of Thansgiving, and was among the first to publish Edgar Allen Poe's work).
In 1836 CE, the brilliant editor and writer Sarah Josepha Hale joined Godey'due south and greatly enhanced its reputation and apportionment. In an 1860 commodity, Unhurt wrote that cats were not solely for older women or monarchs and that anyone should experience comfortable in embracing the "love and virtue" of the true cat. Cat popularity in the United States grew appreciably later on the Godey article. Cats first came to North America, it is thought, in 1749 CE, from England, to assist control the mice and rat population but they seem to take been largely considered commonsensical until the Victorian Age when they became cherished pets and, in the The states, this was largely due to the influence of Godey'due south Lady'southward Book and Sarah Unhurt's contributions to it.
Popularity of Cats
Many writers of the historic period endemic and admired cats. Charles Dickens was then devoted to his cats that he allowed them into his study and regularly immune his favorite (known equally The Master's Cat) to snuff out the candle on Dickens' writing desk even when the author was at work. Evidently, the cat would abound tired of Dickens' attending being directed toward the page instead of to feline companionship and petting (Morris, 167). Mark Twain, William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Thomas Hardy were all neat admirers of the cat and Lewis Carroll, of course, created 1 of the nearly enduring images of the feline through the Cheshire True cat in his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The beginning major Cat Show was held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1871CE and appreciation of the true cat was elevated to such a level that, for the first time, cats were given "specific standards and classes" which are however used to categorize felines in the nowadays day (Morris, 148). True cat shows became increasingly popular after this outcome and involvement in breeding and showing cats spread throughout Europe and N America. The first cat show in America (in 1895 CE) was so popular that it was held at the large venue of Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. From agents of pest control to divine or semi-divine creatures, to incarnations of evil, and, finally, to house pets, cats take been the close associates of human beings for centuries. They continue to be valued companions for people across the world today and, in this, these individuals carry on the legacy of the ancients in their devotion to, and appreciation for, the cat.
This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/466/cats-in-the-ancient-world/
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