What do cats actually do for the ancient Egyptians?
Egyptians believed cats were magical creatures, capable of bringing good luck to the people who housed them. To honor these treasured pets, wealthy families dressed them in jewels and fed them treats fit for royalty. When the cats died, they were mummified.
Did the Egyptians worship cats?
But Egyptians did not worship felines. Rather, they believed these ‘feline’ deities shared certain character traits with the animals. Bastet is probably the best-known feline goddess from Egypt. Initially depicted as a lioness, Bastet assumed the image of a cat or a feline-headed woman in the 2nd millennium BCE.
What kind of cats did the ancient Egyptians eat?
Check facts about Egyptian writing here. The African wildcat and jungle cat were the two major cats, which occurred, in ancient Egyptian culture. Both had smaller body sizes. The primary diet of wild cats includes mice, rats, snakes and pests. Thus, they were considered as the important animals, which protected and save the people.
Why did people mummify cats in ancient Egypt?
Cat mummies exhibited in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre Mummifying animals grew in popularity during the Late Period of ancient Egypt from 664 BC onwards. Mummies were used for votive offerings to the associated deity, mostly during festivals or by pilgrims.
When did cats first become domesticated in ancient Egypt?
DNA evidence suggests that wild cats first “self-domesticated” in the Near East and Egypt roughly 10,000 years ago when spotted felines wandered into early agricultural societies to feed on grain-stealing rodents and stuck around for the free scraps and backrubs from grateful humans.
Why did the ancient Egyptians have feral cats?
Ancient Egyptians learned early on that feral cats were saving their harvest by feeding on scavengers. Soon, many households began leaving food for cats to tempt them to visit their houses more regularly. At one point, almost all Egyptian households had cats, which helped keep rodents and other threats at bay.