guy Posted August 27, 2024 Report Share Posted August 27, 2024 Cats in ancient Egypt were revered and protected. Here is an entertaining article about cats in ancient Egypt mmm. https://the-past.com/feature/the-cat-in-ancient-egypt-hunter-pampered-pet-divine-goddess/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy Posted February 5 Author Report Share Posted February 5 (edited) Cat Mummy; 750‐400 BCE; animal remains, linen and pigment I found an interesting anecdote from Herodotus about the respect that people had for cats and other animals in Ancient Egypt, including the practice of shaving their eyebrows when a cat died. Quote In households where a cat dies a natural death, all the people living there shave off their eyebrows – nothing more. In households where a dog dies, they shave their whole bodies, head and all. II.67 After their death, the cats are taken to sacred chambers in the city of Bubastis where they are mummified and buried. Dogs are buried by each householder in his own community in sanctified tombs, and mongooses receive the same form of burial as well. Shews and hawks are taken to the city of Buto, and ibises to Hermepolis. Bears (which are rare) and wolves (which are not much larger than foxes) are buried wherever they are found lying. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/88/herodotus-on-cats-in-egypt/ https://arce.org/resource/cats-bastet-and-worship-feline-gods/#:~:text=Cats are among the most,character traits with the animals. Edited February 5 by guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 Cat lovers look away. There is some gruesome evidence that cats were bred deliberately as sacrificial offerings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guidoLaMoto Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 It was a capital offence in Egypt to kill a cat, even by accident, with justice often dispensed quickly by the angry mob Some interesting facts & anecdotes about cats in ancient Rome: https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/cats-in-the-roman-world-the-big-and-the-small-of-it/ I haven't been to Rome in over 40 yrs. At that time, feral cats were everywhere and in large numbers. Has that changed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy Posted February 6 Author Report Share Posted February 6 (edited) 8 hours ago, guidoLaMoto said: I haven't been to Rome in over 40 yrs. At that time, feral cats were everywhere and in large numbers. Has that changed? At least from YouTube, the large cat sanctuary in Rome (Largo di Torre Argentina) still has a very thriving presence. This video is from 2023. A previous post (2020) about cats in Rome today Edited February 6 by guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guidoLaMoto Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 "Hundreds of lucky cats..." In Latin, feles is cat and Felix is lucky, hence Felix the Cat, Felix Feles....in Italian, felice is happy. Forty y/a, those cats were thriving throughout the Forum, Colisseum and Palatine. Viewing several YouTube "walking tours" of The Forum, I see a much more formal development of signage, walkways, railings and more excavations than back then, and of course back then it was a "take your life in your own hands situation" trying to cross the street encircling the Colisseum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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