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Dog Kitten Birds
History of the cat
The cat has played an important role in human history as one with the human community of living animals. Some well-known evidence of a human-cat relationship, about 4,500 years old, comes from the Nile Valley in Egypt, which until recently was considered the site of their domestication. These are paintings of cats painted on the walls of tombs, statues of cats and mummified cats. However, recent findings and findings up to 9,500 years old suggest that domestication has taken place in the Middle East [1]. Unlike most other pets, the cat probably chose the human and not the other way around. Man, with his agricultural way of life and food storage, attracted mice and rats, and cats feed on these rodents.
These cats belonged to the species of African fawn cat (Latin Felis silvestris lybica) and became the forerunners of today's domestic breeds. The fawn cat lives in the steppes of Africa and Arabia. She has big ears, is slim and long-legged. It is likely that she was not the only ancestor of today's cats. Forest cats (Felis silvestris silvestris) and steppe cats (Felis silvestris ornata) have also apparently been domesticated. The home of the forest cat is Europe, Asia Minor and Iran. It is relatively large, with short ears and a coarse, well-furred tail. The steppe cat comes from front and central Asia and is more stocky than the fawn cat.
Antiquity
Pussies
The ancient Egyptians adored and worshiped cats as deities. They believed that they had the power to protect man from all evil. The presence of a cat in the house meant a blessing in ancient Egypt, good health for all and a long life. If a cat died in their house, the housewives shaved their eyebrows and mourned for her. The most sacred Egyptian cats were black, guarding the temples of the gods. Their killing was punishable by death.
The finds of embalmed cat bodies and cat amulets in the tombs of monarchs (for example, Pharaoh Tutankhamun or Ramesses II) are evidence of the cult worship of cats in Egypt. The cats had their own goddess - Bastet, who was, among other things, the goddess of the rising Sun, the Moon, fertility, generosity and dance. The Egyptians have worshiped it since ancient times. They portrayed her as a small cat with a left head, or as a female body with a cat's head, and attributed some of her feline characteristics to her; however, this came only with development, its original function was to protect the Mennefer burial ground. The cat cult in Egypt reached its peak in 500 BC.
At that time, the Greeks and Romans considered the cat a strange domestic animal and preferred ferrets to hunt mice. Later, the Greek goddess Artemis, the Roman goddess Diana and the Scandinavian goddess Freya took on a certain form with a cat. They were patrons of fertility and childbirth, as cats take good care of their young. For the ability of the cat to change the shape of the pupils, people also attributed patronage to the goddesses over the lunar phases.
There was a strict ban on exporting cats from Egypt. Phoenician sailors therefore smuggled them to Italy, Gaul and Britain. However, domestic cats came to Europe, especially Greece, more significantly through trade routes from front Asia. The first evidence of the spread of cats in Europe is on vases from the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The Phoenicians again took care of their wider distribution during the Great Migration, when the cats reached Roman ships on Roman warships. However, recent archeological finds from the vicinity of Amsterdam, where the remains of cats from around 2000 BC were found, took care of the surprise among the felinological public.
Cats came to China from China and later to Japan. In these countries, they have become an important part of religious ceremonies. In Japan, their task was to protect the valuable cocoons of silkworm caterpillars, and in temples, old manuscripts from rats and mice. The Japanese believed that only man and cat had a soul. The cat brought long life and happiness to the Japanese, it was a symbol of happy, rich people. However, with the demise of ancient Japanese culture, cats lost their status and returned to farmsteads. In Buddhism, the cat and the serpent were cursed because they were not the only beings to cry at the death of the Buddha. The Chinese also associate the cat with poverty; this is accompanied by their habit of placing a statue of a cat in front of the house and hanging pictures of cats around the house to scare away poverty. Superstition also comes from ancient China about black cats, the bearers of misfortune.
Medieval
Cats arrived in Europe around 500 BC. They first sailed on Phoenician merchant ships from Egypt to Greece and later to Italy. During the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus, Syrian monks also brought several cats to Rome, where they became an ornament of the salons of rich people. However, the Romans soon discovered the ability of cats to hunt mice, so the Roman legionaries took them with them on military campaigns to the north, where they reached the British Isles. Cats have become very popular with Scots. In England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the cat still brings happiness. The Germans, whose goddess Freya, the wife of the sun god Baldur, had a cat-drawn chariot, had a similar mind. With the adoption of Christianity in the 4th century, however, the pagan gods had to retreat, but the cats, thanks to their hunting abilities, found their application for several centuries.
In the 10th century, the cat was worthy of property in Europe and they were so valuable that in 936 a ban on killing them was issued (the penalty for killing a cat depended on its age and price). They lived in castles and protected grain granaries from rodents.
Cat and witchcraft
Everything that people admired on cats (flexible movement, individuality, desire for freedom) became fatal for them in the late Middle Ages. The medieval Inquisition declared the cat possessed by evil spirits because it has a "hellfire" in its eyes, by which it is associated with the devil. The cat was officially declared an ally of witches and a direct participant in black magic. People began to be afraid of cats and burned them with their owners. It was believed that a 20-year-old cat would turn into a witch and a 100-year-old witch would turn into a cat. During the witch's sabbath, the witches allegedly rode giant cats. On St. John's Day, the Inquisition held spectacular shows and burned cats alive, especially black ones, in front of the church gates. Pope Gregor IX. he declared that only church apostates breed black cats and called them "creatures of the devil."
Nevertheless, cat lovers were found, especially in the poor, but also in the nobles and clergy. Folk medicine attributed healing effects to cats, and almost all cats were used to treat various diseases.
Cat and vampire
According to an ancient Greek legend, cats had the ability to control a corpse and turn it into a vampire. This legend came to life again in the 16th and 17th centuries. According to her, the cats were to suck the blood from their victims and inject it into the fresh corpses that were their property after the resurrection. The resurrected corpses were then used for devilish deeds. The connection between vampires and cats ended with the publication of Bram Stoker's book Dracula in 1897.
Cat in the New World
Despite the persecution of cats in the High Middle Ages, sailors used cats to hunt mice on their ships to defend their food supplies against rodents. Thus, cats gradually became domesticated in North America, Australia and New Zealand. It is said that Christopher Columbus himself brought it to America. Written evidence of the occurrence of cats in America dates from 1626. The Indians did not attach importance to cats, as they did not benefit from their nomadic way of life. However, they were great admirers of their hunting abilities.
Modern age
With the advent of the modern age, the situation changed. In the Baroque period, cats became salon decorations. Over time, however, it became too "ordinary" and began to be bred. In the 17th century, information about noble cats bred in the Persian province of Khorasan came to Europe. From the beginning, all long-haired cats were called Ankara after the Turkish capital.
In the 20th century, the cat became interesting for medicine and scientists studied it from various aspects (physiology, psychology, genetics). In the 1960s, ethological research was carried out on both wild and domestic cats.
Since the 90s of the 20th century, the cat has been one of the most widespread pets in the world. However, under the influence of historical development, especially people living in Western countries have a divided relationship with cats. Many people are still convinced that when a black cat runs across their path, it will bring them misfortune.
Systematic cat farming has existed in Europe for about 150 years. The world's first cat show took place in London in 1871. It also featured several Siamese cats that were imported to Europe at the time. Cat breeders and lovers began to form various associations to exchange experiences, organize exhibitions, publish pedigrees, keep studbooks and determine the characteristics of breeds. Today, there are a number of cat breeders' organizations. The most famous in Europe is FIFe (Fédération Internationale Féline).
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