25/01/2023
Contrary to Nigerians beliefs that Cats are a symbol of witchcraft, in saner climes they are seen as pets and relative.
The divine role of cats in ancient Egypt.
Cats were called “Mau” in Ancient Egypt, and from the beginning this animal held a special place as a protector of crops in the country, as cats killed rodents and snakes. Thanks to this, cats began to be considered as protectors and as a result, they were domesticated.
Moreover, DNA comparisons show that many species of modern cats are descendants of the Egyptian. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who traveled to Ancient Egypt, mentioned in one of his travels the importance of domestic cats. Herodotus wrote that in Ancient Egypt a beloved cat was considered a friend and family member.
When the cat died, the family was plunged into deep mourning, funeral rituals were performed, and the men shaved their eyebrows to express their grief. In the desert on the outskirts of the city of Beni Hassan in 1888, an Egyptian farmer came across the burial of several thousand cats. Their bodies were artificially mummified, which indicates the reverent attitude of the owners towards them.
Ancient Egyptian law prohibited the killing of cats, except, of course, when it was done for sacrificial purposes. Exporting cats was prohibited by law and amounted to theft of the pharaoh's property. Moreover, when the Egyptians went on campaigns or equipped trade caravans and found cats in foreign lands, they bought or kidnapped them in order to return them back to Egypt, to which they believed they belonged.
