Domesticated Cats: The Ancient Egyptian Domestication Of Cats

Introduction Cats have been in Egypt for over 5,000 years. The Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats. They had many pests that the cats helped eliminate. Plus the cats were so important to the Egyptian people that they would be mummified with different materials. So basically the Ancient Egyptians domesticated and mummified cats.
The Domestication of Cats The Egyptians were possibly the first to domesticate cats. But the question is how did they do it? According to J. Hill, “Egyptians learned that the wild cats preyed on scavengers and began to leave out food (such as fish heads) to tempt the cats to visit them regularly”. According to the text “The cats came for the food and to avoid larger predators.” ( J. Hill) This evidence supports one of the reasons why wild cats came to the Egyptian people. The predators of the cats were mainly birds of prey such as the red-footed falcon. In time, the cats evolved into the cat we know today. Now the cat is the most common housepet in the whole world!
The Importance of the Cat When Egyptologists found that the Egyptians domesticated cats their question was
Surprising right? Well it’s true, the Egyptians loved their cats so much that they mummified them. But what did they mummify them with? According to Legends and Chronicles, “Linen sheets were used to wrap the dead cat… the cat was treated with various drugs and spices.” This was how most of the cats were mummified. However Pitt Rivers Museum states, “Some of the cat shaped statues were actually elaborate coffins designed to hold the mummified cats.” So basically after certain cats were wrapped in the linen sheets they were put into the cat shaped coffins. Many people don’t know why certain cats were put into the statues and others were not. Were they the royal families cats? Or were they “holy” cats? It’s amazing to think that cats were treated just like the Egyptian people and possibly even