Summary
Cats were loved, protected and even worshipped in ancient Egypt. They guarded homes and grain stores against rats, mice and snakes. They were kept as family pets and shown sitting under their owners’ chairs in tomb paintings. They were sacred to the goddess Bastet, and killing one was a serious crime. The Egyptian word for cat was miu, an imitation of its call.
How Cats Came to Live With People
All domestic cats descend from the African wildcat. The oldest evidence of a cat living with people comes from Cyprus, where a cat was buried beside a person about 9,500 years ago. In Egypt, cats were buried in an elite cemetery at Hierakonpolis around 3700 BC. Genetic studies suggest the domestic cat spread across the ancient world in two waves, one from the Near East and a later one from Egypt, so Egyptian cats are the ancestors of many of the cats alive today.
Working Cats and Family Pets
- Pest control: Egypt’s wealth was grain, and cats protected it from rodents. They also killed snakes, including cobras and vipers.
- Hunting companions: tomb paintings show cats leaping on birds in the papyrus marshes beside their owners.
- Pets: cats wore collars and earrings, were given names and sat under their owners’ chairs at banquets in tomb scenes.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that when a household cat died, the family shaved their eyebrows in mourning.
Bastet and the Divine Cat
The cat was the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, protector of the home, women and children, whose temple stood at Bubastis (Tell Basta) in the Nile Delta. Bastet began as a lioness, like the fierce Sekhmet, and over time became the gentler cat. The sun god Ra was also pictured as the “Great Cat” who kills the serpent Apophis with a knife each night, a scene painted in tombs at Deir el-Medina and in the Book of the Dead.
Cat Mummies
Pilgrims to Bastet’s temples bought mummified cats as offerings, and temple catteries bred them in huge numbers; scans show many were killed young for the purpose. Cemeteries at Bubastis, Saqqara and Beni Hasan held cat mummies by the hundred thousand. In the 19th century so many were dug up that a shipload of about 19 tons was sold as fertiliser in England in 1890. In 2018 archaeologists found dozens of new cat mummies, with statues of Bastet, at Saqqara. See more in Egyptian mummies and animal mummies.
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View This TripKilling a Cat Was a Crime
Cats were protected by law and custom. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, who visited Egypt around 60 BC, says that a Roman who accidentally killed a cat in Alexandria was lynched by an angry crowd, even though the king’s officials tried to save him. When a house caught fire, he adds, Egyptians worried more about saving the cats than putting out the flames.
The Egyptian Mau and Cats in Egypt Today
The Egyptian Mau, a spotted, green-eyed breed, was developed from Egyptian street cats brought to the United States in the 1950s, and is often said to look like the cats in ancient paintings. In Egypt today cats are everywhere, lazing in the alleys of Khan el-Khalili, at the gates of temples and on the decks of Nile boats, still looked after by shopkeepers and neighbours.
See ancient cats for yourself in the Egyptian Museum, with its bronze Bastet statues and cat mummies, and in the Mummification Museum in Luxor.
Egyptian Cats: FAQ
Why were cats important in ancient Egypt?
They protected grain and homes from rodents and snakes, were loved as pets and were sacred to the goddess Bastet.
Did ancient Egyptians worship cats?
They did not worship cats as such, but honoured them as living images of goddesses like Bastet, and offered cat mummies at her temples.
What was the Egyptian word for cat?
Miu (or miut for a female cat), imitating the cat’s meow.
What happened if you killed a cat in ancient Egypt?
It was a grave offence; Greek writers report that people were even put to death for it.
Who is the Egyptian cat goddess?
Bastet, protector of the home, women and children, whose centre was Bubastis in the Nile Delta.
What is the Egyptian Mau?
A modern spotted cat breed developed from Egyptian street cats in the 1950s.
