Egypt
Felines in Egypt blog
Thanks to Kat Newkirk for forwarding the link to this summary of the role of cats in ancient Egypt. It is written by blog owner Jessica J. Bogg, is accompanied by photographs and contains a list of references at the end.
See the above page for the full account.
- Evolution Of The House Cat
Scientific American (by Carlos A. Driscoll, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Andrew C. Kitchener and Stephen J. O'Brien) It is by turns aloof and affectionate, serene and savage, endearing and exasperating. Despite its mercurial nature, however, the house cat...
- Hawass Dig Days - Bastet The Cat
Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass) Tel Basta is an archaeological site in the city of Zagazig, in Sharqiya governorate. It was very important in ancient times because it was sacred to a goddess called Bastet, who took the form of a cat. Beginning in the Old...
- Egyptians Not The First To Domesticate Cats
BBC News By Paul Rincon Alright, so its a bit of a stretch to include this as Egyptology , but it does indicate that domesticated cats are now known in Cyprus before they first appear in Egypt. The oldest known evidence of people keeping cats as pets...
- Menagerie Of Mummies Unwraps Ancient Egypt
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6989 New Scientist article about a new collection of animal mummies being studied by the Natural History Museum in London, UK. X-ray analysis of the skeletons of some of the animals, particularly cats, suggests...
- Who Tamed Who
This story about the domestication of cats leaves me to wonder about tolerance rather than "taming". The human home always had mice and I am sure that wild cats were probably tolerated long before they became pets. When the cats around but there are no...
Egypt
The Cat in Ancient Egypt
Felines in Egypt blog
Thanks to Kat Newkirk for forwarding the link to this summary of the role of cats in ancient Egypt. It is written by blog owner Jessica J. Bogg, is accompanied by photographs and contains a list of references at the end.
The cat in ancient Egypt was called the "miw"; they were called this simply because the "meow" is the sound a cat makes when interacting with humans, as well as this being the sound kittens make to their mother. Unlike many other animals in ancient Egypt, cats were hardly ever given names, and seem to have just been referred to as "miw" (cat). This is unusual, considering that people were often named after animals themselves, including the cat; for example, one name that became popular for people to be named was "Pa-Miu" (the tomcat). These cats were depicted with plain coats, tabby stripes, or with spots . Scenes of cats in the Middle Kingdom are usually represented in bird hunting depictions that take place in a papyrus skiff or thicket. Cats in these types of settings appear to have taken over Old Kingdom versions; whereby an Egyptian mongoose or genet had been depicted out on a hunt in earlier times instead of the cat. When cats began to replace them in these scenes they are shown usually balancing precariously on one or two papyrus stalks or umbels with a prized bird in its jaws or in its claws. It is unknown, with any certainty, if these cats at this time were domesticated, tamed, or still wild, by looking at the scenes alone, but it is often assumed that, because they are helpful in bird hunting, in that they disturb the birds from the papyrus marshes making it easier for the hunter to hit the bird with his throwstick, they were likely at least tamed animals, if not fully domesticated.
See the above page for the full account.
- Evolution Of The House Cat
Scientific American (by Carlos A. Driscoll, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Andrew C. Kitchener and Stephen J. O'Brien) It is by turns aloof and affectionate, serene and savage, endearing and exasperating. Despite its mercurial nature, however, the house cat...
- Hawass Dig Days - Bastet The Cat
Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass) Tel Basta is an archaeological site in the city of Zagazig, in Sharqiya governorate. It was very important in ancient times because it was sacred to a goddess called Bastet, who took the form of a cat. Beginning in the Old...
- Egyptians Not The First To Domesticate Cats
BBC News By Paul Rincon Alright, so its a bit of a stretch to include this as Egyptology , but it does indicate that domesticated cats are now known in Cyprus before they first appear in Egypt. The oldest known evidence of people keeping cats as pets...
- Menagerie Of Mummies Unwraps Ancient Egypt
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6989 New Scientist article about a new collection of animal mummies being studied by the Natural History Museum in London, UK. X-ray analysis of the skeletons of some of the animals, particularly cats, suggests...
- Who Tamed Who
This story about the domestication of cats leaves me to wonder about tolerance rather than "taming". The human home always had mice and I am sure that wild cats were probably tolerated long before they became pets. When the cats around but there are no...