Classical Cats

Routledge

Chapter One

EGYPT

I am one pure of mouth, pure of hands, One to whom, "Welcome" is said by those who see him; For I have heard the words spoken by the Donkey and the Cat, In the house of Eternity.

(From the Book of the Dead

Egypt is the ultimate homeland of all domestic cats throughout the world,and so will always have a significant place in the history of the species. Weare fortunate that a superb book has recently appeared on the topic, JaromirMalek's The Cat in Ancient Egypt, that treats all aspects of the animal. Achapter devoted to Egyptian cats may therefore seem redundant; nevertheless,it is important for a work devoted to Greek and Roman cats to includea section on Egypt, since many later characteristics of the animal in iconography,symbolism, religion, and folklore have their origins in that culture.Furthermore, it remains true that important descriptions of the Egyptian catcome from Greek authors, most notably Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, andClaudius Aelian. Finally, we will emphasize the history of the animal in thelater period of the country's history (1070 BC - 330 AD), not the earlier era.

The Libyan wildcat

The Felis sylvestris libyca, the direct ancestor of all domestic cats, is a felineopportunist that has not only survived but flourished in the drasticallychanging natural and human environments of North Africa for the last fivemillion years. Its head and body length are some 30 inches (75 cm) and itstail, some 12 inches (30 cm). Its ears are not tufted as in other small Africanwildcats and it has proportionally longer legs than a domesticated individual.As in the case of F. sylvestris sylvestris, and indeed even more so heresince the libyca is the direct ancestral form, there has probably been considerableinterbreeding between it and the catus. This has led to a gradualreduction of its modern body size and other wild characteristics. This maybe why an examination of many mummified ancient Egyptian cats showsthat they are larger than the modern libyca (Fig. 0.2). The ancient cats weremore closely related to the larger, ancestral libyca, and the modern libycaitself has declined in size through interbreeding.

Its color is also variable depending on genetics and local environments.Generally, however, the body is a "pale sandy fawn ... with a rufous line onthe back and multiple traverse stripes of the same colour, though paler, onthe body." The markings generally recall those of the common orange andgrey striped tabbies. The tail is ringed and has a black, untufted tip, importantfeatures for the purposes of identifying it in works of art. Leopards(Panthera pardus), for example, have spotted tails and lions (Panthera leo) haveplain tails with a tufted tip.

There are several significant Greek references to the libyca. DiodorusSiculus, who wrote a universal history that was published about 49 BC,noted that in a region of what is now central Libya, the wildcats (ailouroi)had driven out so many birds from the trees and ravines that none wouldnest there. This reference is made in the context of a military campaignundertaken by Archagathus, a general of Agathocles of Syracuse in 307 BC,against the Carthaginians. At this time, and indeed throughout the Romanera, North Africa still retained many forested regions.

The natural historian Claudius Aelian, writing in the late second centuryAD, made many shrewd observations on cats and other animals in his DeNatura Animalium. One passage on the taming of the Egyptian libycadeserves to be repeated in full:

In Egypt, the cats, the mongeese, the crocodiles, and even the hawks show that animal nature is not entirely intractable, but that when well treated they are good at remembering kindness. They are caught by pandering to their appetites, and when this has rendered them tame, they remain thereafter perfectly gentle. They would never set upon their benefactors once they have been freed from their genetic and natural temper. Man however, a creature endowed with reason, credited with understanding, gifted with a sense of honor, supposedly capable of blushing, can become the bitter enemy of a friend for some trifling and casual reason and blurt out confidences to betray the very man who trusted him.

That this animal was indeed a libyca and not a Felis chaus or margarita isindicated by the animals tamability, a characteristic generally absent fromthe two other species.

Aelian also notes the predation of wildcats on other animals and birds,and how these animals have evolved defensive measures to avoid it. In theseinstances, it is not certain whether the wildcats are the libyca, or anotherspecies; nevertheless, the interest in the stories lies in the preys' methods ofescape.

A monkey, pursued by wildcats fled as fast as he could and climbed a tree.The wildcats also climbed the tree,

very swiftly, for they cling to the bark and can also climb trees. But as he was going to be caught, since he was one against many, he leapt from the trunk with his paws and seized the end of an overhanging branch high up and clung to it for a long time.

The wildcats gave up the chase, descended the tree and went after otherprey. This is also an interesting example of teamwork among wildcats intheir hunting.

Aelian notes too that the Egyptian Goose is a fierce fighter and candefend itself from eagles, cats, and all other animals that come against it.Finally, there is the ibis, who also eats dangerous snakes and scorpionswithout harm to itself.

It makes its nest on the top of date-palms in order to escape the cats, for this animal cannot easily climb and crawl up a date-palm as it is constantly being impeded and thrown off by the protuberances on the stem.

The miu: the domesticated cat

The earliest remains of cats in domestic contexts from Egypt date fromabout 4000 to 3000 BC, but are probably of tame wildcats rather thandomesticated cats. Wildcats of various species were first represented inEgyptian art from about 1900 BC, about the time the libyca was domesticated.This is also the time that the first representations appear of what areprobably domesticated cats. One bas relief from Coptos of about 1950 BCshows a cat sitting beneath a woman's chair, a common iconographicportrayal in later works of art. By 1450 BC, the cats are a common feature inEgyptian painting of domestic scenes.

For a few hundred years before this era, however, we find the first individualsnamed after the cat, as other individuals were named after other localanimals such as "Monkey," "Wolf," and "Crocodile." The name given to thedomestic cat by the Egyptians was the onomatopoeic "miu" or feminine"miit." So we find names such as Pa-miu, "The Tomcat," and Ta-miit, "TheCat."

Among the factors that undermined the serenity and security of Niloticlife, the most significant were deadly snakes, such as cobras and vipers, androdents, both mice and rats. Since there was little men could do to protectthemselves from such dangers, the appearance of an animal that coulddestroy such vermin would have been a welcome event. Indeed, since snakescan inflict fatal bites on humans, it would have been literally a life-savingevent. Since granaries and silos attracted rodents, they represented a reliablesource of food for the cats, who would leave the grain alone. Feeding scrapsto the cats would assure their presence near their food supplies and homes.As territorial creatures, they would soon strike up associations (if not exactlyfriendships) with the humans and come to regard the area around their homesas their own. Thus it was just as much a factor of the cats adopting thehumans in their territory, as the humans adopting the cats.

Before long, the people began to recognize the benefits of having the catin the house. Households with cats had more food, less sickness, and fewerdeaths. Its personality and behavior compared well to the other pets theyhad in their homes, such as dogs and monkeys. Its cleanliness no doubtattracted the Egyptians, while its "house training" — the burial of its excrementoutdoors in the sand, more preferable to the cat than the fertile earthof the fields — its killing of scorpions, rodents and snakes that may haveentered the house, and its general rejection of grain-based food, the staple ofthe Egyptian diet as for most ancient Mediterranean peoples, must also haverecommended it to their service. In exchange for comfort and safety, the catswere willing to give up some of their freedom. Selective breeding wouldensure that only the tamest and best-behaved individuals would survive inhuman company.

It must also be noted that the cat was a new type of domestic animal.Other animals were exploited for their hides, meat, milk, or hair. Some wereused for transport, like the horse, donkey, mule, and later the camel. As wesaw in the Introduction, the dog was used for hunting, herding, and forguard work but not for killing rats in antiquity. The cat, however, was usedsolely as a predator of small animals and later as a human companion.

Iconography

Cats occur frequently in the art of the New Kingdom (1570-1070 BC) andthe Late Period (1070-332 BC). There are wonderful wall paintings of catsand, of course, some magnificent bronzes. Fortunately, these works havebeen beautifully illustrated and thoroughly described by Malek.Nevertheless, there are two major categories of images that are of interest tous because of their later use by both Greeks and Romans: the "cat under thechair," and the "cat in the marshes." In addition, there is an important seriesof bronzes depicting the cat goddess Bastet with her sistrum that will betreated in the sections on religion and folklore below.

Most portrayals of the cat under the chair are in the context of a scenedepicting a seated husband and wife accepting gifts and offerings from theirservants or children. The cat invariably sits beneath the chair of the wife andsometimes a dog sits beneath the husband. For example, in Figure 1.1, wesee the couple Ipuy and his wife Duammeres portrayed on their tomb, whichdates to about 1250 BC. A cat sits beneath Duammeres' chair and a smallkitten scratches at the garment worn by Ipuy. The cats themselves show thetypical color and markings of the libyca, which has now been domesticated.

The cat under the woman's chair may symbolize her fertility and the associationof both with the goddess Hathor. The dog or the monkey that isfrequently found beneath the man's chair, although not on this particularscene, may symbolize his fertility as well. In these tomb paintings, the catmay symbolize the continual force of life even after death. In other scenes,the cats under the chairs play with monkeys, embrace geese, hiss at geese,eat food, or try to break free of their tethers, so they can eat some food thatis placed nearby.

Another common theme is the cat hunting birds in the marshes. Often thecat is portrayed with a hunter on his boat or in the marshes attacking waterbirds. Figure 1.2 shows the family of Nebamun on a small skiff, while the familycat attacks the fowl. The painting is from Nebamun's tomb in the Thebannecropolis and dates to about 1450 BC. It is one of the great masterpieces ofEgyptian painting. Seldom in any artistic tradition are animals, plants, wildlife,fish, and people portrayed with greater empathy and realism. The cat is a masterpiecein itself and is shown assaulting three different birds at once! Neverthelessthe animal is depicted with great naturalism, and is one of the bestportrayals in existence. Once again, we see the beautiful golden-tan coat, thedarker transverse stripes, and the ringed tail with the black tip (Fig. 1.3).

The cat may indeed have been used to flush out the birds so they could bestruck down by the hunter's throwing stick, spear or arrow. Alternatively,during the roosting season, the presence of a cat may force the birds toinstinctively protect their nests so that the hunter can have several targets atonce. On the other hand, it is more likely that Nebamun merely wanted toshow his family together on their eternal journey, and naturally the familycat was included. The cat would do what came naturally when confronted byso many birds and, realistically, it would be quite difficult to train a cat toflush out waterfowl.

The goddess in the house: the sacred cats of Egypt

Throughout history, many have believed that the cat embodies profoundspiritual forces. This has been true not only among the ancient Egyptiansand the Europeans, but also among the Asian Indians, Chinese, and theJapanese. Part of the reason for this may have been the remarkable sensoryacuity of the animal. Its ability to predict the weather, earthquakes, andperhaps even death, has led many throughout the ages to believe in theanimal's preternatural power. For the Egyptians, the cat's ability to destroyharmful scorpions, rodents and snakes suggested it was the embodiment of adivine power that both protected the family from evil and misfortune, andalso promoted its fertility.

An important religious concept among the ancient Egyptians, as well asother ancient peoples, was animism, the belief that divine spirit pervaded allof nature. Nature was divine and different aspects of nature were embodiedin different divinities. Every person, animal, plant, and inanimate object,every tree, glade, brook, and hill was thought to be suffused with a spirit. Inthis respect, ancient Egyptian concepts were very close to the early beliefs ofpolydaimonia among the Greeks and numen among the Romans. Later indeed,when Egyptian religions spread to Europe — especially during the Hellenisticand Roman eras — these concepts proved compatible with comparableGreek, Roman, and Celtic beliefs. This ancient substratum of paganism antedatedthe later, more sophisticated notions of great gods who controlled variousaspects of nature. It also proved to be the most resilient and the most difficultto suppress in later times.

All of nature was a manifestation of divine power and, in pre-agrarianhunting societies, this power would be frequently encountered in the formof animals. In Egypt the lower classes were always in close contact withvarious domestic and wild animals, hence the religion of animals remainedpopular with them, even after greater gods were introduced. Indeed, thecommon folk were frequently excluded from the full worship of the highgods, since only priests were allowed into their sacred precincts.

Associated with the belief of animism was a related magico-sympatheticconcept of nature. Many ancient cultures believed that there were no accidentsor coincidences in nature, but that everything was related by a divineprovidence. Therefore it was no coincidence that the cow's horns resembled acrescent moon; this meant that the cow was the sacred animal of the moongoddess. Similarly with the cat: its nocturnal habits and pupils that changefrom crescent to round meant that it was also sacred to the moon. Indeed, itwas thought possible for the moon goddess to be incarnate in a cat.

In spite of its humble origins and lack of a strong cult early in Egyptianhistory, the cat's religious popularity gradually surpassed that of any otheranimal, spreading at last far beyond Egypt's boundaries. One of the mostmisunderstood aspects of Egyptian religion is their attitude towardsanimals. Animals were not worshipped per se, as was frequently claimed bypagan detractors and early Christian authors; rather it was thought that they,as well as all other living beings, were imbued with the same spirit as theircreator. The Egyptians did not make a distinction between animals andhumans — to them, living beings included gods, people, and animals. Eachwas made by the creator god, worshipped him in their own way, and wereunder his protection.

Moreover, some animals were thought to be the visible epiphanies orincarnations of divinities, a function that could also be fulfilled by certainimages of the gods. An animal such as the Apis bull could act as the visibleincarnation of a divinity during its life, and after death it would be buriedwith full honors and a successor chosen. This was also true of cats. If a cathad the proper sacred markings, she might have been thought to be theincarnation of the goddess Baster. At first, the fact that a god could bemanifest in a certain animal did not necessarily confer special protection forits species as a whole.

By the Late Period (1070-332 BC), however, most domesticated andmany wild animals were regarded as potential epiphanies of divinities, andso a god could well be present in every Egyptian household. This wasespecially true from the fifth century BC to the end of the pagan era of thecountry in the fifth century AD, when cats and other animals, especially theibis, came to be regarded as sacred, imbued with the divine presence.Indeed, there was an upsurge in popularity of animal cults during that time.This increased popularity may have been caused by the failure of the great godsof the country to protect it during a period of frequent foreign invasion andoccupation. Furthermore, Egyptian reverence for animals was also unique tothat country, as ancient scholars frequently noted, and Egyptians may havewished to express their national and cultural identity through this form ofworship.

Sacred animals were of three types. First and foremost were the TempleAnimals, the living incarnations of divinities; the goddess Bastet would havebeen incarnate in a cat. These animals lived in the Holy of Holies within thetemple precinct and had special markings associated with the myths of thedivinity. It must be stressed that the Temple Cat and other Temple Animalswere not worshipped on their own account, but because it was believed thatthe divinities were incarnate in their persons. The god manifest in theanimal was worshipped, not the animal itself. In the same way, idols werenot worshipped by pagans either, but it was thought that the gods wouldmanifest themselves within certain images. These were distinctions lost onmost ancient and modern critics. In a similar vein, the divine incarnation ofChrist was misunderstood by other pagan critics, like Celsus.

The second type of sacred animals included the members of the samespecies, kept in the cult center, who received special treatment, care andfeeding, but who were not themselves manifestations of the divinity.Thirdly, there were the other members of the species that lived in domesticor wild contexts. These also received special treatment and veneration asmembers of a sacred species.

The earliest instance of the cat in a religious context comes from a seriesof ivory "magic knives," dating between 2000 and 1500 BC, that were decoratedwith animals and mythic beings. Their purpose was apotropaic, that is,to protect individuals from the dangers of everyday existence, illnesses, accidents,and bites from scorpions and snakes. The cat is often engraved on theknives because of its ability to destroy snakes. These knives are usuallyfound in the tombs of women and children. Apotropaic, "good luck,"amulets with cats remain common all the way into the Ptolemaic (323-30BC) and Roman (30 BC - AD 330) periods.

Furthermore, in works concerning the interpretation of dreams, somewritten as early as 1980 BC, the vision of a cat was a good omen and meantthat a large harvest would come. Once again, we are reminded of the cat's rolein destroying grain-devouring rodents. Although not a prominent religiousrole, the manifestation of the cat as an apotropaic animal, giving good luckand warding off evil and misfortune, will continue through the EuropeanMiddle Ages and into the modern era in European folklore and custom.

From around 1500 BC, it was believed that the sun god Ra, the mostpowerful divinity in the Egyptian pantheon, could manifest himself in theform of the cat, the "Great Tomcat." Each night Ra, in his incarnation ofAtum-Ra, would journey to the underworld and there, in the form of a cat,would confront his great enemy, the snake-demon Apops (Apophis). At thattime he slew the snake with a large knife, thus ensuring his return as the sunthe following morning. There are numerous portrayals of this nightly eventin Egyptian papyrus texts (Fig. 1.4).

The origins of this connection to the sun, unique to Egypt, are probablyrelated to the cat's eyes. According to Horapollo, writing in the fourth orfifth century AD, the male cat's pupils changed during the passage of thesun through the day (Hieroglyphica, 1. 10. 18). We may understand this tomean that during the dim light of the morning, the cat's pupils are nearlyround and full. As the sun nears the zenith, they narrow to thin lines,expanding again as the sun sets. The cat's pupils were indeed subject tomuch learned commentary, as we shall see in later chapters. Furthermoretheir golden-amber color, unusual in the animal kingdom, and roundedshape may also have suggested this relation.

Horapollo also noted that the sun god of Heliopolis (On), Atum-Ra, wasportrayed as cat-shaped (ailouromorphos). We may also suggest that the connectionwith the sun, especially for Atum-Ra, the god of the setting sun whotravels beneath the underworld, lies in the cat's reflective eyes that shine oneven in darkness. Christopher Smart's poem may help us understand this belief:

For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins. For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary. For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes. For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.

There is also the animal's sense of the death of others, appropriate for anunderworld divinity. The cat has a well-known propensity for warmth:

For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way ... For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him ...

Finally, one may note the static electricity of the animal's fur perhapssuggested a connection with a divine light:

For by stroking of him I have found out electricity. For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire. For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies of men and beasts.

These poetic sentiments, expressed in the eighteenth century, reflect thetranscendent attitudes of many cultures towards the cat, including theEgyptians.

More often, however, the characteristic changes in the cat's pupils wereassociated with the movement of the moon as in Yeats' poem:

Does Minnalouche know that his pupils Will pass from change to change, And that from round to crescent From crescent to round they range?

It was this relationship between the cat and the moon that was the mostlong-lasting, surviving into modern folklore. The earliest connections in thiscontext were with the goddess Harbor and her sistrum. The sistrum was abronze musical instrument with a handle and a rounded open frame (cf. Fig.1.5). Within the frame are some bronze rods (from one to four in number)that rattled when shook. Along the curved frame of the instrument, one ormore cat figures were usually attached and the figure of Hathor generallyappeared in the handle. When the sistrum was shaken quite a noise wasproduced; it may have resembled that of a tambourine when shaken, onlydeeper and richer. The noise of the sistrum was symbolically associated withfertility and regeneration symbolized by the cats, because of the animal'sreproductive powers. This musical instrument was used commonly in Egypt,but is also found in archeological excavations all over the European continentand throughout the Roman Empire until the end of antiquity (andeven beyond). A sistrum, perhaps used for the worship of Isis, was evenfound in London. It is believed that the site of St Paul's Cathedral in Londonwas originally dedicated to Diana, another goddess of the cat. Hathor thegoddess was also represented as a cow, and the two appear frequently inEgyptian works of art through the Roman era.

By the Twenty-second Dynasty (945-715 BC), the cat had become associatedwith another goddess, Bastet — identified by the Greeks with Artemis — whobecame one of the most revered divinities in the Egyptian pantheon in thefirst millennium BC. The Twenty-second Dynasty had its capital at Per-Bastet,the "House of the Goddess Bastet," which the Greeks called Bubastis (Fig.1.6). Indeed, one of its pharaohs was named Pamiu or "Tomcat" (773-767 BC).The cat was now regarded as the manifestation of Bastet. She was pairedwith the lion-headed female divinity, Sekhmet, the ferocious protector ofEgypt. Just as Sekhmet protected the nation, so Bastet protected the household,especially its women and children. Like Artemis of the Greeks withwhom she was later identified, Bastet was a fearsome huntress but also aloving mother. She, or one of her earlier manifestations, also appears ontomb paintings escorting the deceased to the place of judgement.

Her most important role, however, was as the goddess of motherhood,fertility, childbearing, and childrearing. These aspects continued under theGreek goddess Artemis, the Roman goddess Diana, and the Greco-Egyptiangoddess Isis, right through the European Middle Ages, and indeed they surviveinto modern folklore and custom. The cat was an obvious symbol of theseimportant aspects of human life. We have already noted the cats' phenomenalrates of fertility.

High fertility rates were important aspects of ancient and medievalhuman populations as well, but have unfortunately been neglected by manyhistorians. Before the development of modern medicine and improveddiets — brought about in part through the introduction of New World crops intothe Old World, and higher living standards brought about through theIndustrial Revolution — life expectancies were very low. Census data fromRoman Egypt, probably also characteristic of the country during earlier erasas well as of much of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean in general,show a life expectancy at birth of about 22.5 years for females and 25 yearsfor males. The differential in death rates was caused by mortality occurringamong women during their childbearing years between the ages of 15and 44.

Because of the low life expectancies and the high death rates, birth ratesalso needed to be high. The average woman bore six children during a relativelyshort life span just to keep the population growth rate stable, neitherincreasing or decreasing. Married women bore on average nine children.Their rates were higher than average because many women simply did notsurvive through their marriageable and childbearing years. Many marriedwomen bore far more than nine. Marriage was nearly universal for both menand women. If these high birth rates were not maintained, the populationwould decline at a geometric rate, and would soon be biologically replacedby immigrant groups or become extinct. Surprisingly, these important factsand their impact on the lives of ancient women and on social institutions,including religion, have not been considered by modern historians until thelast few years.

Marriage, family, motherhood, childbearing, and childrearing were centralto the lives of all women before the industrial age. The cat was thought byWestern women to be the living embodiment of this divine force of naturefor almost four thousand years. Bearing, nursing, and raising numerous childrenhave been tasks honorably fulfilled by women through the ages, andthere was no better symbol of these qualities than the cat. Only aristocraticwomen could be exempt from nursing, with the use of wet-nurses, who werefar beyond the resources of the vast majority. As we have noted, female catswill not only sacrifice their lives on behalf of their kittens but are solelyresponsible for their upbringing and training. This is especially true for thebarn cats and feral cats who must learn to make it on their own from theirmothers. This dedication by a small animal to its young has been an inspirationto women for millennia.

The cat has several physical characteristics that may have helped endear itto women. A full-grown cat is nearly the size of a human infant. Its cries canoften sound remarkably similar to those of a baby, and its large frontal eyesand rounded face may also have suggested this sympathetic relationship.The animal has a "childlike," playful, and mischievous nature and, when notat play, is usually asleep.

The animal's relationship with motherhood goes far deeper, though.Biologists have long observed that the relationship between cats and theirowners closely resembles that between kittens and their mothers. Catsoften regard their human owners as a source of food and nurturing. Thephysical difference in size between a kitten and its mother is proportional tothe difference in size between a cat and a human. The padding or kneadingmotion of the animal's front paws when sitting on their owners is the samemotion that kittens use to express milk from their mothers. Cats are alsomore closely related to humans genetically than any other family of animalsexcept the primates.

Women often cradle the animal in their arms. They frequently carry catsin the same way they carry infants. Cats are often of therapeutic value, especiallyfor the elderly. Blood pressure is lowered and emotional satisfaction isgained simply by petting the animal. Girls and young women may anticipatetheir own children in the future when they hold them, while elderlywomen may fondly recall their own infant children in the past. All thesefactors have endeared the cat to women in many cultures throughout theglobe.

Continues...
Excerpted from Classical Catsby Donald W. Engels Copyright © 2001 by Donald W. Engels. Excerpted by permission.
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