History of a cat and the person
There is a high possibility that the ancestor of the current domestic cat is the African Wild Cat that inhabited Asia Minor in the Middle-East approximately 131,000 years ago.Feline remains found buried with humans were discovered from the Shillourokambos remains on the island of Cyprus 9,500 years ago.The African Wild Cat encountered humans 9,500 years ago, at which point the history of people and cats began.Asia Minor (Anatolia) where the African Wild Cat inhabited and the island of Cyprus where the remains were found are separated by the Mediterranean Sea.The discovered human remains were only separated from the feline remains by a distance of 40cm, and they were buried in the same place as shells, flints, and axes.From this, it is thought that the history of cats and people had already begun by this point.
The cat which became God
In Ancient Egyptian reliefs, cats appear alongside birds and scarab beetles.The land in Ancient Egypt was a chaotic land made up of states called “Nomos” and a large number of religious tribes.In the Nomos, many animals had religious significance as the rsonification of spirits.This is said to be because the abilities and cuteness possessed by animals, and reverence for animals was thought to be an object of worship.
Then, war occurs and one tribe subjugates the land, and the winning tribe forces an object of worship on the conquered tribe.
When the Egyptian empire was built under King Menes around 3100BC, multi-dimensional religion was established, and reliefs engraved with many animals and insects appeared.The cats were first determined as gods in the 22nd Egyptian Dynasty (945-715 BC) when they were worshipped in connection with the ancient Egyptian God “Bastet”, which had the role of guardians of the pharaohs and guardians of the home. Many stone statues and bronze statues of cats were discovered, cat mummies , and good luck charms wishing for safe delivery of children were discovered, too.
First named cat
The name “Nedjem”.The meaning of this was a star or “cutie”. The cat of architect “Puimre” who was active during the age of Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC), the 6th generation Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty was not only called “Puimre’s cat”, but was also listed in the Guinness Book as the “first cat name to appear in history”.
There are even sculpture of cats on reliefs.There is also a sarcophagus sculpture of a cat named “Ta-Mit” kept by Prince Thutmose, eldest son of 9th Pharaoh Amenhotep III (BC1390-1352).“Ta-Mit” seems to have the meaning of a female cat.
