The civilization of Ancient Egypt revered cats to the point that one of its goddesses, Bastet or Bast, was represented in form of this feline and considered the divinity of the home and protector of the family.
A cult of this type is not surprising, since several races of felines have their origin in those distant lands. If you want to know what they are, we present on our site this complete list of Egyptian cat breeds. Keep reading!
1. Abyssinian
The origins of the Abyssinian cat are not very clear, but everything seems to indicate that it comes from Ancient Egypt However, its name comes from Abyssinian, name that used to be given to the territory of Ethiopia, where the first specimen of this breed that was shown in the United Kingdom came from.
It is characterized by being a light, agile and playful breed, which has a sand tone in its coat, similar to that of pumas, darkening towards the spine and lightening in the stomach.
two. African wild cat
It is about a breed derived from the wild cat, which was domesticated by the ancient Egyptians. It weighs up to 7 kilos and has short ash-yellow or gray fur, with dark stripes from the back to the tail.
It is characterized by being an independent and hunting variety, with a calm character, but at the same time territorial.
3. Egyptian Mau
The mau cat is probably the most popular of the Egyptian cat breeds, of which there are records in the murals that have been discovered about the past of this civilization. “Mau” is the word they used to call cats, similar to the sound that these domestic felines emit.
It is characterized by grayish to brown fur, lighter on the abdomen, with dark spots or spots all over the body, which become stripes on the tail and extremities.
Are there no other breeds of cats from Egypt?
Surely, when you think of cats originating in Egypt you remember the sphynx, but the reality is that the origin of this breed, according to studies, is Canadian. So, aren't there other cats native to this area?
To understand this, it is necessary to go back to antiquity, specifically to the moment in which the cat began to transform into the domestic feline that you know today. With the heterogeneity of coats and forms that cats present, it is not surprising that the origin of their domestication is curious, especially when thinking about other species of felines that did not achieve this symbiosis of coexistence with the human being.
Today there are about 27 different cat species, of which only one subspecies is domestic. What does this mean? That, regardless of the breed of the feline and its external characteristics, in terms of genetics, they all belong to the same subspecies. Now, was this subspecies domestic since its appearance on Earth? And, if not, how did he come to strengthen his ties with the human? The answer, in this case, goes back to the antiquity of the Egyptian civilization
The most accepted hypothesis today indicates that the North African wild cat was very common in the lands of ancient Egypt, before civilization reached the advances for which they are known. At that time, the first settlers would begin to take advantage of the fertility of the banks of the Nile River to grow cereals, but this, as usual, attracted the presence of rodents that damaged the crops, a chaotic event for the inhabitants, since the river only offered its waters once a year, so the food depended on accumulating cereals for the other seasons. In response to this situation, it is believed that the villagers should have allowed the presence of cats as a simple way to control the plague of miceThis would be one of the first approaches of felines to human beings, from which both species took advantage.
By the time Egypt became the civilization that bequeathed the monuments we know today, its inhabitants had already spent 4000 years living with cats, to the point of turning them into gods and worshiping them as faithful companions.
It is believed to be from a species of North African cat, the Felis lybica, that the rest of the breeds of domestic felines that are known today originate. Seen in this way, it could be said that, in a certain way, all the cats we have at home have an Egyptian ancestor.
Now that you know the Egyptian cat breeds, if you have just adopted one of them, don't miss our list of Egyptian names for cats.
