Cat Worship, Why Egyptians Worshipped Cats

As far as a cat is concerned, being worshipped is an absolute birthright. In ancient Egypt the cat was revered as no other beast in that they were mummified, sat upon the thrones of kings, and often found themselves in the company of the great names throughout history. The single exception is the Christian bible, where cats were not mentioned at all. But, don't tell the cats!

Most cat lovers know that cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt, where they were considered to have ultimate importance. The Egyptians actually mummified cats protecting them for the afterlife, we know this because thousands of cat mummies have been uncovered there. Something a little less known is that Egyptians would shave off their eyebrows during the mourning period should a family cat pass away. But, the feline adulation doesn't stop there:

If you visit the Egyptian room at the British Museum, you will see just how perfectly the cat worshipping Egyptians have preserved their little gods, many are almost pristine in appearance. Cats were so worshipped during Egyptian times, that if you were the unlucky person who had accidentally killed a family cat, the punishment was sure to be fatal. What may be worst for the surviving family members was knowing that your human remains would not have been nearly as carefully attended to as were the remains of the cat.

The British Museum has one of the best cat mummy displays among a vastly superior Egytian exhibit.

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In Siam (currently Thailand), where family cats enjoy complete reverence, it was mandated that during the royal celebration of a new king, a cat be presented at the front of the lead chariot.

In Norse mythology (a cat would tell you there is no myth about it), Freya, the most celebrated and desirable of the goddesses, would be pulled around in a chariot that was pulled only by cats.

As expected, for as many cultures that found cats worth worshipping, there were those who found the feline a villan to be scorned. The most notable dispaly of hate would have to be during the dark ages, cats were considered to be connected with the devil. Due to this ridiculous theory, many cats were put to death, as well as those humans who appeared to be demons or connected to witchcraft.

No matter if cats have been considered devil or deity, they have through the years surely shown their worth many times over. They have maintained sentry on ships and farms protecting humans from disease ridden vermin and their attacks on food supplies like grains and rice. A halo may not be waiting in a cats afterlife, but to a cat, knowing we worship them in this life, makes a human worth all the work.

Until 1994, cats were thought to have been first domesticated in ancient Egypt. During excavation at a New Stone Age site (called such due to the advancements made in the developing architecture of the time and the stone implements that had been polished) located in Cyprus, a young cat was found buried alongside of a human.

We are now finding that the darling felines have been around far longer than we ever thought. It has been discovered that semi-feral cats have been hunting chubby grain-storage-rats for about 10,000 years, geographically located by what is now modern-day Iraq. These feline grain guardians were a welcome addition because they were such fantastic hunters. The Near East wildcat is considered to be the ancestor of the world's now nearly 700 million domestic cats.

A cat doesn't much care about its history or how it got to where it is in modern society. The only thing a cat truly cares about is that we love them and share our lives with them, as long as we Humans remain obedient to the deity we call "the family cat."