Historical story

The cats in history

According to some Hebrew and Babylonian legends, cats emerged through the sneeze of a lion.

Since very ancient times, man builds a very peculiar relationship with animals that surround your world. In some cultures, certain animals are worshiped as gods or represent the origin of some important deity. In other cases, their simple presence may be associated with the warning of a bad omen or the incarnation of some kind of curse. In the case of cats , we can see that both types of gaze apply to this curious feline.

About 10,000 years ago, cats emerged in sedentary human groups with the natural function of exterminating rodents. around the grain stocks. At the same time, Hebrew and Babylonian legends said that cats emerged through the sneeze of a lion. Probably, this type of mythical explanation came from the physical and behavioral similarities observed between these two animals from the same biological family.

Cats in Egyptian culture

Among the Egyptians, this degree of closeness narrowed when various deities assumed parts of a cat's body. Bastet , the Egyptian goddess of fertility and maternal love, was commonly represented by a woman with a cat's head. Looking at the various image records organized by the Egyptians, we can see that cats roamed around the court and had no ceremony in approaching any individual belonging to that civilization.

Animal Demonization

In the development of the Christian Era , the good relationship with the cats was losing ground to a true process of demonization of the animal. Some scholars say that this change took place because the pagans worshiped cats and, a little later, because the Muslims also held the animal in good esteem. In the early Middle Ages, midwives, who commonly carried the image of a cat, symbol of the goddess Bastet, were prohibited from using such a device.

About 13th century , the relationship between cats and pagan religions soon turned to the construction of a demonic image of the animal. In one of his many bulls, Pope Gregory IX determined that the cats were definitively exterminated. The paranoia caused by the Inquisition ended up taking a heavy toll, as the decline in the feline population ended up helping the rodents that transmitted the Black Death to spread. in different regions of Europe.

Also see: Black Plague

The cat as a pet

With the passage of time, this mystical and prejudiced vision lost place for the pleasure that comes from the domestication of these small animals. The ability to associate independence and sociability makes the cat a pleasant and integral type of company. In several literary texts this animal is described by a detail of virtues that place it in a privileged position. Apparently, they also manage to occupy the rank of “man's best friend ”.


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