28/06/2023, 11:18 How Cats Became Divine Symbols in Ancient Egypt | HISTORY

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How Cats Became Divine Symbols

in Ancient Egypt
Felines served a useful purpose in ancient Egyptian households and
were eventually associated with deities.

BY: ELIZABETH YUKO

UPDATED: JUNE 8, 2023 | ORIGINAL: AUGUST 17, 2021

Along with hieroglyphics, obelisks and geometric patterns, cats feature prominently
in ancient Egyptian art, reflecting the animal’s unique status among the people who
dwelled along the Nile River. The animals were initially adopted as useful predators
in ancient Egypt and gradually became symbols of divinity and protection.

“Though it is hard to say the Egyptians thought one thing or another, since so much
change happened across their 3,000+ years of history, the ancient Egyptians, in
general, did not worship animals,” says Julia Troche, an Egyptologist, assistant
professor of history at Missouri State University, and author of Death, Power, and
Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. “Rather, [they] saw
animals as representations of divine aspects of their gods.”

Whether or not they were worshiped as deities, cats were an integral part of
ancient Egyptian life. And, based on mummified cats discovered in tombs alongside
humans, they carried an important role in the afterlife, as well.

Cats Provided Companionship and Pest

Control
For most of the civilization’s history, ancient Egyptians saw cats as mutually
beneficial companions, according to Troche. “Cats might come inside when it was

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hot, and they in turn would chase away dangerous animals, such as snakes—many
of which were venomous—and scorpions,” she explains.

Some of what we know about the function of cats in ancient Egyptian society
comes from scenes of everyday life depicted in paintings on the walls of tombs. “In
tombs scenes, cats are shown laying or sitting below chairs, chasing birds and
playing,” Troche says. “In some mortuary texts, they are shown with a dagger,
cutting through Apopis: the snake deity who threatens Ra (the sun) at night in the
Underworld.”

Companionship in the Afterlife

After keeping a cat as a live-in pet during their lives, ancient Egyptians continued
that relationship into the afterlife. “The tomb was one's posthumous house for
eternity,” Troche explains. “In your tombs, you would depict your family, your
greatest titles and awards and the things you enjoyed doing. So, to see cats
included in these tableaus speaks to their importance both in the daily lives of
ancient Egyptians and in their hope that they continued with them into the
Hereafter.”

On walls from the Tomb of Nebamun, now housed at the British Museum, one
painting features a cat accompanying Nebamun while he is out fishing and fowling.
The cat has caught a bird in its mouth and grasps two other birds in its claws. One
of the eyes of the cat is embellished with gold leaf gilding, which, according to the
British Museum, is “the only known example of gilding on wall paintings in Theban
tomb chapels.”

The presence of cats in tombs wasn’t limited to paintings—sometimes cats were

mummified and placed inside their human companion’s tomb, according to the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History. One reason this was done is that when cats
were mummified, they could then be used as funerary goods. “This meant that the
deceased person could inhabit the body of the mummified cat in the afterlife,”
explains Monique Skidmore, a professor of anthropology at Deakin University and
editor of Trip Anthropologist.

Ancient Royals Made Cats Trendy

As is the case across various civilizations and cultures, ancient Egyptians saw royals
as trendsetters, taking cues from the ruling tastemakers on everything from food,
to fashion, to felines.

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“Ancient Egyptians held cats in such high regard because of the practices and
preferences of their gods, but also because their kings, the pharaohs, kept giant
cats,” Skidmore says. “Members of the Egyptian royal class dressed their cats in
gold and let them eat from their plates.” Although members of the lower classes
weren’t in a position to dress their cats in precious metals, she notes that they did
make and wear their own jewelry featuring feline designs.

And while cats were a favorite of the pharaohs, some of their characteristics were
more important during some dynastic eras than others, Skidmore explains. “Bastet,
for example—the daughter of the gods Ra and Isis—was first depicted as a fierce
lioness, but later as a domestic cat: a dutiful mother with several kittens, and a
protector of the family,” she adds.

Cats Had Coveted Characteristics

In addition to appreciating their ability to keep rodents, snakes and other pests out
of their homes, the ancient Egyptians understood that cats of all sizes are smart,
quick and powerful.

“Sekhmet was a lioness goddess who was a warrior and protector deity who kept at
bay the enemies of the sun god Ra (also spelled “Re”) and who also kept away
illness and sickness,” Troche notes. “In this way, we can see that the ancient
Egyptians thought of cats, more generally, as protectors, while at the same time
they respected their ferocity.”

Cats in ancient Egypt were also seen as possessing another type of power: fertility.
“They are often depicted sitting under women's chairs, implying a connection to
women, and perhaps fertility more broadly,” Troche says, noting that the
association may stem from the fact that cats have multiple kittens in a litter.

Cat Mummification
The ancient Egyptians believed that their gods could assume different forms, and
over the centuries, it became increasingly common for gods to take the form of
animals, including cats.

“These gods could not just appear with the head of a cat, for example, but could
also inhabit the bodies of cats,” Skidmore explains. “That’s why cats were
mummified, and a whole economy around breeding and mummifying cats was

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created in ancient Egypt.” In fact, the killing of cats was forbidden in ancient Egypt
with one exception: mummification.

“Cats were not worshipped as gods themselves, but as vessels that the gods chose
to inhabit, and whose likeness gods chose to adopt,” Skidmore explains. Through
their ubiquitous presence in the art, fashion and home ornamentation of ancient
Egypt, cats served as an everyday reminder of the power of the gods.

BY: ELIZABETH YUKO

Elizabeth Yuko, Ph.D., is a bioethicist and journalist, as well as an adjunct professor of

ethics at Fordham University. She has written for numerous publications, including
Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic.

Citation Information
Article Title How Cats Became Divine Symbols in Ancient Egypt

Author Elizabeth Yuko

Website Name HISTORY

URL https://www.history.com/news/cats-ancient-egypt

Date Accessed June 28, 2023

Publisher A&E Television Networks

Last Updated June 8, 2023

Original Published Date August 17, 2021

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