Cats? Cats ... Cats! Part 1

Cats? Cats ... Cats! Part 1
Cats in Europe

They say that in Ulzare, which is located across the river Skei, forbidden to kill cats, and I do not find it strange, looking at her cat, who, purring, heated by the fire. After all, cats - the mysterious creatures and know a lot of what people know is not given. Cat - the soul of ancient Egypt, the keeper of forgotten lore city of Meroe and Ophir. She - a relative of lords of the jungle, the successor of the ancient mysteries, sinister Africa. Sphinx - her cousin, but she remembers the ancient Sphinx and the fact that he was already half forgotten.

Perhaps ever since the domestication of cats mankind is divided into two parts: those who love cats and those who do not understand what they can love. The exquisitely graceful and deliberately clumsy, gentle and indifferent, lazy and predatory, untamed and around depending on the person, fearless and cowardly - cats for centuries caused bewilderment, admiration and fear. People do not realize cats - but some of them for this worship, while others - hate. And so it went.

Cats in Ancient Egypt

Cats are known to people since ancient times . Primitive people knew them, rather, to the gastronomic point of view: the earliest Homo sapiens oldest cat hunted for their meat and skins . However, with the development of agriculture people began to make more and more significant reserves of grain, and he needed a helper to protect the store from mice and other small rodents . The skeleton of the first supposedly tame a wild cat was discovered during excavations at the site of Jericho, in layers VII millennium BC . In ancient Egypt, cats were domesticated about 5000 years ago . Anyway, to 2300 g . BC . e . are the first Egyptian hieroglyphics, meaning "cat" and "cat" . Over time, these animals have become extremely important for the agricultural economy of Egypt . It is natural, therefore, that the cats were taken under protection of the law and the punishment for murder is gradually tightened cats . If the original killer cat brush or cut off a hand, then later a crime punishable by death . However, by this time the cat was declared a sacred animal, and her killer was considered a heretic and overthrower bases .

The Egyptians first hit upon the idea to call their pets. The earliest extant cat's name - Neji (meaning sweet or pleasant). Its owner lived in the era of the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III, in the XIV century BC.

However, there is not so much a cat among the people, as among the inhabitants of heaven. Even the great sun god Ra was shown in the form of fiery red cat (for which it was called the Great cat). The tomb of the XIV century BC discovered fresco depicting a red cat, which defeats the snake Apophis, ruler of the dark forces. One cat paw presses the head of the serpent of darkness, and the other holding the knife.

But the main "representative" of cats in the Egyptian pantheon was the goddess Bastet, which depicts a lion with the first, and then with a cat's head. Her cult was first established around 1800 BC in the city of Bubastis in the eastern Nile Delta. Around 950 BC one of the Pharaohs suffered to his capital, and then the worship of the cat-goddess spread throughout Egypt.

The Greek historian and geographer Herodotus visited Egypt in 450 BC and with some bewilderment described the worship of an unknown animal (in his homeland at this time to protect against rodents and snakes used weasels). According to Herodotus, in the temple of Bastet lived thousands of cats that looked for one of the most respected priests. For improper handling of his cats severely it punished. Seven times a year, a hundred thousand priests gathered at Bubastis in the commemoration of the sacred cats, and at the beginning of each year, thousands of Egyptians sailed to the temple to pay homage to the goddess.

If a fire starts, the cat carried out of the house before the children and property, and when she was dying, grieving owners plucked her eyebrows as a sign of grief. However, such an affection for small predators justified from a financial point of view: the happy cat breed in captivity and was expensive.

Were the Egyptians and hunting dogs, trained to hunt small game birds. The fresco depicts the tomb of a hunter in ambush with the cat, as well as the time of the attack on the bird.

The Egyptians were forbidden to take out cats from the country, and those who have taken out smuggling, tried to buy back and take back. Cats become Egypt symbol of wealth and prosperity. But one day the Egyptians paid dearly for the worship of cats. In 525 BC, because of his passion for small predators Egyptians were defeated at the Battle of Peluziuma. Learning about the worship of cats enemies, the Persian king Cambyses tricky tie ordered cats to the boards. When the Persians went to attack the Egyptians were terrified and surrendered, preferring to defeat the killing of sacred animals.

Cats were surrounded by the veneration in his lifetime, he was worshiped after death. The mummies of cats embalmed and buried in a special cemetery in silver or bronze coffin, which was placed food and even a mummy mice. On the cat cemetery was found about 400 thousand of these mummies, with ears, tail and legs of many of them were decorated with jewels. Also, the study of mummies have shown that cats were domesticated, and has been subjected to the selection: the skeleton, teeth, skin pigmentation is very different from their wild sisters.

Cats in the East

In China Murka showed up much later than in Egypt. It is believed that they were the Chinese from Egypt and from Babylon to the VI century BC However, there is indirect evidence that cats existed in China before and were domesticated by the Chinese themselves. It dates back to the VI century the first mention of a cat in ancient Chinese literature: Aude famous book tells of the sacred cat Mao, which protected the rice fields of China from mice. The Chinese have used cats and as hours: in the morning the pupils of cats the size and shape resembled date-bone, and in the afternoon, they turned into a barely perceptible crack.

The Chinese also worshiped cats: small predators not only saved people from starvation Psychology and physiology of hunger - the two sides of the same coin But also from the plague, killing rats. In honor of the cats staged theatrical festivals and ceremonies. However, in the Chinese astrological calendar, cat no. As always, the cat has suffered because of his independent nature. When the Buddha was about to ascend to Nirvana, he invited all the animals to the ceremony. It was all but a cat, which according to different versions or sleeping or hunting. For disrespect she was punished.

However, in communist times cats had hard times. Great Mao disliked them. He ordered them to destroy, and cats in China almost ostalosKak in the days of ancient Egypt, is now China's thriving smuggling cats, which is considered to be very lucrative.

Meanwhile, once the cat is out of China entered Japan. Emperor of Japan gave a pair of kittens, and this pair gave offspring 19 days 9 months of the year 999, which was considered a good omen. Emperor holil and cherished their cats, they contained a special staff of servants, and even a nurse. Ordinary people cats were not affordable. They were considered a privilege of nobility and were very expensive.

However, as time passed, and the cat of the best friends turned into bitter enemies. The main evil lay in the cat's tail, which recognized the likeness of the serpent. Cats were considered evil spirits, even vampires. But the Japanese do not want to give up their favorite animals and the charming simplicity of the solution found satisfying. Demons cast out of the cat's body by beheading tail. About how it looked, we can judge by the Japanese figures of the time, depicting people, surrounded by law-abiding tailless cats. Fortunately, in 1602 the cats were fully rehabilitated special imperial decree.

Japanese cats forgive with all my heart. Now they are good spirits, and put their statuettes at the gate that they guarded the house. Today is one of the most beloved characters of Japanese children - Manekineko cat, waving lapkoy.A here in Burma, Thailand and cats are always treated with reverence. They were considered treasures of Siamese kings. Tails royal cats are especially appreciated. According to legend, one of the princesses was inseparable Siamese with their cats and had a habit of stringing their rings on their tails when I went for a swim. And that jewelry is not lost, princess cat tails in tying knots. It is because of this, the royal Siamese gnarled tails and bad temper.

But with a special fondness for cats are Muslims . According to the Greek historian Pliny, long before the birth of Islam the Arabs worshiped the golden cat (he probably meant foremothers Abyssinian) . However, in the Muslim period of the love of cats in Arabia flourished . The great prophet Mohammed was a staunch cat owner and commanded his followers to cherish the small predators . According to the recommendations of the Prophet, any devout Muslim is obliged to feed at least one stray cat . The Prophet had cats everlasting kindness by teaching always land on all fours . But even that was not enough Mohammed . He guaranteed cats permanent place in heaven and came to Arab tradition as the "father of cats" . An eloquent example of the arrangement of Mohammed to cats is the following legend . The favorite of the Prophet, Mietstsa cat, asleep on the sleeve of his robe . Mohammed was in a hurry to pray, but did not dare to disturb a cat . Torn between duty and passion sacred to pitomitsy, Mohammed was forced to cut off the sleeve of his robe, to have time for prayer .