The cat’s domestication, traditionally associated with ancient Egypt, may have deeper roots in religious ritual than previously considered, two new studies and recent genetic research indicate. Together, these findings contradict earlier assumptions that cats became human companions through gradual introduction into farming communities and instead point to ritualistic practice—that of the goddess Bastet in particular—as playing a central role in transforming wildcats into household pets.
For years, a 2001 discovery of a 9,500-year-old grave in Cyprus containing both human and feline remains had prompted most researchers to believe that domesticated cats first appeared on the Mediterranean island. The theory was that early farmers in Cyprus unintentionally encouraged wildcats to remain nearby by providing a steady food supply, resulting in a process of taming.
However, recent research has been able to debunk this viewpoint. One such study from the University of Exeter, which was based on animal bone measurements, determined that the Cyprus cat was not domesticated but a European wildcat. Another study by the University of Rome Tor Vergata corroborated the discovery via the analysis of nuclear DNA. The two studies, which are now published as preprints in bioRxiv, both determine that Cyprus was not the origin of cat domestication.
Instead, the attention has shifted back to Egypt, where both genetic and archaeological evidence now suggest that the domestication of cats began only some 3,000 years ago. Researchers propose that the initial impetus to domesticate wildcats came not from practical agricultural needs but from their religious function in ritual activity. In particular, they trace the domestication process to large-scale cult rituals centered on Bastet, the Egyptian goddess of protection, pleasure, and good health.
Originally depicted with the head of a lion, Bastet was increasingly reimagined with the head of a cat around the first millennium BCE—a symbolic shift that coincided with the rise of large-scale cat sacrifices. Free-roaming and specially bred cats by the millions were mummified and offered at temples to the goddess.
“This transformation was coincident with the rise of cat sacrifice, whereby millions of free-ranging and specifically bred cats were mummified as offerings to the goddess,” researchers wrote in one of the new studies.
Bastet’s temples and sanctuaries were often located near major agricultural regions, which were infested with rodents and their natural predator—the wildcat. This provided the setting for closer contact between humans and felines. According to the researchers, “This would have provided the context for the tighter relationship between people and cats that led to the wildcat’s domestication, motivated by their newly acquired divine status.”
Because these animals were housed and handled in close proximity to humans for ritual purposes, a population of more docile, human-tolerant cats would have resulted. Some Egyptians would then, at some point, have welcomed these tamer cats into their homes—not just as sacred animals, but as pets.
According to the study, modern domestic cats descended from the African wildcat subspecies Felis lybica lybica. This gene line appears to have expanded from North Africa in two principal waves during the first millennium BCE, and the second wave is what constitutes the modern domestic cat gene pool.
The researchers highlighted that cat domestication was not a one-way process rooted in agriculture. Instead, there were complex cultural factors across multiple North African civilizations. “Our results offer a new interpretative framework for the geographic origin of domestic cats, suggesting a broader and more complex process of domestication that may have involved multiple regions and cultures in North Africa,” the researchers concluded.
The study not only revolutionizes our understanding of how cats came to be human companions but also illustrates the profound impact of religion and ritual on the behavior and movement of animal species. Just as the spread of fallow deer was associated with the Greek goddess Artemis, and chickens with the cult of Mithras, the cult of Bastet can potentially account for the original domestication and eventual global spread of cats.
Despite the progress, scientists call for more dense genomic studies across North Africa and the Levant, particularly in Egypt, to refine the picture of the cat’s path to domestication. Genetic data from wildcats in these regions remains limited to date, with just five individuals sampled.
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