Ancient Egyptian Cat Breeds

Check out our fun list of 9 of oldest cat breeds still around today.

Ancient egyptian cat breeds. She was often also depicted with a head of a leopard panthera pardus. Egyptian maus are a small to medium sized short haired cat breed. It is believed that this breed is more than 4 000 years old meaning they have been around since 2000 b c. The latter had a calmer temperament and so was more commonly domesticated than its wilder relative.

Some say that the abyssinian is a cat breed from ancient egyptian times because it looks similar to artifacts from that time period. The spots of the mau occur on only the tips of the hairs of its coat. It is considered a rare breed. The egyptian mau is the most popular of all egyptian cat breeds.

The ones we see today were bred with burmese russian blue and siamese cats. Since ancient egyptian times cats have been holding a special spot in the heart of humans far and wide. They are the only domestic cat that has naturally occurring spots giving them an exotic appearance. It s one of the most expensive cats in the world.

She was particularly prominent during the reign of den. The ancestors of this cat were depicted in paintings sculptures and artworks of ancient egypt and had the unique spotted coats with kohl eyes and can be easily visible in today s egyptian mau. There is archeological and genetic evidence to show that these cats existed and originated in egypt. Mafdet was the first known cat headed deity in ancient egypt.

Many experts agree that the oldest cat breed in the world is the egyptian mau. We love them for many reasons and although there are over 70 recognized breeds of cats to date there are a select few that hold the title of the oldest cat breeds to date. The mau cat is probably the most popular of the egyptian cat breeds of which there are records in the murals that have been discovered about the past of this civilization. During the first dynasty 2920 2770 bc she was regarded as protector of the pharaoh s chambers against snakes scorpions and evil.

There were two main breeds of cat native to ancient egypt. Of course the modern abyssinian is much different than its ancestors. The name mau was derived from the egyptian word mjw which refers to a cat. The jungle cat felis chaus and the african wildcat felis silvestris lybica.

Similar looking spotted cats are depicted in ancient egyptian paintings and described in hieroglyphs suggesting that the origins of the mau go way back to when cats were first domesticated. They are one of the few naturally spotted breeds of domesticated cat.