Ancient Egyptian Cat Breeds

Mau is the word they used to call cats similar to the sound these domestic cats make.

Ancient egyptian cat breeds. Since ancient egyptian times cats have been holding a special spot in the heart of humans far and wide. 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. Egyptian maus are a small to medium sized short haired cat breed. They are one of the few naturally spotted breeds of domesticated cat.

The spots of the mau occur on only the tips of the hairs of its coat. The egyptian mau is the most popular of all egyptian cat breeds. Ancient egypt was the birthplace of this regal looking cat breed which we all know by the name egyptian mau. 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.

The latter had a calmer temperament and so was more commonly domesticated than its wilder relative. The jungle cat felis chaus and the african wildcat felis silvestris lybica. It is considered a rare breed. There were two main breeds of cat native to ancient egypt.

Many experts agree that the oldest cat breed in the world is the egyptian mau. The two species eventually merged creating a new breed which was closely related to the modern egyptian mau. Mafdet was the first known cat headed deity in ancient egypt. The ones we see today were bred with burmese russian blue and siamese cats.

She was often also depicted with a head of a leopard panthera pardus. Some say that the abyssinian is a cat breed from ancient egyptian times because it looks similar to artifacts from that time period. During the first dynasty 2920 2770 bc she was regarded as protector of the pharaoh s chambers against snakes scorpions and evil. She was particularly prominent during the reign of den.

Of course the modern abyssinian is much different than its ancestors. It s one of the most expensive cats in the world. Check out our fun list of 9 of oldest cat breeds still around today. It is believed that this breed is more than 4 000 years old meaning they have been around since 2000 b c.

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. The name mau was derived from the egyptian word mjw which refers to a cat.