Wild ancestors of modern cats
The genotype and phenotype of the domestic cat have evolved over millions of years, so it is impossible to accurately determine its wild ancestor. Many adhere to the version about the origin of cats from creodonts, who lived 50–70 million years ago. This group of extinct animals consisted of predators, scavengers and omnivores. Cats evolved from the first species. The size of these creatures was many times greater than that of lions and tigers. Their victims had virtually no chance of escape, so they caused panic in smaller animals.
Creodont cat ancestor
A branch of miacids separated from the creodonts. They differed from their ancestors in their more developed intelligence, smaller size, elongated plastic bodies, short legs and elongated muzzles, which gave them a resemblance to martens. Miacids were characterized by greater endurance and adaptability to new climatic conditions, but were still less physically developed than modern predators.
Proailurus
Subsequently, miacidae divided into 2 groups, one of which became the ancestor of dogs, the second, proailurus, became the ancestor of civets, the predecessors of cats. The last category of animals had even smaller sizes, greater flexibility and dexterity, which allowed them to live in trees. Subsequently, pseudodelurus evolved from it, from which modern pets and extinct saber-toothed cats originated.
Steppe cat
The closest ancestors of domestic cats are steppe cats, which today live in Africa, Asia, Northern India, Transcaucasia and Kazakhstan. In Russia, these animals can be found in floodplain forests and bushes of the Astrakhan region. Representatives of this breed are somewhat larger than their domesticated counterparts. These animals lead a solitary lifestyle and hunt small animals and rodents.
Cat as an attraction
Ekaterina Kachura-Falileeva.
At the samovar. 1st half XX century Cats still “work” in the Hermitage - not in the exhibition halls, but in the courtyards and basements. Each cat has a veterinary passport, a bowl and a basket for sleeping. In 2021, the British publication The Telegraph included the Hermitage cats in the list of unusual attractions that you must see if you come to St. Petersburg.
“There are only 50 cats, I set this limit myself. They live in the yard and in basements. We give “extra” cats to good hands. They know their habitats in the basements; there is no need to guide them. We have interviews and filming about cats no less often than about Rembrandt.”
Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, Literaturnaya Gazeta, 2014
History of wild cat domestication
It is known that cats were domesticated later than dogs. Until people began farming, there was no need to keep these creatures. When people began to stock up on food, they were faced with the problem of rodents destroying their supplies. Noticing that cats love to hunt small animals, people began to domesticate them. What are the main stages of cat domestication?
Domestication of cats in the Fertile Crescent 9,500 years ago
Based on the latest research into the genotype of the domestic cat, it was first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago - in the area of the Sumerian civilization, in the lands of modern Iraq, Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. It is not known whether the Sumerians treated representatives of the cat family as sacred creatures, but there is evidence of the participation of these pets in hunting not only rodents, but also small animals such as hares and even snakes.
Then cats from the Fertile Crescent came to Egypt, where they were given special importance. There were 3 types of cats living in this country: steppe, reed and nocturnal Nubian, images of which can most often be seen on the walls of temples and tombs. There is also a version about the parallel domestication of these pets by the Egyptians. It is known for sure that it was from the Nile Valley that these animals came to Ancient Greece and the countries of North Africa.
The appearance of domestic cats in Europe
The appearance of cats in Europe is due solely to pragmatic considerations. During the heyday of the Egyptian state, it was forbidden to take cats outside its borders. As a maritime power, it traded with many countries, and traders, not wanting to suffer losses due to rodents, took cats with them on ships during their travels, from where they ended up on all continents. It is known that already in the 4th century BC. e. these pets inhabited the territory of modern Great Britain.
In Europe, cats were initially highly valued. In the X–XI centuries. The rulers of some European powers even issued decrees on the rules for treating these animals. With the beginning of the Inquisition, they began to be perceived as companions of witches and exterminated.
In Rus', cats have always been treated well, considering them a symbol of wealth and well-being. It is still a popular custom among the Eastern Slavs today to let a cat be the first to enter a new home, so that it will bring happiness and always protect the home from misfortunes.
Is the domestic cat domesticated or does it just live next to humans?
Cats have been accompanying people for many centuries, but there is no consensus on whether they are domesticated animals. Despite their impressive appearance, these creatures have retained their independent character and good adaptability to the conditions of the wild in almost unchanged form. There are 2 points of view regarding the issue of cat domestication:
How did domestic cats appear?
Kirill Stasevich, biologist
“Science and Life” No. 8, 2017
Photo: Larazoni / Wikimedia Commons
The ancient Egyptians had a special relationship with cats: they were revered as sacred animals; mummified like people; depicted in sculpture and frescoes. And the very first cat “portrait” was painted by the Egyptians. It was a painting in one of the tombs south of Cairo, made around 1950 BC. e., that is, almost four thousand years ago. It shows a cat staring intently at an approaching rat.
Cat mummies. Exhibits from the British Museum. Photo: britishmuseum.org
For quite a long time it was believed that the Egyptians tamed cats. However, in 2004, a burial dating back to 9500 BC was discovered in Cyprus. e., in which a cat was found along with a man. A wild animal would hardly be put in a grave. It turned out that cats lived with people long before they appeared in Egypt. The Middle East began to be considered the homeland of domestic cats, and for some time they forgot about Egypt. But not for long: in 2008, a burial was discovered in the south of Egypt, in which they found six cats - a male, a female and four kittens. Although this burial was younger than the Cypriot burial (about 6,000 years), it became clear that cats were known in Egypt much earlier than was believed until recently.
It is known that the ancestor of the domestic cat was the steppe cat Felis silvestris lybica
- it still lives in the steppe, desert and partly mountainous regions of Africa, Western, Middle and Central Asia, Northern India, Transcaucasia and Kazakhstan. In 2007, it was established that all modern cats originated from him.
The ancestor of the domestic cat is the steppe cat, which has a “wild” tabby coloration. Photo: Sonelle at English / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
Bast, or Bastet. In Ancient Egypt, the goddess of joy, fun and love, fertility and hearth. She was depicted as a woman with the head of a cat. Picture: Gunkarta / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
Over time, domestic cats accumulated certain changes in their genome, and if we trace how and when such changes occurred using ancient animal remains, we can determine exactly where domestic cats first appeared and how they spread across the globe.
This is exactly what Eva-Maria Geigl and Thierry Granger from the Jacob Monod Institute (France) tried to do, together with colleagues from scientific centers in Australia, Armenia, Romania, Germany and other countries. They analyzed more than two hundred DNA samples taken from the remains of cats ranging in age from 100 to 9,000 years old, which were found during archaeological excavations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. For the analysis, we used not ordinary nuclear DNA, but the one contained in mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA is transmitted only through the maternal line, since after fertilization the embryo retains only those mitochondria that were in the egg. Using such DNA, it is relatively easy to reconstruct the female line of the family tree, without being distracted by paternal genes.
Tricolor cat: white, black and red. Photo by Marina Slyusar
The steppe cat has its own “mitochondrial portrait” - characteristic features in the mitochondrial DNA that distinguish it from other related species. In an article published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution
, it is reported that for the first time domestic cats, most similar in mitochondrial genome to the steppe cat, appear 9,000 years ago in burials excavated in the territory of modern Turkey. And this is quite consistent with the “Middle Eastern” hypothesis: it was in these places, about 10,000 years ago, that wild cats discovered that near food supplies made by humans, rodents were found in abundance and that it was therefore better to be friends with people. The mitochondrial profile of such cats was called “type A”. Approximately 4400 BC. e. cats of this type appear on the territory of modern Bulgaria, 3200 BC. e. - where Romania is now, and then they spread throughout the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa. Since cats are characterized by territoriality and are not inclined to long journeys, animals were obviously able to quickly settle on all continents only with the help of people.
But let's return to Egypt. It turned out that the mitochondrial DNA of Egyptian cat mummies differs from the DNA of “type A” cats. "Egyptian women" were designated "type C", and the first of them date back to around 800 BC. e. It is possible that “type C” cats appeared in Egypt earlier, but it was not possible to extract the amount of DNA required for analysis from more ancient burials.
The Egyptian Mau is an ancient breed that has undergone natural selection. Her appearance has not undergone significant changes for 3000 years. In the photo: Egyptian Mau of silver color. Photo: Lil Shepherd / Wikipedia / CC BY 2.0
Bicolor domestic cat. Photo by Ekaterina Krichmar
Over time, Egyptian cats became very popular: by the fifth century AD they could be found throughout Europe and throughout the Mediterranean, and by the end of the first millennium in some places they completely replaced Middle Eastern cats. The popularity of “type C” cats can be explained by the notorious special attitude of the Egyptians towards these animals: there were more and more cats in Egypt, and here among them, which is especially important, they selected not only good hunters, but also pleasant “roommates” who had gotten rid of the wild quarrelsomeness. The changes that gradually took place in Egyptian cats can also be traced in Egyptian art: at first the animals were depicted doing some useful activity, such as catching rats, but then the cats in the paintings became more and more “domesticated” and became closer to people - they already caught with their owners birds, they have collars, they sit under the chair while people are busy having lunch, as in one of the frescoes dating back to about 1500 BC. e.
Siamese color. A cat's paws, tail, head and ears are usually darker in color. Photo by Alexey Karpushin
But where did the “type C” cat come from in Egypt? It can be assumed that the Egyptians domesticated cats independently of other peoples, taking as a basis the local population of steppe cats, whose mitochondrial DNA, after domestication from scratch, gave “type C” - in this case, local domestic cats originated here. But it could have been different: first, Middle Eastern “type A” cats appeared in Egypt, which later, as a result of crossing with local wild cats, turned into “type C” cats. And subsequently, the Egyptians kept at home just such domestic cats with “wild” genetic additives.
Be that as it may, all modern cats are a mixture of “type A” and “type C”. And even if the Egyptians themselves did not domesticate anyone, it was they who made cats everyone’s favorites, teaching them communication and affection. It is curious that the genes that control color in domestic cats remained unchanged for a very long time, and only around the 14th century AD. e. animals appear whose “wild” striped coloring “spreads” into various spots and “blots”. If we take dogs or horses for comparison, then they “changed into domestic clothes” quite early, but probably no one cared about the appearance of cats for a long time - the main thing is that they learn to behave in the house.
A modern wild-colored domestic cat. Photo: Jens Nietschmann / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
A Bengal cat with a leopard pattern on its coat, characteristic only of this breed. This animal inherited this feature from its wild ancestors thanks to long-term selection. Photo: steveheap / ru.depositphotos.com
In 2001, during excavations in Central China, in the town of Quanhucun, where there was once a farm of prehistoric farmers, several cat bones were found that were 5,300 years old. Analysis of the remains showed that these were domestic cats: they ate some animals, which, in turn, ate cereals (that is, obviously, the cats hunted small rodents), and people clearly took care of them (part of the bones belonged to a rather old a beast that most likely would not have lived to that age without human help). The question was where did these animals come from: did they come with Middle Eastern traders or were they domesticated right here? Researchers from the Sorbonne and the University of Aberdeen, together with Chinese colleagues, came to the conclusion that all the prehistoric cat bones that were found in China belong to the Bengal cat - Prionailurus bengalensis
.
In a paper published last year in the scientific journal PLoS ONE
, the authors make several arguments that these were not just wild animals that wandered near human settlement, but cats in the early stages of domestication. Let's list these arguments: some of the remains belonged to cats that were slightly smaller than wild individuals (that is, the process of domestication was already underway), and one of the cats was buried entirely, which indicates a special relationship between the animal and the person.
However, the “experiment” to domesticate the Bengal cat ended in nothing: over time, long-tamed descendants of the steppe cat appeared in China, who were more obedient, more useful in the household and who knew better what people wanted from them, and the people themselves understood what their cat meows.
Photo by Alina Nesterovskaya
CAT GENES
Carlos Driscoll from the National Cancer Institute (USA) and his colleagues from different countries analyzed the genetic material of 979 representatives of domestic and wild cat species: European, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, South African and Chinese desert cats. They published their findings in the journal Science (text in English, free registration required to read). It turned out that all currently existing wild cat species are subspecies of one common species - Felis Silvestris (Latin: Wild Cat). But the DNA of domestic cats coincided with the DNA of only one of these subspecies - the Middle Eastern wild cats Felis Silvestris Lybica (lat. Libyan Wild Cat), living in the remote deserts of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the ancestors of absolutely all domestic cats were no more than five individuals, whose descendants, accompanying humans, settled throughout the world.
Photo: Daniele Colombo CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Pictured: Felis Silvestris Lybica
Myths, legends and original versions of the origin of cats and their appearance on Earth
Due to their attractive appearance, independent character and special manner of communicating with humans, cats have long been attributed with unusual properties and otherworldly origins.
Many believe that these animals can predict natural disasters and heal their owners. Their ability to group in a jump and almost always land on their paws never ceases to amaze. Where could cats come from?
The Myth of Noah's Ark
Interestingly, according to legend, there were no cats on the ship into which God ordered Noah to take a pair from each type of animal. According to the Old Church Slavonic apocrypha, the devil got into the ark, turning into a mouse, and tried to gnaw its bottom, but after Noah’s prayer, God sent him a cat and a female cat, who killed the pest. According to another version, these animals appeared from the nostrils of a lion when Noah stroked him.
The Divine Origin of Ancient Cats
In Ancient Egypt, cats were attributed to divine origin and, accordingly, were given corresponding significance. The sacred role of representatives of the cat family in ancient Egyptian society is evidenced by numerous frescoes and statues found during excavations. Pharaoh Akhenaten, the husband of the famous Nefertiti, considered himself the son of the sun god, and all cats and cats - his brothers and sisters.
Bastet
It is known that it was customary for the ancient Egyptians to depict the goddess of fertility and hearth, as well as fun and joy, Bastet, in the form of a woman with a cat's head or a cat. In the city of Bubastis, a temple was built in honor of this goddess, and her high priest bore the title of great healer. Bastet, like a cat, sometimes became ferocious and turned into the lioness goddess Sekhmet, who was distinguished by incredible cruelty, but also patronized warriors and healers. It is known about magnificent holidays in honor of Bastet, when pilgrims gathered in Bubastis, where they drank a lot of wine, played musical instruments and sang.
If there was a fire in the house, cats were rescued first as God's messengers, and then the rest of the property. After death, pets were embalmed and buried in richly decorated caskets, but most importantly, mourning was observed. Not to mention killing, the ancient Egyptians were subject to severe punishment and public condemnation for beatings and disrespectful treatment of these animals.
Cats are messengers of extraterrestrial civilization
Ancient Egyptian mythology gave rise to a version about the alien origin of cats. Its adherents believe that a hairless cat flew to Ancient Egypt from another planet, which spoke human language and mentally communicated with people. Having met and fallen in love with a wild steppe cat in the forest, she decided to stay on this planet and acquired offspring from her beloved, from whom all domestic cats subsequently descended. Interestingly, astronauts collected small coin-like formations on the Moon. It turned out that their composition is similar to cat feces.
History of the species
There have been many opinions and hypotheses about the appearance of this species of animal. If you systematize them and choose more or less realistic ones, you will get several versions.
Bible version
Many admirers of affectionate pets know the biblical legend about the appearance of cats on earth on Noah's ark. When the ship Noah built was saving animals from the Flood, rodents appeared on board, which began to pose a real threat to the well-being of the rescued inhabitants of the ark.
According to myth, a cat and a cat emerged from the nostrils of a lion when Noah stroked the king of beasts. Thus, the ancestors of modern cats saved humanity and all animals from the invasion of rodents on the ship.
We recommend reading about how cats see. You will learn about the characteristics of cat vision, vision in the dark, the ability to see into the distance and whether cats see colors or are they color blind? And here is more about the reasons why cats purr.
Scientific approach
Scientists have an informed view of the data on when cats appeared on earth. Evidence has survived to this day that the descendants of furry pets appeared on our planet about 60 million years ago. It was during this period that migration processes of mammals, including small predators, took place on Earth.
Fossa
An ancient inhabitant of Madagascar, the Fossa is considered by many scientists to be a prehistoric representative of the cat family.
Researchers in the field of evolutionary zoology believe that the ancestor of the modern cat, Proaiurus, weighed about 9 kg and resembled a marten. About 20 million years ago, Pseudolurus, an excellent tree-climbing animal, appeared. The small predator was a clever and successful hunter.
This prehistoric animal gave rise to two directions in the evolutionary process - modern representatives of the feline genus and ancient saber-toothed cats.
According to research by modern science, the lion is the youngest of all representatives of its large family. Animals such as lynx, puma and leopard are older than the king of beasts in historical terms. Inhabiting the territory of Eurasia, Africa and America, about 10 thousand years ago saber-toothed cats became extinct, leaving for the further evolutionary process only the branch that gave rise to the modern cat species.
Zoological scientists suggest that the historical roots of domestic beauties are of African origin. The North African steppe cat is the one from which cats originated. She is the closest relative of the pet that modern people are used to seeing at home. The African cat had a spotted (brown) color and was not as aggressive as other subspecies. The dun ancestor was distributed throughout the African continent.
The anatomical and morphological characteristics of these ancient animals are similar to the structure of the skeleton and internal organs of modern pets. The savanna relative was domesticated approximately 8 thousand years ago in Nubia (the territory of modern Northern Sudan).
Many scientists believe that the founder of the modern feline species is the Asian cat, which is widespread in Arabia and Mesopotamia. This theory is supported by the morphological similarity of the Pallas' cat and the Persian cat.
Most pundits are inclined to the theory that both the African and Asian subspecies of cats are the progenitors of modern furry beauties. This polyphelic origin indicates that the rocks originated in several historical centers of the Earth, independently of each other.
In Asia, crossbreeding with the Bengal cat took place; in Europe, the European forest cat participated in the formation of breeds. It was thanks to such local crossings that breeds varied in color, thickness of coat, and constitution began to appear. This is evidenced by numerous genetic studies of cat populations.
In addition to scientific theories on the topic of where cats came from on earth, there are also absolutely fantastic versions regarding this issue. Some owners seriously believe in the alien origin of their furry beauties.
About the history of cats in Ancient Egypt, watch this video:
To protect barns and deter mice
Vyacheslav Schwartz.
Scene from the home life of the Russian Tsars (Chess game). 1865. State Russian Museum The son of Alexei Mikhailovich Peter I considered cats to be animals that could be useful. In one of the decrees, he ordered “to have cats in the barns, to protect them, and to intimidate mice and rats.” Peter I's favorite cat was named Vasily. The Tsar took it in 1724 from the house of a Dutch merchant who traded in Vologda - Peter the Great often visited him.
Mysterious versions of the origin of cats
The cat is such a mysterious and mythological creature that people do not always believe in its ordinary origin. Let's look at the most common versions.
Bible version
The Bible contains information about Noah's Ark, which became a salvation for animals. There were no cats then, and mice and rats multiplied so quickly that the rest of the population no longer had enough food supplies. Then God decided to save all the inhabitants of the ark from hunger by ordering Noah to stroke the lion’s nose. Thanks to this, a cat appeared, caught the mice and thereby saved the rest of the animals.
Alien cats
In Egypt, these animals were very loved and revered, as evidenced by ancient images. There is a version that this is where the cat aliens flew. They were completely bald and could communicate with the Egyptians mentally.
There is a story that one of these cats met a shaggy steppe cat while walking in the forest. She fell in love and did not fly to another planet with the others. The alien cat was happy with her cat, giving birth to furry offspring - the ancestors of our pets.
Children of the Sun God
Pharaoh Akhenaten claimed that he was the son of the Sun God, and his half-brothers and sisters were cats. Now this seems fantastic, but even Pythagoras adhered to this version. He put forward a hypothesis of the unearthly origin of cats, but no one believed him. Considering the contributions Pythagoras made to science, this seems surprising.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=q_hq8uWMph8
Inhabitants of the Moon or distant stars
Plotinus (a Neoplatonist philosopher) argued that cats came to us from the Moon. They are well oriented in the dark, active at night and their behavior is directly influenced by the phases of the moon.
Augustine the Blessed believed that cats came to us from those distant stars where the human soul goes after death. God showed them the way there and back and gave them the ability to interact with spirits. Have you noticed how cats often and for a long time look into emptiness?
A mysterious origin is attributed to cats, among other things, for their unusual character. No matter where these animals come from, they will always remain our favorite pets. When you feed a stray cat on the street, think about it: what if you are paying tribute to an alien creature?
Russian and cat are brothers forever!
With the growing popularity of cats, various signs, sayings and proverbs related to cats began to appear. Cats have firmly entered folk tales, perhaps displacing more ancient characters and taking over their functions. The cat's nature made quite a strong impression on the Russians, and cats began to be credited with various magical abilities.
The gloomy and mysterious Cat Bayun is a unique character in Russian fairy tales.
By around the 16th century, almost every family in the Russian Empire already had a domestic cat. The words “cat” and “cat” even appear in historical documents, and not only as independent words, but also in the names of influential people, for example, boyar Fyodor Andreevich Koshka-Kobylin. Also quite often, “cat” is found in the nicknames of ordinary people. For example, in the writs of 1545, a Novgorod peasant named Konstantin the Mouser Cat was noted.
Cats in Rus'
8 main facts
Today it is absolutely impossible to imagine our life without cats. Some people keep them at home, like our editor-in-chief, for example, while others, like the author of this text, have severe allergies to them and therefore prefer to admire cats from a distance. But even if you start crying and sniffling after just five minutes of communicating with a furry creature, you still love and admire it. It seems that there have always been cats. Or is it not? How, for example, did things stand in medieval Rus'?
When we started looking for information, it turned out that there is not a single large specialized study about ancient Russian cats, and most of what can be found on the Internet are reprints of one (very good) article written about 30 years ago. To this material, the authors, to the best of their imagination, add vivid details, which, however, are usually not confirmed by anything. We firmly decided to figure it out and, separating the wheat from the chaff, collected 8 main facts about the life of seals in Rus'.
Fact No. 1: In Ancient Rus', seals were introduced in the 9th-10th centuries.
The question of when cats were first introduced in Ancient Rus' can be answered by archeology. On the territory of the Rurik settlement, three kilometers from the center of Veliky Novgorod, scientists discovered fragments of the skeletons of six cats in the layers of the 9th-10th centuries. Cats were probably not yet widespread at that time (compare the number of cat bones with the number of dog bones according to the table). Thanks to the finds of archaeologists, we can confidently say that cats definitely lived in the houses of the Russians (and both representatives of the elite lived at the Rurik settlement - the prince and his squad, as well as service personnel) already during the formation of the Old Russian state - that is, during the times of the Prophetic Oleg, Olga and Svyatoslav. As for the keeping of these animals by peasants, we are forced to shrug our shoulders - no traces of the life of cats in the villages have yet been found. However, it must be noted that rural settlements in Eastern Europe have been studied quite poorly, and new discoveries may still await us.
Animal bones found at the Rurik settlement. Images from the article by M. V. Sablin “Fauna of the Rurik settlement (based on the results of excavations in 2000–2011)” // Nosov E. N., Plokhov A. V., Khvoshchinskaya N. V. Rurik settlement. New stages of research. St. Petersburg, 2021.
Fact No. 2: the first mention of seals in the chronicles is related to the fact that they were... eaten.
Sadly, seals are most often mentioned in written sources as food. Of course, in ordinary life they were not eaten - this happened only in an emergency: during famine. The Novgorod First Chronicle describes the terrible events of 1230 as follows: “and the troupe was circumcised by Judahou. and drowsii koninou, psinou. cats. nb those osochishche tako tvoryahou” (NPL, 113 vol.).
The fact that the townspeople started eating cats shows that they had no other food left. This terrible mention (probably the oldest in written sources) dates back to the middle of the 13th century, when the text of the chronicle was written. In general, cat meat was considered unclean, and eating it, according to medieval scribes, was a sign of savagery. Thus, in the Laurentian Chronicle one can find the following description of the wicked tribe: “I eat every kind of filth. mosquitoes and flies. kotki (this form of the word was used on a par with the familiar “cat.” – Ed.), serpent. and a dead man is not a cellar” (LL 1377, 85 a (1096)).
Fact No. 3: cats in Rus' lived in cities and were smaller than their modern counterparts.
The cats of Ancient Rus' were city dwellers. The remains of their bones were found by archaeologists in Kyiv, Old Ryazan, Novgorod, Tver, Yaroslavl, Smolensk[1] and other cities. Researchers believe that these were rather small animals: the average height at the withers did not exceed 30 cm, and ancient Russian cats weighed no more than 4 kg[2]. Although there were exceptions: at the Trinity excavation site in Novgorod, the heel bone of a real giant was found. Its size is larger than average not only for a domestic cat, but also for a wild one. One can only guess where the giant cat came from in the city. Perhaps this is still a wild cat, caught by Novgorodians while hunting, perhaps a domestic cat, donated or brought by foreign merchants.
There is also no clarity about what breeds of cats lived in Ancient Rus'. Firstly, according to researchers, it cannot be argued that in the Middle Ages anyone was specifically involved in the selection and breeding of these animals[3]. Secondly, based on osteological, i.e., bone material (and only this is preserved), it is impossible to judge such important characteristics of the breed as the color and density of fur, temperament, and the ability to catch mice, finally. Most likely, seals in medieval Russian cities lived almost independently and obtained their own food. And no delicacies from your kind owner or periodic trips to the veterinarian. Cat life was filled with hunger and danger - many animals died (or were killed) at a young age. Judging by the marks on the bones, some cats were skinned after death[4] - even a dead animal could be used on the farm. It turns out that the owners were pragmatic about their pets and did not care about them too much. The more surprising is the following fact.
Fact No. 4: in the 14th century, seals were valued several times more expensive than cows and on a par with dogs.
The so-called “Metropolitan Justice”, a legal monument of the 14th-15th centuries, lists the following fines for theft:
“...for a cat 3 hryvnia, for a dog 3 hryvnia, for a mare 60 kun, for an ox 3 hryvnia, for a cow 40 kun, for a third 30 kun, for a hollow half a hryvnia, for a calf 5 kun, for a boran nogata, for a pig nogot, for for a sheep 5 kun, for a stallion hryvnia, for a foal 6 nails”[5].
If we consider a kuna equal to 1/50 of a hryvnia [6], then 3 hryvnia = 150 kuna, which is almost 4 times more than what was demanded for a cow. Even if we take the earlier “rate” of the 11th century - 3 hryvnia = 75 kunas, then this amount is almost 2 times more than the fine for a cow. Surprisingly, the cat was valued as highly as the dog and ox, which were much more closely involved in the human economy. Such a fine looks even more strange if we take into account our assumption that cats survived in ancient Russian cities on their own and were “yard servants”. Maybe the church representatives had some special purebred cats living with them? The source says nothing about this.
Fact No. 5: cats did not save Rus' from the plague.
Contrary to popular belief, which can often be found now on the Internet, the plague epidemic in Rus', where cats were supposedly welcomed, was no less rampant than in Western Europe, where the cat was indeed sometimes considered a companion of the devil and witches. Completing its “tour” across Europe, the great epidemic of the 14th century swept through Rus' in 1352. In 1353, the Grand Duke of Moscow Simeon Ioannovich the Proud and his two young sons died. The population of Moscow decreased significantly, the Pskovites did not have time to bury the dead, and in Glukhov, according to the chronicler[7], no one survived at all. Alas, neither cats nor all the medical practice of the Middle Ages provided any protection from the pandemic that overtook the world.
Fact No. 6: a cat is not always a cozy pet; sometimes it can be very dangerous.
In the “Solikamsk Chronicler” you can find a story about a strange incident that happened in the Verkhtagil fort (a settlement on the Tagil River in the modern Sverdlovsk region) at the end of the 16th century:
“And the governor in it was Ryuma Yazykov from Moscow. And the governor brought with him a larger Kazan cat. And still he kept Ryuma close to him. And that cat went down the throat of the sleeping man and ate him to death in that town...”[8]
So what happened to the unfortunate Ryuma Yazykov? How big did a Kazan cat have to be to gnaw a person's throat? Let’s not forget that Ryuma managed to serve in the Streltsy troops before his appointment, and, without a doubt, knew how to fight very well. According to one version[9], the reed cat, a large predatory animal whose weight can reach 12 kilograms, is called the “Kazan cat” in the chronicles. Jungle cats live in the lower reaches of the Volga, where one of them could theoretically be caught and sold to an unlucky governor. What provoked the cat’s attack on a person - lack of food, poor treatment, or simply the wild nature of a not fully domesticated animal - we can only guess.
According to another version, a representative of a special breed of domestic cats, the Kazan mousecatchers, is to blame for Ryuma’s death. The breed has not survived to this day. According to some reports, these were large animals with a round head, a wide muzzle, a strong neck and a short tail. Kazan cats are well known in connection with the activities of “Peter’s daughter” Empress Elizabeth, who issued the famous decree on sending cats to the court to fight the mice that had proliferated in the Winter Palace. This is how the tradition that still exists today arose of keeping cats in the Hermitage to protect works of art. The story is yet to come about what role Kazan cats played in Russian folklore of the 17th-18th centuries.
Fact No. 7: the first Russian cat, whose image we have preserved, lived in a palace.
“Authentic portrait of a cat of the Grand Duke of Muscovy” is the name of a print by the Czech artist Wenceslas Hollar, dated 1663. After checking the chronology, we can conclude that this is the cat of Alexei Mikhailovich “The Quietest,” father of Peter I. This tsar was generally very fond of animals and game birds, which he kept in large numbers in his country residence Izmailovo. Hollar's engraving is now kept in the National Library of France. Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the circumstances of its creation. It has been suggested that the image was made by an artist who accompanied the Austrian Baron Augustine Meyerberg during his trip to Russia, and also that Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself is depicted as a cat in the print, but these hypotheses are not confirmed.
Fact No. 8: the cat is the main character of the most popular folk picture.
In point No. 6 we already talked about Kazan cats. Let us now look at them not as skilled mousecatchers and dangerous killers, but as heroes of Russian (and not only) folklore. Historian Sait Fyarizovich Faizov believes that the prototype of the legend about the Kazan cat arose in the middle of the 16th century:
“...closest to the hero of the popular print is the Cat of the Kazan Tsar (Khan) from the Mari legend “How the Mari went over to the side of Moscow,” which tells about the siege of the Kazan Kremlin in 1552 by the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The court cat from this legend managed to overhear how the Mari kings Yylanda and Akpars, besieging the fortress, were digging under the Kremlin wall, and he warned the khan about the danger. Khan, his wife, daughter and cat went through a secret passage to the Kazanka River, got into a boat and safely sailed away from Kazan”[10].
In the second half of the 17th century, lubok appeared in folk culture - painted pictures on wood and metal. One of the most popular popular prints is the funeral of a cat by mice. And on the firewood, in the center of the funeral procession consisting of mice, is not just a cat, but precisely “Kazan cat, Astrakhan mind, Siberian mind...” What does all this mean? Many researchers believe that both the mice and the cat in the picture actually represent someone who cannot be directly named. A popular version claims that the cat being buried by mice is Tsar Peter I, and the authorship of the picture is attributed to the Old Believers, some of whom declared the emperor the Antichrist. S. F. Faizov considers the Cat of Kazan to be a unique image of the Tatars in Russian culture, which arose after the conquest of their three kingdoms (Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian) by Ivan the Terrible. During the 18th century, the plot of the Cat’s funeral changed, acquiring an increasingly anti-government overtones (for example, the mice on the popular print began to represent various regions of the Russian Empire, many of them had “grievances” against the cat, etc.).
If we try to find out the original meaning of the plot about the funeral of a cat by mice, then its political background should still be relegated to the background. As M. A. Alekseeva notes, in folklore real life events are rarely conveyed directly. The humor in the popular print about the Kazan Cat is not accusatory. This is not “evil” laughter at the authorities, but, in the words of the great cultural critic Mikhail Bakhtin, “buffoonery,” “laughter in the world, where everyone laughs at everyone, including the “laugh-makers” themselves.”[11] Thus, humor, political conflicts and a love for cats, which has not left us to this day, are mixed in the popular consciousness.
[1]Archaeology of ancient Yaroslavl. Riddles and discoveries. 2nd ed. M., 2012. P.214-229.
[2] Zinoviev A.V. Cats of medieval Novgorod the Great and Tver // Archeology and history of Pskov and the Pskov land. Seminar named after Academician V.V. Sedov: Materials of the 63rd meeting. M., 2021. pp. 183-197.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Ibid.
[5] Monuments of Russian law. M.: Gosyurizdat, 1955. Issue. 3: Monuments of law from the period of formation of the Russian centralized state in the 14th–15th centuries. / ed. L. V. Cherepnina.
[6]Numismatic dictionary. 4th edition. Zvarich V.V. Lvov, 1980.
[7] Complete collection of Russian chronicles. T. 10. VIII. A chronicle collection called the Patriarch's or Nikon's Chronicle. / Ed. A. F. Bychkova. – St. Petersburg, 1885. P. 224.
[8] Siberian chronicle code: Note book // Complete collection of Russian chronicles / ed. A. P. Okladnikova, B. A. Rybakova. T. 36: Siberian Chronicles; Part 1: Group of the Esipov Chronicle / preface. N. N. Pokrovsky, E. K. Romodanovskaya. M. 1987. P. 141.
[9] Shashkov, A. T. On the history of the emergence at the end of the 16th century. the first Russian cities and forts on the eastern slopes of the Urals // Ural collection: History. Culture. Religion. Ekaterinburg, 1997.S. 176.
[10] Faizov, S. F. Cat of Kazan: Tatar and Tsar in the perception of the Russian after the “capture” of the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates. https://www.idmedina.ru/books/materials/faizhanov/5/hist_faizov.htm?
[11] Alekseeva, M. A. Wood engraving “Mice dragging a cat to a churchyard” is a monument of Russian folk art of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. // XVIII century collection. : Russian literature of the 18th - early 19th centuries. in the socio-cultural context. T. 14. L., 1983. P. 45-79
When a cat reclines majestically on a windowsill, he expects to be worshiped as a deity. And all because today's cats are descendants of the cats of Ancient Egypt.
Around 10,000 BC, man began to grow grain. The fields and grain reserves attracted many mice. And the granary, full of rats and mice, in turn became a paradise for cats.
It didn't take long for farmers to realize how useful it was to have cats around. The cats were probably not domesticated, but they quickly became tame enough to stick around people. This was the first stage of domestication.
Research began with cat mummies
Claudio Ottoni of the Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis at the Institute of Biological Sciences at the University of Oslo studies domestication - that is, the process of taming wild animals. He examines DNA remains from ancient settlements to understand how the domestication of animals affected their evolution and distribution.
His research is also important for understanding our own early history: a small piece of bone can hold a wealth of information if DNA is found there. Together with a colleague, Ottoni also studied cat mummies from Egypt.
Cats were worshiped as gods there, and it is reasonable to assume that this may have made cats popular in other places as well. But was that really the case? What was the role of the Egyptians in domesticating the cat?
Expressen 08/10/2019 InoSMI 09/13/2017
“We were amazed that we really don’t know anything about how a cat became a pet. There is very little research on this topic,” says Ottoni.
Ottoni is working on collecting tests and samples related to ancient cats. He studied 350 feline remains from all over the world - many dating back to several thousand years BC.
Not all samples are equally well preserved, so that only about 200 ancient cats are now in fairly good condition, but still they provided a lot of information.
Researchers divide wild cats into five populations, and it is from the African population, as well as partly from the Middle East, that the modern domestic cat originated.
Kotishche the First
The first discovery showing how much we love cats was made in Cyprus. There had been no traces of cats there before, in other words, someone had brought them there. The first domestic cat known to us was buried with a person.
The burial dates back to 7500 BC. e. Around the same time, the population of Cyprus began to engage in agriculture, which fits very well with the theory of why cats began to be domesticated.
This is an ancient find, but it is possible that the cat became a domestic cat even earlier. However, the ancient Egyptians made the cat truly popular.
Domesticated several times
“The cat was first domesticated in the region we now call the Middle East. Local cats were tamed there, traces of kinship with which are also found in modern domestic cats. Based on DNA materials, we see that this population expanded along the route of human movements,” says Ottoni.
Die Welt 07/29/2019 The Atlantic 07/14/2019 Dagens Nyheter 01/05/2019
For the second time, cats were tamed from a different population - African. This happened in Ancient Egypt, where cats were worshiped as gods. The earliest finds were made in tombs dating back to 3700 BC. e. And the closer we get to our time, the more often cats appear in art or in the form of mummies.
“There are a lot of cat mummies, but it takes a lot of effort to get permission to study them,” Ottoni smiles and continues: “Fortunately, some of the mummies collapsed a few years ago, and we were allowed to take samples.”
These samples turned out to be exactly what Ottoni needed. The analysis yielded an unexpected result: modern cats are largely descendants of the Egyptian cat population.
Cats followed human trade routes
Egyptian cats were popular throughout the Roman era, and they traveled with people as pets or as mice and rat catchers. Therefore, the remains of ancient cats are often found along busy trade routes.
It seems that even the Vikings had cats with Egyptian roots. The northernmost place where cat remains have been found is a Viking settlement on the Baltic Sea called Ralsvik, which is located in what is now Germany. The cat there was from the Egyptian population.
When studying modern cats, it becomes clear that they are descendants of individuals domesticated in the first or second wave of domestication. Some of them have traces of other populations in their genes, but they primarily come from the two above.
One of the reasons for the presence of traces of other populations in the genes of our cats is that they were not bred like other domestic animals. They could mate with wild cats, so they partly remained and remain wild.
Genes responsible for behavior have changed
Most domesticated animals quickly acquired genetic differences from their wild ancestors. People began to have a strong influence on almost all animals quite early, but cats are an exception.
“When we study cats, we see that the difference between wild and domestic animals is small. Both genetically and physiologically they are quite similar. In fact, only nowadays special breeds of cats have begun to appear that differ in appearance from each other; from a historical point of view, this is a very new phenomenon. Probably the reason is that initially the cat had only one useful trait for us: it caught mice and rats. Dogs had a whole range of qualities that could be used: for example, they helped in hunting, pulled sleighs and herded cattle.”
Videnskab 09/24/2016 Dagens Nyheter 08/03/2019
But one thing distinguishes a domestic cat from a wild one: changes in the genes responsible for behavior. This may explain why the descendants of two populations became so widespread while the rest remained wild. It's likely that changes in these genes were necessary for a cat to become domestic—or at least fairly domestic.
Cats are not pack animals
Ottoni highlights another trait that makes the cat difficult to subdue. Maybe this is why it is so difficult to teach a cat to do what he himself does not want?
“Cats are not pack animals. They hunt and live alone. They are by nature not easy to turn into pets. Pack animals, such as dogs, already have an instinct for hierarchy and a willingness to learn, so they are easier to tame,” explains Ottoni.
How a cat conquered the world
Today, descendants of cat populations from the Middle East and Egypt are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. Ottoni's research showed that these cat populations traveled with humans, and we were the ones who spread them far and wide. In addition, Ottoni discovered something unexpected in their genes:
“One of the first specimens we studied was found in Berenice in modern Egypt. These are ancient remains, but imagine our surprise when we discovered that this particular cat was from the Indian population. We expected him to be from the African population, but we were wrong. Nevertheless, this fits well with our theory, because the city of Berenice had trade contacts only with India. Thus, we confirmed that cats traveled with people. When we look at how cat genes spread across the earth, we learn about the spread of human genes!”
Ottoni hopes that this type of research will lead to a better understanding of human history, as well as how we influence evolution and the ecology around us.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.
Cats in the service of the Empress
In conclusion, it would not be superfluous to recall another interesting fact related to the Russian history of cats. A decree of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna dated October 13, 1745 orders that the Kazan governor deliver to the then Russian capital eighty of the best cats and cats, as well as a person who would care for them. Such a strange decree had a very simple reason - the imperial palace suffered greatly from mice. After some time, popular rumor embellished this fact with a mass of semi-fairy-tale details. As a result, they began to talk about three hundred cats who were supposed to serve in the palace.
Since the time of Elizabeth Petrovna, cats have become an integral part of St. Petersburg palace life.
True, it remains unknown why this mission was entrusted specifically to the Kazan governor, but this does not change the fact. Perhaps there were many cats in this province or they were distinguished by some outstanding qualities. The latter is supported by the fact that a popular print with the title “Kazan Cat” has survived, indirectly indicating the popularity of Kazan cats among the widest segments of the Russian population.
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Cats are a luxury
Initially, cats were very expensive, there were few of them, and there was a huge fine for their theft. The church helped to breed cats; cats were settled in monasteries, in rich houses and in royal palaces. Naturally, at first few people could afford to keep these rare (still) animals; it was simply beyond the means of the majority of the population.
Then, over time, there were more and more cats. And tailed rodent destroyers began to be found in many houses, and even in village huts.
The emergence of domestic cats in Russia
In our country, domestic cats appeared en masse only in the eleventh century; most likely, they were brought on trade ships by Eastern merchants.
The fluffy rat catcher was highly valued - the fine for stealing a cat was higher than for stealing a cow.
The most ancient remains were found in the Odessa region, their age is 2-5 centuries AD. In the 5th-6th centuries, isolated animals appeared in the Baltic cities and Pskov. Only in the 7th-9th centuries did the cat appear in the Volga region.
The pagan Slavs revered the cat as a companion of the cattle god Veles. The cat was a symbol of the hearth, a guide of souls to the afterlife.
With the adoption of Christianity, Saint Blaise became the patron saint of domestic animals. It is believed that the most common cat name in Rus', Vaska, came from here. Cats lived in monasteries and temples; small holes in the walls intended for them are still preserved in these ancient buildings.
At first, only the royal family and rich boyars had pets; the common people could not afford them.
The cat Vasily, brought by Peter the Great from Holland, lived in the imperial palace; a special decree was issued about him. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna brought thirty animals from Kazan, since Kazan rat catchers were considered the best hunters.
Tsarina Catherine the Second appointed cats as guardians of paintings - works of art also suffered cruelly from the teeth of rodents.
Cats spread everywhere in Russia only in the eighteenth century.
