Ancient Egyptian Cat Breeds

Of course the modern abyssinian is much different than its ancestors.

Ancient egyptian cat breeds. Mafdet was the first known cat headed deity in ancient egypt. It s one of the most expensive cats in the world. Since ancient egyptian times cats have been holding a special spot in the heart of humans far and wide. The spots of the mau occur on only the tips of the hairs of its coat.

The latter had a calmer temperament and so was more commonly domesticated than its wilder relative. 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. It is considered a rare breed. She was particularly prominent during the reign of den.

Check out our fun list of 9 of oldest cat breeds still around today. They are the only domestic cat that has naturally occurring spots giving them an exotic appearance. Mau is the word they used to call cats similar to the sound these domestic cats make. 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.

Egyptian maus are a small to medium sized short haired cat breed. There is archeological and genetic evidence to show that these cats existed and originated in egypt. During the first dynasty 2920 2770 bc she was regarded as protector of the pharaoh s chambers against snakes scorpions and evil. Ancient egypt was the birthplace of this regal looking cat breed which we all know by the name egyptian mau.

The egyptian mau is the most popular of all egyptian cat breeds. She was often also depicted with a head of a leopard panthera pardus. The two species eventually merged creating a new breed which was closely related to the modern egyptian mau. The name mau was derived from the egyptian word mjw which refers to a cat.

Many experts agree that the oldest cat breed in the world is the egyptian mau. The ones we see today were bred with burmese russian blue and siamese cats. It is believed that this breed is more than 4 000 years old meaning they have been around since 2000 b c. The jungle cat felis chaus and the african wildcat felis silvestris lybica.

Some say that the abyssinian is a cat breed from ancient egyptian times because it looks similar to artifacts from that time period. 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.