Who Are the Most Famous #Cats in #Archaeology?

Take a look at this beautiful creature. This is Emma aka M Bob, Emma Bobemma, M Hotep, M Beans. And she's done. And judging by your comments on my recent videos, Emma is the real star of this channel. And honestly, I agree. I get it. I get it. Watching her spend her days screaming at me for food, enjoying her live kitty TV through the window, or doing her best Cleopatra impression that was perfect, got me thinking about how I'm carrying on a time-honored tradition of cat worship. Let's, let's be honest about it. That is thousands of years old. And so today in honor of Emma and her ancestors, we are digging in to the incredible chaotic and entirely true stories of history's most extraordinary cats. They were gods, they were royalty, they inspired poetry, they survived catastrophic wars, and now they rule the internet. Let's start with the original cat worshipers, the ancient Egyptians. The earliest known Egyptian cat goddess is Mafdet, who appears over 5,000 years ago during the first dynasty. She was often depicted as a cheetah and Her name means the runner and her primary purpose was to rip out the hearts of wrongdoers and deliver them on a silver platter to Pharaoh. She was associated with the protection of the king's chambers and sacred places, which were seen as transgressors against the concept of justice or ma'at. Worship of her was prominent in the old kingdom during the reign of King Den. Her image appears on stone vessel fragments from his tomb and she is mentioned in a dedicatory entry on the Palermo stone. References to the more famous goddess Bastet, or Bast, appear in the second dynasty. Her cult center was in Boubastis in the Nile Delta. She was originally depicted as a fierce lioness, warrior goddess of the sun, a role shared by another goddess, who is my personal favorite, Sekhmet. She is at the center of one of the best myths and stories to come out of ancient Egypt. In this story, Ra became angry with mankind and sent Sekhmet to punish them. However, she went a little bit too far and once she started killing, she basically couldn't stop. She went on a bloody rampage that laid Egypt to waste and almost destroyed humanity, even after Ra reconsidered and ordered her to stop. So, he had to get creative. Ra poured out a lake of beer and pomegranate juice mixed together in her way. This fooled Sekhmet into thinking that it was blood and when she drank it all, she got so wasted that she passed out for three days. And when she woke up, her blood lust had passed and humanity was saved. I mean, also probably because she couldn't be bothered because I'm sure that she had a raging hangover. Eventually, Bastet and Sekhmet were merged into two aspects of the goddess Hathor, with lioness Sekhmet representing the powerful warrior and cat Bastet becoming a protector against disease, pregnancy, and childbirth, possibly because of the association of the fertility of the domestic cat. People would wear cat amulets to invoke Bast's protection and her blessing and temples dedicated to her were located all over Egypt that housed and cared for hundreds or thousands of cats. But these aren't the only cat deities. Other ones include Pakhet, a regional lioness goddess of war from the Middle Kingdom whose name translates as She Who Scratches. I actually almost named Emma this but I reconsidered because I didn't want to really encourage her to ruin all of my furniture. Mut or Mut is the primordial mother goddess and wife of Amun-Ra and was sometimes depicted as a cat or in the company of a cat and the book of gates and the book of caverns both refer to a cat god named Muti who protects the 11th division of the Duat and watches over the enemies of Ra. Ra himself was sometimes even depicted as a cat. It shouldn't then surprise you that the first recorded name of a pet cat in history is also from Egypt. References to Nedgem, whose name means pleasant or sweetie, another contender for Emma's name, were found in the Theban tomb of a nobleman named Puemra who lived during the reign of Hatshepsut and her stepson Thutmose III. The cat is seen in a scene where he and his wife are receiving a banquet while Nedgem is sitting on the mat in front of them. Only the smallest hint of the cat is left due to damage but it's enough to know exactly what animal is there. And I really want you guys to give me some credit for finding this image that I'm showing you because I literally had to trawl through all the different pages of a digitized book to find it because it is literally nowhere else on the internet. Depending on the copyright of that book I might add it to Wikipedia actually. On a side note, this tomb known as TT39 has been closed to the public since the 1920s but they just finished a major multi-decade restoration of it in partnership with Mexican archaeologists who were using techniques that they developed for preserving Maya tombs to safeguard this one. They painstakingly cleaned and stabilized the walls, ceilings, and hieroglyphics bringing back faded frescoes to life and as of 2024 you can now visit the tomb because it's been reopened. I'm definitely adding it to my list of things to see when I eventually make it back to Egypt. Roughly 100 years later after Puemra immortalized his kitty Prince Thutmose, the eldest son of Amenhotep III, buried his favorite cat in a beautiful limestone sarcophagus. The body of the sarcophagus is decorated with scenes while the lid is inscribed with hieroglyphics. On one side Ta-Myu, which literally means female cat, is shown sitting before an offering table heaped with goodies for the afterlife. On the other side she is shown standing in front of a table heaped with different kinds of offerings including bread, beer, beheaded geese, and the foreleg of an ox. Quite an expensive diet as a cat owner I must say. Behind her stands Bastet wrapped up as a mummy. One of the sarcophagus inscriptions reads, I myself am placed among the imperishable ones that are in the sky for I am Ta-Myu the triumphant. Not much is actually known about Ta-Myu's owner. He died before his father and as a result his younger brother would ascend the throne as Akhenaten the heretic king. It's because of Ta-Myu's sarcophagus explicitly referring to Thutmose as crown prince that we actually know that he was in fact the eldest son of Amenhotep. Evidence of pet cats is scarce in the archaeological record but whenever they do pop up they immediately garner attention and show us how these wee creatures have spent millennia doing whatever they want. For example at two separate sites in England we have found Roman era terracotta roof tiles with cat paw prints in them where the felines probably walked across the tiles while they were drying out waiting to be fired. And while physical evidence like this is few and far between there are plenty of stories of historical figures having pet cats, some of which are true and some are probably not. One that I've seen constantly pop up online was that Queen Cleopatra the 7th, that Cleopatra, had a cat called Tevali meaning gift of god. However this story doesn't come from any historical records that we have from her time and as far as I can tell it seems to be made up. The red flag is Tevali's name, it's not Egyptian, they don't have that v sound and it also doesn't seem to be Greek either. As far as I could find it might be Belarusian but just because she didn't have that specific cat doesn't necessarily mean that Cleopatra's didn't have any pet cats. I think it's more likely than not that she did given that worship of Bastet actually reached its peak during the reign of the Ptolemies but right now we just don't know for sure. The prophet Muhammad is another alleged historical cat lover. According to legend he loved his cat Muezza so much that when he found her sleeping in the sleeve of his prayer robe he chose to cut the sleeve off rather than disturb her, showing a clear demonstration of obedience of one of the cat laws. You cannot move or disturb a sleeping cat. When he gave sermons he even let her rest in his lap and he wasn't the only cat lover in early Islam as one of his companions was given the affectionate nickname Abu Hurayra which literally means father of kittens because of a story where he found a stray kitten and took it into his sleeve and took care of it. And interestingly this is actually the only name that we know him by as his actual personal name hasn't been recorded so clearly he really loved that cat and everyone around him knew about it. Muhammad's love of cats is often cited as the reason why Muslims are traditionally encouraged to cherish our feline masters. The hadith which are oral histories from the life of the prophet have recorded that a Muslim who mistreats a cat will be punished. As a result the domestic cat is regarded as being ritually clean and they are permitted to be kept by Muslims within their homes and other private and public spaces including mosques. When I went to Istanbul a few years ago there were cats everywhere. I even made the journey to get my photo taken with the statue of Tambeli who was one of the first famous cats of the internet. There are also thousands of Sufi stories that include cats. One I particularly liked that I came across is of a sheikh from Baghdad who was seen by one of his friends in a dream after he died. After being granted admission into paradise he was asked by Allah if he knew the reason for this blessing. He recited all of his religious duties but none of his acts of piety had saved him. Finally Allah asked him, do you remember the cold day in Baghdad when it was snowing and you were walking in your coat when you saw a tiny kitten on a wall shivering with cold and you took it and put it under your warm coat? For the sake of this kitten we have forgiven you. Proper reverence for our furred overlords wasn't limited to the Middle East but extends all the way to Japan. In 887 CE, aged just 21, Uda became the 59th emperor of Japan. In the tradition of the Japanese court he kept a diary and through this invaluable document which is the oldest surviving court diary we are offered a unique window into the high-on period. Thanks to this specific entry written about his dear feline friend on the 11th of March 889 we also have the first definitive record of a domestic cat in Japan. Let's read it shall we? Having some free time on my hands I've decided to write about my cat. This black cat was presented to the previous emperor by Minamoto no Kiyoshi, vice governor of Daizaifu, upon completing his term and returning to the capital. I adore its unique fur color. While other cats have a faded black appearance this alone is black as ink. It looks as fierce as the famed black hound Kanro. The cat is roughly 45 centimeters in length and 18 centimeters in height. When it curls up it looks like a tiny grain of black millet. When it stretches fully its body lengthens like a drawn bow. Its eyes sparkle sharply like the glint of needles and its ears stand straight and firm like unwavering spoons. When it sits neatly its feet and tail are completely hidden. It looks like a black jewel resting within a cave. When it moves it does so silently like a black dragon gliding upon clouds. It seems to enjoy practicing Taoist breathing and stretching exercises, its movements resembling exactly the five animal exercises. It often keeps its head low with its tail touching the ground but when it arches and stretches its back fully its height reaches around 61 centimeters. Perhaps this skill in breathing and stretching explains why its fur is so sleek and glossy. Furthermore its skill in swiftly catching mice at night surpasses other cats. The previous emperor cherished this black cat for a few days before giving it to me. I have lovingly cared for it for five years now feeding it milk rule every morning. I do this not merely because of its exceptional agility and skill but because it was given to me by the previous emperor. Though it is a small creature my affection for it is profound. I said to the cat since you have a mind and body you can understand me right? Then the cat sighed and kept staring up at me. It looked as if it wanted to say something to me but it couldn't say anything with its mouth. A popular mistranslation of this diary says that emperor states that his cat was superior to all others when in fact he was referencing its superior mousing skills. However I'm sure if you were to ask him he would agree that he also meant that his cat was better than all others as well. Uda's void isn't the only pet cat to be immortalized in literature either. At roughly the same time across the world in Germany an Irish monk wrote a poem in comparing its happy hunting with his own scholarly pursuits. It reads as follows Oftentimes a mouse will stray in the hero Panger's way. Oftentimes my keen thought set takes a meaning in its nest. Gainst the wall he sets his eye full and fierce and sharp and sly. Gainst the wall of knowledge I all my little wisdom try. When a mouse starts from its den oh how glad is Panger then. Oh what gladness do I prove when I solve the doubts I love. So in peace our task we ply Panger ban my cat and I. In our arts we find our bliss. I have mine and he has his. Practice every day has made Panger perfect in his trade. I get wisdom day and night turning darkness into light. Isn't that just an absolutely beautiful poem? My neighbor's cat is actually named after this. While cats clearly have a history of being our much indulged pets let's not forget the reason why they were domesticated. Helping us with rodent control. And this is demonstrated most aptly in the function of a ship's cat. And there are two famous ship's cats from the modern era that I want to tell you about today. Mrs. Chippy was a famously misnamed male cat who accompanied Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated endurance expedition to the Antarctic. Brought on board by carpenter and master shipwright Harry Chippy McNish, Mrs. Chippy was described as full of character by members of the expedition and impressed the crew with his ability to walk on the ship's inch-wide railings even in the roughest seas. Mrs. Chippy's voyage was not without incident however as one night he jumped overboard through one of the cabin portholes. The officer on watch heard his screams and turned the ship smartly round and picked him up using a net. Sadly when the ship became trapped in pack ice Shackleton made the decision to put down the cat and four sled dogs that had accompanied the expedition. McNish was very attached to Mrs. Chippy and never forgave Shackleton for this deed and honestly I don't blame him I would have been absolutely raging. In 1948 a young cat was found wandering the dockyards of Hong Kong by a member of the crew of the British frigate HMS Amethyst. The crew member smuggled his cat who he named Simon aboard the ship and Simon soon ingratiated himself with the crew and officers particularly because he was adept at catching and killing rats on the lower decks. Simon rapidly gained a reputation as a lucky mascot and was known for his cheekiness leaving presents of dead rats in sailors beds and sleeping in the captain's cap. When sailing up the Yangtze River a Chinese PLA field gun battery opened fire on the frigate. One of the first rounds tore through the captain's cabin seriously wounding Simon. The cat crawled on deck and was rushed to the medical bay where the ship's surviving medical staff cleaned his burns and removed shrapnel but he was not expected to last the night. However he did manage to survive and after a period of recovery returned to his former duties. While anchored in the river the ship had become overrun with rats and Simon took on the task of removing them with vigor as well as raising the morale of the sailors. Following the ship's escape from the Yangtze Simon became an instant celebrity lauded in the British and world news and presented with the animal victoria cross the dickin medal which as of 2025 he is the only cat to be given this award. He was also awarded a blue cross medal the amethyst campaign medal and the rank of able seaman after disposing of a particularly vicious rat. Thousands of letters were written to him and there were so many that they had to appoint a cat officer to deal with his post. At every port that amethyst stopped at on its route home Simon was honored and there was a special welcome made for him in Plymouth in November when the ship returned. However Simon like all animals entering the UK was subject to quarantine regulations and he was immediately sent to an animal center in Surrey and while in quarantine he contracted a virus and despite the efforts of medical staff and well-wishers he died in November 1949. Hundreds including the entire crew of the ship attended his funeral at the PDSA Ilford animal cemetery in east London. And you might be wondering why I've not included unsinkable Sam in this video but that's because it seems like unsinkable Sam probably in some variation did exist but stories of him are kind of unverifiable. There's even photographs of him that I saw labeled as being Simon or unsinkable Sam so while he might have existed it's it's kind of hard to track down the actual authentic stories about him so that's why I didn't include him today. And then of course comes the internet which has allowed us to take our appreciation of cats to a whole other level. Images, videos, and memes of domestic cats and just cats in general make up some of the most viewed content on the world wide web. I mean I can see the evidence in my own videos as I said whenever I show Emma there is a peak in viewer retention and comments about her. Research has suggested that viewing online cat media is related to positive emotions and that it even may work as a form of digital therapy or stress relief for some people. Some of the research even shows that feelings of guilt for postponing tasks can be reduced by viewing cat content. So which internet cat is your favorite one to watch? Grumpy? Little Bub? Emma? Who is conveniently away sleeping somewhere in the house? What do you think our descendants will think about us when they look at the overwhelming amount of cat content that we produce? Do they think we're the successors to the Egyptians? Let me know in the comments. If you think your cat belongs on this list tell me about their legendary exploits in the comments and don't forget to hit that subscribe or like button and if you'd like to go even further and help support the channel a super thanks or a ko-fi donation are also appreciated. Thank you so much for watching, stay curious, and I hope to see you on my next adventure inside archaeology.