00:00Imagine for a moment that you were reincarnated as an animal, specifically a cat.
00:07There are definitely worse animals you could have been reborn as, yet there are also quite
00:12a few that arguably would have been better.
00:16Now let's expand our little hypothetical by adding in some sweet time travel magic into
00:22the mix.
00:23Aye, you see, you're not just any cat, you're a cat in ancient Egypt.
00:30You probably know the story.
00:32Cats in ancient Egypt were supposedly venerated as gods.
00:37But the truth is a bit more complicated than that.
00:39To start with, we need to be precise with our definitions.
00:43Ancient Egypt spanned more than 3000 years, and not all of them were as cat-friendly
00:48as you'd imagine.
00:49If we go back to the beginning, we'll find Menes, who united the upper and lower kingdoms
00:56sometime during the 31st century BC.
00:59Of course, thanks to our lovely friends over in the archaeology department, we know for
01:03a fact that cats had been domesticated no later than the 38th century BC.
01:08But these cats weren't of your domestic couch potato type.
01:13No, these were working cats that spent their days hunting rodents.
01:18Hmm, life's not fair, is it?
01:23You see, I, I will never be Pharaoh.
01:27And you, you shall never see the light of day.
01:34Spit that thing out, Pharaoh.
01:37Whoopsy-daisy, wrong franchise.
01:40Now, where were we?
01:41Ah, yes.
01:42They were descended from the African wildcat, the ancestor of all domestic cats today.
01:48You see, the current theory is that the African wildcat self-domesticated itself.
01:52It would keep the fertile fields of the Nile rodent-free and, in exchange, the ancient Egyptians
01:59would let it stay around, first in their villages and, eventually, in their homes.
02:05It certainly wasn't a bad life for a cat, but it was far from sacred veneration.
02:10This business-like relationship would continue for at least another thousand years, when we
02:15get to see the first depiction of a cat in ancient Egyptian art.
02:20Now, at this point you might be thinking, well, hold on, certain Egyptian deities are known
02:26to have been depicted as felines during the first dynasty.
02:29So, surely, cats were worshipped even back then.
02:33And to that I say, impressive, you do know your Egyptology, my friend.
02:39But it's important to note that these early depictions weren't likening the gods to domestic
02:45cats, but rather to larger felines, like leopards and cheetahs.
02:51Bastet, for example, was originally betrayed with the head of a lioness.
02:55Yet, as ancient Egypt reached the zenith of its power and prosperity during the New Kingdom
03:01period, its attitude towards cats began to change.
03:05By the, er, 22nd dynasty, Bastet had morphed from a warlike lioness to a gentler, cat-like
03:13goddess.
03:14Her cult became a mainstay among the pharaohs, who began keeping cats as proper pets.
03:20Now, these cats were no mere rat hunters.
03:23They were divine manifestations of Bastet, dressed in gold, adorned with jewelry and ritually
03:30revered.
03:31And when these royal cats passed, they were afforded the great honor of mummification.
03:37Yeah, I'd like to go for the brains out the nose, and I'd like a couple of these marbles
03:42for my eyes.
03:43Of course, your cat-inus.
03:46This trend became a status symbol among Egyptian elites.
03:49And over the next millennium, we see an explosion in the number of cat mummies and statues.
03:54A veritable industry had formed that bred cats exclusively to mummify them, which sounds
03:59horrible.
04:00But the good news is that the vast majority of cat mummies are of adults.
04:04So at least the kitties got to live the happy life for just a little while.
04:10I wasn't kidding when I said industry, by the way.
04:14The number of cat mummies we've discovered so far is well into the tens of millions, with
04:20heaven knows how many yet to be dug up.
04:23Interestingly enough, this practice continued even after the Egyptians were conquered by our
04:28good Greek friend Alexander the Great and his general Ptolemy, who would eventually establish
04:33his own pharaonic dynasty after Alexander's death.
04:37Cat breeding and veneration became even more prevalent during Ptolemaic Egypt, because for
04:42some reason the Greeks thought that cat mummies were medicinal and could cure various illnesses.
04:49It was probably that old fox Herodotus, spreading fake medical advice and Bastetian propaganda
04:56a hundred years earlier.
04:57Cats remained sacred animals throughout the Hellenistic period.
05:01And when Ptolemy's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter Cleopatra, I may have missed
05:09a few greats here, lost Egypt to the Romans, bless their souls, they just picked up where
05:15the Greeks had left off.
05:17Pliny the Elder was just one of the numerous authors that verified the totally legitimate
05:22pharmaceutical nature of cat mummies, thank you very much.
05:25But, alas, all good things have an end, and in the case of our furry feline friends, that
05:32end came with Jesus.
05:34As Christianity spread across the Roman Empire, the cult of Bastet collapsed, and the luxurious
05:41ancient Egyptian cat lifestyle died along with it.
05:45Nevertheless, I think we shouldn't cry because it's over, rather we should smile because it
05:51happened.
05:52We here at SideQuest have had few reasons to smile over the past few months, yet, nevertheless,
05:58we persevere in our sacred mission of exploring the lesser-known parts of world history.
06:05So, if you'd like to help us on this journey, feel free to share our videos around, and to
06:11support us on Patreon, I tell you.
06:14We humbly accept any and all donations, including cat mummies.
06:19Anyhow, we shall hear each other again in an indeterminate amount of time for the next
06:24playfully purr-fect episode of SideQuest.
06:30I mean, perhaps we shall let the cat out of the bag.
06:32Yes.
06:33That's a good one.
06:34Cat.
06:35The bag.
06:36It's a cliché thing.
06:38Yeah.
