By Philippa Hadlow

Reading time: 13 minutes

Not many animals have engendered such radical turn-about-faces in societal position as the cat. Its early halcyon days in the Near East as a revered symbol of justice, power, and fertility established the creature as a must-have accessory to ancient culture. Slinking stealthily through time and shifts in popularity, Felis catus arrived in modern Western culture to mixed reviews. Ubiquitous pets, Internet sensations, errant cupboard-lovers, deadly-sweet predators, or excellent rodent exterminators? Polar opinions continue today, and cats now hold several varied and questionable rankings according to which side of the fence you sit on – or what part of the world you live in. How has the cat come to cause such controversy, and why do we still love them?

Data company, Statista estimates that sixty percent of U.S. households own a cat or two. That equates to around 95 million cats all-told! In Europe, 110 million cats take the prize for “most popular pet”, pipping dogs at the post by a good ten million or so. Globally, cat numbers equate to around 220 million, and that’s just counting moggies who are cared for by their humans – how about feral cats?

Feral cats are those that have either been born in the wild or escaped from domesticity. Figures on feral cat populations are debatable because they are mostly active at night, and their habits are elusive. However, WSPA International suggests that there’s around 480 million worldwide.

In many countries, feral cats are considered anathema. But in Italy, they have rights. Cats in Rome (and the rest of Italy) are protected based on superstition, ancient Roman laws, and pagan beliefs. The Italian Animal Act classifies ferals as “free-roaming”, owned by the mayor, given the same privileges as citizens, and protected by modern law since 1991.

The law states that harming a cat is a punishable crime; cats have a right to live where they choose, and it is illegal to forcefully remove and relocate them; they have a right to be fed in the place they elect as their home; and that local health authorities must provide free neutering.

Sounds excellent, but in practise, numbers of dumped cats have increased, and neutering programmes haven’t run as efficiently as needed. Even so, in the early 2000s, Rome’s 400-odd feral cat colonies (comprising more than 100,000 cats) became national icons on par with archaeology and the arts and were donned ‘biocultural heritage of the city’ status.

However, well before the new millennium and the advent of this attributed glory, sanctuaries and gattare (women who devote their lives to feeding, caring, neutering, and providing medical aid to stray cats) have worked tirelessly for the cat population.

Rome’s Largo di Torre Argentina hosted the fatal stabbing of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and it’s in this location that cats became synonymous with European history.

During the 1920s, the Torre Argentina piazza underwent site excavations as ordered by Benito Mussolini. Soon after, the street cats of the area made themselves at home amongst the safe shelter of the newly revealed ruins. Numbers increased, and many of the Torre Argentina felines were starving until 1950 when Shakespearean actor Antonio Crast and film star Anna Magnani began feeding them. Gattare continued to care for the colonies over the next few decades until, in 1994, an official cat sanctuary became established by local women Lia Dequel and Silvia Viviani.

Tourists keen on the sight of multiple free-roaming felines can visit Largo di Torre Argentina and, from afar, take photographs of them as they sun themselves on the remains of four sunken pillars once part of the city’s 3^rd-century Senate. Worryingly, however, a €1 million project sponsored by luxury jeweller Bulgari is working towards opening the entire site to the public this year. Concerns that the cats will be displaced are so far unfounded and negated by the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi:

“The feline shelter will not be touched – it will be protected,” she said, “and the cats, famous in Rome and around the world, will stay where they are, silent custodians of these treasures.”

Gattare call these cats the ancient souls who rule Rome. And indeed, the Romans have treasured cats since their arrival with traders in the 5^th century BC. Cats were an instant hit and were regarded not only as exotic companions but also as sacred symbols of mythology. The Roman Goddess Libertas (Freedom) was often depicted with a cat at her feet as a sign of appreciation of its admirably independent spirit. Their images cropped up on frescos, pottery, and sculpture, and they soon became appreciated for their mousing abilities, too – a role hitherto performed by ferrets, polecats, and martens.

But the cat’s history amongst humans goes back much further than 1000 years.

The first wild cats – Felis silvestris lybica – were suspected to exist in Fertile Crescent (Near East) Mesopotamia during the Neolithic period around 10,000 BC, with domestication accelerating from that point on. The Near Eastern wildcat was soon utilised by farmers for pest control and was highly valued for its prowess in this task. Travelling with their owners, cats thereby spread into Egypt around 4000 B.C. They were successfully established there as creatures of utilitarian and mythical importance, as well as becoming favoured companions of royalty.

The penalty in Egypt for killing a cat was lynching, and Egyptians were utterly devoted to them. ‘Cat cult’ was a popular pursuit, and jewellery, amulets, statues, murals, and friezes depicting cats were also in abundance. The Egyptians are even deemed responsible for the very name `cat’ in that the word derives from the North African word for the animal, “quattah”. As the cat was so closely associated with Egypt, almost every other European nation employs variations on this word: French, chat; Swedish, katt; German, katze; Italian, gatto; Spanish, gato and so forth (Morris, 175).

Upon death, the domesticated Egyptian cat was embalmed and either buried with its loving owner, entombed, or mummified as a symbol of sanctity. Cats were modelled onto deities, such as Mafdet, Mut, Bastet and Sekhmet; Bastet is probably the most recognisable as the dynasty goddess of protection, cats, perfume, fertility, children, the arts, music, and welfare. Quite a haul for one goddess! The colloquial word for a cat – `puss’ or `pussycat’ – is also associated with Egypt in that it derives from the word Pasht, another name for Bastet.

The Greek historian Herodotus relates that Egyptians cared more for their cats than anything else. When one sadly departed its mortal coil, Herodotus wrote: “All the inhabitants of a house shave their eyebrows [as a sign of deep mourning]. Cats which have died are taken to Bubastis (city) where they are embalmed and buried in sacred receptacles”. The period of mourning was complete when the people’s eyebrows had grown back.

Legend has it that Egypt fell to mad King Cambyses II in the Battle of Pelusium 525 B.C. because the Persian soldiers used cats as ‘armour’. Knowing the Egyptian reverence and love for cats, they painted images of them on their shields, held them in their arms, and herded them in front of the Egyptian soldiers. Those mighty warriors were dismayed and demoralised at the sight of their iconic cats being used as psychological weaponry and surrendered their defence.

By 5^th century B.C., Egyptian cats began spreading through the Eastern Mediterranean region, continuing to Europe, China, Japan, and India. By 400 C.E., cats had infiltrated throughout the world – mostly by Phoenician traders who took them aboard ships to fulfil the role of vermin control.

In Medieval Europe, however, the popularity of Felis suddenly took a turn for the worse. The advent of Christianity demonised cats as witchcraft and the religious began to associate them – particularly black cats – with evil as personified in the Devil and as Satan’s instrument.

In his book Catlore (1993), English zoologist Desmond Morris writes:

“Religious bigots have often employed the cunning device of converting other people’s heroes into villains to suit their own purposes. In this way, the ancient horned god that protected earlier cultures was transformed into the evil Devil of Christianity and the revered sacred feline of ancient Egypt became the wicked sorcerer’s cat of medieval Europe. Many things considered holy by a previous religious faith have automatically been damned by a new religion. In this way began the darkest chapter in the cat’s long association with mankind. For centuries it was persecuted, and the cruelties heaped upon it were given the full backing of the Church.”

Further contributing to the cat’s poor reputation was its association with the feminine, carried over from Egypt, and the negative light in which women of the early Middle Ages were viewed. Women were closely associated with Eve and the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden and thus considered innately sinful, distracting, and lusty. In addition to that slippery slope, old women living alone often kept a cat or two and were thus branded as witches by delighted villagers who couldn’t wait to witness their violent downfall.

It was a pretty bad rap – unfair, too, and the cat’s poor position continued until the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648 C.E.) broke the power-hold of the Church over people’s lives and allowed for greater freedom of thought. Soon, the Age of Enlightenment succeeded in encouraging Victorian people to enjoy cats as companions, as well as pest destroyers. This happy spirit was strengthened by Queen Victoria, who adopted two Blue Persians and began breeding show cats. The cat was loved again and resumed its positive place in human society.

Aided and abetted by literary icons such as Mark Twain, by the end of the 19^th century C.E., the cat had become the feline friend and treasured family member so familiar to cat lovers today as well as in the ancient world. And oh, thank my whiskers for that!

While a group of feral cats is called a ‘destruction’ and may well live up to their name, for domestic cats, I prefer the arguably more apt ‘glaring’. Just make eye contact with the unflinching gaze of any cat then lower your eyelids slowly; I guarantee he will do the same and you’ll feel the privilege of being totally at one with Felis catus.

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