The ancient Romans were more into canines (from Lat. canis/dog), but they certainly appreciated cats (Lat. feles/
Romans particularly liked cats for their ability to catch mice and other rodents. Cats were so good at it that the Roman army brought cats with them to safeguard their food supply from rats. Rats also liked to chew on wood and leather, which meant they were a threat to Roman armor and equipment as well.
Domesticated cats came to Rome from ancient Egypt
It has been suggested that in this provincial town before AD 79, there was not yet a fashion for keeping cats as pets, though it may have already started in Rome. Certainly, much greater numbers of cat bones are found in later archaeological deposits in Roman Naples.
Just as many a slave with a Greek name might be found in an ancient Roman household (with Greek names either originally belonging to the slaves or names fancifully taken from history and legend and bestowed by the masters), the Romans appeared also to have taken a shine to Greek names for their dogs, as illustrated by ...
In ancient times, cats were companions to wealthy Romans and served as pest control. Cats were considered sacred by the Goddess Diana, who was believed to give special powers to cats. Archaeologists did not find many preserved cat remains while excavating the ruins in Pompeii.
The Italian word for cat
It is a masculine singular word, and its other forms are: gatta: (feminine singular) gatti: (masculine plural) gatte: (feminine plural)
It's well known that the Romans love their cats – so much so that they have designated the felines as a biocultural heritage of the city.
Sources mentioning the ritual agree that the "punishment" was inflicted on the dogs for their failure to warn the Romans of the stealth attack against the citadel by the Gauls during the Gallic siege of Rome in 390 BC (or 387).
Some of the pets included greyhound dogs, ferrets, small monkeys, blackbirds, nightingale, parrots, and other breeds of animals. Among the ancients, the dog was the greatest favorite.
Julius Caesar, invading Britain in 55 BCE, met opposition from Celtic warriors with their own dogs which are frequently identified as the English Mastiff but Caesar himself never names them. Historians believe it more probable Caesar encountered Molossians which had been brought to Britain by Carthaginian traders.
An early scientific name for the household pet was Felis domesticus (from domus/home, as in DOMestic and DOMicile). Felix/felicis, however, doesn't mean "cat" but is instead an adjective meaning "happy" or "fortunate," as in FELICitous and FELICity.
The usual ancient Greek word for "cat" was ailouros, meaning "thing with the waving tail", but this word could also be applied to any of the "various long-tailed carnivores kept for catching mice".
Cats have a lot of cultural influence in many parts of the world, from Egypt to China to Japan and in Islam. Cats were sacred in Egypt, and killing a cat was forbidden. Egyptians worshipped cats so much that they would mummify them once they died.
In 48 BC, the celebrated Roman consul Julius Caesar embarked on a successful campaign in the East where he eventually ended up entwined in the arms of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. Before leaving his paramour, he decided to bring back a menagerie of exotic animals including lions, panthers and green monkeys.
Cat — Mention of this animal occurs not once in the Protestant Bible. It is mentioned in Baruch 6:21. The cat was very familiar to the Egyptians, it seems to have been known to the Jews, as well as to the Assyrians and Babylonians, even to the Greeks and Romans before the conquest of Egypt.
These are referred to in the Prose Edda as 'gib-cats' and are depicted as grey or blue in colour. The cats were a gift from Thor, and she used them to travel to the funeral of Baldur, her estranged son. The cat was Freya's sacred animal and she would reportedly bless those who were kind to them.
Many animals were considered sacred to the ancient Greeks and Romans; for example, Snakes in the worship of Apollo, Dionysus, and Asclepius, Pigs in the cult of Demeter, Bees and Bears in the cult of Artemis.
Cattle was for food or religious sacrifice; wolves were respected; lions were admired but arrived in Rome with a death sentence. Dogs and birds on the other hand, were often much-loved domestic animals. Caged birds seem to have been particularly popular pets, especially with upper-class women.
After the site was excavated, Rome's feral cats moved in immediately, as they do all over the city, and the gattare, or cat ladies, began feeding and caring for them.
Lack of Refrigeration Meant Summer Meat Would Have Spoiled
Moreover, water was short, the summer was long....'" Davies explains that in the heat of the summer and without salt to preserve the meat, soldiers were reluctant to eat it for fear of getting sick from spoiled meat.
In tribute to this, dogs were crucified once a year near the Circus Maximus as a reminder and punishment for the betrayal. Geese, meanwhile, were carried on litters adorned with cushions of imperial purple and gold.
Ritualized, public violence had been a favorite entertainment of the Romans for centuries. The practice began as an ancient Etruscan funeral ritual: when a tribal chief died, his warriors would make a blood sacrifice to his spirit by fighting to the death by his tomb. This ritual was adapted over time.
The Latin word for "cat" is "feles" or "cattus". fēlēs/fēlis: The normal word for a cat in Latin was fēlēs (sometimes it appears as fēlis, or in some manuscripts of Cicero as faelis). This word was used by Plautus, Cicero, Ovid, Phaedrus, Pliny and other writers.
The Japanese are known for loving cats. There are countless Japanese books, shows, and art that depict our feline friends. Japan even has a ton of cat cafes, which are coffee shops where cats freely roam around for customers to play with.