27. Ancient Egyptians Liked Cats – But Not as Pets
Cats are probably the animal that most people commonly associate with ancient Egypt. And for good reason: there are thousands of cat statues all over the place, and millions of mummified cats. Indeed, so common were mummified cats, that archaeologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries frequently observed Egyptian farmers crushing and using them as fertilizers.
However, recent discoveries and research indicate that while cats were popular in ancient Egypt, the reason for that popularity was nothing like the reason for cats’ popularity today. All those cat mummies? They were not pets: they were sacrificed to the gods.