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Meow – The History of Cat Domestication, and How Our Furry Friends Domesticated Themselves

Khalid Elhassan June 3, 2025 17 min

9. Ancient Cats Beyond the Nile Valley

Chinese Song Dynasty painting of a kitten. National Palace Museum

Cats in ancient Mesopotamia were not deified as in Egypt, but were still appreciated for their utility in controlling vermin. Artistic and written references from Babylonian and Assyrian texts highlight their presence and usefulness in both homes and temples. Cats reached India and China by the early centuries AD, likely through trade routes.

In China, they became associated with good luck and prosperity, and Buddhist monks welcomed cats into temples to protect sacred texts from rodents. By the time of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), cats had fully integrated into Chinese households. Ancient texts and artwork from this period show domestic cats as both practical and symbolic creatures. Centuries later, Chinese and Japanese art from the Tang and Heian periods depict cats as elegant and mysterious beings, sometimes credited with supernatural awareness.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.