Not only does Greece has a great population of cats, but this small country also has its own cat breed, named the Aegean Cat. According to historians “A first-century CE epitaph of a young girl holding a cat is among the earliest pieces of evidence of cats in Rome and, in Greece.”Įven the playwright Aristophanes (c.446-386 BCE) included cats in his works for a comic effect, coining the phrase “the cat did it.” Unfortunately in Greece cats have had less of a favorable reputation, but with Christianity, the appreciation of felines flourished, thanks to the legend of a cat protecting baby Jesus from rodents and snakes. If you look at both Greeks and Romans, you’ll find that they regarded cats highly, and saw them as a symbol of independence. While cats were the ones to initiate their own domestication, we often see cats during those ancient times as simply mousers and as efficient pest control, and even though that was their main service, the burial in Cyprus 9,500 years ago, where an unknown human was buried with their cat, tells us about a more personal connection. Humans and cats have been coexisting for thousands of years, and according to studies the process of domestication took approximately 12,000 years. To understand the relationship between Greece and the Feline species we should go back in time and see where it all began. Let’s get started! Cats In Ancient Greece
If you’d like to know more about the large cat population of Greece, and how it came to be, then keep on reading! The mild winters help them survive the colder months, and in certain areas of Greece, the people take it upon themselves to offer the neighborhood cats food, water, and shelter.
So why are there so many cats in Greece? Most cats you’ll encounter on the streets of Greece are strays. If you’ve ever been a tourist there, then you’ve also probably noticed tiny eyes watching you from the rooftops as you take a stroll down the cobblestoned alleys, only to discover that these shiny eyes belong to the local cats…so many cats! Greece and the beautiful Aegean islands are famous for their brilliant sandy beaches, and the iconic taverns by the shore.
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