Why were Ancient Egyptians obsessed with cats?

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I knew Ancient Egyptians loved their cats, but until I visited an archaeology museum - the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures - I wasn't entirely sure why. Turns out the reason is a bit more morbid than I initially thought 💀
In this video we learn about the Egyptian Goddesses Sekhmet and Bastet - Gods Ra, Osiris and Horus - and the significance of raising and sacrificing tens of thousands of cats to honor them.
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Creator, Writer, Host, Addt'l Camera: Emily Graslie
Camera: Brandon Brungard
Editor, Gfx + Sfx: Sheheryar Ahsan
Production Consultant: Carolyn Yao
Production Assistant: Kate Hodge
Addt'l Gfx: Georgina Gutierrez
Special thanks:
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures isac.uchicago.edu/museum-exhi...
‪@ISAC_UChicago‬
Marc Maillot, PhD
Emily Teeter, PhD
Matthew Welton
Video accessibility services provided by the Described and Captioned Media Project www.dcmp.org
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The Brain Scoop is a registered trademark of the Field Museum. Used with permission.

[@CoryDAnimates]

The poor research assistant in the back grinding away just trying to get their PHD.

[@crains8087]

🤣

[@JosephHarrisArch]

That's me 😁 I was studying some 9000 BC stone tools from a site called M'lefaat. Inshallah I will get my PhD!

[@JoaoPessoa86]

soon they too will be interviewed by Emily

[@WarisAmirMohammad]

Inshallah ​@@JosephHarrisArch

[@reddsophia8100]

Good luck on your phd!!

[@martijnvds]

Future internet archaeologists: "The people of the 2000s were obsessed with cats. There were cats all over KZbin"

[@jurjenbos228]

Future archealogist might even not be able to study KZbin, but the Egyptian cats will still be there.

[@Jona-kb7mu]

Studies show that watching cat videos can reduce your risk of stress-related illnesses. That's the only reason why I watch these videos on KZbin.

[@jeremias-serus]

And they would be correct.

[@roxannebrown3061]

❤❤❤❤❤🐈🐈🐈🐈♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ 🐈🐈🐈🐈♥️♥️♥️ (supporting your theory!)

[@santhanamss]

We’ll have Youtubologists one day. I’m taking applications to train them.

[@NewMessage]

'In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.' -Terry Pratchett.

[@OblivionAviator]

It's stored in their DNA. 😉

[@kellydalstok8900]

“I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.” ― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

[@alisonmoffat9682]

“If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember.” ― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

[@falconeshield]

​@@alisonmoffat9682But they're fluffy and cuddly

[@WhitneyAllisonGG]

All hail King Greebo of Lancre.

[@curtisthomas2670]

Cats in Ancient Egypt were also extremely valued for keeping rats from their vital grain supplies. They stored grains for the off season and cats were a main defence of their food supplies

[@514Exc]

They can also sense when a storm or earthquake is coming which would make them the original ADT security. They start to run, you run😂

[@analiviaminsk1171]

they kill snakes and scorpions, cats are super fast and incredible at killing snakes.

[@ExcuseMyFr3nch]

Cats can see different dimensions

[@cordelia8803]

watching this with my cat rn

[@thebrainscoop]

this video sponsored by Toxoplasmosis

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

So??? Did the cat like it?

[@marcusporras9571]

😂😂​@@thebrainscoop

[@sforza209]

@@thebrainscoopI’m sorry but I just don’t find how that comment is remotely funny.

[@thehuable]

​@@sforza209 No one is sorry that you lack a sense of humor, your loss alone

[@urphakeandgey6308]

I think it boils down to 2 big reasons: First, cats have basically saved human agriculture in the past by killing pests. Humans probably saw how efficient they were at killing and revered that. Second, cats are very obviously miniature versions of tigers and lions. Two animals that hold high symbolic significance in many cultures. I wouldn't be surprised if ancient people connecting cats to apex predators was a big part of it.

[@StopTheLiess]

Most logical answer so far

[@delusionaldragon42]

I love being in museum back-rooms because they're one of the few places outside of Goldilocks that you have the opportunity try several different variety of chairs without ever leaving the same table

[@thebrainscoop]

Thank you for reminding me of the novelty tumblr I made between 2016 - 2017: www.tumblr.com/fieldmuseumchairs

[@delusionaldragon42]

@@thebrainscoop omg thank you for this

[@FB711_]

@@thebrainscoopwhat a beautiful collection.

[@Arashekhoeur]

It always baffles me when museum only can show something like 2% or less of their collection and it's already so much on display and then you check their reserve and it's even more mind-blowing.

[@GilgameshEthics]

They should open up more branches in rural places with the "b-rate" items. Most people in rural America don't have any access to museums. It would go along way to Inspiring people

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Only certain ppl allowed to see n investigate most of history Or knowledge, for that matter Only for me and not for thee…the unwashed masses

[@Gilgwathir]

Why are people obsessed with cats? THEY ARE CATS!❤️ What other reason is needed 😂

[@handlesshouldntdefaulttonames]

it's actually because of the toxoplasmosis.

[@moterinsun]

I love the enthusiasm of professionals in their topics of study! "Catacombs"!!

[@disseria]

The pause at the end was so long, I thought you weren't going to say your closing line. So glad you're uploading, again! This has always been one of my favorite KZbin channels

[@Galactopithicus]

I was just at the field museum doing research in their vert paleo collections and somehow we got on to the topic of your show, they had such nice things to say about you! Im so glad you see your videos in my feed again!

[@thebrainscoop]

Awww, this makes me so happy 🥹🥹

[@MisterKnightly]

You're an excellent interviewer. As someone who often gets, uh, not great questions when asked about his museum job, I appreciate your ability to ask excellent questions.

[@longline]

Also shout out to the ISAC's own channel! All of the talks they publish are a delight of well presented archaeological science. It's. All. So. Good. One of my favourites was on urban gentrification, in mesopotamia... The science of trace residues in pots and all that is wild.

[@pheart2381]

I went back into my block of flats to rescue my cat while the fire brigade broke into the bottom flat which was on fire. So not just the ancient egyptians.

[@shelbyb2234]

love a new brain scoop vid. between you leaving and returning, I started doing volunteer animal keeping and specimen prep at PNNM (yes, I have one role with live animals and one with dead ones) and I've thought about your stuff so often since being part of the museum world! really glad you're back. I haven't been to ISAC yet, but I've been meaning to visit. the 180,000 cat mummies bit was truly baffling (and irritating). also, I can't wait to see you do some rat taxidermy!

[@LunarWind99]

The Egyptologist seems really nice and friendly, what an insightful talk! ❤️

[@blue_champignon5738]

I remember when fidget spinners were still a thing, the ISAC had to make a new label for one of their objects that said something like "THIS IS NOT A FIDGET SPINNER"

[@thebrainscoop]

Now I have to know what that object was!

[@likebot.]

Linus Tech Tips makes a $60 figet spinner that you can use as a screwdriver.

[@wolffisu]

I am so incredibly and undeniable elated this channel is back to posting. Thank you Emily for delving into this and sharing this part of Chicagi with us! ❤

[@KatrinaEames]

All of this was great - I feel like I really learned a lot and I've been really interested in the ethical questions around museums, particularly ones that have things that are removed from the cultures that created the artifacts that are on display

[@BlondLanfear]

So glad to have you back both for how much I can learn but also for the 'it's still got brains on it' fun throwback 💜💜💜

[@XmarkedSpot]

I'm happy that you're posting again! That said, since you truncated the intro "jingle"; would you mind returning to the non-distorted sound of yesteryear by any chance? Have a nice one

[@thebrainscoop]

noted! 🫡

[@anthonyscarborough3813]

Hey, Emily. I’ve been a fan of the show since I started watching it in high school, so glad you’re back. Also glad to be a Chicago native now. Been living here almost two years and loving it so far!

[@laurap4415]

That time period is absolutely my jam! New museum visit goal for a Chicago trip!

[@jeffreysanborn1005]

That facial expression of yours after the pun was really funny. It made me smile. That is the face I try to get from people when I tell them puns.

[@JoaoPessoa86]

remember, the video is not over until "It still has brains on it"

[@tonybryk3312]

Anybody with a cat knows without watching the video. Because they are worthy of being worshipped. Say what you want about cats or dogs or whatever animal, but i have MASSIVE respect for the personality of a cat. They are much like humans with their sense of independence and worthiness.

[@jnzk6467]

They say in this video at 7:30 that they would grow those cat farms and then ring 3 month old kitten necks to sacrifice them 😢

[@tonybryk3312]

@jnzk6467 sadly humans have done the same to every animal and even humans 😢

[@keanahernandez9763]

meow

[@hunterG60k]

The museum curator side stepped the question of giving objects back pretty well...

[@archionblu]

It's a REALLY complicated subject that's difficult to address in a short interview. Totally get where you're coming from with wanting answers, but I had to take 3 semesters of museum studies classes focused on reparations, provenance issues, and the antiquities black market to get even a mid-level comprehension of how difficult it is even when museums are 100% on board with returning stuff. (I obviously can't speak for the whole museum/the specific museum staff, This is just my own understanding from courses taught by a professor who has artifacts from her research in the ISAC.)

[@thebrainscoop]

I love you for this answer 🙏🏻

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

Oh, I noticed. "We need to train people in long term conservation"? 🤨 What a conveniently colonial answer to the question...

[@shakeyj4523]

@@NinaDmytraczenko So you want uneducated people to destroy them?

[@cindye5285]

@@NinaDmytraczenko exactly. We have all this experience with "your' artifacts and so many more people can see it here. If you peasants had it, you don't know how to take care of it and no one would get to see it.

[@klawzie]

I will probably be thinking about those 180,000 cat mummies turned into something so ignoble as the fertilizer for another country's crops for the rest of my life. Somehow it's easier for me to comprehend mummies being turned into paint or being used as parlor entertainment in unwrapping ceremonies rather than... fertilizer. I wonder what the ancient Egyptians themselves would think about it? It does tie a bit into the idea of the cycle of death and rebirth. But I also can't help but feel they'd be less offended if it'd been at least within the boundaries of their own civilization, not a far away foreign one that did not respect them. (Great! Now I'm wondering what THEY would think of paint and unwrapping ceremonies and whether they'd prefer the fertilizer option!) I wish I'd put more hours into my Egyptology fascination. I'm a filthy casual, so my guesses aren't even very educated.

[@nunyabiznes33]

How are you using those large emojis?

[@klawzie]

@@nunyabiznes33 Underneath the text box there should be an emoji you can click. It'll open a box that has KZbin-specific emojis along with the standard ones. (The emoji I used here looks roughly the same size as any other emoji to me, though!)

[@Jsrgermain]

You reminded me that I went to this museum 9(!) years ago this very weekend! Such a hidden gem!

[@kalliste01]

I'm glad the ethical view point of these collections was raised at the end. I was thinking about it when the 180000 cat mummies was discussed. Yes, it's a lot! And the British just decided they were theirs to turn into fertiliser.

[@curtisthomas2670]

They also turned tons of mummies into quack medicine or artist paint or as curios for "unwrapping" parties

[@johnrobinson4445]

Speaking of the importance and the...everyday relevance of museums: I once tried to count the number of museums I could find on the map in Tokyo. I started with the Shibuya area. I got up to a dozen or so and gave up. A dozen! Just in one not-so-huge part of Tokyo? I love this. Recently, I went to a museum over-looking the bottom of Shibuya valley ('Shibuya' means 'red valley' for the wildflowers that used to proliferate there), in a quiet neighborhood about 10 minutes from the center. It was lovely. Emile Galle, the glasswork artist. It's great when there are so many museums of so many types within a very convenient area. We all probably need more museums in our life.

[@MrChuckbackus]

Thank you for creating and sharing this!

[@sophiarudd9766]

Great show Emily! Looking forward to seeing more

[@ramilv739]

Ooh!! You are back!

[@easternblot]

I love those clips at the end of the whole Brain Scoop team with cats!

[@OctopusOwl]

Finding out that Cat Urine deters rodents, it makes sense that Egypt (famous grain basket of the ancient world) would LOVE cats.

[@rachelistired]

I was just there a couple of weeks ago and loved it!

[@SophiaAstatine]

The catacombs got me good. Excellent pun use.

[@theoldar]

Excellent episode.

[@Ciathos]

Emily! You are back!!!

[@GraysonGibson]

Just found your channel and I love these videos!

[@artistlovepeace]

Fantastic. Great job, thebrainscoop.

[@danukil7703]

Thank you for mentioning the former name of the ISAC. It is important we not only remember history in general, but also the history of our institutions of public memory

[@JessieCarty]

Thanks! I didn't know you could add a bonus! Yay!

[@thebrainscoop]

I had no idea this was a thing either 👁️👄👁️ Thank you 🥹

[@IndriidaeNT]

What a cool video, I love Ancient Egypt and its cats. The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum is also a museum I would love to visit!

[@hallucinati]

What a beautiful mix between Glenn Close and Jodi Foster ❤

[@your-own-ghost]

I was lucky enough to take an archaeology class in ISAC (in the basement) when I was in undergrad. thanks so much for the fun reminder of that time!

[@gibberishname]

so did the Egyptians have cat goddesses which LED to them having cats in high esteem? or did they hold cats in high esteem first and thus deify them into cat goddesses Sekhmet and Bastet?

[@ManuelOctavio]

Fascinating!

[@fluxpistol3608]

Has anyone ever tested these mummified cats for Toxoplasmosis Gondii DNA?

[@thebrainscoop]

I’m not sure but that’s a fun idea

[@fluxpistol3608]

@@thebrainscoop yeah 👍🏼 might explain their obsession with cats? From a brief search, it looks like it's well documented in modern Egyptian felines. It's a current issue in modern Egypt due to the warm dry climate. No one has yet investigated its presence in Egyptian mummified cats it seems. Perhaps the ability to detect such old DNA isn't quite there? Surely someone will when we and if we can. I hope. At least to rule it out. Could be an objective window into the behaviour of the ancient Egyptians. Turns out Cleopatra was a crazy cat lady 😜

[@caloocanboy5800]

Im literally watching this while taxidermeying a bird after getting inspired by some of you vids❤❤😅❤

[@elihinze3161]

I'm obsessed with ISAC! They have an amazing Mesopotamian collection

[@thebrainscoop]

They really do!! Every time I go, I see something new. And I can’t believe it’s FREE, we don’t have enough of those here in the states

[@sciencenerd7639]

this is great, thanks

[@tatianatub]

the problem of colonialism goes deeper than just working with the local authority, becuse sometimes the local authority is complicit. i know poeple first hand who had to leave a village where their family had lived for generations because their they were living ontop of a place where the government wanted a digsite. jeah they were relocated to more modern housing but they were still forcibly moved and a lot of living history was killed in the process

[@delusionaldragon42]

I feel privileged having worked at the Field on one of their "living exhibits"; one that showcases a contemporary/ongoing feature of Chicago, and how it served as a model for one way museums can work with their surrounding communities to center their voices or showcase an ongoing need. I think another one at the field, Native Truths, is a good first step into showing what that could look like when you're balancing ancient objects with actively colonized contemporary cultures. I want to know what this could look like moving forward with museums like ISAC. I'd love to see an exhibit ON colonization, done in tandem with the communities that the institution has historically pilfered. Bringing that conversation right to the front and involving the public, something like that

[@skinmore]

Great video! Simple, to the point, love it. Just miss the taxidermy videos.....

[@thebrainscoop]

Well boy are you gonna love the next one…!

[@emilyannamanda]

Whoa this is awesome

[@norasims3160]

Brandon has the biggest cat I've ever seen! What is he feeding it?!

[@thebrainscoop]

kittens, apparently

[@maperns]

Wow! Emily and ISAC, on the same video? We're too blessed

[@kostapapa1989]

Poor cat mummies who became fertilizer in England. The curse of Bastet will haunt England.

[@datafoxy]

I really like how history of people just makes humanity more interesting.

[@Cat_Woods]

I don't think killing thousand of cats as sacrifices counts as "loving cats."

[@Rubrickety]

So we’ve had the rat video and the cat video. Clearly bats are next, followed by a pivot to hats and vats.

[@martijnvds]

And mats.

[@Agaettis]

CATACOMBS oh lord I laughed way too hard she was so proud of that

[@deanlonagan1475]

..it was a necessity...the ancient Egyptians stored a lot of grain so they either had cats or rats...

[@Pottery4Life]

Great information, Emily. Thank you! Going a little further, and to provide some balance and perspective, how about an episode on the introduction of the domestic feline to North America and the downstream ecological effects to this day of that event? Thank you.

[@sophiafern]

I deeply appreciate how at the beginning of every episode I get kissed by a raccoon. And isn't that what the brain scoop is all about?

[@johnrobinson4445]

The simple explanation is the importance of the cat in pest control. Egypt was based on grain. So, there ya go.

[@UnknownAbstracts]

big thanks! amazing and as cute as this, its a little sad to know that most of the direct cultural inheritors of these artifacts will never get to see these 350,000 precious objects. it's wishful thinking, but if only these countries that unethically but "legally" retain "ownership" someday allow easier cultural access. they discussed it somewhat near the end, but not all cat lovers can become academics just to access these.

When the lady is “horrified” by the Egyptians wringing the necks of kittens. Imagine when you lived in a country before spaying animals. (Cats or Dogs) Cats can have 3 litters of 4-6 kittens. Those kittens start reproducing at 6-8 months…. 😿(In the old days the kittens were killed to keep the population under control) Cats can completely over run your house or town in a year or two. Thank goodness for medical neutering👏🏼😻

[@EricMVlogs]

Happy 35th Birthday Emily. I wish everyone a happiest of birthday's and also I believe that no matter what age we turn in 2024 that everyone should celebrate it in any way that they want to and have it with friends and family.

[@Howtown]

Brandon's "cat" 😆A purrfect episode!

[@KermRiv]

when the grain is life, the protectors of the grain must seem like angels

[@jefflanam]

I"ve been to this museum when it was called The Oriental Museum. The word oriental meant the Near East 100 years ago. Great museum, whatever the name.

[@daviddavison5113]

I went there a few times years and years ago, but I remember it as The Oriental Institute.

[@Viniter]

13:43 Whoa, what a big cat!

[@DivineFeminineDiaries]

This was such an interesting and entertaining video! If you need anything in Rome let me know!

[@laurelh29]

I love the museum and Cats !

[@OblivionAviator]

I am not an Egyptologist by any standard, but I have never, ever heard of Ra being pronounced "ray". Say what??

[@chiccngeorge3058]

Ra is the root word to ray. Ra is the sun and ray is sunlight.

[@EyeofSekhmet]

Ra, Rey, Atum, Amun, they called God different names depending upon the period. Ra was the oldest and most widely used name.

[@BasicArchaeology-oz4yo]

The ancient Egyptians already knew: A life without cats is possible, but pointless...

[@michelehynes6705]

I wonder how tame ancient Egyptian cars were as far as being pet, picked up, sleeping among humans.

[@samanthagarcia9499]

Did I just hear that Egyptians who worshiped cats use to sacrifice them too? That was not what I’d expect to hear

[@misscrankypantss]

Right?? Makes no sense and I could have done without knowing that. I thought killing cats was a crime back then? Seems hypocritical to me.

[@SophiaAstatine]

​@@misscrankypantssDifferent cultures, ya know. Moreover, there was probably a significant difference between sacrifice and killing.

[@rossentownsend4936]

You never mentioned that they were particularly ginger cats that where bred in great numbers for the purpose of Burial

[@med.i.tations]

I love cats and my cats 😺❤❤❤❤ their purring has healing abilities 😊

[@michaelpytel3280]

I went to the museum back in the 90's. It was great back then I should visit again. Mew!🐱

[@theexpotition]

The dog in cat ears sent me 🤣

[@margo3367]

I’ve seen the King Tut exhibit when it was traveling to the US and the artifact that touched me most and made me feel like they were just like us was a dog collar.

[@Zahri8Alang]

I bet its actually the Eqyptians whom would first coin the term purrito But, in Eqyptian of course, or whatever the tortilla equivalent is there

[@Jim-Mc]

Ever seen those vids of cats scaring away huge alligators crocs and snakes? I'm not surprised at all they were worshipped.

[@normanjefferychester882]

How far is Target on PBS, Georgia public broadcast, what are remarkable young lady you are, I saw you on a few digs, I just found you on KZbin, I enjoy your adventures

[@Iwantalloftheinformation]

I have loved cats since I was 1 or 2 years old, I was lucky we had crystal kitty who just kinda snuggle with me. They are evolutionary OP in intrigue and sheer cuddly sleep cuteness. She got kitty cancer and died while I was still very little and have only scraps of images of her in my memory, she was an all white kitty. This may sound incredibly panzy but hell the Egyptians worshipped these rodent repellants.

[@nicolew4738]

Cats are masters of acceptance and emit healing energy.

[@kreationkaze]

Ughhhhh cats, I could die from cuteness. So good!

[@KryptonianAI]

4:40 I wonder if this is how Mewtwo got its name? 🤔

[@federicobonacorso138]

La amo por el chiste de las catacumbas.

[@chaoticsystem2211]

Did Sheheryar just catnap that cat from the streets???

[@Jeffindsm]

Cats kept away rodents from grain supplies and snakes from abodes. And quite possibly they were a new species that was recently introduced to humans for domestication

[@suprduprlemontrooper]

I'm glad to know that all these years later... it still has brains on it.

[@mrmr446]

Is anyone going to make the claim that everything has gone swimmingly since we stopped making kitten mummies?

[@thebrainscoop]

I hope you’re not suggesting what I think you are 😭😭

[@mrmr446]

@@thebrainscoop a silly question I failed to keep from my mind, I'm comfortable looking for answers elsewhere. Enjoyed the episode I've spent time in Cyprus where earliest evidence of feline domestication was found and have always loved them. Taking over twice, in Egypt and the internet today.

[@ImTheDudeMan471]

Maybe they were obsessed with mice, hence the cats, perhaps.

[@BarrettDCarroll]

Ray? Or Raw?