WI: Cats got mentioned in the Bible/New Testament

Valena · Apr 20, 2014

Happy Easter to everyone, and here's my first Biblical WI here.
As you know, cat is the only domestic animal who never got mentioned in the Bible.
So what if one of the gospels includes small scene about Jesus... say, preventing a man from drowning a bunch of kittens in the bag, saying that "God has mercy to every creature, even one still blind to His light" or some such.

What are the effects? IMO the clearest ones:
1. Less stigma towards cats in Christian population, it is harder to associate an animal with witchcraft if it's clearly and positively mentioned in the Bible.
2. More cats on ships - as a token of good luck - "Christ did not allow cats to be drowned once, maybe he won't allow this second time".
3. Due to Jesus also being mentioned caring about cats, a cat is less a "Muslim" animal (Mohammad being a "cat person" is clearly reflected in origins of Islam and cats are considered "clean" animals to pet before prayer).
4. See item 3 - maybe the strips of tabby cats are explained as fingermarks of Christ petting the cat's ancestor (in Islam similar legend exists about fingerprints of the Prophet)

Son of Leman Russ · Apr 20, 2014

umm what if in first century AD Levant, there is simply too few cats there? Not enough of them to end up as common pets?

Jonathan Edelstein · Apr 20, 2014

Son of Leman Russ said:
umm what if in first century AD Levant, there is simply too few cats there? Not enough of them to end up as common pets?

The Middle East was ground zero for feline domestication. There would certainly have been cats there at the time.

One possibility, though, is a negative Biblical portrayal of felines - for instance, if Jezebel or Athaliah were shown as the equivalent of Tolkien's Beruthiel. That could end up reinforcing rather than dispelling the association of cats with witchcraft.

Seleucus · Apr 20, 2014

Perhaps cats could be incorporated into Christian tradition as part of absorbing Egyptian traditions such as the Cult of Bast/etc.?

(I don't know much about religious history/etc., so this may be extremely unlikely.)

Dathi THorfinnsson · Apr 20, 2014

Jonathan Edelstein said:
The Middle East was ground zero for feline domestication. There would certainly have been cats there at the time.

One possibility, though, is a negative Biblical portrayal of felines - for instance, if Jezebel or Athaliah were shown as the equivalent of Tolkien's Beruthiel. That could end up reinforcing rather than dispelling the association of cats with witchcraft.

Errr... Egypt is.

I've seen suggestions that Egypt actively tried to prevent the export of cats and succeeded until... 500BC or so, and that they may have been rare in e.g. Rome in New Testament times.

I know there's that one grave in Cyprus....

Jonathan Edelstein · Apr 20, 2014

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
Errr... Egypt is.

I've seen suggestions that Egypt actively tried to prevent the export of cats and succeeded until... 500BC or so, and that they may have been rare in e.g. Rome in New Testament times.

I know there's that one grave in Cyprus....

The grave in Cyprus was what I was thinking of, but I'm also fairly sure there are references to cats in Byblos from Old Testament times and before. When I get a chance I might look for citations.

In any event, the southern Levant was part of the Egyptian cultural sphere for many centuries and some cities syncretized with the Egyptian religion, so I'd imagine that the Old Testament Hebrews would have known of them. Of course, an association of cats with Egypt might lead to them being portrayed negatively rather than otherwise.

Pangur · Apr 20, 2014

Far from convinced about this

The various comments about Christianity having issues with cats does not add up

#1 A poem from the edge of a Irish religious manuscript

I and Pangur Bán my cat,
‘Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

<Hence my name here>

#2 Check this out

Sorry guys but I can't see the evidence for at least early Christians being dark on cats

iori · Apr 21, 2014

I don't know when it dates to, but there is a Christian Folk Tale about cats; basically it goes when Jesus was a baby he kept crying and nothing Mary did could get him to stop, then after awhile (I think it was 2-3 days) Mary heard him stop crying, at which point she hurried over to his cradle to look and there with him was a cat curled up next to him, which he was hugging and had caused him to be comfortable and go to sleep, at which point Mary blessed it, and thus the 'M' shape on some cats heads is said to be Mary's Blessing manifest.

Valena · Apr 21, 2014

Iori said:
I don't know when it dates to, but there is a Christian Folk Tale about cats; basically it goes when Jesus was a baby he kept crying and nothing Mary did could get him to stop, then after awhile (I think it was 2-3 days) Mary heard him stop crying, at which point she hurried over to his cradle to look and there with him was a cat curled up next to him, which he was hugging and had caused him to be comfortable and go to sleep, at which point Mary blessed it, and thus the 'M' shape on some cats heads is said to be Mary's Blessing manifest.

Didn't know this about Christian folk tale about tabby cat marking

So pretty much "WI the thing is canon"

Pangur · Apr 21, 2014

Iori said:
I don't know when it dates to, but there is a Christian Folk Tale about cats; basically it goes when Jesus was a baby he kept crying and nothing Mary did could get him to stop, then after awhile (I think it was 2-3 days) Mary heard him stop crying, at which point she hurried over to his cradle to look and there with him was a cat curled up next to him, which he was hugging and had caused him to be comfortable and go to sleep, at which point Mary blessed it, and thus the 'M' shape on some cats heads is said to be Mary's Blessing manifest.

That's a lovely story. Got to own up to being a full on cat lover

mojojojo · Apr 21, 2014

Yeah, I know that there is the popular assumption that cats were associated with witches.However, just about every common animal (and some uncommon ones) were seen as potentialy being witches familiars rabbits,hedgehogs even monkeys.

Simreeve · Apr 21, 2014

Jonathan Edelstein said:
The grave in Cyprus was what I was thinking of, but I'm also fairly sure there are references to cats in Byblos from Old Testament times and before. When I get a chance I might look for citations.

In any event, the southern Levant was part of the Egyptian cultural sphere for many centuries and some cities syncretized with the Egyptian religion, so I'd imagine that the Old Testament Hebrews would have known of them. Of course, an association of cats with Egypt might lead to them being portrayed negatively rather than otherwise.

Genetic studies a few years ago suggested strongly that domestic cats are actually more closely related to the wild cats of Mesopotamia than they are to those of Egypt, which of course suggests initial domestication in the 'fertile crescent' followed [quite quickly, it appears] by a spread into Egypt rather than Egypt itself as the place of domestication.

The Ubbergeek · Apr 22, 2014

Of one thing - it's centuries later, but apparently there is at least apocryphal tales saying that Mahomet liked cats, and this may have had an historial consequences in some famous feral cats population of greek islands (maybe from Ottoman days). Maybe it's in the Hadits, or the Quran itself too.

Of another, ferrets where know to europeans before cats got there I was told in a thread about ferrets being more popular than OTL, maybe domesticated by the mycenians or hellene era...

iori · Apr 23, 2014

The Ubbergeek said:
Of one thing - it's centuries later, but apparently there is at least apocryphal tales saying that Mahomet liked cats, and this may have had an historial consequences in some famous feral cats population of greek islands (maybe from Ottoman days). Maybe it's in the Hadits, or the Quran itself too.

Islam has actually had a close relation with cats from the get go; the Hadiths Mohammed forbade the persecution or killing of cats, additionally there is a story (the one you may be thinking of) that one day Mohammed was getting ready to go do something (religious-y, dunno what exactly) and his cat was sleeping on his shirt thing, so rather than disturbing its sleep he cut off the sleeve of the garment and wore it like that.

Sharunaku · Apr 23, 2014

Iori said:
additionally there is a story (the one you may be thinking of) that one day Mohammed was getting read to go do something (religious-y, dunno what exactly) and his cat was sleeping on his shirt thing, so rather than disturbing its sleep he cut off the sleeve of the garment and wore it like that.

The first thing that came up in my mind as I read this is the story of Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty

mrmandias · Apr 23, 2014

It may not have any discernible effects of all. The interaction between religious movements and religious texts is not straightforward. Dogs are generally mentioned negatively in the Bible but that hasn't stopped Christians from liking them. My guess is that the association between cats and witchcraft has nothing to do with the Bible at all and everything to do with old, lonely women who are just a little bit crazy liking cats; with cats showing a little more of a cruel and aloof streak then other pets; and with cats being sneaky and going out at night and making noises when they fight or ch'rowl that are a little bit unearthly to hear in the dark.

And if there is a mention of cats, even a positive one, its not going to be the one you came up with. The hippy movement is about 2000 years later (OK, I'm exaggerating. But there is no real 'animal kindness' tradition in Antiquity. If there's a positive mention of cats, its going to be something that affirms Christ's lordship, maybe, but more likely is that cats are used in a parable or illustration. Maybe something like "when a cat catches a rat and lays it at the feet of her master, what use has he for the rat? Yet does he not praise her withal and give her of milk to drink? Even so when you give gifts to God.")

Valena said:
Happy Easter to everyone, and here's my first Biblical WI here.
As you know, cat is the only domestic animal who never got mentioned in the Bible.
So what if one of the gospels includes small scene about Jesus... say, preventing a man from drowning a bunch of kittens in the bag, saying that "God has mercy to every creature, even one still blind to His light" or some such.

What are the effects? IMO the clearest ones:
1. Less stigma towards cats in Christian population, it is harder to associate an animal with witchcraft if it's clearly and positively mentioned in the Bible.
2. More cats on ships - as a token of good luck - "Christ did not allow cats to be drowned once, maybe he won't allow this second time".
3. Due to Jesus also being mentioned caring about cats, a cat is less a "Muslim" animal (Mohammad being a "cat person" is clearly reflected in origins of Islam and cats are considered "clean" animals to pet before prayer).
4. See item 3 - maybe the strips of tabby cats are explained as fingermarks of Christ petting the cat's ancestor (in Islam similar legend exists about fingerprints of the Prophet)