Roman military helped bring cats to Europe

Popular Science ^ | December 1, 2025 | Laura Baisas

[SunkenCiv]

Initially, archaeologists believed that humans began to live with cats about 9,500 years ago in... parts of the present-day eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. This timeline coincides with the beginning of the Neolithic era, when agriculture started to spread. The grains used in farming attracted rodents, which then enticed the wildcats to come and eat the rodents. Neolithic humans then likely kept the wildcats around to keep the rodents away, paving the way for domestication. Cat remains dating [circa 9500 years ago] have been discovered in present-day Cyprus, indicating that the animals were a part of daily life by then.

Cats then became a staple in Ancient Egypt roughly 3,500 years ago. Unlike the more murky history during the Neolithic Age, Ancient Egyptian culture is full of cat references. Numerous cat remains have been found in tombs, as well as drawings of cats eating near humans. Bastet was a feline goddess...

Earlier studies using cats' mitochondrial DNA indicated that they may have made it to Europe from Turkey via Neolithic farmers about 6,000 years ago and later from Egypt. Genetically speaking, modern house cats are also different from the African wildcat native to both Egypt and Turkey. Still, a lack of archaeological evidence and problems with distinguishing domestic cats from their wild counterparts based on the DNA in their bones have left some major gaps in the house cats' history.

In this new study, a team analyzed the genomes of 70 ancient cats, dating back over the last 11,000 years (from about 9000 BCE to 19th century CE). The genomes were taken from bones found in archaeological sites in Europe and Turkey, along with 17 modern wildcats from parts of North Africa, Italy, and Bulgaria.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: africa; bulgaria; cats; cyprus; egypt; feliscatus; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; italy; neolithic; romanempire; turkey; yayrome

[SunkenCiv]

The genomes of ancient cats from archaeological sites across Europe and Anatolia (dark circles in the map) revealed that domestic cats were introduced to Europe from North Africa starting at ~2 thousand years ago (kya), several millennia after the onset of the Neolithic in Europe. African wildcats in Sardinia originate from a distinct wildcat population in Northwest Africa.

The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago | M. De Martino et al | Science | Vol. 390, No. 6776

[SunkenCiv]

There has been just a litter bit of DNA research about cats.

[SunkenCiv]

• New Research Project Studies Ancient Feline Migration Into Europe [11/20/2022]
  • The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago [12/22/2025]
  • Cats Sailed With Vikings to Conquer The World, Says Genetic Study [08/08/2018]
• Meet Mr Green Genes - the world's first glow-in-the-dark cat [10/25/2008]
  • Developmental genetics of color pattern establishment in cats [01/23/2023]
  • A New Cat Color Is Defying Genetic Expectations [09/17/2025]
• The Evolution of House Cats [genetic research about cat breeding] [05/27/2009]
  • You Always Knew Your Cat Was Half Wild But Now There's Genetic Proof [11/12/2014]
  • Cats Are Finally Getting Geneticists' Attention [01/24/2015]
• The Story of Cat Domestication Just Got a Major Twist [11/28/2025]

[ansel12]

The Roman Legions would love cat videos.

[SunkenCiv]

They would! Alas, they wouldn’t be able to view them on their Blackberries, not least because they would be *actual* blackberries.

[MotorCityBuck]

https://youtu.be/mc1W_Pys88U?si=jI3v5BAEcEYS8Yg7

;)

[SauronOfMordor]

In the time of the Roman Empire, Rome would import grain from Egypt, and cats probably traveled with the grain ships.

[SunkenCiv]

Shell game: History [wikipedia]

Katze vs. geheimnisvolle Schüssel 🐱 Wer gewinnt? | 0:57
Tomy | 1.28K subscribers | 3,904,042 views | February 5, 2026

[SunkenCiv]

Cats probably wanted to move to Rome, got the idea for taking the grain ships, and in their passive-aggressive way, convinced their staff (the humans) to start the grain trade.😽🐈

[mairdie]

What a WONDERFUL thread!

[ansel12]

The videos all mention that it wasn’t just the food stores the cats protected, they also protected the armories with so much leather and wood being used, materials that rats would also eat and damage, and of course killing rodents reduced disease.

[Cold Heart]

So who imported the cat ladies?

[dfwgator]

We all know how they came to America

[citizen]

HA! Blame the Romans. (not a cat person here)

[skepsel]

Kipling explains it all.

The Cat That Walked By Himself

https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/tale/rk_catwalked.htm

[rlmorel]

Hahahaha!

[Ezekiel]

“helped bring cats to”

Wanderwort...

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cat

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cattus#Latin

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%97%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9C

[an amused spectator]

😂😂😂

[an amused spectator]

Pallas Cat (Manul cat) FTW!

[Beowulf9]

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your pointy ears.