“Cats”, wrote English humourist P.G. Wodehouse, “have never quite got over the snootiness that comes from having been worshipped as gods in ancient Egypt”. Domestic cats are still highly regarded in Egypt to this day. They were probably first tamed for their usefulness in catching mice; subsequently their grace and beauty, in addition to their good services, would pave the way to the cult of the cat in ancient Egypt, which began around 3100 BCE.

By the 5th century BCE ordinary moggies were being treated as demigods. Those in royal households wore jewellery, thousands of cats and kittens were mummified, and people shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the passing of their pets. The penalty for accidentally killing a cat was death. It was believed that cats’ eyes retained the passing rays of the sun-god Ra as he sank below the horizon, offering protection by night from Ra’s arch-enemy, the serpent Apophis.

The goddess Bast, or Bastet, daughter of Ra, sometimes represented as a domestic feline surrounded by kittens, was worshipped as protector of Lower Egypt as well as bringer of fertility. According to Herodotus, the 5th century Greek historian, around 700,000 people would make a pilgrimage each year to the holy city of Bubastis in honour of their feline goddess.

Many other cultures have adopted the cat as a minor deity. In Norse mythology cats were associated with the goddess Freyja, who is depicted in a chariot pulled by two huge grey cats. The Islamic prophet Muhammad is said to have torn the sleeve off his robe when it was time to go to prayer, because his cat was asleep on it. In Thailand a legend tells of cats who protected the Buddha’s temple treasure during a Burmese invasion.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, far from being idolized, cats (particularly black cats) were demonized and ill-treated. This was because they came to be associated with evil, probably due to their snake-like movements and nocturnal habits. Indeed the poor creatures were sometimes used for black magic rituals. Many people believed black cats were witches in different form, or witches’ familiars.

The age was profoundly superstitious, a hangover from pagan religions, which to an extent had continued to exist alongside Christianity. It didn’t help that Pope Gregory IX’s Papal Bull of 1233 made reference to the use of black cats in a denunciation of Satanism, as this encouraged the culling of a huge number of cats. (The pope did not, contrary to a popular myth, specifically denounce cats themselves as diabolic). Arguably the most famous of all witches’ cats is Grimalkin from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, taken in turn from Celtic mythology.

There are still dozens of irrational beliefs regarding cats even today. Most people probably know of at least one person who will recoil in fear if a black cat crosses their path. Many more superstitions and proverbs are listed on this website. And finally, even though it appears to be a hoax, ii is worth mentioning the alleged origin of a popular saying: animals, it is said, used to find shelter in the thatched roofs of houses in the 16th century, and when it rained heavily they would slip off. Thus the saying ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’.