In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.

The veneration of cats in Egypt reached its peak during the 22nd Dynasty around 945 BC. The goddess Bastet was originally depicted as a lioness but evolved into a domestic cat figure representing protection and fertility. Archaeological excavations at Bubastis, the cult center of Bastet, have uncovered over 300,000 cat mummies, proving the scale of their religious significance.The Greek historian Herodotus recorded in 440 BC that when a house caught fire, Egyptians would prioritize saving the cats over the building itself. He also documented the mourning ritual where family members shaved their eyebrows to signal their grief after a pet cat died. These rituals were not merely symbolic but were backed by strict legal codes enforced by the pharaoh's government.Beyond religion, cats were vital to the Egyptian economy. By hunting the Egyptian cobra and various rodents, they protected the surplus grain stored in granaries which was the backbone of their civilization. Killing a cat was viewed as an act of sabotage against the state and an insult to the gods. In one recorded instance from the 1st century BC, a Roman citizen was lynched by a mob for accidentally killing a cat, despite the Egyptian king's attempts to intervene.