From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   John W Kennedy wrote:   
   >   
   > The last I heard, perhaps as early as 10,000 BC, a small number of cats (five   
   > or six females and an unknown number of males) realized that human neolithic   
   > grain stores attracted mice, etc., and that Egyptian cat-worship was an   
   > effect, not a cause.   
   >   
   Since you guys come after me, and there is not so much activity   
   here....   
      
   There was never any "cat-worship" in Egypt.  This is a myth that was   
   created by 3rd Century Christian writers, either in their ignorance of   
   the pagan religions, or to intentionally slur them.  The cats   
   themselves were never worshipped.  In religion involving Bastet or her   
   Romanized forms Isis/Bubastis, the cats were throught to _embody the   
   qualities_ of the ailouromorphic gods, particularly fertility and   
   motherhood, and were regarded as sacred, protected and cultivated   
   around the temples, and sometimes sacrificed, mummified and buried.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)