Cats were domesticated in Egypt for a long time and its history can be traced back to 7500 BCE. They helped people in protecting crops, controlling diseases and were used for hunting birds. The cats were seen as a holy animal and killing them was considered a sin, entailed capital punishment. Cats were seen as a form of Bastet, the goddess of fertility, protection and home.

Fun Fact: In wealthy families it was a custom to mummify dead cats. In 1890, an archaeological excavation was carried out in which 170,000 buried cats were discovered.

WHAT LED TO THE WAR?

Cambyses II was the successor and son of Cyrus the Great, reigning from 530 BCE the Persian Empire. He was second King of King of the Achaemenid Empire and ruled side-by-side with his father for some time.  Cambyses wanted to.

He asked Amasis II, the Pharaoh of Egypt for a doctor for some reason and the doctor was forcefully sent to Persia, separating from his family. His revenge came when he advised Cambyses establish his power through diplomacy by asking Amasis II for the hand of his daughter and Cambyses agreed.

He did not want to marry his daughter to foreign prince and at the same time he could not refuse him outright. So, instead of declining he send the daughter of Pharaoh Apries, Nitetis to Cambyses II. Nitetis had no plan of hiding the truth and immediately told Cambyses II the truth on arrival.

Cambyses II was offended and wanted to get revenge. He was helped by Phanes of Halicarnassus and the Arabian King, another two people were became Amasis enemies. Amasis had a long list of people enemies and the problem began when they began working together.

Phanes of Halicarnassus was a councilman and advisor to Amasis. The enmity between them developed for some unknown reason and he fled to Persia. On the way, he was captured in Lycia but later outwitted the guards and managed to successfully reach Persia. Phanes of Halicarnassus provided Cambyses II all the vital information on Egypt and Egyptian culture.

From him, Cambyses learned how important cats were in Egyptian culture.

While Arabian King provided him a safe passage to Pelusium, a city near delta of Nile-river. Amasis died few months before the battle leaving behind the problem that was about to come to his son, Psamtik III who succeeded. The Battle of Pelusium took place in 525 BCE which turned out to be a major turning point in Egyptian history as Persian rule was established over Egyptian civilization.

When Cambyses used the cats as the shield in the battle, it was cruel yet effective method. He was using psychological warfare to put pressure on Egyptian army and it clearly worked since Egyptian army loses amounted to 50,000 compared to 7,000 loses under Cambyses.  

CATS IN THE WARS

Luckily, after the war of Pelusium cats were not used directly in war but played different roles mascots or being used for pest control. Cats have a keen sense of smell and it was used to detect harmful gases in World Wars. As a mascot, cats provided sense of comfort among the solider in the stress of wars, keeping them healthy mentally.

They often taken to ships for pest control and protect the food supplies from rodents. Other animals like elephant, camel, dogs and horses had also played a major part in wars for transportation, guarding as well as for direct combat.

Citation

When kittens defeated the mighty Ancient Egyptian army. www.historyskill.com.

(2018). The Battle of Pelusium. www.egypttoursportal.com

Natural History of Cats. Alley Cats Allies.

Herodotus. (1737). The History of Herodotus. D. Midwinter.

(2020). 12 Amazing Facts about cats in Ancient Egypt. Historical Eve