Cats were known and domesticated in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, but are absent from the Bible and Second Temple literature. The Persians despised cats, but the Talmud tolerates them.
Prof.
Joshua Schwartz
,
,
Village dogs, guard dogs, scavenger dogs, and dog burials—what archaeology and the Bible can tell us about dogs in ancient Egypt and the Levant, and the significance of their silence during the plague of the firstborn.
Prof.
Deirdre Fulton
,
Dr.
Paula Wapnish Hesse
,
