The Dogs of Ancient Egypt Page 1 We, and everyone else it seems has given homage to the cats of ancient Egypt, but dogs too were important, both as symbols of gods and as domesticated animals. Certainly they were pets, but it is difficult to say whether dogs were as beloved by their Egyptian owners as cats. They were never shown as animals to be petted. But as in modern times, their uses were much more diverse. Nevertheless, they were mummified and they were often buried with owners, or sometimes in their own coffins. At Abydos, part of the cemetery was set aside for dogs near the graves of women, archers and dwarfs. Egyptian probably first domesticated the cat, but dogs were most likely domesticated in other parts of the world. Notably, the first domestication of dogs from wolfs occurred in Persia, North America and possibly Northeast Africa. The earliest reference to dogs in Egypt comes to us from the predynastic period. Bones of domesticated dogs have been discovered dating to the fifth millennium BC in Egypt, and we find the first representation of domesticated dogs on the Moscow cup from the Badarian age (4000-4500 BC). We begin to find natural representations of dogs with collars on the Asmolean Palette and the Hunting Palette. These palettes date from the predynastic era during the Naqada II (3500-3000 BC). NExt >>>>