Cats have long been considered special animals to man. They were surrounded by religious worship, they were feared, and many legends were written about them. One of them is the belief that cats live nine lives.
Nine is a divine number
Nine figures in myths as often as the number three or seven. In ancient Egyptian mythology, there was the Enneada - a group of the main gods, of which there were nine. Scandinavian mythology describes nine worlds connected by a world tree - Yggdrasil ash. In ancient Ireland, a cortege of nine chariots was the sign of the highest honor, this is how King Loegire paid homage to Saint Patrick. There were nine muses in ancient Greek mythology. In Judaism and Christianity, there are nine angelic orders. Yes, and in Russian folk tales, the "distant kingdom" is constantly mentioned.
This attitude is due to some peculiarities of this number. The sum of the digits of any number that is divisible by nine is nine - the number seems to reproduce itself. This correlated with the idea of the cyclical nature of the universe, nature that eternally dies and is reborn. In addition, nine is the square of the number three, which was also considered sacred.
It would be strange not to associate such a "magic" number with a cat. After all, she, too, was a sacred animal. In Egypt, cats were revered as gods - more than a sacred bull, and in Scandinavian mythology, cats were harnessed to her chariot by Freya, the goddess of love and fertility.
The connection between cats and the number nine is clear, but why did the idea arise at all that cats should have multiple lives?
The real basis of the legend
Probably, the idea of the many feline lives of ancient people was prompted by the amazing vitality of cats. Falling from a great height, these animals in most cases do not die and do not receive any dangerous injuries. A study from a veterinary clinic in New York showed that of 132 cats that fell out of windows located above 30 floors, only 17 animals survived shock. There were even fewer cats that damaged bones.
The parachute effect helps cats to remain unharmed when falling from a height: when falling, the animal presses its tail and legs to the body. The body rotates, the speed of its fall becomes slower. When approaching the ground, the cat aligns its hind legs with the body, thereby stopping its rotation, and straightens the front legs. The front legs, which take the brunt of the blow, are not firmly connected to the skeleton, so the main load falls on the tendons and muscles, and not on the bones, which helps to avoid fractures.
Considering how a fall from a height usually ends for people, one can imagine what feelings the ancient man experienced when observing the cat's "landings". Refusing to believe that it is possible to fall from a height and stay alive, people decided that the cat has nine lives.
