Dogs

First attested to in the 10th century Chronicles of Moses, a midrash relates how Pharaoh had lions guarding the palace entrance, tearing up any unwanted visitors. Due to its popularity, it is also preserved in a 15th century mahzor, as part of its Aramaic targum to the Song of the Sea.

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.

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.