# How many centuries...



## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

...does the Persian line go back?Before the reign of Darius?


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## LakotaWolf (Aug 10, 2012)

The internets tells me that the first documented Persian-types were imported into Italy in the 1600s. XD

I also read that genetic research into the modern Persian shows it is, ancestrally, related to cats from Western Europe and not Asia. 

I don't think the Persian, in any recognizable modern form, has been around since 500 BC. There may have been long-haired cats in that area at that time, but they weren't Persian cats as we know them.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Cats have been found in Egypt for thousands of years. Often statues of them do not look like Persians, but more of an "oriental" type of cat like our modern day _Abyssinian._

You may find this link of interest: Pitt Rivers Museum - Animals and Belief ? Ancient Egypt


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## Nuliajuk (Oct 25, 2014)

The Vikings were trading in the Middle East in the dark ages and during medieval times. If long haired cats were evolving to survive Scandinavian and Russian winters, it's entirely possible that some of those same cats made it to Persia via the trade routes down to the Black Sea by way of modern Kiev, perhaps on boats as ratters.
A lot of the fanciful stories about cat breeds need to be taken with a huge grain of salt! For example, cats with colourpoint markings were not restricted to royal palaces and temples in what is now Thailand.


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