There are a lot of theories about the origin of the house cat, one of those theories says that the wildcat in its evolutionary process suffered a genetic mutation that gave rise to the domestic cat that prevents it from reaching a true adulthood. However, the most accepted by scientists is the one about the african wildcat.
This theory says, that the cat has its origins in the African wildcat, Felis Silvestris Lybica, about 10.000 years ago in the fertile crescent of the Nile.
4.000 years ago, egyptians used them to keep the rats away from the cereal. Later, thanks to the phoenicians traders, they reached India and China by 500 b.C., and by 100 a.C. they spread throughout Europe.
In the time of the roman empire it was a symbol of victory, and other civilizations considered them as a sign of good luck.