It had long been known that all modern-day cats can trace their roots to one (of five subspecies) of wild cat – the Felis Silvestris Lybica – native to northern Africa and southwest Asia. As the other four subspecies were never tamed.

And it was presumed cats had farmers to thank for welcoming into our homes, by presenting their skills as vermin-catchers and eventually winning favour.

But now the largest ever study of cat domestication and the “cat’s worldwide conquest”, has confirmed that the dispersal actually happened in two waves, not one, and for very different reasons.

The study, published in Nature Ecology, looked at the mitochondrial DNA (passed down the maternal line) in the bones and teeth of more than 200 ancient cats, found at archaeological sites across the world, including Viking graves, Egyptian tombs.

These fossils told the researchers that the first wave, which was 9,000 years ago, happened in the near East, in the ‘Fertile Crescent’ – a belt of land which stretches east from the Mediterranean sea across the north of the Syrian desert.

Here grain-farmers realised that they were attracting mice with their crops, which in turn attracted wild-cats. And instead of removing them, by tolerating their presence they were able to curb their rodent problem.

Professor Eva Maria Geigl, said: “I would say cats chose human company, but it was a commensal relationship – it was profitable to both sides.”

These cats then spread to Bulgaria and Romania on foot, and were later kept on Viking ships, as it was compulsory for all seafarers to have at least one cat on board to keep the rodent problem at bay, meaning they spread throughout Eastern Europe.

The second cat wave came several thousand years later, in Ancient Egyptian society, where cats were revered and very popular among the ruling classes.

These were also carried along maritime trade routes, throughout the Roman Empire, and as it expanded, so did the cat’s plans for global domination.