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===Taming=== [[File:War trophies Deir el Bahari Wellcome L0027402.jpg|thumb|alt=A hieroglyph depicting two leashed cheetahs|A [[hieroglyph]] from [[Deir el-Bahari]] depicting leashed cheetahs ("panthers")]] [[File:Cheetahs nawab oudh1844.jpg|thumb|alt=Two cheetahs with saddles on their backs with attendants|Sketch of cheetahs belonging to the [[Nawab of Oudh]] with attendants (1844)]] [[File:AkbarHunt.jpg|thumb|A painting of [[Akbar]], a Mughal emperor, hunting with cheetahs, ca. 1602]] The cheetah shows little aggression toward humans, and can be tamed easily, as it has been since antiquity.<ref name=caro1994/> The earliest known depictions of the cheetah are from the [[Chauvet Cave]] in France, dating back to 32,000–26,000 BC.<ref name="marker2alt">{{cite book |last1=Pang |first1=B. |title=Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation |last2=Van Valkenburgh |first2=B. |last3=Kitchell |first3=K. F. Jr. |last4=Dickman |first4=A. |last5=Marker |first5=L. |date=2018 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-804088-1 |editor1=Marker, L. |location=London |pages=17–24 |chapter=History of the cheetah-human relationship |editor2=Boast, L. K. |editor3=Schmidt-Kuentzel, A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3rXDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 |name-list-style=amp |access-date=26 April 2024 |archive-date=5 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505152826/https://books.google.com.eg/books?id=H3rXDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> According to historians such as Heinz Friederichs and [[w:de:Burchard Brentjes|Burchard Brentjes]], the cheetah was first tamed in [[Sumer]] and this gradually spread out to central and northern Africa, from where it reached India. The evidence for this is mainly pictorial; for instance, a Sumerian seal dating back to {{circa|3000 BC}}, featuring a long-legged leashed animal has fueled speculation that the cheetah was first tamed in Sumer. However, [[Thomas T. Allsen|Thomas Allsen]] argues that the depicted animal might be a large dog.<ref name="allsen">{{cite book |last1=Allsen |first1=T. T. |author-link1 = Thomas T. Allsen |title=The Royal Hunt in Eurasian history |date=2006 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0-8122-3926-3 |chapter=Partners |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6V9MtZT6go0C&pg=PA52 |pages=52–81 |access-date = 20 December 2019 |archive-date = 28 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230328015242/https://books.google.com/books?id=6V9MtZT6go0C&pg=PA52 |url-status = live}}</ref> Other historians, such as [[F. E. Zeuner|Frederick Zeuner]], have opined that ancient Egyptians were the first to tame the cheetah, from where it gradually spread into central Asia, Iran and India.<ref name="mair">{{cite book |editor-last = Mair |editor-first = V. H. |last=Allsen |first=T. T. |author-link = Thomas T. Allsen |chapter=Natural history and cultural history: the circulation of hunting leopards in Eurasia, seventh-seventeenth centuries |title=Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World |date=2006 |publisher=[[University of Hawai'i Press]] |location=Hawai'i |isbn=978-0-8248-2884-4 |pages=116–135 |oclc=62896389 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8-OilJCX1moC&pg=PA116 |access-date = 5 January 2020 |archive-date = 28 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230328015242/https://books.google.com/books?id=8-OilJCX1moC&pg=PA116 |url-status = live}}</ref> <!--In comparison, the theory of Egyptian origin has held stronger and possible timelines for the cheetah's taming have been proposed on its basis.<ref name=mair/> (My attempt at deciphering this follows)-->In comparison, theories of the cheetah's taming in Egypt are stronger and include timelines proposed on this basis.<ref name=mair/> [[Mafdet]], one of the ancient Egyptian deities worshiped during the [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]] (3100–2900{{nbsp}}BC), was sometimes depicted as a cheetah. Ancient Egyptians believed the spirits of deceased [[pharaoh]]s were taken away by cheetahs.<ref name=marker2alt/> Reliefs in the [[Deir el-Bahari]] temple complex tell of an expedition by Egyptians to the [[Land of Punt]] during the reign of [[Hatshepsut]] (1507–1458{{nbsp}}BC) that fetched, among other things, animals called "panthers". During the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] (16th to 11th centuries BC), cheetahs were common pets for royalty, who [[adornment|adorned]] them with ornate collars and leashes.<ref name=mair/> Rock carvings depicting cheetahs dating back to 2000–6000 years ago have been found in [[Twyfelfontein]]; little else has been discovered in connection to the taming of cheetahs (or other cats) in southern Africa.<ref name=marker2alt/> Hunting cheetahs are known in [[Pre-Islamic Arabia#Art|pre-Islamic Arabic art]] from Yemen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maraqten |first=M. |year=2015 |title=Hunting in pre-Islamic Arabia in light of the epigraphic evidence |url=https://www.academia.edu/23007001 |journal=[[Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=208–234 |via=Academia |doi=10.1111/aae.12059|access-date=7 September 2019|archive-date=28 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328015437/https://www.academia.edu/23007001|url-status=live}}</ref> Hunting with cheetahs became more prevalent toward the seventh century{{nbsp}}AD. In the Middle East, the cheetah would accompany the nobility to hunts in a special seat on the back of the saddle. Taming was an elaborate process and could take a year to complete.<ref name=marker2alt/> The [[Roman people|Roman]]s may have referred to the cheetah as the {{transliteration|grc|leopardos}} ({{lang|grc|λεοπάρδος}}) or {{transliteration|grc|leontopardos}} ({{lang|grc|λεοντόπαρδος}}), believing it to be a hybrid between a leopard and a lion because of the mantle seen in cheetah cubs and the difficulty of breeding them in captivity.<ref name="Nicholas-1999">{{Cite journal |last=Nicholas |first=N. |s2cid=56160515 |year=1999 |title=A conundrum of cats: pards and their relatives in Byzantium |journal=[[Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies]] |volume=40 |pages=253–298}}</ref> A Roman hunting cheetah is depicted in a 4th-century mosaic from Lod, Israel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gorzalczany |first1=A. |last2=Rosen |first2=B.|name-list-style=amp |year=2018 |title=Tethering of tamed and domesticated carnivores in mosaics from the Roman and Byzantine periods in the Southern Levant |journal=Journal of Mosaic Research |volume=11 |issue=11 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328998225 |via=ResearchGate |doi=10.26658/jmr.440563 |pages=79–96|doi-access=free|access-date=7 September 2019|archive-date=5 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505152802/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328998225_Tethering_of_Tamed_and_Domesticated_Carnivores_in_Mosaics_from_the_Roman_and_Byzantine_Periods_in_the_Southern_Levant|url-status=live}}</ref> Cheetahs continued to be used into the [[Byzantine period]] of the [[Roman Empire]], with "hunting leopards" being mentioned in the ''[[Cynegetica (Nemesianus)|Cynegetica]]'' (283/284 AD).<ref name="Nicholas-1999" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sevcenko |first=N. |year=2002 |chapter=Wild animals in the Byzantine Park|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/2010271 |title=Byzantine Garden Culture |editor1=Littlewood, A. |editor2=Maguire, H. |editor3=Wolschke-Bulmahn, J. |pages=69–86 |via=Academia |publisher=[[Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection]] |location=Washington, D. C. |isbn=978-0-88402-280-0|access-date=7 September 2019|archive-date=8 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408011143/https://www.academia.edu/2010271|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eastmond |first=A. |year=2012 |chapter=Byzantine Oliphants?|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4363520 |volume=70 |pages=95–118 |via=Academia |isbn=978-3-88467-202-0 |title=Philopátion |editor1=Asutay-Effenberger, N. |editor2=Daim, F. |publisher=[[Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum]] |location=Mainz|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=28 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328015325/https://www.academia.edu/4363520|url-status=live}}</ref> In eastern Asia, records are confusing as regional names for the leopard and the cheetah may be used interchangeably. The earliest depiction of cheetahs from eastern Asia dates back to the [[Tang dynasty]] (7th to 10th centuries{{nbsp}}AD); paintings depict tethered cheetahs and cheetahs mounted on horses. Chinese emperors would use cheetahs and [[caracal]]s as gifts. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] rulers bought numerous cheetahs from the western parts of the empire and from Muslim merchants. According to the {{transliteration|zh|[[Ming Shilu]]}}, the subsequent [[Ming dynasty]] (14th to 17th centuries) continued this practice.<ref name=mair/> Tomb figurines from the Mongol empire, dating back to the reign of Kublai Khan (1260–1294{{nbsp}}AD), represent cheetahs on horseback.<ref name=marker2alt/> The [[Mughal dynasty|Mughal]] ruler [[Akbar the Great]] (1556–1605{{nbsp}}AD) is said to have kept as many as 1000 ''khasa'' (imperial) cheetahs.<ref name="O'Brien" /><ref name=marker2alt/> His son [[Jahangir]] wrote in his memoirs, ''[[Tuzk-e-Jahangiri]]'', that only one of them gave birth.<ref name=mair/> Mughal rulers trained cheetahs and caracals in a similar way as the western Asians, and used them to hunt game, especially blackbuck. The rampant hunting severely affected the populations of wild animals in India; by 1927, cheetahs had to be imported from Africa.<ref name=marker2alt/>
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