Today cats are everywhere, but how did they get there? Little is known about their domestication and conquest of the world. Archeology and modern cat genetics have indicated likely South West Asian and Northern African origins, with abundant ancient Egyptian iconography depicting cats alongside humans. The timing and origins of the domestication events, however, were not clear. Analyzing the ancient DNA of hundreds of archeological samples from the Mesolithic (roughly 9,000 years ago) to 19th century in Europe, South West Asia and Africa, we could trace back the human-mediated translocation of cats from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. We also identified the origin of the two major maternal lineages of present-day domestic cats, one originating in the Near East when the Neolithic spread to Europe, and the other in Egypt when cats spread throughout the Ancient World during Classical Antiquity, perhaps accompanying traders and soldiers on board ships.