I'm pretty sure you have that backwards. It should read: "The ancient Cyprus-ians were the first people to be picked by ancient cats to be allowed to live with a cat.
IE: The first people chosen to be allowed to feed and litter box and (much later) drive the cat around in a wheeled vehicle, and pile up laundry for the cat to sleep on and buy thousands of nice flat stones' (I do not know what the ancient Cyprus currency was called) worth of cat toys from large, boxy stores.