Cat in the afterlife

It’s always touching to look at the grave of a child, and certainly this is true of a very ancient grave-stone found in France. Dating from ...

The Roman goddess Liberty

Americans were not the first people to have a Statue of Liberty. To the ancient Romans, Liberty was worshipped as a goddess. Appropriately, t...

Soldiers and cats?

Yes, the Roman armies that marched through and conquered much of Europe and northern Africa carried cats with them and kept them at their fo...

Morphing to cattus Felis

The early Romans used felis to refer to the domestic cat, but in time the word cattus replaced it. When did the change occur? We can’t be ce...

Pet name “Kitten”

You might recall the adorable daughter nicknamed “Kitten” on the old TV sitcom Father Knows Best. Well, “Kitten” was around as a pet name fo...

From ancient Pompeii to today

Some things never change. If you have a birdbath in your yard, you’ve no doubt seen your cat hungrily eye the birds in it and probably try t...

Roman tomcats

The ancient Romans have a well-deserved reputation for their lax sexual morals, which is evident in their literature. The dramatist Plautus ...