Ancient images: cats, or big cats?

cheetahs ? In some cases, you can’t tell, because of the poor condition of the object—pieces broken off, weathered by time or otherwise dama...

The lynching

In ancient Egypt, as we’ve already noted, killing a cat was a capital offense. Thanks to the adoration that people felt for cats, there rare...

The cat in the moon

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians associated cats with worship of the moon? The cat was sacred to the goddess Isis, who symbolized the...

Herodotus in Greece

The Greek historian Herodotus visited Greece in the fifth century B.C. and, happily for posterity, wrote about what he saw there. He describe...

Cats and sistrums

goddess Bast found in Egypt, she is often depicted holding a sistrum, a musical instrument (or, more appropriately, noisemaker) similar to ...

Ruling from Cat City

country from the city of Per-Bastet, or Bubastis, a city especially sacred to the goddess Bast. In fact, the city’s name means “ house of ...

Ra, the Great Tomcat

sun the following morning. Numerous paintings have been found showing Ra, the “Great Tomcat,” using a knife to slay Apophis.