Classical Cats: The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Cat [Hardcover]

Donald W. Engels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000 | ISBN-10: 0415212510 | ISBN-13: 978-0415212519 | Edition: 1

This is the definitive book on classical cats. The cat has played a significant role in history from the earliest times. Well known is its role in the religion and art of ancient Egypt, no less than its association with witchcraft in the Middle Ages. But when did the cat become a domestic companion and worker as well?
There has been much debate about the position of the cat in ancient Greece and Rome. Artistic representations are sometimes ambiguous, and its role as a mouse-catcher seems often to have been carried out by weasels. Yet other evidence clearly suggests that the cat was as important to Greeks and Romans as it is to many modern people.
This book is the first comprehensive survey of the evidence for cats in Greece and Rome, and of their functions and representations in art. Donald Engels draws on authors from Aesop to Aristotle; on vase-painting, inscriptions and the plastic arts; and on a thorough knowledge of zoology of the cat. He also sets the ancient evidence in the wider context of the Egyptian period that preceded it, as well as the views of the Church fathers who ushered antiquity into the Middle Ages.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's well known that cats were revered as household gods in ancient Egypt, but what happened to them after that? According to this revelatory study of cats in the classical world by University of Arkansas history professor Engels, they fared surprisingly well. Using recent archeological, (feline) genetic, literary and artistic evidence, Engels makes the case that by the third century B.C., Felis catus was widely distributed across Europe, thanks to seafaring Greek merchants and colonizers who associated cats with the goddess Artemis and used them to protect their grain supplies. Drawing on Latin inscriptions, Roman mosaics, sculptures and other artifacts, Engels also shows that cats were far more popular among the dog-loving Romans than is commonly assumed. After millions of the creatures were slaughtered alongside the hundreds of thousands of pagans, heretics and Jews with whom they were associated during the Middle Ages, cats got their revenge. Noting that cats have long been instrumental in defending humankind from rodents and the diseases they carry, Engels suggests that the absence of cats in Europe probably contributed to the spread and the severity of the bubonic plague that devastated the continent in the 14th century. Some cat scholars may accuse Engels of a Eurocentric bias for speculating that Roman traders brought the domesticated cat to India, as there is good reason to believe that the cat was domesticated there at about the same time as in Egypt, or even possibly earlier. On balance, however, the book is well-written and researchedAand stunningly illustrated. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

'Well-written and researched - and stunningly illustrated.' - Publishers Weekly

'Deeply researched and profoundly enlightening. For anyone who loves cats, this book will come as a revelation ... a compelling read ... it is direct, devoid of sentiment and deeply moving. It left me with much to ponder upon.' - Sir Roy Strong, Country Life

'Donald Engels' book is a delight for all cat lovers, and an extremely well written and informative source for those who would dig deeper into 'cat lore' and their history in relation to Man.' - Minerva

'what a story, my favourite read this year. It has adjusted my attitude to the sacred, the classical.....everywhere' - Victoria Ellis Darlington Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415212510
• ISBN-13: 978-0415212519
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,025,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Problems with compilation and focus, but interesting info, May 10, 2003

By 

zaldar "zaldar" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Classical Cats: The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Cat (Hardcover)

This book describes the evolution of the domestic cat, and its history through Egyptian, Greek, and Roman classical periods, as well a brief foray into early Medieval times. It provides a comprehensive review of these periods, with many footnotes.

However, it never quite fulfills the criteria for either a good popular or academic book. The writing style is rather dense for a popular book, and it can meander rather incoherently at times. For an academic treatise, it jumps to conclusions, without clearly supporting them in the text. It can be quite windy and repetitive, like an undergraduate trying to stretch to fill a word quota on a term paper. It also includes topics rather far afield from the stated focus of the book, seeming to include random unrelated tidbits the author found during his research. Some of them are interesting in their own right, but again seem like filler. Also, some of these discussions appear to have an unfortunate tone of anti-Catholic polemics.

That said, the book will be of interest to cat lovers, if you can get past the writing style to the collection of data unlikely to be found in such a comprehensive collection elsewhere.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent reference about classical cats, December 18, 2000

By 

Francesca Jourdan (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Classical Cats: The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Cat (Hardcover)

A domestic animal, the cat has always been an essential part of modern society and culture. The author of this great book offers a completely comprehensive background - religious and mythical - of the feline's importance in Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman times. With few illustrations, this is a book that is most interesting for its content and most useful for its extensive research and information.