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Meow the 38th – The Cat: Stories and Legends

Bastet

Although it is not quite clear when cats first conquered human culture, cats first appeared on the human cultural horizon in Ancient Egypt. Since then cats have had various roles in human awareness throughout history. Kitties have been seen as goddess, devil, demon, human companion, and more.

Bastet (Ossama Boshra, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Kitties throughout history are described in the book “Die Katze: Geschichten und Legenden” (The Cat: Stories and Legends) by Laurence Bobis. Bobis has looked at various resources to find out about the status cats have in human culture. The author gives examples from folklore, mythology, religion, law, and literature in the following chapters:

  • The cat in the ancient world
  • Cats in the Middle Ages
  • Cats as examples for moral behaviour
  • Diabolical cat
  • Cats in the modern age

Bibliographical details:

Bobis, L. (2000). Le chat: histoires et légendes. Fayard.

Bobis, L. (2001). Die Katze: Geschichten und Legenden. Kiepenhauer.

Featured image: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 FR https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/fr/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Edith Podhovnik (May 6, 2015). Meow the 38th – The Cat: Stories and Legends. Meow Factor. Retrieved December 11, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.58079/rdqa


Edith Podhovnik

a linguist researching language #purrieties and #meowlogism-s •alumna of SwanseaUni • loves cats • writes about cats • author of the book "Purrieties of Language. How We Talk about Cats Online

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