Classical Cats : The rise and fall of the sacred cat

Today when we think of domestic cats, we recall the familiar hearthside companion and the mischievous playmate.

It is difficult to comprehend that in the past the animal has played a fundamental role in the development of European and Western civilization.

The human relationship to the cat has been important for most of the last four millennia.

Domesticated cats were the bulwark of Western societies' defence against rodents and the thirty five or so dangerous diseases they carry, including typhus and the bubonic plague.

Cats were also important religious symbols for the goddess Artemis of the Greeks, Diana of the Romans and the Greco-Egyptian goddess, Isis.

These divinities were worshipped - mainly by women - throughout Greece, and later in the Roman Empire.

The cat has also been a crucial element in European folklore and folktales, the origins of which can be traced to Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire. In this beautifully illustrated book, Donald Engels charts the history and significance of the cat from ancient Egypt to the middle ages, exploring such phenomena as the worship of the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet, the infamous cat massacres and witch hunts of the thirteenth century, and the role of the cat in combating disease and starvation.

Classical Cats presents a unique and entertaining view of the vicissitudes of the cat in history.