You may have heard it say that they worshipped cats in ancient Egypt, but is that true? Let's look into cats and ancient Egypt! History.com quotes Monique Skidmore, a professor of anthropology at Deakin University to say that “Cats were not worshipped as gods themselves, but as vessels that the gods chose to inhabit, and whose likeness gods chose to adopt." One of the ancient egyptian cat gods was Bastet and historycooperative says she was believed to take the form of a cat. She was originally depicted as a fierce lioness, but became the cat goddess associated with domestic cats and kittens. She kept harmony in the home and was the protector of mothers. Bastet's personality often focused on the nuturing aspect of being a mother, but...
This week I wanted to talk about some famous cats who were the best friends of a famous person - the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln! Abraham Lincoln was an animal lover. According to EverythingLincoln.com, he had a cat as a boy who would come with him on his trips to fetch water. Later on he got a dog named Fido, but left it at home when he moved to Washington DC to become president. PsychologyToday relates that the friendly dog was unfortunately assassinated after trying to make friends with a drunk man who was sleeping on the sidewalk. The man awoke and stabbed the dog in in a panic thinking he was being attacked. Because of Fido's association...
In this edition of cats of history, we'll look at the famous cat who accompanied the ill-fated Shackelton expedition: Mrs. Chippy! Mrs. Chippy was the cat of Harry McNish (sometimes spelled McNeish), who was a Scottish carpenter who had served as a shipwright in the Merchant Navy before joining the Shackleton expedition. Harry McNish brought Mrs. Chippy with him on the expedetion. "Chippy" is a nick name for a carpenter, so Mrs. Chippy got his name because of his devotion to Harry, the Chippy. By the time they realized Mrs. Chippy was a boy cat, the name had already stuck, so they continued to call him Mrs. Chippy. Historyhit.com details that Mrs. Chippy was at home as a ship's cat. He...
This is the first of what I plan to be a series of posts about cats of history. We'll highlight stories about famous cats throughout the years. First up is the legend of a cat famous for surviving 3 shipwrecks - Unsinkable Sam! It was World War II and the Germans had a battleship named the Bismarck. History.com calls the Bismarck an "ocean-bound castle" and the most formidable battleship to ever have been built. Although there is no official record of the Bismarck having a cat aboard, this is where the legend of Unsinkable Sam starts. It is unclear what his name was at that time, but he was said to have been aboard the Bismarck, perhaps as a stowaway, a pet...
