On every occasion of a fire in Egypt the strangest prodigy occurs with the cats. The inhabitants allow the fire to rage as it pleases, while they stand about at intervals and watch these animals which, slipping by the men or else leaping over them, rush headlong into the flames. When this happens, the Egyptians are in deep affliction. If a cat dies in a private house by a natural death, all the inmates of the house shave their eyebrows.... The cats on their decease are taken to the city of Bubatis, where they are embalmed, after which they are buried in certain sacred repositories.
--Herodotus
Well, do you suppose, Herodotus notwithstanding, that such an intelligent animal would do this?
[original art by the dilettante]
1 comment:
I love the cat art in this post. Beauty in simplicity.
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