International Cat Day, Classics Edition

Today, August 8, 2019, is International Cat Day (alternatively, World Cat Day). This “holiday” began in 2002 as a way to raise awareness for cats, and I can’t imaging anything that the internet was made more explicitly for than this! So feast your eyes on this collection of celebrating cats in the style of Classical Studies.

Seems legit#InternationalCatDay #RomanArchaeology #Mosaic pic.twitter.com/7tj0mux26T

— Roman Archaeology (@Romarchaeology) August 8, 2019

Some Ancient Greek cats by @GuoBetty inspired by the Song of Seikilos, the oldest surviving example of musical composition including notation, https://t.co/7PYkZiDo0d #Classics #InternationalCatDay pic.twitter.com/WdiSkffnh3

— HCAatEdinburgh (@HCAatEdinburgh) August 8, 2018

Felicia Communia Feliaria! / Happy World Cat Day! #WorldCatDay2019 pic.twitter.com/Dy0ZmS1bSF

— Classics at UAlberta (@ClassicsAlberta) August 8, 2019

Three jerboas grooming their tails; ca. 1981–1650 BCE, Egypt (possibly Heliopolis) in the @metmuseum

I know it's #InternationalCatDay, but I'm not a cat person and these three wee faience guys are getting me through my morning. pic.twitter.com/9kMAQwTOWr

— Dr Jenny Cromwell (@Papyrus_Stories) August 8, 2019

The Romans weren’t really into depicting their little feline friends but here are a couple of mosaics with cats from #Pompeii and Capua Vetere for #InternationalCatDay pic.twitter.com/VxlUo0mI1V

— Dr Sophie Hay (@pompei79) August 8, 2019

'In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.' – Terry Pratchett

Presenting our feline overlords from the collection for #InternationalCatDay. pic.twitter.com/MG39LeUsJs

— The British Library (@britishlibrary) August 8, 2019

Since I'm being told it is #InternationalCatDay, I'll just note that a favored epitaph from Roman antiquity is for a 1stC CE woman named Calpurnia Felicla (a common nickname for women was "Little Cat" or "Kitten") and her husband (CIL VI, 14223). It is from Rome, now in Palermo. pic.twitter.com/4pFSNr0FKH

— Dr. Sarah Bond (@SarahEBond) August 8, 2019

Happy #InternationalCatDay! This cat enjoying a bit of fish is from a copy of a wall painting from private tomb 52 of Nakht, Thebes by Nina de Garis Davies 🐱🐟 pic.twitter.com/YUujhWavl3

— Ashmolean Museum (@AshmoleanMuseum) August 8, 2019

But International Cat Day isn’t only happening on twitter — many institutions have also shared blog posts, articles, and podcasts that feature the role of cats in our research and our lives.

• Pippa Steele with the CREWS Project talks about Cats in the Aegean Scripts, which is knowledge I never knew that I needed
• Eleanor Jackson and Kate Thomas write about cats on the pages of books in the British Library — no only in text and illustrations, but also leaving their little paw-prints as they walked across the pages!
• Nick Harris discusses the cats who lived in the British Museum

I’ll leave you with my CAMWS cat experience — this little grey friend who hung out with me in my hostel during CAMWS 2018 in Albuquerque. If you’re in the area, stop by the Route 66 Hostel to meet him! I can only hope that Birmingham can bring us similar joys.

The author with the hostel cat at the Route 66 Hostel in Albuquerque on the final day of CAMWS 2018

So how are you delighting in cats today? Share your own fur-friends or cat run-ins below!