From the new edition of Planet Waves --- Leo is illustrated by a lion, which is of course a cat. There is the King of Beast aspect of the cat, and then there is the more familiar version. Cats have an unusual relationship to humans. Of the two species that serve primarily as our companion animals at this time, cats are the newcomers, and as such are less integrated into the total human experience and are much closer to their instincts than are dogs. That is why they seem so independent and aloof, and dont take well to being bossed around. In terms of the service they provide, dogs excel at helping us hunt and guard the camp; cats do their best work at night, protecting us from diseases caused by vermin, carried by night-crawlers. Vermin are a specific problem of civilization; hunter-gatherers dont have grain or dairy storehouses that attract mice and rats. Dogs helped us concentrate enough energy (in the form of meat) to create agriculture. With agriculture came food storage, and with food storage came vermin. Without cats, humans, already susceptible to numerous plagues, would have had more serious problems on their hands. We find a cat represented on what may be the oldest monument on Earth, the Great Sphinx of Giza. Wikipedia repeats the household knowledge that, It is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the Pharaoh Khafra (c. 2558–2532 BC), but John Anthony West and photographic documentarian Sarite Sanders have pointed out that the sphinx has repairs of water damage that date to the Old Kingdom, so the sphinx may long predate Egypt itself.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:50:31 +0000
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