The Pharaoh vs. the Felines

Part of the “Head-to-Head History” series, The Pharaoh vs. the Felines is a rather unique, quirky story based on a real event which occurred in 525 BCE. For years, Egypt and Persia wanted control over the Fertile Crescent, an area of rich soil and grain crops. Cambyses, ruler of Persia, asks Pharaoh Amasis for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but Amasis is reluctant to send his daughter out of the country because of a common belief that any Egyptian who dies outside of the country could be lost in the afterlife. Consequently, Amasis devises a plan whereby another young woman is disguised as his daughter and sent to Persia in her place. Once in Persia, the young woman confesses to Cambyses that she is not the betrothed. An enraged Cambyses vows to retaliate for the trick that the pharaoh has played on him and plots his revenge. Meanwhile, Amasis dies, and his son becomes the pharaoh. After much thought, Cambyses uses his knowledge of Egyptians’ reverence for cats (after all, cats hunted pests in the fields and protected the health and homes of Egyptian families) to wage psychological warfare. His army places cats on the front lines, and the Egyptians will not risk harming the revered felines. In this way, Cambyses conquers the Egyptians and becomes their new ruler.

The text, interspersed with cartoon speech bubbles, is written in a conversational style with cat-related puns and idioms thrown in for humour (“a purr-fect idea”, “the cat’s out of the bag”, “use a cat-a-pult”, to name a few). A “Mystery vs. History” page appears at the back of the book. It attempts to explain to readers how historians piece together events of the past when they have little to go on, few written accounts, varying perspectives, and changes in the stories over time.

Fun, cartoonlike illustrations, drawn in ink and coloured digitally in Photoshop, provide some historical detail and additional humour. A glossary and a list of print and online sources are included.

The Pharaoh vs. the Felines is a rather unusual, offbeat story, one that grows on the reader with subsequent readings. Oddly satisfying!