It has come to my attention that there have been rumors concerning the veracity of Fisters latest picture, with some peoples’ cats claiming that in reality it was THEIR forefathers who were depicted on the Sphinx. I would imagine that this ridiculous idea originated with one of our Abyssinian friends.

When I suggested this to Fister he just laughed out loud.
“Oh no,” he said, “that is a totally unfounded rumor. Just because these cats can saunter around with their heads in the air looking snooty doesn’t mean that they were the smartest. You see, among the races of silvestris, (which go back over half a million years), the European had the largest brain, followed by the steppe cats of central Asia and lybica of north-east Africa. Mummified Egyptian cats possessed a brain the size of lybica. These were domesticated cats, and the reduction in brain size was probably a result of domestication. Very few of the domestics approached the brain size of European silvestris. The whole concept of cat breeds didn’t turn up in human history until the nineteenth century anyway.”
“Our family, on the other hand, were tough and independent creatures who got things done and didn’t let a bunch of mere humans decide over us. Of course, the Pharaohs couldn’t let on to their subjects that they, in fact were ruled by us, so they perpetrated the myth of the holiness of Abyssinians and other species, while actually worshipping us. That’s why we are pictured so rarely, and probably why the Sphinx was later defaced and the head replaced with a human one. It’s all quite simple really”

So there you have it. The jury is still out.
I myself would prefer to believe Fisters story, since he is sitting beside me at this moment and has very long claws.

john
Fisters curator