Horus The Abyssinian In Julia: A Romance:
Of all the things to look forward to reading about in Julia: A Romance not the least is the episode about the Abyssinian cat named Horus. Marcus Sisenna’s daughters own a pet cat named Horus. Naturally he came from Egypt as did all the domestic cats of the day in ancient Rome. The cats were raised in Egyptian temples, and this was an offspring of one of those cats. Imports from Egypt in those days were considered “cool”.
I won’t say what happens but the girls have to find the cat after someone steals it. It is all part of the plot of the story. It is interesting that even nowadays we can find paintings of Roman cats of the day in Pompeiian wall paintings. We have attached one of these paintings to this blog post for your perusal.
Julia has every reason to wish that she had not been born the daughter of a Roman senator during the Roman Civil Wars of Marius and Sulla. Her father, Rufus, is trying to escape the proscriptions lists and save his life by betrothing his only daughter in marriage to Marcus Sisenna. Marcus Sisenna is the right hand man of Marcus Sulla, one of the leading men of Rome of the day. Rufus needs his armies and the protection both Sulla and Sisenna can provide. But Julia does not want to marry a man who has already had five wives and who is just marrying her for her father’s money and estates. She does not want to be added to his collection of trophies. Julia wants personal happiness despite the time period into which she has been born. Her father thinks only of keeping his wealth and estates together. Her divorced mother is interested only in her own lovers. To whom shall Julia turn for assistance? The answer may surprise you. For it is obviously just the opposite of what the desperate Julia might expect.
