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Santa's Cats

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This image was generated by Copilot and it makes me laugh every time I look at it. I love the eager enthusiam on the cats' faces.

In mythology there are many divinities who ride in chariots drawn by exotic animals, but cats are unusual, although in Norse myth the goddess Freyja is pulled by a pair of cats. These are feisty beasts, as you can see in this illustration.


Credit: Ludwig Pietsch, 1865

Some sources say they are named "Bygul" and "Trejgul" but this is a little suspect, because there are Latin words Biga and Triga which mean respectively a two-horse and a three-horse chariot. So do the names reflect an Old Norse confusion about the meaning of the Latin words? Or perhaps a learned joke by a medieval scribe?

You can read more about bigae, trigae (and even quadrigae) in a fascinating article here.

Permalink 3 comments (latest comment by Richard Walker, Wednesday, 13 Nov 2024, 14:32)
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