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Red-Figure Hydria Music Lesson
Cats had been introduced to Greece by the Phoenicians by the 5th century BCE. However, cats were never as popular in Greece as they were in Egypt, as the Greeks preferred to keep weasels and mongooses to keep rodents and other pests at bay.
Pictured: Close-up of a red-figure vase painting depicting a music lesson, two men playing music while a boy and cat (alternately identified as a young panther) sit on the side. Attributed to "The Agrigento Painter". Produced in Attica, c. 470-460 BCE. Found in Rhodes.
The British Museum, London.