Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler, all suffered from ailurophobia, the fear of cats. That sinking feline Not all people think cats are cuddly bundles of fur. For some, they are beasts that strike fear into their very soul. Justine Hankins investigates cat-phobia
What do Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler have in common? One or two things spring to mind, obviously, but tyranny and a thirst for world domination are not what concern us here. All are reputed to have suffered from ailurophobia - the fear of cats. That's not to say that they didn't much care for cats or held felines to be inferior to, say, dogs or horses; allegedly, they were palm-sweatingly, spine-tinglingly, stomach-churningly terror-struck by pussycats.
I say allegedly because the vast library of cat love doesn't tend to trouble itself with footnotes. I have no idea if anyone really knows (or cares) how Hitler or Mussolini felt about cats, or where the story about Alexander falling into a swoon at the sight of a cat originates, but ailurophiles seem irresistibly drawn to the idea that cat aversion is an indication of a brutish, insensitive temperament. "Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs," as Desmond Morris once said.