The plot of the series is centred around the figure of Rademenes, formerly a priest of the goddess Bast in the reign of king Amenhotep III, who has been sentenced to be eternally reborn as a cat for revealing to the Egyptians the secrets concerning the true nature of the universe. As a result, the series is constructed upon a number of commonly shared stereotypes regarding ancient Egypt, the origin of which can be traced back to classical authors: these are the pre-eminence of cats in Egyptian religion and the portrayal of Egyptian priests as both keepers of the true knowledge of the world which they use to manipulate the common people as well as possessors of secret knowledge which enables them to act as miracle-workers. Episodes 6 features a school trip to the National Museum in Warsaw, where the protagonists visit the collection of Egyptian antiquities, while second part of it is set directly in ancient Egypt, which is here portrayed as a desert country, filled with sand and dirt, and ruled by the priests rather than by the pharaoh. It seems that such a portrayal of ancient Egypt was strongly inspired by the most famous Polish novel on ancient Egypt by Bolesław Prus, titled Faraon (in English version The Pharaoh and the Priest). This is corroborated by the fact that when Darek meets his future girlfriend (starred by Katarzyna Bromirska) she says she bears an Egyptian name Kama (just as the beloved concubine of Ramesses XIII from Prus’ novel).

Author: Filip Taterka