The Culture of Animals in Antiquity A Sourcebook with Commentaries

Introduction

1. Taxonomies: making sense of animals

2. Domestic animals

a) Mammals

ox; goat; sheep; pig; horse; donkey/mule; camel; dog; weasel; cat; human

b) Birds

goose; duck; chicken; dove/pigeon; quail; parrot; peacock; pheasant

c) Insects

bee

3. Wild animals

a) Mammals

deer/antelope; gazelle; bear; lion; leopard; jackal; hyena; wolf; fox; badger; mole; hare/rabbit; hedgehog; mongoose; rat; mouse; bat; seal; dolphin; whale; aurochs; elk; elephant; hippopotamus; rhinoceros; giraffe; cheetah; tiger; monkey

b) Birds

crow/raven; sparrow; nightingale; owl; falcon/hawk; eagle; vulture; crane/stork; swan; water birds; hoopoe; ostrich

c) Reptiles and amphibians

crocodile; tortoise/turtle; frog/toad; lizard; snake

d) Insects and molluscs

ant; cricket/cicada; locust; scorpion; scarab beetle; spider; fly; butterfly/moth; flea; louse; weevil; snail

e) Marine creatures

fish; shark; octopus; crab; oyster; murex

4. Working animals

agriculture; transport; performing animals; hunting; warfare

5. Pets

dogs; cats; primates; other mammals; birds; reptiles and insects

6. Sport

entertainment; animal fights; hunting

Index animalium

Index of classical authors

Biography

Sian Lewis is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St Andrews, where she teaches Greek and Roman history, historiography and art. She specialises in Greek political and social history of the classical period. Her publications include News and Society in the Greek Polis (1996), Greek Tyranny (2010) and two collections of essays, Ancient Tyranny (2006) and Tyranny: New Contexts (2016). She has also written extensively on Greek gender and iconography, including The Athenian Woman: An Iconographic Handbook (2002) and (as co-editor) The World of Greek Vases (2010). She is currently editing the Antiquity volume of Bloomsbury’s Cultural History of the Media, and developing a project to study animal lives in the classical world.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University. His research focuses on the Persian Empire, Achaemenid monarchy and the Persian court as well as Greek socio-cultural history, ancient gender and Hellenistic civilisation. He is the author of Aphrodite’s Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (2003), King and Court in Ancient Persia (2013), the co-author of Ctesias’ History of Persia: Tales of the Orient (2010), and the editor of volumes on Greek historiography, ancient dress and gender, and the co-editor of Creating a Hellenistic World (2010) and the forthcoming The Hellenistic Court. He is the Series Editor of Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia, and the Series Co-Editor of Screening Antiquity. He is currently co-authoring a book on Ptolemaic queens and a monograph, Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World.

"Llewellyn-Jones and Lewis have produced an ambitious and though-provoking work which will be essential reading for all those wishing to inform themselves about the roles and functions of animals in the ancient Mediterranean world."

- Julia Kindt, University of Sydney, Australia

 

"This volume testifies to the fact that animals have become one of the core themes in research on Graeco-Roman antiquity. It gives easy access to a plethora of important sources (ranging from 3000 B.C. to A.D. 600) and illustrates the numerous ways in which animals were reflected on in the ancient world. The documents covered here (written texts in translation, material remains and art) provide useful evidence on eighty-four different species, including mammals, reptiles, birds, insects, crustaceans and molluscs. One of the many virtues of this substantial book is that it transcends the traditional temporal and geographical boundaries of studies on the ancient world. Readers will find it an instructive treasure trove of information."

- Thorsten Fögen, Durham University, UK

 

"This book marks a milestone in the bibliography on animals in ancient times. It will be of great use and it is naturally called to take a large place as a working tool."

- Christophe Chandezon, Université de Montpellier, France, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018