attitudes towards animals in ancient greece

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Attitudes towards Animals in Ancient Greece

Author(s): Steven H. LonsdaleSource: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Oct., 1979), pp. 146-159Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/642507 .

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ATTITUDES

TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN ANCIENT GREECE1

By

STEVEN H.

LONSDALE

Among

the

general questions

that

arise

in

analysing

a culture's

out-

look

on its fauna are

the

following:

Where

do

animals

belong

in

the world-view

of that

culture,

in

their

cosmogony

or historical

mythology,

and

how

do

these

aetiological

beliefs reflect

upon

the

economic

position

of

animals? What is

the

range

of

emotional

attitudes

towards

man's

enigmatic

and

uncanny

half-brothers,

especially domesticated species? Are animalsused in entertain-

ment?

Questions

such as these

may

be further

refined

by

deter-

mining

which

species

are

domesticated,

which

hunted;

which

are

eaten

by

man,

which

taboo;

which animals

does man sacrifice

or

worship?

Are animals

kept

as

pets,

and if

so,

what kinds

of names

does

a culture

give

them-human

names or abstract

names

em-

bodying

a

spiritual quality

or force

in nature?

To

what

extent

are these

non-verbal

creatures

a

substitute

for affection

or sadistic

punishment,

or

a

target

for

aggressive

or

hostile

feelings?

In other

words,

what

qualities

does

man

project

onto

animals?

Or

put

slightly

differently,

which

powers

does he attribute to the animal?

Is

an animal

thought

capable

of

curing

illness,

for

example?

And

finally,

what

are

some

of the recurrent

symbols

that

emerge

for

a

given

animal

in

legend

or

myth?

The

fauna

of

ancient

Greece do

not

vary

appreciably

from those

of

modern-day

Greece,

save for the

notable

depletion

nowadays

in

numbers

of

two

domesticated

species,

horses

and

large

cattle,

owing

to

lack

of

pasturage

through over-grazing.2

Game is

com-

mon,

and

around

the

ubiquitous

Greek

coastline

fish

are

plentiful.

Among the wild species found in Greece are the 'European'

animals,

such

as

wildcat, marten,

brown

bear,

roe

deer, wolf,

wild

boar,

and

lynx.

The

jackal,

wild

goat,

and

porcupine

are

more

typically

Mediterranean

species.

A

few

species

have

become

rare

or

extinct.

These

include the

lion

and

agrimi,

a

variety

of

wild

goat

known

from artistic

representations

and

the Minoan

Linear

B

tablets,

which

tally

up

the

number of

horns

used in

manufacturing

the

composite

bow.3

Today

the

agrimi

is

a

protected

species

con-

fined

to the

area west of

the

Roumeli

Gorge

in

the

White

Moun-

tains of Crete. The lion, whose disputed

existence

in

the

Greek

world

is

entangled

in

a lair

of

controversy,

is

absent.

In

historical

times

Herodotus

(7.125-7)

reports

lions in

northern

Greece,

and



ATTITUDES TOWARDS

ANIMALS IN

ANCIENT

GREECE

147

Aristotle

(H.A.

8.28),

an inhabitant

of

this

region,

follows

suit.

The naturalistic

portrayal

of

lions

in

Mycenaean

art and the

vivid

descriptions

of

marauding

ions

in the Homeric

similes

offer

com-

pelling subjective evidence for their presence in the Aegean,

The Greeks

were

a

mixed

planter

and

animal-breederculture

from the

Early

Bronze

Age.

Despite

the

undisputed

physical

beauty

of Greece

and its occasional

fertile

valleys,

plains,

and

rivers,

Greece has

always

been

a

poor country

with a

parching

climate.

Many regions

are

mountainous and

landlocked,

and

virtually everywhere

the

soil

is

rocky.

Vegetation

can

be

sparse,

especially

in

the

Peloponnese.

Given

such

conditions the

inhabit-

ants

managed

to

produce

grain

at

a

subsistence

level

and

to

breed,

by process of selection, resilient strains of cattle. The wealthy

landowner could afford

to

raise

horses and

horned

cattle,

the

peasant

small

cattle

(sheep,

goats,

pigs) only.

Poultry-breeding

was common

throughout

Greece.

In

Hellenistic

times it

proved

profitable,

and

sometimes

necessary,

to

sow the

earth in

order to

supplement

pasturage.

Realistically,

from

the

point

of

view of

the

peasant,

the soil could

sustain small

cattle

more

readily

than

cows.4

This

is not to

say

that

large

cattle

were

absent. The

largest

island off

the

coast of

Attica,

Euboia,

means 'rich

in

cattle',

and

the

many

sacrificial

cattle in

the

great procession

on

the

Parthenon

frieze indicate that

cattle

could

be

spared

for

sacrifice.

But

it

may

be assumed

that,

since

pasturage

was

at

a

premium,

large

cattle

were scarcer

and

commensurately

more

valuable

than small

cattle.

Because

of their

value

oxen

were

at the

basis

of

important

econ-

omic

and

social

practices.

Before

the

introduction of

coinage

in

the

Greek world

cattle were a

measuring-stick

of

wealth. In

the

funeral

games

of

Patrolkdos

n

the

Iliad,

the

victor of

the

wrestling-

match

is

accorded

a

tripod,

we

are

told,

worth

twelve

oxen,

and

the

runner-up

a

female

slave

worth

four

oxen

(II.

23.700-5).

This

form of primitive money is paralleled in many cultures.5

Cattle

were

exchanged

in

the

social

institution of

dowry.

The

dowry

in

ancient

Greece

may

not have

been

a

one-way

exchange

but

a

more or

less

mutual

trade

between

bride

and

groom's

family.6

Like the

name

for

the

island

of

Euboia,

girls

were

given

cow-names,

so

it

would

appear,

to

encourage

prospective

husbands.

'Euboia'

itself is

found,

as

well

as

names

like

'Phereboia'

('bringing

in

many

cows'),

'Polyboia'

('worth

much

cattle'),

or

'Stheneboia',

('strong

in

cows').7

There is no indication that cows were used for dairy-productsin

Greece:

the

goatinstead

was

the

milk-supplier.

The

meat,

however,

was

eaten. But

the

majority

of

the

population,

which

lived in

the



148

ATTITUDES

TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN

ANCIENT GREECE

countryside

tilling

the

fields,

existed on a

primarily

vegetarian

diet.

They

did

not

dislike

meat;

it was

scarce and

expensive,

served

up

to the

landowner or saved for

feasts.

Pronounced

meat-eating

habits are associated with

religious

cults. At one

extreme

worshippers

in the

Orphic

cults

from

archaic

times

adhered to

a

strict

vegetarian

diet

which

prescribed

keeping

to

inanimate food and

abstaining totally

from

things

animate

(P1.

Leg.

782

C).

At the

other,

the

ritual

eating

of raw ox

flesh,

c•pobayla,

was the

culminating

act

of

the

Dionysiac

winter

dance.

There is evidence

for the belief that

Dionysos

appeared

as

a

bull,

including

a

fragment

of one of the carmina

popularia

from

Elis which

invoked

the

deity

as

a bull

(Poet.

Mel.

Graec.

Pop.

871b). The exhausted female worshipperssubjected themselves to

a

finale which was at once

exalting

and

repulsive:

they

tore

apart

a

live

bull

and

ingested

the

inward

parts

in

order to become one

with the

god.

In the heat of this emotional

conflict,

they

believed

that

they

were

incorporating

the

godhead,

the

logic

being,

accord-

ing

to

the

principle

of

homeopathic magic,

that

if

you

want

to

be like the

god you

must

eat

the

god.8

The

scene that

Greek

literature

and

myth

reflect is one

of

expansive

and

bustling

pastoralism.

The Homeric

poems

give

the

impression

that

large quantities

of oxen were

about,

to

be

plun-

dered

by

the

enterprising

hero.

But

within the framework of

an

epic poem

this

picture

probably

amounts to

a

glamorization

of

the

actual

circumstances,

just

as the

hero

is

a

magnification

of an

ordinary

mortal.

Hesiod,

composing

across

the

Aegean

at

a time

roughly

contemporary

with

Homer,

perhaps

gives

a fairer

likeness.

He

advises the

farmer in

the

Works

and

Days

to establish

himself

before winter sets in

saying,

'First of

all,

get

a

house,

and

a

woman,

and an ox for the

plough'

(Op.

405

f.).

Epithets

for

regions

and

individuals,

such

as 'rich in

flocks',

and

the memorable bucolic characters

throughout

Greek

legend

indicate

that

the

Greeks liked

to

see one

faqade

of their national

identity

in

terms

of

animal

husbandry.

In

epic

and

lyric poetry

an

epithet

often accorded

to

the earth is

simply

'mother of the flocks'.

Greek

myths'

and

legends

are so

permeated

by pastoralism

as to

convey

the

impression

that

virtually

everybody, including

gods,

heroes,

thieves,

beggars,

and even monsters

put

in

his time

as

a

shepherd.

The

most uncivilized

of

monsters,

the

man-eating,

one-eyed

Cyclops Polyphemos

is cast

in

the

Odyssey

as a

shepherd

dutifully

herding, counting, and milking his sheep and goats. The morning

after

Odysseus

has

got

him

drunk

and

blinded

him,

the monster

stands

at the entrance

to his cave.

He

is

suffering

bitter

pain.

In



ATTITUDES

TOWARDS ANIMALS

IN ANCIENT GREECE

149

plaintive

tones

he

addresses

the lead

ram

(under

whose

belly

Odysseus

is

guilefully

concealed)

and

looks for

a

friend

in

him:

My dear old ram,why areyou thus leavingthe cave last of the sheep?...

Perhaps

you

are

grieving

or

your

master's

eye,

which a

bad

man

with

his

wicked

companionsput

out,

this

Nobody,

who

I think has not

yet

got

clear

of

destruction.If

only you

could

think like us and be

given

a

voice

...

(Od. 9.447-57)

This

passage points

to

an

important

positive

aspect

of

the

man-

animal

relationship:

reciprocity.

The

shepherd

and his flock

live

in

a kind of

symbiotic

state

just beyond

the

fringes

of

civilization.

The

shepherd provides protection

for his

flocks,

and

they

in

turn

are

a

source of

comfort,

even

joy,

for

the

lone herdsman.

The

appearance

on all levels

of

Greek

myth

and

literature of

the

shepherd

and

his

flock

suggests

how

deeply ingrained

this

mutual

tie had become in the Greek

consciousness.

The sense of

reciprocity

applies

also to

the

dog,

which

was

never

far

removed

from

the

herdsman.

The

dog

served as a

faithful com-

panion

to ward off the

cattle-robbers

and

scavengers,

cats and the

wild

dogs,

which

preyed

on a

man's

possessions

and

peace

of mind.

A

short

digression

on the

dog

may

serve to

suggest

the

range

of

associations

and

attitudes

possible

towards an

individual

species.

As indicated, dogs were helpful creatures. The mastiff-like

Molossian from

Epirus

served as

sheep-dog,

and

certain breeds of

hounds,

notably

the

bitches of

the

Laconian

strain,

were

highly

prized

for their

acute

hunting ability.

The

dog's

keen

sense

of

smell

and

hearing

made him

invaluable

as a

watch-dog.

Hesiod

warns the

farmer not

to

neglect

the

sharp-toothed

hound: 'Look

after

your

sharp-fanged

hound,

and

don't

grudge

him

his

food,

or

some

day

the

Day-sleeper

may

rob

you

of

your

belongings' (Op.

604

f.).

Maria

Leach,

author of

a

comprehensive

book

on the

dog

in mythology and religion, asserts, 'the position of the dog can be

ascertained

by

the

names

bestowed

upon

him.

Dogs

who

serve

a

community

merely

as

scavengers

are

seldom,

if

ever,

named.'10

It

is

interesting

to

observe that

while the

Greek

named

dogs,

they

did

not

give

human

names either

to

hunting dogs

or to

pet

dogs.

Four

hundred

dog-names

have

survived from

antiquity.

Some

of

them

are from

the

Cynegeticus

(7.5)

of

Xenophon,

who

provides

the

huntsman

with a

list

of

possible

names

for

hounds.

Short,

two-

syllable

names

facilitate the

hunter in

calling

his

hounds.

As ex-

amples

he

gives 'Psyche'

(soul),

'Chara'

joy), 'Hybris', 'Methepon'

(helper),

'Lailaps'

(whirlwind).

These

names,

which

may

be

taken

as

representative

of

Greek

dog-names,

indicate

something

of the



150

ATTITUDES

TOWARDSANIMALS N

ANCIENTGREECE

assumptions

nderlying

he

kinship

between

man

and

animal.The

dog

was

regarded

ot

as a

creature

possessing

a

complete,

quasi-

human

personality

but as

exemplifying

ome

generalized

quality

orspiritualorce.

The

intelligence

of

dogs

was

acknowledged.

lato,

n

the

Republic

(375

E-3

76),

discusses

he

qualities

of

the

guardian

f

the

state

and holds

up

the

dog

as an

exemplar.According

o

him,

the

dog

is

comparable

o

a

true lover of

wisdomsince he can

distinguish

between an unknown

person

and an

acquaintance.

Also

in

the

Republic,

as in other

dialogues,

Plato makesSocrates

wear

by

the

dog,

the so-calledRhadamanthine ath

(Resp.

376,

Phdr.

228

B,

Grg.

461

A,

466

C,

482

B).

Thedogwas a magicalcreaturewiththerapeuticunctions.In

the

cult

of

Asklepios

dogs

were

sometimesan

integralpart

of

the

cure.

They

licked invalids

back

to

health,

and

it

was

a sure

sign

of

imminent

recovery

if a

patient

dreamed about a

dog

(IG

4.951,

952;

Ael.

N.A.

8.9).

The

Greeks

kept dogs

as

pets,

whereas

cats

are

mostly

absent

from

the

record

until Hellenistic times.

The

table-dog appears

from Homer

onward.

Vase-painting, sculpture,

and,

most

emphat-

ically,

eulogies

to beloved

pets

in

the

Greek

Anthology

indicate

how cherished a companion the dog became. Dogs were buried in

cemeteries

alongside

humans.

Plutarch,

a late

source,

tells the

story

of

Alcibiades,

who deferred excessive

curiosity

and

attention

to himself

by

appearing

in

public

with

a

magnificent

hound whose

tail he had

lopped

off

(Plut.

Alc.

9).

The favourable

disposition

towards

the

dog

in ancient

Greece

stands

in

contrast

to

the

mistrust

for

the

dog

in the Near East.

The

strong

dislike

can be

explained

mainly

on

hygienic grounds:

dogs

in the Near East

are

scavengers

and

hence

pestiferous

vermin.

They

became

a

byword

for

intemperate

sexual

activities.

Dogs

did

not

provide

useful services to the Jews on the same scale as to the

Greeks.

Although

a

passage

from

Job

(30:1)

grudgingly

admits

the

presence

of

sheep-dogs,

it is not

at all certain that

dogs

were used

in

the

chase.

But

the

scavenger, frequently

conjured

up

as a

threat

by

Sophocles

and

Homer,

was also a

real feature of

the

Greek land-

scape.

This can

be deduced

from

Thucydides'

vivid

description

of

the

plague

at

Athens,

where

the

dogs

and

birds

are said

to have

learned

to avoid the

plague-ridden

corpses

of

the dead

lying

about

(2.50).

Ironically,

the

domestication

of

the

dog

may

have

developed

out of the realization that dogs living near areasof human habita-

tion

could

provide

useful

scavenging

services.

The

origins

of

man's

relationship

with

the

dog

may

thus have a

symbiotic

basis,

and this



ATTITUDES TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN

ANCIENT

GREECE

151

may

incidentally

help

to

explain

the

deep

emotional

impulse

between

the

two

creatures.

Diseased

and

rabid

dogs

also aroused

the Greeks'

anxiety.

Aristotle mentions three kinds of rabies, only two of them fatal

to man. Euripides several times refers to Lyssa, the personifica-

tion

of

martial

rage

derived

from the same root as the Greek

for

'wolf'

and also

meaning

'rabies'.

The

approach

inherent

in the

dog's

uncleanliness is

extended to

apply

to

the animal's

supposedly

licentious

sexual

practices,

which could be observed

taking

place

close to

man's

living

quarters.

By

the time of

Aristophanes,

at

least,

izkov

had

acquired

the

meaning

'prostitute' (Wasps

1402).

The

dog

in

mythology

and

art was a

favourite

image

for

expres-

sing a monster. Underworld dogs made difficult pets. Kerberos

cannot

be named

but

is

allusively

mentioned in

Homer as the

'baneful

dog

of

Hades'.

In

the

Theogony

(309-12)

he is

unspeak-

ably

horrid;

Hesiod

nevertheless calls

him

by

name

and describes

him as

a

fifty-headed,

brazen-voiced,

flesh-eater. Hekate

travels

in

the

company

of her

hell-hounds. These underworld

dogs

possibly

reflect actual

experiences

of

travellers

meeting

face to face

with

inimical

watch-dogs,

as when

Odysseus,

returning

in the

guise

of

a

beggar,

meets

Eumaios and his watchful

dogs

in

book fourteen of

the

Odyssey.

The

dog

is not far removed from his wild

cousins,

the wolf and

jackal.

Certain breeds

of

dogs

were

believed

to

contain wild

blood.

The Laconian

hound

had no

less

than

seven

alleged

sires:

lion,

tiger,

civet,

cat,

fox,

jackal,

and

wolf. The Greeks never

missed

a

chance to tell

a

good

story,

and

the

following excerpt

from

the

Historia

Animalium

(574a)

furthermore shows the

Greeks'

interest

in

exotic

species,

stimulated

by specimens

which

Alexander

the

Great

had

his

men

bring

back from

campaigns

in

the

East.

In

dis-

cussing dogs

Aristotle mentions a rare

breed of

hunting dog

in

India which the owner would tie up to a tree in the hope that a

tiger

would

mate with the

bitch-provided,

as he

drily

adds,

that

the

tiger

did

not

eat

her

up.

The

tendency

to

adopt savage

animals

as

parents

to various breeds

of

dogs

not

only

indicates

a

desire to

attach

a

fiercer

pedigree

to

one's hounds

that

they

may

seem

worthier

in the

hunt,

but also

expresses

an

attempt

to

explain

the

wildness observable

in

that

species

which

lives closest

to

man.

This

outline of attitudes

towards

dogs

indicates

something

of

the

ambivalent

feelings

that can be

aroused for an

individual

species. Dogs are seen to be utilitarian creatures,working with

man. Pet

dogs

are

held in

affection,

and at

death

certain

dogs

were

buried and

eulogized

in a

manner not unlike

that which

their



152

ATTITUDES TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN ANCIENT

GREECE

masters

might

expect

for themselves.

But

they

are conceived

as

independent

entities

incorporating,

as their names

suggest,

some

abstract

force.

Avoidance, mistrust,

awe,

and fear are

further

emotions associated with dogs. In time of war or conflict the dog

becomes

a

scavenger.

The

fear

that

the

dog

will

turn on his

master,

in essence

become

his

successor,

comes

through

strongly

in

stories

like Priam's

apocalyptic

vision of the

fall of

Troy

in the

twenty-

second

book

of

the

Iliad,

where his

table-dogs

tear out

his hair

and

rip

away

his

genitals.

The

dog

is also

made

out

to be

what

it

is not.

In a moral sense the

dog

is

turned

into a

shameful

reproach

for

sexual

intemperance.

In

a

healing

cult

the

dog

is held in

awe,

because

he

is believed

to

possess magical therapeutic

powers.

The ambivalencefelt for animals stems from the recognition

that

animals

possess

qualities, especially

the

power

of non-verbal

communication,

which humans

do

not;

these

may

arouse

hostility

and

envy

in

man.

The animal

may simply

enjoy greater

speed,

agility,

or muscular

power,

or

a

keen scent in the

chase;

or the

animal

may

be

thought

capable

of

controlling

the

fertility

of

the

crops

and

flocks,

or to hold the

key

to

conversation with

the

im-

mortal

gods.

The

Greeks

had a

tendency

to

interpret

events

and

phenomena

as divine

signs.

A

sneeze,

the

rustling

of oak

leaves,

or

the

cry

of

the

heron

might

have

a

supernatural mport. They

communicated

with

their

gods

through

animal

sacrifices and

interpreted

divine

will

through

bird omens.

The belief that the

Olympians

inhaled

the

smoke

of burnt

sacrifices offered

by

mortals is

parodied

by

Aristophanes

in the Birds.

Pisthetaerus,

one of the

two

disgruntled

Athenian

citizens off

to find

utopia,

consults

a

hoopoe-bird.

He

finds

none

of

his

suggestions

very

good,

but Pisthetaerus

himself

is

suddenly

seized

by

the

ingenious

idea that the birds found

a

city

in

mid-air and starve the

gods

by

blocking

the

smoke

from

human

sacrifices.

On

a more

serious

note,

the

Greeks

had a

professional

class of

seers,

olcwv6roXot,

who

studied

the movement

and behaviour of

birds,

and

thereby predicted

events or

interpreted

supernatural

decisions.

Prometheus,

in

Aeschylus'

Prometheus

Bound,

describes

how

he

taught

man the

subtleties

of this

craft:

'It

was

I

who

set

in

order

the omens

of

the

highways

and the

flight

of crooked-talcned

birds,

which-of

them

were

propitious

or

lucky

by

nature,

and what

manner

of

life each

led,

and what

were their

mutual

hates,

loves,

and companionships' (P.V. 488-92). A fascinatinghistorical docu-

ment

from

Ephesus

in

the

sixth

century

B.c.

indicates

that

there

was an

attempt

to

codify

the laws of

augury.

The

fragmentary



ATTITUDES TOWARDS ANIMALS INANCIENT GREECE 153

inscription

can be restored to read as follows:

Line of

flight

from

right

to left. If the bird

disappeared

from

sight,

the

omen

is favourable; but

if

it

raised its left

wing and then soared and disappeared,

the omen is

inauspicious.

Line of

flight

from left to

right.

If it

disappeared

on

a

straight

course,

it is an ill

omen,

but if it raised its

right

wing

and then

soared

and

disappeared,

the omen is

good.

(SIG3 1167)

Fear and

hostility

are

prominent

feelings projected

onto

animals.

Animals

have the

power

to make men feel

guilty.

Walter

Burkert,

author

of an

important

work on sacrifice in ancient

Greece,

Homo

Necans,'3

interprets

the

discovery

of reindeer bones

stripped

bare

and.meticulously

replaced

in the

original

shape

of the beast

by

Paleolithic

hunters as evidence of

man's

desire to

avoid

the

aveng-

ing spirit

of

the hunted animal.

In

ancient

Greece

the sacrifice

of

an

ox

was like

killing

a

brother.

According

to the

primitive legal system

of

archaic

Athens,

the

various

participants

of the

bouphonia,

the

murder

of an ox with

an

axe,

were tried and found

innocent,

while the axe

was deemed

the

guilty agent.14

An

attractive

explanation

for

the

origin

of

the

use of masks

in

Athenian

tragedy,

a

word

literally meaning

'goat-

song',

is that the dramatic

ritual

involved the

sacrifice of

a

goat;

and the

sacrificer,

in order

to

avoid

being recognized by

the

animal,

disguised

himself behind a mask.

The hunt

is an area where

man asserts

power

over the animal

through

technical

superiority.

Hunting

in

Bronze

Age

and classical

Greece was

not so much

a

necessary activity

as a

pursuit

of adven-

ture and an educational

experience. s

A

spirit

of

sportsmanship

prevails

in

the hunt

as described

in

epic poetry;

hunting

is,

after

all,

the

off-duty

pursuit

par

excellence

of the

warrior.

The

hero hunts

not

only

wild

animals but

domesticated

species

when

he

goes

cattle-rieving

or

horse-thieving.

But

the

sense of

challenge

that

emerges, for example, in the Odyssey description of Odysseus

hunting

his first wild boar

on the

slopes

of

Mt.

Parnassos

(a

kind

of

rite

de

passage

that

ensures his

readiness for

war)

contrasts

sharply

with the

deceitful and

exploitative

nature of

the

hunt

in

later

Greece and

Rome.

Plato,

in the

Laws

(822

D-824

C),

approves

those forms of

hunting

which demand

skill and

effort on

the

part

of

the

pursuer,

but

condemns

cruel,

lazy,

and

deceitful

methods. In

keeping

with

the

Greeks'

love of

competition

the hunt

should

ideally

be a more

or

less fair

contest. Plato

rules

out

hunting by nets and traps, and

especially

night-stalking,

where

men

sleep

in

rotation while the

wakeful

member of the

expedition

watches

to see if an

unsuspect-



154 ATTITUDES

TOWARDS

ANIMALS IN

ANCIENT

GREECE

ing

victim has fallen into

a

pit.

Fishing

by

hand

is

permissible,

but

creeling

and

angling'6

should be

forbidden. Most

reprehensible

of

all

is

the use of

'muddying

waters',

vegetable

dyes

which

cloud

the

water and paralyse the fish. In the only acceptable form of hunting,

the

athletic

young

hunter

pursues

land

mammals on

foot

with his

dogs,

and overcomes his

prey by

running,

striking,

and

shooting.

There is

little

sign

of

respect

or

compassion

for the

hunted

animal

in

Xenophon

or

in

other ancient

treatises

on the

hunt.

In

the

Cynegeticus

Xenophon

describes

in

great

detail

how

to

dig

pits

and

place

nets for

deer,

hare,

and even

wild boar.

Once the

animal has fallen

into

the

trap

it is

clubbed

to death. An alterna-

tive method of

hunting

roe

deer

uses the

captured

fawn as

a

decoy.

With it the hunter lures the

bereft mother into a

clearingand unleashes his hounds on her. Attitudes become

increasingly

callous,

culminating

in Roman

times

in

the massive

slaughter

of

animals

by professional

hunters

in the Circus Maximus.

Aristophanes'

parody

in the

Birds

of the

uncanny powers

of

animals mentioned

above is

indicative of the humorous

possibil-

ities

animals

represented

in entertainment.

The

Greeks'

love of

a

good story

and the narrative

importance

of animals in

myth

is

translated

into action

in the dramatic festivals

of the archaic

and

classical

period.

Amidst

the

murky

origins

of Athenian fifth-

century dramalie lyric contests and animal masquerades.Aris-

totle

(Poet. 3-5)

traces

the

origins

of

tragedy

to the

dithyramb,

a

lyric

contest

in

honour

of

Dionysos,

and

performed

by

choruses

of

men

displaying

the

physical

characteristics

of

goats.

Indeed

the

light-hearted play

which

provided

relief from

the

trilogy

of

trag-

edies

at the Festival

of

Dionysos

was known

as the

satyr-play.

Goat- and

horse-men

wearing giant

phalloi

re-enacted,

or

perhaps

it is

fairer

to

say,

distorted ancient

legends

in

a

wholly

grotesque

and

hilarious

manner. As

part

of the

merrymaking

n

the

Kiccoo,17

a processional mime involvingan agon between revellersand on-

lookers,

some

of

the

participants

dressed

up

and

impersonated

animals.

In

Old

Comedy

it

may

be assumed

that

plays

such

as

the

Birds,

Wasps,

and

Frogs

of

Aristophanes

made

the

most

of

the

dramatic

possibilities

of choruses

of

men

hopping

about the

stage

in animal

guise. 1

Comedy

incorporated

the

talking

animals

from

folk-lore

and

fantastical

legends

about

the

escapades

of the

super-

naturals

in

every

manifestation,

including

animal

metamorphoses.

The

fascination

with

bestiality

known

from

Greek

myths,

such

as

the seduction

of

Leda

by

Zeus in the

form

of

a

swan,

seems

to

have been

gratified

on

stage.

Hans Licht makes a

very

convincing

case

for the enactment

of intercourse

between

animals

and

men

before

spectators

in Hellenistic

Greece. 9



ATTITUDES TOWARDS ANIMALS IN ANCIENT

GREECE 155

Animals

are

important

in Greek

games

and contests. The

chariot-

race

was the

first and

foremost event in the funeral

games

of

Patroklos

in

the

Iliad,

and

it

continued to

enjoy

this

prominent

position in the pan-Hellenic games. The keeping of horses became

something

of a

preoccupation

among

aristocratic circles

in

Athens,

and

Strepsiades,

in

Aristophanes'

Clouds,

is driven

bankrupt by

the

vast sums of

money

his son

Pheidippides

squanders

on

upkeep.

The

Athenians

also

took

great

relish in

cock-fighting.

Bred for

this

purpose,

these fierce

birds battled it out on raised

tables

smeared

with

garlic

to

resuscitate a maimed and fallen

contender. A

statue

base

dating

from

c.

500

found in

the Athenian

agora

shows two

ageing

men

urging

a cat and

dog

in a

fight.20

Animals do not

play

the same role in entertainment as in the Roman circuses, although

isolated

references,

such as the

ape

in

Pindar's

Second

Pythian

(72

f.),

may

allude to animal

performers

in

children's

shows.2'

In

summary

man's

relationship

with

animals

in

ancient Greece

is neither

simply

one of

superiority

or

submission.

By

virtue of

his reason and technical

accomplishment

man

harnesses the

energy

of

the

domesticated

animal

and

makes it work for

him. Between

the

shepherd

and his

flock,

hunter

and

dog,

there is

a

sense of

reciprocity.

The animal is a

source of humour and

entertainment,

and men

dress

up

in animal

masquerades

in

festivals and

cults at

least

in

part

because 'the child

in

mankind dies

hard'.22

In

the

hunt

man

asserts his

skill and

superiority

by

tracking

down and

killing

dangerous prey.

In

turn

the intrinsic

power

of the

hunted

victim,

especially

the wild

boar,

may

be

thought

to reside in a

helmet or hide made from

the animal

and which

the hunter

there-

after

wears.

The

pursuit

lends

prestige

to

a

man and

assures

him

of

the

right

to

fight.

In

sacrifice

and

omens the

animal

possesses

powers

inaccessible

to man:

the animal

is

therefore an

indispens-

able medium

of

communication

with the

immortal

gods.

There is an element of agon between man and animal. The two

are involved in a volatile

master-slave

relationship,

as

the

Greek

cosmogony

shows.

The

assumption

in

many

cultures

that animals

once

possessed

the earth

plays

no

part

in

the

Greeks'

creation

story.

But monsters appear

early

on in the Greek creation

myth

as told in

the

Theogony

(137-53;

617

ff.).

The

first

animate

creatures

that Earth bears

to

Ouranos are

Kronos,

the

one-eyed

Cyclopes,

and

a

fearsome

trio of

monsters,

Kottos,

Gyes,

and

Obriareus,

each

with

fifty

heads

and

a

hundred

arms.

Kronos

castrates Ouranoswith a sickle fashioned by loving Earth;and

Zeus,

the son of

Kronos

and

Rhea,

in turn

overthrows his

father.

The

monsters are

tucked

out of

sight

in

Tartarus

along

with the



156

ATTITUDES

TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN

ANCIENT

GREECE

three-headed

dog

Kerberos.

We

are

told that

they

are

chained in

cruel

bonds out of

jealousy

for

their

strength.

But

when Zeus and

the

other

Olympian

gods

find

themselves

contending

with

the

terrible race of Titan gods, Zeus resorts to unleashingthe monsters,

and

they

become his chief

allies. The

monsters

originally

can be

seen as

wild

species.

Their

banishment is

an

attempt

to

free the

civilized

upper

world from

unruly

influences. Once

Zeus is

made

aware

of

their

indispensable powers,

he

harnesses

their

energies

for

the

Titanomachy;

he

domesticates

them,

in

effect. Later

they rejoin

Kerberos,

now

enjoying

the status of

guardians.

The

relative lack of

animals

in

the creation

story

is in

keeping

with the Greek

anthropocentric

world-view.

The

Greeks

naturally

distinguished between men and animals, and yet it is interesting to

observe that

there

is

no

generic

word for

animals until

rod

ov

comes into use in

the

fifth

century

B.C.

(Hdt. 5.1).

There

is

an

important passage

from

early

Greek

literature which

points

out

a

fundamental

difference between

animals and men. In

the

Works

and

Days

Hesiod addresses his

brother,

a

landowner:

...

Perses,

hear me

out on

justice,

and take what I have

to

say

to

heart;

cease

thinking

of

violence.

For the son of

Kronos, Zeus,

has

ordained this law to

men: that

fishes and wild beasts

and

winged

birds should devour one

another,

since there is no justice in them; but to mankind he gave justice which proves

for

the

best.

(Op.

274-80)

Here the fundamental

distinction

is an

ethical one. Stated in its

most basic

terms,

the law of

Justice

restrains

man from

preying

on

his own

kind.

Later

in

the fourth

century Xenophon

distinguished

man from

animal

by

virtue of man's

ability

to

speak

and

reason,

and

his

sense

of

religious

awe.

(Ap.

12;

Mem.

1.1.3-5, 3.3,

11

f.)

This

strong

tendency

to

distinguish

between

man

and

animal

carries

over,

to an

extent,

in

myth

and

ritual.

G. S.

Kirk states

'... there is no real confusion in the Greek mythical world between

men and animals

as such.'

And

later,

The

Greeks'

anthropomorphism

was

severe.

They

missed

something

thereby,

I

believe,

but the reason for

it

may

be

obvious:

they

no

longer

lived

in a

world

dominated

by

animals,

by

the

need

to hunt and

trap

them

and

keep

them at

bay,

in the

way

that

many

simple

tribal

communities did

and

do.24

Is this a

complete explanation

of the

anthropocentric

Greek

world-view? The

propensity

to

regard

man and animal

in a

separate

light

is to a

large

extent a valid

observation,

especially

if one

con-

trasts Greece and Egypt. The Greeks lack the somewhat bleary

line-up

of

countless

theriomorphic

deities,

the millions of

mummi-

fied

cats-the

very

creatures which lived with

them;

nor did the



ATTITUDES

TOWARDS ANIMALS

IN ANCIENT GREECE

157

Greeks

inhume cattle

bones and later send around

a

ship

to

collect

them

for reburial in a

special

locale. An animal

fetish

dominated

the

Egyptians

down

to

Hellenistic

times;

but from a

practical

point

of view animals dominated the Egyptians, who depended heavily

on cereal

products,

no

more than

they

did

the

Greeks.

By

chance

we have evidence

of

the

Greeks'

impressions

of

Egyptian

attitudes

and

practices

involving

animals

recorded

by

Herodotus.25 Herodotus delivered

his

History

as a

series of

lectures

in the

market-place

at Athens and

elsewhere,

and is

generally

taken

to be a fair

and unbiased

reporter.

What

emerges

in

the

tone

of

his

report

on the

Egyptians,

however,

is a

certain

prejudice,

and over-

reaction to outlandish

Egyptian practices,

as

if the Greeks were

unaware or unwilling to admit their own irrationalattitudes

towards animals.

No

doubt the

Greeks were staid

by comparison

with the

Egyptians,

but

archaeology

has

revealed a number

of to

us

rather

incomprehensible

animal

cults. The

best known

of

these

took-place

at

Brauron,

just

15 miles from Athens

at

the

height

of

the Golden

Age

of

Perikles.

There,

every

four

or

five

years,

little

girls

from five to

ten

years

of

age living

in a

sort

of

convent

dressed

up

in

saffron robes to

impersonate

bears and

dance offer-

ings

to the

goddess

Artemis,

who demanded

their service

(so

the

aetiological explanation

goes)

in

reparation

for

killing

one of

her

sacred bears.26

Greek

mythology

did

have

its

difficult

pets

in

addition to

Kottos

and his

friends: monsters such

as

barking

Skylla

and

belching

Charybdis,

hybrids

like the

chimaira and

sphinx,

or

hungry

demons

-Lamia,

who

fed on

children's

flesh;

put

slightly

differently,

the

sorceress

Circe

turned her

lovers

into

castrated,

domesticated

lions

or wolves

who

fawned and

wagged

their

tails. The

tendency

to

banish monsters

like

Kottos,

Gyes,

and

Obriareus

to

the under-

world-imprison

them,

so to

speak,

in

the

lower

regions

of

man's

mind-indicates both a fascination and an avoidance of the frighten-

ing

and

unknown.

Such

was the

fate of

the

last

and

most

fearful of

monsters in

the

creation

story,

Typhon,

who,

according

to

later

legend,

was

buried under

the

volcanic

Mount

Aetna

(Pind.

01. 4.8

f.).

Clearly

the

demonic

element of

the

animal

was

deeply

impreg-

nated in

the Greek

imagination

and

occasionally

it

erupted

and

fired the

artist

or

poet

to

creative

heights,

as in

Hesiod's

description

of

the

very

creature in

question:

But

when

Zeus had

driventhe

Titans from

heaven,

huge

Earthbare her

youngest child,Typhon of the love of Tartarus,by the aid of golden

Aphrodite.

From

his

shoulders

grew

a

hundred

heads of a

snake,

a

fearful

dragon,

with

dark,

flickering

ongues,

and

fromunder

the

brows

of

his

eyes



158

ATTITUDES TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN

ANCIENT

GREECE

in his

marvellous heads

flashed

fire,

and

fire

burned

from his

heads

as

he

glared.

And there

were voices

in all

his dreadful

heads

which

uttered

every

kind of sound

unspeakable;

for at

one time

they

made

sounds such

that

the

gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud,

ungovernable

fury;

and at

another,

the

sound of a

lion,

relentless of

heart;

and

at

another,

sounds

like

whelps,

wonderful

to

hear;

and

again,

at

another,

he

would

hiss

so

that the

high

mountains

re-echoed

...

But Zeus

raised

up

his

might

and seized his

arms,

thunder

and

lightning

and the

lurid

thunderbolt;

he

leaped

from

Olympos

and

struck

him,

and

burned all

the

marvellous heads

of the

monster

...

Typhon

was

hurled

down,

a

maimed

wreck,

so that the

huge

earth

groaned

... And flame

shot

forth from the

thunder-struck

lord in

the

dim,

rugged glens

of the

mount

when

he was

smitten.

(Tb.

819

ff.)

NOTES

1.

Among

the

primary

literary

sources Aristotle

and Aelian are authors who wrote

works

pertaining

wholly

to animals. Aristotle's

extensive scientific

writing

on animals

includes the

Historia

Animalium,

De

Partibus

Animalium,

De

Motu

Animalium,

sections

of

the Parva

Naturalia,

and

De

Generatione

Animalium.

For

a

summary

of these

works,

see

G.

Lloyd,

'The

development

of

Aristotle's

theory

of

the

classification of

animals',

Phronesis

6

(1961),

59-81.

Aelian,

by

contrast,

is an

arm-chair

zoologist.

A Roman

historian

and

teacher of

rhetoric

writing

in Greek

in the

second

century

A.D.,

he

com-

piled

a

voluminous

work

entitled

De

Natura Animalium.

His account

is full

of

tales,

proverbs,

and

popular

cures

involving

animals taken from

medical handbooks.

Xeno-

phon,

a

fourth-century

B.C.

Athenian

aristocrat,

wrote two

pedagogical

treatises con-

cerning animals: a member of the cavalry and an expert horseman, Xenophon wrote

On

Horsemanship

for

the education of

his

sons;

the

Cynegeticus

is a treatise

on

hunting

hare,

as well

as

deer

and wild

boar.

Xenophon

stresses

the educational

value

of

the hunt

for

breeding

a

noble

character

and

preparing

a man

for war.

RE

contains

no

general

article on 'Tier'

per

se

but does

include entries

under individ-

ual

species.

A

long

article

entitled

'Tierdiiamonen'

ightly

emphasizes

the 'demonic'

element of

the animal in

religion, magic,

and

superstition.

On

a

much

smaller scale

the

OCD'

contains

a

short

entry

by

H.

J.

Rose

on

'Sacred

Animals'.

In

one

paragraph

Rose

presents

evidence

for what some

suspect

to

be residual

totemism,

but

strongly

rejects

the

possibility

of this

phenomenon

having

existed in Greece. Rose

refers the

reader

to

Nilsson,

GGR3,

pp.

212

ff.,

who

speaks

of

a

totemistic

void in Greek

religion.

In the

light

of

subsequent

clarification

from

both

anthropology

and

archaeology

this statement

seems

too

strongly

negative.

A.

B.

Cook's

'Animal

worship

in the

Mycenaean

age',

JHS 14 (1894), 81-169, is overstated in the opposite direction, but nevertheless con-

tains

some

insightful

hypotheses

on the

religious

function

of

demons in

Mycenaean-

Minoan

art.

For

the

role

of

the

animals

in

Greek

intellectual

history

see

F. M.

Heichelheim

and

T.

Elliot,

'Das Tier

in

Vorstellungswelt

der

Griechen',

StudGen

20

(1967),

85-9;

cf.

H.

Rahn 'Tier

und

mensche

in

der

homerischen

Auffassung

der

Wirklichkeit',

Paideuma

5

(1950-54),

277-97,

432-80;

Urs

Dierauer,

Tier

undMenscb

im Denken der

Antike,

Studien

zur

antiken

Philosophie

Bd.

6

(Amsterdam,

1977).

Among

the

encyclopedias

and

specialized

lexica

on

Greek fauna are the

following:

O.

Keller,

Die antike

Tierwelt

(Leipzig,

1909-13;

reprinted

1963).

This

two-volume

encyclopedia

(unfortunately

not

up-dated

before

reprinting)

is useful

because

it

dis-

cusses

the literature

and

monuments-relating

to

individual

species

in a

comparative

way

in Biblical, Near Eastern, Greek, and

Roman cultures.

For

a

survey

of

species

in

the

Greek

world,

see

O.

K6rner,

Die

homerische

Tierwelt'

(Munich,

1930).

Two

classifica-

tory

works,

both labours

of love

by

the

naturalist

Sir

D'Arcy Thompson,

are

A

Glossary

of

Greek

Birds'

(Oxford,

1936)

and

A

Glossary of

Greek

Fisbes

(Oxford,

1947).



ATTITUDES TOWARDS

ANIMALS

IN

ANCIENT

GREECE

159

J.

Fernando,

Nombres

de

insectos

in

griego antiguo

(Madrid, 1959),

catalogues

insects

mentioned

by

Greek

authors.

2. Cf.

Keller

(above,

n.

1).

For

a

bibliography

of works

on

the

fauna

of

Greece,

see

A.

Kanellis and

C.

Hatzissarantos,

Bibl.

Faunae

Graec.

(1800--1950)

in To Vouno

(1949-50).

3.

Does2,

Knossos Mc-Series.

4.

Apiculture

was

practised

since

Neolithic times. It had the

same

importance

as

sugar

production

has

now.

Certain

regions,

such as

Mt.

Hymettos

near

Athens,

were

famous

for their

honey.

5. P.

Einzig,

Primitive

Money

(Oxford

and

London,

1949

and

1966).

6.

M.

I.

Finley,

Rev. internat. des droits de

l'antiquiti

30 Ser. 2

(1955),

167-94,

sees

two

stages,

one

matrilineal,

the

other

patrilineal.

7.

The

Linear

B

tablets

record

names,

mostly

colour-names,

for

oxen,

such

as

Wo-no-

quo-so,

'Rusty', (literally

'wine-coloured');

cf.

Docs ,

under the

Knossos

Mc-series,

105.

8.

Cf.

E. R.

Dodds,

The

Greeks

and the Irrational

(Berkeley,

1951),

Appendix

I

'Maenadism',

pp.

270

ff.

9. W. Burkert in Il mito greco, edd. B. Gentili and G. Paioni (Rome, 1977), p. 281,

sees

pastoral myths

as the survival

of

legends

from Paleolithic times

reapplied

to an

agrarian

and urban

Athens.

10. M.

Leach,

God

Had a

Dog

(Rutgers,

N.

J.,

1961),

p.

354.

11. Cf. G.

Herrlinger,

Totenklage

zum Tiere in der

antiken

Dichtung

(Stuttgart,

1930).

12.

See

De

Canibus,

The

Dog

in

Antiquity

(London,

1971),

pp.

43

f,

by

R.

Merlen

of

the

Royal

Veterinary

College

for

a

discussion of the

non-fatal

forms.

13. Homo

Necans

(Berlin,

1972).

14.

Cf.

J.

L.

Durand,

'Le

rituel du

meutre du

boeuf

et les

mythes

du

premier

sacrifice animal en

Attique'

(above,

n.

9).

15. For

a

fascinating

article

on

the

hunting origin

of

the

Athenian

Ephebeia,

see

P.

Vidal-Naquet,

PCPhS n.s.

14

(1968),

49-64.

16. Sc.

66hoc

bait)

also means 'deceit'.

17.

Cf.

A. W.

Pickard-Cambridge,

Dithyramb,

Tragedy

and

Comedy2

(Oxford,

1962),

pp.

225-53.

18.

Animal

choruses

are

shown in

vase-painting

representations

a

full

century

before

Old

Comedy.

19.

Sexual

Life

in

Ancient

Greece

(London, 1969),

p.

147.

20.

G.

Richter,

Animals

in Greek

Sculpture

(London,

1930),

fig.

175.

21.

Cf. W.

McDermott,

The

Ape

in

Antiquity

(Baltimore,

1938),

pp.

131

f.

22.

Pickard-Cambridge

(above,

n.

17),

p.

245.

23. Plato

in the

Timaeus

91

f.

gives

his

own

version

of

a creation

myth

for

women,

birds, animals,

reptiles,

and

fish. Birds

are

the issue

of men with

flighty

thoughts

on

astronomy,

land

animals from

men

who

had

no use

for

philosophy,

etc. These

transfor-

mations are part of Plato's theories on metempsychosis discussed in the Phaedrus 248 ff.

24. The

Nature

of

Greek

Myths

(Harmondsworth,

1974),

pp.

50 f.

25.

Cf.

A.

Lloyd,

Herodotus

2

(Leiden,

1977),

passim.

26.

Cf.

L.

Kahil,

AntK

20

(1977),

86-98,

who

links

Artemis with

Aphrodite;

the

cult

ceremony

confers

good

luck and

fertility

on maidens

about to

marry.

attitudes towards animals in ancient greece

Documents