The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life

"The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life encompasses all aspects of animals in the ancient world, with authoritative chapters on 33 topics by the leading scholars in their fields. It provides an introduction to and a survey of each topic and also gives guidance on further reading for those who would like to study the area in more depth. Both the realities of animals and more theoretical aspects are covered, beginning with ‘Aesop and Animal Fables’, ‘Animals in Classical Art’, and ‘Animals in Comedy’, and continuing through ‘Domestication of Animals’, ‘Animal Husbandry and Farming’, ‘Pets’, and ‘Fauna of the Ancient Mediterranean’, among other aspects of human–animal interaction. More abstract and philosophical topics are also addressed, including ‘Animal Communication’, ‘Ancient Ideas on the Origin of Species’, ‘Wondrous Animals in Classical Antiquity’, and ‘Philosophical Vegetarianism and Animal Entitlements’. These are just a few of the chapters. The scope of the handbook is huge, and will provide the reader with much food for thought: as Claude Lévi-Strauss said, and as the author of the chapter on animals on comedy notes, animals are good to think with. The study of animals in the ancient world has been undergoing a boom in recent years, and the handbook reflects the cutting edge of modern scholarship."--