No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Animals, Gods and Humans: Changing Attitudes to Animals in Greek, Roman and Early Christian Thought
Abstract
Consulting a wide range of key texts and source material, Animals, Gods and Humans covers 800 years and provides a detailed analysis of early Christian attitudes to, and the position of, animals in Greek and Roman life and thought. Both the pagan and Christian conceptions of animals are rich and multilayered, and Ingvild Saelid Gilhus expertly examines the dominant themes and developments in the conception of animals. Including study of: biographies of figures such as Apollonus of Tyana; natural history; the New Testament via Gnostic texts; the church fathers; and from pagan and Christian criticism of animal sacrifice, to the acts of martyrs, the source material and detailed analysis included in this volume make it a veritable feast of information for all classicists.
... Historical forms of idolatry. The history of idolatry suggests a group fear of the thought of its mortality, also called Terror Management Theory (TMT), followed by the practice of supplication to mental entities in hope of garnering favor (Arndt et al., 2005;Gilhus, 2006). This phenomenon seems ubiquitous despite region or era, wherever civilization supplants the natural environment-from Mesoamerica to the Middle East. ...
... This evolution traces a gradual transformation of mental beliefs, until "thought" is more authoritative than life, thus leaning gradually toward psychological authority. This corresponds well to the gradual societal dependency on idols made of wood, stone, or other artificially crafted symbols, to garner their permission before proceeding with the business of living (Gilhus, 2006). The industrialized practice of sacrificing inferior things to those deities seems commensurate with both explosive growth and unsurvivable changes to the environment by reason of that unnatural growth-resulting in greater internal urges for greater sacrifices (to survive those mental preferences). ...
... The widespread practice of animal testing to better predict human health outcomes, can be traced to the ancient practices of haruspicy and anthropomancy. During haruspicy, animals were sacrificed in order to divine meanings important to human futures (Gilhus, 2006). The same word-sacrifice-is still used in science today and acknowledged by science as such (King & Meehan, 1973;Seligman, 1967). ...
Abstract: The focus of this research is to explore the possibility of prejudice between what is more mental than biological, framed as a form of mental idolatry in the biological search for a lasting conceptual authority. The equivalence between ingroup favoritism and mental favoritism, along with the equivalence between outgroup antipathy and human antipathy toward biologically directed creatures, warrants exploration as a form of prejudice (Biernat & Danaher, 2013; Leyens, Cortes, Collange, & Renesse, 2014). In addition, the unequal treatment of most species by the human mental species, wherein only humans benefit and most non-human animals are harmed, farmed, or destroyed, approximates the concept of biological amensalism, in addition to exploring it as a form of prejudice. (Martin & Schwab, 2013). The human species’ uncanny reverence for its mental phenomena while exploiting and sacrificing creatures to nurture that phenomena suggests a correspondence with the ancient practice of idolatry.
... This model is especially helpful in highlighting how the need to finely distinguish similar things results in prejudice (e.g. the fusiform gyrus appears to perform this function by fine distinction of human faces within one's group, in order to guess which to trust and which not to trust). In the past, the superhuman classes have approached deification or enduring group value, and the subhuman classes have approached demonization or enduring group threat (Gilhus, 2006;Hodson, Kteily, & Hoffarth, 2014). According to Roberts (2015), estimates of intelligence have historically been used to define more human from less. ...
... The widespread practice of animal testing to better predict human health outcomes, can be traced to the ancient practices of haruspicy and anthropomancy. During haruspicy, animals were sacrificed to divine hidden meanings important to human futures (Gilhus, 2006). The same word-sacrifice-is still used in science today and acknowledged by science as such (King & Meehan, 1973;Seligman, 1967). ...
... The incidental scientific knowledge gleaned from widespread ritualization and commercialization of these divination practices is recorded as part of the history of human autopsy and animal testing (King & Meehan, 1973). Both practices grew scientific knowledge and provided industries for the acquisition, transport, management, and sacrifice of animal subjects for civilizations like Rome (Gilhus, 2006). An opportunity exists to ask whether haruspicy continues in modern times under the auspices of scientific and commercial enterprises, with no benefit to the test subjects (U.S. ...
All individuals with end stage renal disease (ESRD) will perish from the disease unless they receive a donor kidney in time. The purpose of this research was to compare groups of candidates on the kidney transplant waiting list in the U.S. Renal Data System, to test whether some groups waited longer to receive a kidney due to a physical or mental assessment bias. A review of the literature suggested that most who perished prematurely also waited the longest and thus perished by neglect, fitting a theoretical framework called the stereotype content model (prejudice based on value to society). A causal-comparative study was conducted to examine the wait times of kidney candidates on the official waiting list categorized as too young or too old (n = 17,914). The results of one-way ANOVA, Welch’s F(2, 494.46) = 113.71, p < .0005, ω2 = 0.13, suggested that the most mentally fit (not physically fit) children had significantly lower wait times (M = 250.02, SD = 296.33) despite not having contributed, whereas seniors had the longest wait times (M = 786.27, SD = 717.51) despite having contributed a lifetime to society. Further analysis revealed that, all else considered, primarily those assessed as mentally capable will be selected to survive ESRD, Welch's F(3, 819.03) = 53.97, p < .0005, ω2 = 0.08. This study concluded there was an inadvertent irony in candidate assessment criteria. The need to ethically allocate scarce organs has resulted in criteria that favor the survival of human kidneys over human candidates.
... Shimizu, & Pifer, 1994), age (Ascione, 1992;Kavanagh, Signal, & Taylor, 2013;Kellert, 1985), household income (Signal & Taylor, 2006), humane education (Ascione & Weber, 1996;Furnham, McManus, & Scott, 2003;Nicoll, Trifone, & Samuels, 2008), pet ownership (Driscoll, 1992;Martens, Enders-Slegers, & Walker, 2016;Serpell, 1996), religion (Bowd & Bowd, 1989;Driscoll, 1992;Gilhus, 2006), as well as geographic region (Phillips et al., 2012;Pifer et al., 1994). However, research into the correlation between public attitudes toward animals and ethical ideologies is still in its infancy and needs further investigation (Bègue & Laine, 2017). ...
... Additionally, as Dutch people have a greater awareness of animal welfare than Chinese people, and this high awareness in the Netherlands could explain the strong link between ideologies and attitudes toward animals, we examined whether the correlation between ethical ideologies and attitudes toward animals differed between Dutch and Chinese people, by utilizing the same questionnaire that was used in China (Su & Martens, 2017). Religion (Bowd & Bowd, 1989;Driscoll, 1992;Gilhus, 2006), pet ownership (Costa, Guagliumi, Cannas, Minero, & Palestrini, 2014;Martens et al., 2016) and meat consumption (Kenyon & Barker, 1998;Loughnan, Haslam, & Bastian, 2010;Povey, Wellens, & Conner, 2001) have been demonstrated to be important factors in attitudes toward animals. In order to verify the reliability of these reports, we investigated whether such variables also relate to attitudes toward animals among Dutch people. ...
Ethical ideologies, which include dimensions of idealism and relativism, are often involved in the process of decision-making regarding operational and economic research. However, the study of the role of ethical ideologies concerning public attitudes toward animals has been largely neglected. The present study analyzed how ethical ideologies and their interaction with human demographics relate to public attitudes toward animals in the Netherlands. The Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) was used to assess respondents’ ethical ideologies and their relationship with attitudes toward animals, which were measured by the Animal Issue Scale (AIS) and the Animal Attitude Scale (AAS). The results demonstrated that respondents’ gender and age were both significantly associated with attitudes toward animals, although gender showed a stronger correlation than age. Absolutists and situationists tended to show greater concern for animals than did exceptionists and subjectivists. Public attitudes toward animals were found to be significantly related to idealism; this confirms previous findings in the United States and China. Consistent with some previous findings in the United States, no significant correlation between relativism and public attitudes toward animals was found among Dutch respondents. However, this finding is inconsistent with findings in China indicating that relativism was negatively related to people’s attitudes toward animals. Our study indicates that the correlation between idealism and attitudes toward animals is the same in different countries, while the correlation between relativism and attitudes toward animals differs between developed and developing countries.
... Toda una creación poética sujeta a un concienzudo plan que persigue la exaltación de Cristo como Mesías, como el verdadero 71 Sobre el simbolismo de los animales en la poesía cristiana, cf. I. S. Gilhus, 2006. ISSN: 0213-7674 ...
La obra del poeta cristiano Sedulio ha sido sin duda analizada la mayoría de las veces a la sombra de las de otros poetas que comparten género, es decir, que cultivaron la poesía cristiana en hexámetros bajo los modelos de la épica latina antigua 1. De ese modo, encontramos una relativa cantidad de estudios que ponen en estudio del género épico bíblico, cf., entre otros, R. Herzog, 1975 y M. Roberts, 1985. Resumen: En este trabajo se señala cómo a lo largo de los años algunos editores y humanistas han destacado la dignidad de estilo de los poetas cristianos Sedulio y Prudencio, al acercarse a ambos poetas bien de una manera simultánea, en ediciones y comentarios, bien como parte de un mismo todo, el de la buena poesía cristiana. El trabajo ofrece un repaso por algunos testimonios donde así se detalla. Continúa el estudio poniendo en parangón pasajes de ambos poetas que comparten núcleos temáticos como la crítica al paganismo o el pesebre en que nace Jesús, para ejemplificar en ello particularidades estilísticas de ambos poetas como la interpetación simbólica. El trabajo concluye ofreciendo una valoración del poeta Sedulio visto a la luz de Prudencio, el llamado "príncipe de la poesía cristiana". Abstract: This work points out how throughout history some editors and humanists highlight the dignity of style of the Christian poets Sedulius and Prudentius, approaching both authors not only in a simultaneous way, in editions and commentaries, but also as part of the whole, that is, the good Christian poetry. The current work offers a review of some testimonies that confirm this idea. The study continues comparing passages from their pieces of work that share thematic nuclei such as the criticism of paganism or the crib where Jesus is born, to exemplify their stylistic particularities such as symbolic interpretation. Finally, the present work gives an evaluation of Sedulius seen in the light of Prudentius, the so-called "prince of Christian poetry".
... Thus, reports indicate a cyclical humanitarian crisis situation that recurs almost every five years. The last three emergencies were in 2001-2003, followed by 2006-2008(BNGRC, 2016. From 2014 to almost today, aggravated by the El Nino phenomenon, humanitarian operations are at their peak due to an "exceptional drought" situation, which is the main determinant of the Ntandroy migration phenomenon. ...
This paper aims to analyze the manifestation of the “Sorondrano” rain ritual and to assess community perceptions of its expected impacts in the face of extremely dry years over the past 38 years. Specifically, it attempts to characterize the relationship of the Ntandroy to their history and their ways of controlling their environment through this ritual practice and to highlight the conditions and requirements, norms and principles applicable to make the success of the ritual activity effective and reassuring in cases of repetitive droughts. The ethnographic field study was conducted with 44 respondents who had not left the localities in the past 10 years and were selected by purposive sampling. Data was further analyzed qualitatively by content analysis given the prevalent use of Likert type scales analyses. The surveys showed that the majority of the participants have witnessed the ritual ceremony in their lives and affirm its notoriety. They perceived its performance in the face of the eight cases of climatic drought recorded from 1981 to 2019, fitting in the harmonization of procedural steps that the sacrifice is performed without any error. The results imply the continued engagement in the Community - Supernatural Being relationship for the sustainable management of climatic drought cases and above all support the Ntandroy social religion as true coping strategies promoting rainfall as a local economic revival.
... Esto se aplica también a los estudios clásicos. En el caso de la historia del pensamiento griego antiguo, disciplina en la que se centra el presente artículo, en las últimas décadas se han hecho destacables aportaciones de estudiosos como Dombrowski (1984), Sorabji (1993), Gilhus (2006), Steiner (2010) o Newmyer (2011, entre muchos otros. Se trata de una línea de trabajo que está atravesando, sin duda, momentos de gran ebullición y que proporciona interesantes herramientas de análisis de las relaciones que se dan entre los humanos y los animales, así como de otras muchas problemáticas circundantes. ...
... Autores como Ingvild Saelid (2006), Richard Buxton (2009) y Chiara Thumiger (2014b) se han ocupado de la metamorfosis en la literatura griega concebida como un cambio drástico y corporal de un ser humano que pierde su figura y se convierte, literalmente, en un animal distinto (como podría ser el caso de Tereo, tragedia perdida de Sófocles, o de Io en Prometeo encadenado de Esquilo). Sin embargo, es posible pensar en un sentido más amplio de metamorfosis que abarque también los cambios profundos en el carácter de un personaje descritos mediante imágenes del mundo animal 2 . ...
Filoctetes de Sófocles es la tragedia de un hombre llevado hasta el límite
de su propia condición humana en medio de un total abandono. En este
artículo pretendo mostrar por qué podemos pensar que el héroe epónimo
de esta tragedia sufre una metamorfosis de acuerdo con la cual deja de
ser, en sentido propio, un ser humano y asume de manera consciente su
propia animalidad. Para ello me centro en el significado que tienen el
arco y su pérdida para el héroe y en las apóstrofes a través de las que
expresa su nueva relación con el entorno natural que lo rodea.
... Here it should be pointed out that the dog motif often appeared in ancient Greek and Roman art, which proves that the animal played an important role in Greek and Roman antiquity writ large. Nevertheless, this is a broad issue which goes beyond the problematics of this article and to which many studies have been devoted (Toynbee 1973, 102-124;Gilhus 2006;Ferris 2018; further literature there). ...
The article tackles the question of the “canine burials” from the northern Black Sea coast area in the light of materials from the Neyzats cemetery (Belogorsky Raion, Crimean peninsula) dated from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. In this necropolis, 22 dog remains have been discovered in 20 archaeological features (in pit, undercut, and vaulted graves, as well as in pits). These burials are divided into three basic groups: independent canine burials, burials of dogs with other animals, and canine burials clearly associated with human graves. Each of the types is discussed in detail in the context of its broad cultural background. The analyzed material also makes it possible to attempt to explain the genesis of such burials and to interpret their meaning.
... Kalof (2007) (2018) onlyt oname afew;for alist of further publications see Fögen (2006) and (2017). Exceptions include Grant (1999), Ciccarese (2002Ciccarese ( ),Z ambon (2003, Leyerle (2005), Gilhus (2006) and (2014), Ciccarese (2007), Spittler (2008), Capomacchia (2009), Ullucci (2011), Franchi (2017, Clark (2017), and, appearingw hen these lines were alreadyw ritten, CoxM iller (2018). The term 'kingdom of heaven',obviouslyr eflectingN ew Testament language( cf. ...
... These are just examples of how important birds were, and in particular chicken, for divination practices in ancient times, a custom that might have survived into the Middle Ages. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that sacrifice-divination and ritual offerings survived well into the Middle Ages (Jolly et al., 2002;Gilhus, 2006). Historical evidence suggests that ornithomancy and avian aurality lasted at least into the Early Middle Ages (Poole and Lacey, 2014), as it is mentioned (prohibited) in Anglo-Saxon laws (Hinton, 2005: 70). ...
In this paper, a particular type of unusual archaeological deposits found at some high medieval (12-13th centuries CE) sites located in the Basque Country (northern Iberian Peninsula) is examined. These structured deposits consist of inverted pottery vessels containing the remains of a chicken, placed in pits created on purpose for keeping them, and are generally found in archaeological contexts related to the foundation or reconstruction of public buildings, including churches and city walls. The implications of the occurrence of these rituals in Christian contexts are discussed in the framework of folk religion, suggesting that medieval religion was hybrid and dynamic, even after the Gregorian Reform (11th century CE) that, supposedly, unified the Christian administration and liturgy. It is suggested that the occurrence of such public ritual practices in the Basque Country during the High Middle Ages might be related to the formation and negotiation of new social and political communities.
... The majority of archaeologists are now aware that the study of faunal remains can offer much more beyond economic and ecological interpretations. During the last decade zooarchaeologists and archaeologists have shown an increased interest in the non-economic aspects of zooarchaeology (e.g., Anderson and Boyle 1996;Gilhus 2006;Grant 2000;Grigson 1999;Hamerow 2006;Hill 1995;Lauwerier 2002;Marciniak 2005;Méniel 1992; Ryan and Crabtree 1995;Wilson 1992;Woodward and Woodward 2004). This "social zooarchaeology" has mainly concentrated on the "ritual" interpretation of Associated Bone Groups (ABGs). ...
... In other words, the general lack of ancestral belief in the wolf among many European and Western societies in pre-modern times paved the way for hostile antipathy toward wolves very early on, which then evolved into a more brutal program intent upon the extermination of the wolf by the early modern era and beyond. As Gilhus (2006) writes in Animals, Gods and Humans, the Romans "did not believe in the wolf, and they did not worship it. The wolf was the attributive animal of the city of Rome" (author's emphasis, p. 106). ...
Wolves have been a constant in human consciousness, whether they are considered supernatural beings, nurturers and guides for humankind, or powerful or malevolent predators. Attitudes toward wolves in Western Christian societies have been overwhelmingly negative due to perceptions of wolves as preying upon souls and flocks. Pre-modern Turco-Mongolian views of wolves were generally positive, as she-wolves, ancestral deities, or guides for nomadic warriors, even after conversion to Islam. This Turco-Mongolian perspective allows the wolves some protection against human aggression in Turkic and Mongolian regions in the present.
... This is difficult to assess, given that attitudes toward animals and motivations for pet-keeping varied in the past (Bodson 2000). Literary references record cases of great care among some Roman pet animals, but patterns are inconsistent, and the line separating pets from working or utilitarian animals can be blurred (Gilhus 2006;Toynbee 1973). Some information for the treatment of pet animals, however, is available from the archaeological record. ...
Miten suomentaa käsite, jonka tulkintahistorian ympärille kysymys elävän olennon arvosta on eurooppalaisessa ajattelussa kiertynyt? Jos lähdetekstin kieli ei osaa esineellistää muunlajisia eläimiä, saako myös nykysuomeksi puhua heistä niiden sijaan? Artikkelini lähtökohta on uusplatonisti Porfyrioksen (n. 234–305) Sielullisten vahingoittamista vastaan -teoksen käännöstyön äärellä konkretisoitunut pulma. Teos on antiikin moniäänisen mutta fragmentaarisesti säilyneen eläinkeskustelun eräänlainen kooda: se lainaa edeltäjiään vuosisatojen ajalta ja väittelee näiden kanssa, ja osittain tekstin tilkkumaisuudesta johtuen sen avainkäsitteet liukuvat merkityksissään kääntäjän näkökulmasta ongelmallisesti. Tärkein näistä käsitteistä on mm. puhetta, lukusuhdetta, syytä ja järkeä merkitsevä logos. Antiikin aikana vakiintuneen käsityksen mukaan oikeudenmukaisuus (tai sen puute) saattoi ulottua vain logoksella siunattujen osapuolten välisiin suhteisiin, ja juuri logoksen avulla ensin muutama kreikkalainen ajattelija ja myöhemmin eurooppalaisen filosofian ja teologian valtavirta piirsi käsitteellisen eron ihmisen ja muiden elollisten väliin. Syntyi ilmaus ta aloga zoa, ”logoksettomat eläimet” ja samalla eläimen käsite siinä ihmisen poissulkevassa mielessä, jossa nykysuomenkin ’eläin’ ensisijaisesti ymmärretään. Muiden eläinten käsitteellinen erottaminen ihmisestä – tai antiikin kontekstissa puhevaltaa käyttävästä vapaasta miehestä – tarjosi uudenlaisen perusteen ei-ihmisiin kohdistuvalle vallankäytölle. Avaan artikkelissa omia suomennosvalintojani ja peilaan niitä logoksen käännöstulkintojen pitkään historiaan, joka samalla on muiden eläinten mielellisyyden, arvon ja lopulta itse eläimyyden kieltämisen historiaa. Tuon historian meidänpuoleisessamme päässä eläinten kommodifikaatio on läpäissyt yhteiskunnan niin tehokkaasti, että sitä on vaikea nykykielen normeista käsin haastaa. Itse logos-sanan kääntämisen rinnalla ja siihen suoraan liittyen tarkastelenkin konkreettisena esimerkkinä ongelmia, joita suomen persoonapronominien nykynormitus tuo klassisen kreikan suomentamiseen. 1800-luvun jälkipuoliskolla luotu kirjasuomi korvasi kansankielen dynaamisen ja lajineutraalin pronominikäytännön staattisella kahtiajaolla ihmisiin (hän, he) ja muihin (se, ne). Modernisaatioon tiiviisti linkittynyt kirjakieliprojekti tuotti siis suomeenkin erottelun, jota antiikin logos-keskustelu pohjusti mutta joka paradoksaalisesti hankaloittaa saman keskustelun välittämistä suomen kielelle.
In the hope of shedding some light on what it meant to be “Jewish” in the first century CE , and perhaps in other times, this article will closely examine what “everybody knows” about Tiberius Julius Alexander – that he was an apostate from Judaism – by carefully considering the arguments of earlier writers and critiquing them, in light of the events of his distinguished military and governmental career. It will also consider some remarks of his uncle Philo that others have thought relevant, and will offer an alternative narrative of his role as second in command of the Roman army in the Jewish War.
Este artigo investiga a relação entre animais humanos e não-humanos no pensamento de Aristóteles, tomando como fonte principal seus tratados de zoologia e, dentre eles, a História dos animais. O objetivo central é discutir em que medida é possível identificar traços incontornáveis de antropocentrismo em Aristóteles, e, em caso positivo, em quais termos esse antropocentrismo é expresso. A partir da leitura de passagens diversas, e da análise filológica de determinados verbos empregados pelo filósofo, argumento que o dado antropocêntrico dos escritos de Aristóteles, embora presente, pode ser nuançado, em especial quando algumas espécies – como a esponja do mar – são abordadas pelo estagirita. Assim, concluo que a retórica antropocêntrica de Aristóteles aparece com mais frequência quando os animais são abordados em conjunto do que como espécies isoladas.
Dissection is a practice with a long history stretching back to antiquity and has played a crucial role in the development of anatomical knowledge. This absorbing book takes the story back to classical antiquity, employing a wide range of textual and material evidence. Claire Bubb reveals how dissection was practised from the Hippocratic authors of the fifth century BC through Aristotle and the Hellenistic doctors Herophilus and Erasistratus to Galen in the second century AD. She focuses on its material concerns and social contexts, from the anatomical subjects (animal or human) and how they were acquired, to the motivations and audiences of dissection, to its place in the web of social contexts that informed its reception, including butchery, sacrifice, and spectacle. The book concludes with a thorough examination of the relationship of dissection to the development of anatomical literature into Late Antiquity.
Recently, mountain regions have become highly attractive and important areas for tourism (Beedie & Hudson, 2003; WTO & UNEP, 2008; Rama et al., 2019). One of the most dynamic components of tourism in mountains is adventure tourism, which combines travel, sport and outdoor recreation (Beedie & Hudson, 2003). Since mountains represent sensitive areas in terms of sustainability, it is important to approach them appropriately, in order to apply measures to optimize the impacts of tourism. This study covers a review of the impacts of adventure tourism on mountain areas and an examination of measures that might optimize the impacts of such tourism. The purpose of this paper is to present the latest findings in the field of the impacts of adventure tourism in mountain areas, and certain measures that can be taken to balance the positive and negative impacts. The findings show that the impacts of adventure tourism in mountain destinations vary, and therefore each destination must be treated individually. Furthermore, a thorough approach to achieve balance is needed on a case by case basis, since there is no universal formula for sustainable development of destinations due to their different characteristics. The implications and further research opportunities are given.
The scientific monograph on current topics of tourism development, which is intertwined with the field of health, well-being, and the role of local authorities in planning, implementing, and evaluating policies and practices related to public health issues, offers the reader a systematic theoretical review of scientific literature, as well as case studies of the topics discussed. The content is presented by numerous researchers and experts who are active in Slovenia or other countries of the former Yugoslavia. The topics address current issues in the development of tourism science. The content is multidisciplinary and interconnects various views and concepts that provide an insight into the profession for the needs of further development of the sector.
Aims:
In the article, ancient concepts linking animals and wine are discussed, while a description of animals that in antiquity were considered to be especially fond of grapes and wine is provided, as well as animals that were, for various reasons, given wine to drink by humans, and animals that in ancient literature had an averse association with wine. In the paper, the author attempts to answer the following questions: What was the conceptual framework for the tales about drunk animals? In what circumstances were observations of animals becoming inebriated conducted? Which animal species were considered as most susceptible to the effects of wine? And was wine believed to affect animals and humans in a similar way?
Methods:
Ancient literature provides a set of extant information about animals who willingly become inebriated with grapes or are given wine by humans, which deserves a separate analysis. The ancient authors commonly interspersed narration with information about the animals and invoked personal experiences of contact with the described animal and information obtained from those who had the opportunity to conduct 'zoological' observations, or even medical experiments.
Results:
There is a large group of animals that appear in ancient accounts consuming alcohol in the form of fermented fruit and wine. The ancients held the mostly incorrect belief that snakes had an enormous predilection for wine; on the other hand, contemporary research confirms that, as the ancients rightly observed, insects and birds do display a fondness for fermented fruit and wine. It was correctly observed that an excess of wine induced extreme states such as sleepiness and aggression in animals, in a manner similar to humans. Conclusions Accounts in ancient literature show a close association between animals and wine existed among the Greeks and Romans.
Several studies show that religion hinders concerns for the natural environment preservation. Others, however, have found that the belief in God or the identification with a particular religion is not associated with measures for environmental concerns. This study investigates the influence of religious narrative framing and the relation between Allport’s intrinsic personal (IP) and extrinsic social (ES) religious orientation towards general environmental apathy (GEA) and acceptability for harming animals (AIS). This study surveyed 657 teachers and school staff in East Java, Indonesia. Using ANOVA, we find that religious narrative affects participant’s GEA and AIS. Participants in stewardship narrative group have significantly lower GEA and AIS compared to participants in human dominance and the non-narratives control group. Using multiple regression, we also confirm the persistence of religious narrative’s influence towards GEA. In addition, lower GEA and AIS correlate with higher IP and lower ES. Lastly, we identify and discuss significant demographic and other determinants relation to GEA and AIS.
This study investigates public attitudes in Chinese society towards marine life and determines the roles of basic demographics and ethical ideology in shaping these attitudes. An online survey was conducted in 22 mainland coastal cities on the basis of a questionnaire regarding demographical information, the Ethical Position Questionnaire ( EPQ ), and an adapted marine life version of the Animal Attitude Scale ( AAS ). Results demonstrate that Chinese women are more concerned about marine life protection than men. Ethical idealism has positive effects while ethical relativism has negative effects on public attitudes towards marine life. Chinese citizens consider using marine life for food as acceptable, but less acceptable to use their skin or fur. Moreover, ethical ideology is found to have no influence upon public attitudes towards using marine life in medical experiments.
According to our Roman sources, especially the account of Pliny the Elder, an unusual feature of the appearance of elephants in a staged hunt in Pompey’s games of 55BCE was sympathy for them shown by the crowd. With a particular emphasis on this incident and elephants, this article discusses the agency of nonhuman animals who were required to do tricks, fight with one another and with humans, and act as executioners in the Roman arena, and the perception of it by the crowd and Roman authors. The main purpose of the shows was to satisfy the potentially disruptive urban masses and more fundamentally, to emphasize the power of Rome to control forces beyond its administrative authority and external to its cultural mores. Animals were not able to understand the forces that brought them to the arenas or resist in any organised manner, but as sentient beings they did act in ways the trainers could not predict or control. In so doing, in all cases but refusal to attack they contributed to the excitement of events, and in the case of the elephants of the 55BCE games, even caused the normally hostile spectators to empathize with their plight. When Roman spectators or writers attributed human-like traits to animals who did extraordinary things they tacitly acknowledged animal agency, but this was not transformed into any general acceptance that animals might have any moral sense or cognitive abilities comparable in any way to humans.
The chapter reviews how, as people change their behaviour towards animals, they inevitably change their behaviour towards themselves, their environment and other people around them. It reviews how working with an animal can motivate a human behaviour change. Focusing on the needs of the animal can allow humans to assess their own need for change in a less confrontational way than direct coaching. It explores the way people seem to be more prepared to explore change within themselves in order to benefit the animal, making this type of learning more impactful and more sustainable. The chapter will include the journey through mindfulness, personal awareness, labelling, patience, shaping behaviour, attempting to think with the brain of another species, and the importance of timing in all communication.
It is well-documented that human demographic and personality factors are associated with people’s attitudes toward animals. A growing body of evidence shows the relationship between a person’s attitudes toward animals and their gender, age, household income, education, pet ownership, as well as geographic region. However, research into the correlation between public attitudes toward animals and ethical ideologies is still in its infancy and needs further investigation. Ethical ideologies, which include dimensions of idealism and relativism, are often involved in the process of decision-making regarding operational and economic research. However, the study of the role of ethical ideologies concerning public attitudes toward animals has been largely neglected. This chapter will discuss how ethical ideologies and their interaction with human demographics relate to public attitudes toward animals, with The Netherlands as an example. The Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) is used to assess respondents’ ethical ideologies and their relationship with attitudes toward animals, which were measured by the Animal Issue Scale (AIS) and the Animal Attitude Scale (AAS).KeywordsAnimalsAttitudesDemographicsHuman–animal interactionIdealismRelativism
The Law has concerned itself little with animals. Until recent times the treatment of animals was a residual element for legal frameworks, in contrast with the vivid interest from thought, history, art and culture that has always aroused the human-animal relationship. The elements that have contributed to the inversion of this situation can be summarily enumerated: an advance in Animal Welfare Sciences, a change of mentality by a society that is increasingly more sensitive to animal suffering, and the need to regulate new forms of relations between humans and animals, within the context of a global society. This contribution will subject the changes introduced by the Law regarding the treatment of animals, in various geographical areas and in different forms, to critical review. It will analyse the influences of the “animal turn” in legal studies, especially as animal sentience seems to have erected itself the backbone for the changing processes undergone by Animal Law in recent decades, essentially, the De-objectification of animals, the Constitutionalisation of animals and the Globalisation of animals.KeywordsAnimal welfareAnimal lawEuropean UnionArticle 13 TFEULegal status of animalsCivil codeSentience
Late Roman masculinity required dominance and control and favoured violent hierarchies. Yet scholars of early Christian martyr acts and ascetic literature frequently observe ambivalence or deviation from this norm. Rather than accumulate more and more exceptions to the traditional ideal (which was never really singular anyway) or continue collecting variations on this model of masculinity, the following essay seeks to shift the model by introducing a notion of masculinity as a plan of escape from vulnerability, not as a state of affairs or set of traits. Treating masculinity as a trajectory and a necessarily volatile process allows us to accommodate all the ambivalence and variety that has already been observed, because flight is always volatile, because human beings trying to be invulnerable is impossible, and because in the late Roman world, that plan of escape passed through a bottleneck of submission to specific other already-sovereign males. I illustrate the notion of masculinity as flight from vulnerability on the basis of an example of ascetic instruction between master and disciple known as the Teachings of Silvanus, tracing a jumbled narrative arc starting with intolerable vulnerability, passing through indulgence in submission and devotion, to the promise of total sovereignty. I wish to suggest that treating vulnerability as intolerable and fleeing from it is what is at the root of late ancient masculinity.
Despite playing no meaningful practical role in the lives of the ancient Greeks, snakes are ubiquitous in their material culture and literary accounts, in particular in narratives which emphasise their role of guardian animals. This paper will mainly utilise vase paintings as a source of information, with literary references for further elucidation, to explain why the snake had such a prominent role and thus clarify its meaning within the cultural context of Archaic and Classical Greece, with a particular focus on Athens. Previous scholarship has tended to focus on dualistic opposites, such as life/death, nature/culture, and creation/destruction. This paper argues instead that ancient Greeks perceived the existence of a special primordial force living within, emanating from, or symbolised by the snake; a force which is not more—and not less—than pure life, with all its paradoxes and complexities. Thus, the snake reveals itself as an excellent medium for accessing Greek ideas about the divine, anthropomorphism, and ancestry, the relationship between humans, nature and the supernatural, and the negotiation of the inevitable dichotomy of old and new.
Over the centuries since antiquity, nature writers have evaluated different animal species. One criterion for such an evaluation has been intellect. At the lowest point on the scale of intellectual abilities was stupidity. Ancient authors often attributed inadequate intellect to various animal species by using pejorative expressions. The aim of this study is to determine which animal species Greek and Roman writers considered as inferior in the hierarchy of intellectual abilities, and why these species were chosen in particular. Furthermore, the paper attempts to verify the evaluations formulated in antiquity in light of contemporary observations of nature.
Classical scholarship has recently witnessed an upsurge of books, articles, and conferences exploring ancient human/animal relations. Scholars now investigate animals in Greek and Roman thought and literature as well as in different texts and real-life contexts. At first sight, this research seems far removed from the kind of questions earlier classical scholarship brought to the ancient evidence. While older scholarship seems to reflect a naïve concern with the realia of ancient animals, current research explores man’s multiple entanglements with the non-human and bestial. This article sets out to show that, right from the beginning, the scholarly interest in ancient animals was inevitably bound up with an interest in man. To this end, I explore the place of humans in Otto Keller’s monumental two-volume work Die antike Tierwelt (1909–13). I illustrate how central animals are to the kind of humanism propagated by Keller and explore the place of this humanism in Keller’s reception of the classical past. I show that the universality of animals allows Keller to discuss humanity in equally universal terms, and conclude that this universal focus associates his study more closely with the principles and practices of historical anthropology than with the emerging cultural history of his day.
Para considerar o significado filosófico das imagens do centauro, do leão e da raposa no Príncipe de Maquiavel, o artigo propõe examiná-las como expressão singular do topos retórico tradicional fortitudo-sapientia.
Aiming to study the philosophical meaning of the centaur, lion and fox images in Machiavelli' s Prince, the article proposes to examine them as a singular expression of the traditional rhetoric topos fortitudo-sapientia.
Undoubtedly the most interesting medieval Arabic text from the perspective of animal ethics is a fable by the 10th-century group of philosophers known by the name of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ (The Brethren of Purity). In the fable, animals sue the mankind to court to challenge the latter’s claim for the right to subject animals to their servitude. While the Ikhwān’s animal fable is well-known, it has not often been studied from the perspective of animal ethics.
From serpent similes and Jacob’s sheep to the wild dogs that devour Jezebel, the Bible abounds with animal life. Indeed, the ubiquity of animals in biblical texts bespeaks a society in which animals were a critical and omnipresent feature of everyday life. Early scholarship on the Bible’s animals focused primarily on classifying species, but attention soon shifted to the literary and rhetorical use of animal imagery. More recently, there has been a good deal of discussion inspired by interests in contemporary animal rights concerning attitudes towards non-human animals in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Recent years have seen the development of the “animal turn” and the rise of animal studies as a multi-disciplinary field dedicated to moving beyond anthropocentrism. Yet its ripples have been barely felt within archaeology, and not at all within the study of human origins, arguably the domain where these insights are most keenly needed given its focus on “what it means to be human”.
This thesis takes the form of a critical history of the discipline, that we might better understand the way forward. I seek to illuminate the degree to which there has been intellectual continuity in the discourse, and the degree to which this discourse has been driven by anthropocentric political ideology. To this end I examine two themes within human origins research, phylogeny and mind, looking firstly at texts from the earlier decades of the discipline and subsequently at those from recent decades. I show that, both in phylogenetic and mental/cultural terms, the loaded dichotomy between human and animal, as well as “moderns” and “archaics”, has been continually forced upon the data to meet political ends, with a priori conclusions having made the recognition of contrary evidence virtually impossible. This is as true now as it was a century or more ago.
Having exposed the long and continuing hegemony of anthropocentric ideology I argue it is high time for a decisive break with it, and advocate a metahumanist approach that both affirms the “animality” of the human and the “humanity” of other animals. I conclude with a case study showing how we may begin to actually apply such an approach to the subject, looking at hyenas, now recognized as conscious agents, and their interactions with prehistoric humans, no longer defined in opposition to the animal or by an archaic-modern dichotomy.
O presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar uma proposta de estudo do cristianismo primitivo tomando o folclore como uma categoria cultural e semiótica, a partir das propostas de Eleazar M. Mieletinski e Vladímir I. Propp. Discutimos, na primeira parte do texto, o conceito de folclore como expressão da cultura popular do Mediterrâneo antigo, destacando o conto maravilhoso como seu gênero narrativo privilegiado. Na segunda parte, realizamos um exercício de análise, a partir teoria morfológica de Propp, buscando relações estruturais entre os Atos de Paulo e Tecla e o Martírio de Paulo, a partir da hipótese de que ambos se constituem como variantes de um mesmo conto folclórico. Por fim, no último tópico, analisamos as relações de conflito entre tradições de memória paulina expressados nos textos e, de modo especial, como a presença de animais ajudadores funcionam como articuladores de identidade em meio a essas disputas de memória.
A Roman terracotta figurine representing a grotesque ithyphallic male figure with the characteristics of a cock is discussed in relation to its role as an apotropaic device.
La cuestión de la propiedad sobre los animales, ha sido pacífica e indiscutida hasta épocas muy recientes. La Descosificación de los animales, que se propone ahora en el Código civil de España, se ha llevado a cabo recientemente en los Códigos civiles de Francia (2015) y Portugal (2016) y se está perfilando como un movimiento que, con intermitencias, no ha cesado de avanzar desde que en 1988 en Austria se introdujera la afirmación de que los animales no son cosas (“nicht-Sachen”). Hoy Descosificación se equipara a reconocimiento de la sentiencia animal (“sentient beings”).
This article deals with Greek animal fables, traditionally attributed to a former slave, Aesop, who lived during the sixth century BCE. As a genre, the Aesopic fables, or the Aesopica, has had a significant impact on the Western fable tradition and modern Western children’s literature. The Aesopica owes much to the Mesopotamian fables and has parallels in other Near Eastern cultures. Modern research has concentrated on tracing the oriental roots of the fable tradition and the dating of the different parts of the Aesopica, as well as defining the fable as a genre. The traditional reading of fables has, however, excluded animals qua animals, supposing that fables are mainly allegories of the human condition. The moral of the story (included in the epimythia or promythia) certainly guides one to read the stories anthropocentrically, but the original fables did not necessarily include this positioning element. Many fables address the situation when a prey animal, like a lamb, negotiates with a predator animal, like a wolf, by giving reasons why she should not be killed. In this article, I will concentrate on these fables and analyse them from the point of view of their structure and content. Comparing these fables with some animal similes in Homer’s Iliad, I suggest that these fables deal not only with the ethical problem of ‘might makes right’ as a human condition, but also the broader philosophical question of killing other living creatures and the problem of cruelty.
People and nonhuman primates have shared different habitats since the beginning of human history. From early times, nonhuman primates have attracted people's attention and have inspired a number of myths in different parts of the world. This is not surprising considering the biological, phylogenetic, and behavioral similarities of nonhuman primates and humans. The prominent role of nonhuman primates in mythology is well evidenced in religious traditions, astronomy and astrology, and other diverse aspects of human life. As a result, depending on human culture, some people adopt a quasi-scientific view by considering nonhuman primates our close relatives, as respected and sacred beings, and mediators between deities and humans, while others consider them as evil creatures. These different views on nonhuman primates influence the way humans utilize primate by-products and interact with these animals, clearly demonstrating that understanding the mythology surrounding primates and their influence in the cultural and religious aspects of human populations is an important issue for primate conservation.
The aim of this chapter is to apply many of the tools and insights developed alongside this book on two major issues in which religion plays a crucial role: namely sacrifice (in particular self-sacrifice) and forgiveness. Sacrifice will be analyzed from a chiefly epistemological and pragmatic perspective, whereas I will adopt with forgiveness a frame relating to evolutionary studies and social cognition. The interest connecting those two fields is that they both, in different ways, partake of the topics of violence and irrationality: it is therefore extremely interesting to read them within the eco-cognitive perspective that has characterized this book since the beginning. As I did for the genesis of supernatural beliefs, I will attempt at problematizing the perceived irrationality of a given trait, or behavior, in order to understand how it can be traced back to another pattern of rationality: when, as in the case of the sacrifice of intellect, an “irrational” point will be located, it will be my aim to circumscribe it as fittingly as possible. Therefore, my intention is to analyze two central aspects of religious behavior relying on the notion of violence (for sacrifice) and its retention (for forgiveness), thus using violence as a kind of eco-cognitive prism. Following the philosophical orientation indicated by Magnani’s Understanding Violence (Magnani 2011), I will argue in favor of the epistemic and pragmatic/heuristic roles of violence (and of its retention). In the first section, in fact, I will contend that the religious sacrificial mindset fascinatingly weaves together a theoretical non-understanding (in the form of an “epistemic” violence tracing back to the sacrificium intellectus) with a pragmatic understanding, in order to achieve the further possibility for an eco-cognitive acting. In the second and final one, conversely, I will challenge forgiveness as a heuristic violence committed against a norm, part of a set of rules enabling the functioning of a the cognitive niche, for the sake of the functioning of the cognitive niche itself. In sum, my final contention will be that violence and irrationality are, paradoxically, the necessary and strictly linked counterweights that are able to make religion (as I have analyzed it in this part) livable and even profitable from the perspective of an eco-cognitive rationality.
As imagens fantasiosas do corpo humano surgem em todas as manifestações da cultura material,civilizações e geografias. Especialmente recorrentes na Literatura e nas Artes Plásticas da AntiguidadeClássica, denunciam uma prática contrária à mimesis praxeos physeos, pois embora partam dareferenciação em modelos reais de norma ou exceção, envolvem um processo de enfatização erecombinação das suas partes, amiúde conjugadas com elementos de outras espécies.Mais do que simples reconfigurações anatómicas que provam a dimensão ficcional do paganismo,estas reinvenções antropomorfizadas revelam a predisposição para as auto-representações expressivas(caricaturais ou idealizadas) decorrentes de exercícios de auto-crítica e promoção (numa estreita relaçãopsicossomática), denunciam a aspiração do Homem a demiurgo de novas formas e vidas, e atestam odesejo de ultrapassar as próprias limitações físicas e cognitivas, bem como de superar a condição mortal eterrena.Neste texto debruçamo-nos sobre essas recriações na musivária romana peninsular e realçamos o seuvalor como elementos-chave para o conhecimento da cultura coeva e para a interpretação do sentidometafórico das narrativas mitológicas.As imagens fantasiosas do corpo humano surgem em todas as manifestações da cultura material,civilizações e geografias. Especialmente recorrentes na Literatura e nas Artes Plásticas da AntiguidadeClássica, denunciam uma prática contrária à mimesis praxeos physeos, pois embora partam dareferenciação em modelos reais de norma ou exceção, envolvem um processo de enfatização erecombinação das suas partes, amiúde conjugadas com elementos de outras espécies.Mais do que simples reconfigurações anatómicas que provam a dimensão ficcional do paganismo,estas reinvenções antropomorfizadas revelam a predisposição para as auto-representações expressivas(caricaturais ou idealizadas) decorrentes de exercícios de auto-crítica e promoção (numa estreita relaçãopsicossomática), denunciam a aspiração do Homem a demiurgo de novas formas e vidas, e atestam odesejo de ultrapassar as próprias limitações físicas e cognitivas, bem como de superar a condição mortal eterrena.Neste texto debruçamo-nos sobre essas recriações na musivária romana peninsular e realçamos o seuvalor como elementos-chave para o conhecimento da cultura coeva e para a interpretação do sentidometafórico das narrativas mitológicas.
Admittedly, Chapter 3 focuses mainly on contemporary thinkers. The aim of this chapter is to retrieve and develop creatively a strand of Christian thought, stretching from early Christian interpretations of biblical data through the hagiographies of the saints into modern Christian thought, that provides an eschatological foundation for concern over the welfare of nonhuman animals. This strand opens a space for an alternative to the dominant tradition.
Artykuł omawia zagadnienie wegetarianizmu w kontekście znaczenia ofiary zwierzęcej w starożytnej Grecji i Rzymie. W pierwszej części tekstu autorka analizuje funkcję ofiary zwierzęcej w starożytności, skupiając się zwłaszcza na religijnym i społecznym znaczeniu spożywania rytualnie poświęconego mięsa. W drugiej części przedstawia postaci wegetarian, którzy musieli zmierzyć się z obowiązkowym charakterem ofiary w społeczeństwie antycznym. W szczególności skupia się na przykładach niekonsekwencji pomiędzy głoszonymi przez nich postulatami a rzeczywistym postępowaniem, i docieka przyczyn tej rozbieżności. Na zakończenie omawia zmiany, które w kwestii ofiar i postrzegania zwierząt z końcem starożytności przyniosło chrześcijaństwo.
This article analyses the 'politics of humanity' in Cicero's philosophical and rhetorical works, the practice of projecting and shifting the moral and political boundary that separates the 'human' from the 'inhuman', the 'inept at being human', and the 'undeserving of being human'. This practice has many affinities with the relatively modern phenomenon of 'dehumanisation'. In the first part, the emphasis is on Cicero's humanism, in particular his ideas on human nature as they appear in De Officiis. Here I also show the impact of this practice on Roman ideas of self-fashioning, 'sincerity' and social performance. In the second part, I observe the way in which Cicero's political and legal theory fits within this ideological project. I further argue that Cicero's humanism provided a conceptual background to the rhetorical dehumanisation of his political enemies, that is, to the claims in his invective that these men could no longer be considered as proper human beings. My final suggestion is that the goal of this practice, at least some of the time, was to make a case for excluding these individuals from the state's legal system and thus depriving them of its protections.
Why was death considered polluting within classical Greek society when Olympian sacrifice was ubiquitous? Outside the polis the Greeks’ view of the uncultivated or improperly cultivated geography and of their own ‘city-less’ past was just the other way around. Here death represented no pollution whatsoever, while Olympian sacrifice was either absent or not properly performed. Death and life had yet to be separated, as had happened in the proper human realm of the Greek polis. Any reintroduction of either natural death or sacrifice into the ‘city of life’ would consequently negate its very structures. Sacrifice differed exactly through the aspect of control. Acts of sacrifice were therefore used to control the onset of natural death. But why would the Greeks sacrifice also in every other possible context? As the essential human characteristic, mortality pertained to all human creations, including the polis. Left to itself, the polis would wither and die. Through Olympian sacrifice, humans dissolved the structures of the city without ever losing control, thereby introducing the unlimited potential as still found in the primordial state of the uncultivated geography. The structures of the polis were recreated through the proper division of the sacrificial victim.
This paper looks at the categories of person that two Christian documents, the Traditio apostolorum and Book 8 of the Constitutiones apostolorum, that belong respectively to the 3rd and later 4th centuries AD, propose be excluded from the catechumenate, apparently on the ground that the callings they follow make them morally-unfit. It asks whether that was the only reason for their exclusion and suggests that the prejudice from which such callings as performing on the stage and charioteering suffered in Roman society was also a factor. The paper then goes on to ask whether these exclusions from the catechumenate in their concern with moral fitness represent a radical new departure from anything to be found in pagan cult and whether we should continue to subscribe to the widely-held belief that pagan cult is not concerned with the moral state of the worshipper, but only with the punctilious performance of the ritual by persons not defiled by recent sexual contact or by the death of a close relative. It concludes that there is no discontinuity and that moral unworthiness could well be a source of concern in pagan cult.
L'Apokritikos, un texte de Makarios Magnes datant vraissemblablement du 3e siecle, presente un debat entre un chretien et un Hellene, paien adversaire du christianisme. L'A. entreprend de determiner qui pouvait etre cet Hellene : le philosophe Porphyre de Tyr, l'empereur Julien, ou le juge anti-chretien Sossianus Hierokles. L'A. prend parti pour Hierokles, une hypothese qui donne un eclairage particulier aux relations chretiens-paiens a l'epoque de la Tetrarchie.