Michael MacKinnon

This chapter examines the wild fauna in ancient Mediterranean. It explains that this category of animals can be divided into several subcategories. These include wild progenitors of domestic taxa, major wild mammalian taxa, birds and fish, and other aquatic animals. This chapter provides a description of several species in each subcategory including bison, red deer, brown bear, martens, and dolphins. It also highlights the complexity of studying of animals in ancient iconography because of the depiction of animals in a variety of ways that are sometimes not related to the social significance of that image.

This chapter examines the history of hunting in ancient Greece and Rome. In Greek antiquity, hunting was imbued with multiple practical and metaphorical messages. It provided a source of meat, served as a means of pest control, and was linked with warfare training. Hunting in ancient Greece carried myriad social and cultural messages, perhaps the most important of which is as a metaphor or allusion for the pursuit or capture of a lover, enemy, or plan. In Roman antiquity, elitism and privilege typically underlay the meaning and practice of hunting. This chapter also mentions that deer, boar, hare, and wild birds are the animals commonly hunted and trapped in both the Greek and Roman worlds.

This chapter examines pet-keeping in Graeco-Roman antiquity. It analyses evidence drawn from images of animals from ancient art and material culture, references to animals in ancient texts and inscriptions, and bones of animals recovered from archaeological excavations of ancient sites. The findings indicate that while the lines between pet and work animals overlapped, there were indeed numerous cases of pet-keeping in Greek and Roman antiquity. The range of pet animals included dogs, domesticated equids, cats, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and tamed wild and exotic animals.