Identifying Exotic Animals in Pliny's Natural History
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-15-2013 12:00 AM The Roman Ethnozoological Tradition: Identifying Exotic Animals in Pliny's Natural History Benjamin Moser The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Debra Nousek The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Classics A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Benjamin Moser 2013 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Other Classics Commons Recommended Citation Moser, Benjamin, "The Roman Ethnozoological Tradition: Identifying Exotic Animals in Pliny's Natural History" (2013). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1206. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1206 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ROMAN ETHNOZOOLOGICAL TRADITION: IDENTIFYING EXOTIC ANIMALS IN PLINY’S NATURAL HISTORY (Thesis format: Monograph) by Benjamin Moser Graduate Program in Classical Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Benjamin Moser 2013 Abstract Only recently has Pliny’s Natural History garnered favourable reception, as scholarship has expanded from Quellenforschung and the comparisons to modern biological understanding to a more balanced approach. Continuing with this perspective, I seek to appreciate both the Natural History on its own merit, free of modern scientific scrutiny, and Pliny as a participating author in the work beyond the previously stigmatized compiler or unknown perspective. I address the question of the Natural History’s position within the ancient zoological tradition, examining the Aristotelian influence on Pliny. I investigate three case studies: the haliaëtus and its (non-)genus; the relationship between and identification of the panthera and pardus; and the crocota and the (mis-)identification of Aethiopia. I further reveal Pliny’s understanding and presentation of these exotic animals in his work, illuminating also our understanding of the Roman ethnozoological tradition and the pitfalls when trying to identify these animals from a modern taxonomic perspective. Keywords Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Aristotle, Historia animalium, Roman, Ancient Greek, genus, species, genos, eidos, classification, taxonomy, ancient science, ethnozoology, crocota, krokottas, hyena, panthera, pardus, leopard, cheetah, panther, Aethiopia, eagle, haliaëtus, ossifraga, Aelian, Ctesias, ancient geography ii ַויִּ ֶצ ֩ר יְה ָָ֨וה ֱאֹל ִ֜ ִּהים ִּמן־ ָהָֽ ֲא ָד ָ֗ ָמה ָכל־ ַח ַיַּ֤ת ַה ָש ֶד ֙ה וְאֵת֙ ָכל־ ֹ֣ע וף ַה ָש ַ֔ ַמיִּם ַויָ ֵב ֙א ֶאל־ ָֹ֣הָא ַ֔ ָדם ִּל ְר ֹ֖א ות ַמה־יִּ ְק ָרא־ ֹֹ֑לו ְוכ ל֩ ֲא ָ֨ ֶשר יִּ ְק ָרא־ ֹֹ֧לו ָהָָֽא ָָ֛דם ֶנֶ֥ ֶפש ַח ָיֹ֖ה ֶ֥הּוא ְש ָֽמ ו׃ וַיִּקְרָָ֨ א ָהָָֽא ִ֜ ָדם ֵש ָ֗מ ות ְל ָכל־ ַה ְב ֵה ָמ ֙ה ּו ְל ֹ֣ע וף ַה ָש ַ֔ ַמיִּם ּו ְל ֹ֖כ ל ַח ַיֹ֣ת ַה ָש ֶֹ֑דה ּו ְלָא ָ֕ ָדם ָֹֽלא־ ָמ ֶָ֥צא ֵֹ֖עזֶר ְכנֶגְ ָֽד ו׃ (בראשית ב׃יט־כ) ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα· αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν. (ΠΡΟΣ ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ ια’·λϝ’) iii Acknowledgments Praise be to God for all He has done for me. Thanks be to Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. I would like to thank my supervisor, Debra Nousek, for the countless hours she has spent guiding and reviewing my study. I especially appreciate her putting up with my distinct style of writing that lends itself to be difficult at times for the reader. I would also like to thank the Classical Studies department, and the University of Western Ontario, for providing me with the training and financial support for undertaking such a study. I must also thank both the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Province of Ontario for their financial contributions through the way of scholarships. I can honestly say I would not have been able to have completed this endeavor if not for their aid. I should also like to thank my friends and family for all their support. Last, and certainly not least, I thank my fiancée, Nichole Sotzek. God has certainly put you into my life to challenge me and cause me to grow daily. You have certainly influenced this project for the better. Let this study be a testament to my six years of postsecondary education. iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................v List of Tables................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................. vii Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................... 10 1 Aristotelian Influence on Pliny and his Natural History ............................................ 10 1.1 The Aristotelian Classification System ............................................................... 10 1.2 Situating Pliny within Natural History ................................................................ 23 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................... 38 2 Genus and Species in the Natural History ................................................................. 38 2.1 Genus................................................................................................................. 40 2.2 Species ............................................................................................................... 50 2.3 Genus, Eagle and the Haliaëtus .......................................................................... 56 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................... 69 3 An Ethnozoological Understanding of the Panthera and Pardus ............................... 69 3.1 Identification of the Panthera and Pardus .......................................................... 86 Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................... 97 4 The Crocota, Hyena and Aethiopia ........................................................................... 97 4.1 Identification of the Crocota ............................................................................ 117 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 126 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 129 Curriculum Vitae ......................................................................................................... 137 v List of Tables Table 1 Eagle Genera ......................................................................................................... 57 vi List of Figures Figure 1 Pebble mosaic: Dionysos riding a panther. c. 300-280 B.C. Pella. ......................... 83 Figure 2 Peristyle mosaic: Dionysos mounted upon a panther. 2nd half 2nd century B.C. Delos: House of the Masks. ................................................................................................ 84 Figure 3 Nile mosaic: tigris. c. 80 B.C. Praeneste: Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia. .......... 91 Figure 4 Map of two Aethiopias.........................................................................................110 Figure 5 World map by Claudius Ptolemy edited by Nicolaus Germanus. A.D. 1474. ........115 Figure 6 Nile mosaic: krokottas. c. 80 B.C. Praeneste: Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia. ...120 Figure 7 Nile mosaic: Aethiopes. c. 80 B.C. Praeneste: Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia. ..121 vii 1 Introduction As a resource on the natural world, Pliny’s Natural History, was considered an authoritative text from its creation in the first century A.D. through the medieval period, but ultimately fell from this position with the scientific revolution which fostered observations repeatable and testable.1 Under this approach, Pliny was deemed a poor scientific source and scholars such as Rudolf Wittkower and William Stahl have criticized Pliny for being an uncritical and inattentive compiler of information.2 This opinion of Pliny has largely been dismissed as scholarship has shifted from viewing the Natural History in light of modern scientific understanding to, recently, a more literary- based analysis of the Natural History with emphasis on encyclopaedism and its worth and purpose in edifying the Roman Empire; Sorcha Carey, Aude Doody, Clemence Schultze, and Trevor Murphy embody this movement.3 Although this approach provides a valued consideration of Pliny’s work, I think that it has drawn our attention too far away