1 ANIMALS and ANIMAL-HUMAN DYNAMICS in VALERIUS FLACCUS’ ARGONAUTICA. Anne Tuttle Mackay University College London Ph.D., Greek & Latin 2 3 Declaration. I, Anne Tuttle Mackay, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 4 5 Abstract: Animals and Animal-Human Dynamics in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. Animals have come into their own as subjects for research across the Humanities, and recent work focuses on animals in classical culture, animal imagery in different literary genres, and even animal empathy in Greek literature. My thesis, however, is among the first sustained studies on animals—their representation, poetic function, and interactions with humans—in a single work. The study is backgrounded by research on the Argonautica itself; animal similes; the cultural significance of animals in Rome; and representations and development of animal subjectivity in Latin literature. I analyze a significant proportion of VF’s animals in diverse contexts, and divide the thesis based on those contexts. I first look at similes, for example, like those which highlight the individual experience and development of birds, and those which explore the relationship between epic tradition and portrayals of animals like lions. Animals interacting with humans in the narrative feature in the second half, as victims of human violence—e.g. a sacrificial bull—or as companions and partners, like war-dogs and -horses. My methodology blends several approaches, examining animals and their relationships with humans, via intertextual and narratological analysis and aspects of empathy, reception, and (occasionally) a wary, self-conscious anthropocentrism. I explore how animal perception, behaviour, and interactions with humans operate in VF’s narrative art. Drawing from the scholarship on Valerian themes and poetics, my work demonstrates how animals function within the epic programme, signifying beyond their immediate contexts, on the levels of political and philosophical messaging; personal experience, identity and development; power negotiations, relationships, and communication. The result is fresh illumination of VF, his context, and poetic technique —especially with respect to how he ‘thinks with’ animals—and finally, the implications for reading animal-human relations as he wrote them in his own time, and for evaluating those relations in the present. 6 7 Impact Statement. This project will, first and foremost, model a methodology for analysing animals in classical texts, a methodology which synthesizes approaches from different fields and sub-disciplines. Most immediately influential are, of course, trends in research in classical philology, especially Latin poetry, and animal studies, and to a lesser degree, the philosophical theories of posthumanism. The thesis is woven of different threads of varying origin but complementary insights from intertextuality, narratology, Valerian poetics, classical epic, animal empathy and subjectivity, and the place of the animal in Roman culture. The methodological model developed is not solely for the use of classicists, however, and will prove relevant and applicable to the study of animal- human dynamics across literary periods, genres, languages, and contexts. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary approach yields results of interdisciplinary relevance, which will also appeal to a non-academic audience. The division of the thesis into two parts will make clear the complementary nature of the different aspects of the discussion: the Argonautica’s presentation and consideration of animals, their world, and their perception of it; and their interactions with humans, humans’ perception of those and them, and the apparent implications arising from continuity or inconsistency across the representations of these aspects. This study looks at animal subjectivity, animal-human interactions, and human attitudes towards and use of animals in a systematic and integrated way. The results illuminate the unique and compelling depiction of animal-human relationships of the Argonautica, showing both how they function in his poetics, and what they reveal about those aspects of these relationships which should be valued, and which should perhaps be changed. More pointedly, this thesis’ foray into ancient literary representations of animals provides an insight into how Valerius’ cultural context—specifically, Flavian Rome’s attitudes toward animals—may be reflected in his text. New and surprising conclusions about, for example, ancient views on animal perception compel a reconsideration of contemporary attitudes, and a re-articulation of those attitudes as they relate to those revealed in Valerius’ text. With a growing concern generally for the environment and the place of the non-human in our world and societies, the ethical implications of the epic’s exploration of animal subjectivity and relationship to humans provides yet another perspective from to consider how we think about, behave toward, and relate to animals today. 8 9 Acknowledgements. My gratitude is extended to the many who, directly or indirectly, aided and encouraged me in the production of this thesis. My thanks first to my patient and professional supervisors, Prof. Gesine Manuwald and Prof. Fiachra Mac Góráin, who read and commented on countless drafts over the past few years. They also found and recommended a multitude of helpful sources during the research process. I am forever indebted to them for their investment of time and thought. I am also grateful to Helen Lovatt and Mairéad McAuley, both accomplished scholars in Latin epic, for agreeing to act as my external examiners for this thesis. I recorded my appreciation in advance of their reading, and thank them again for their time and input, and for the very stimulating, productive and thought-provoking discussion we had during my viva. To UCL, I acknowledge my gratitude for the wonderful experience of researching and producing this thesis, and for the resources made available to me for doing so, including the opportunity to work as a PGTA with Rosie Harman. Furthermore, I thank the Department of Greek & Latin for granting me a Bunnell Lewis studentship for two years of my study. It was an incredible privilege and greatly eased my financial burden. Next, I must note the importance of the feedback offered by several others on a more occasional basis, formally or informally. Though I am sure I will forget someone, it is worthwhile to give names: I thank Maria Wyke and Stephen Colvin, for their participation in my upgrade panel, and those such as Emma Buckley, Attila Ferenczi, Peter Agócs, Simone Finkmann, Rebekka Schirner, Mark Heerink, Leo Landry, Darcy Krasne, Danielle Frisby and Genevieve Lively, for written feedback or for chats at conferences or over lunch. I appreciate too the encouragement of my fellow postgraduate students at UCL, Bristol, and further afield. Thanks for the repeated invitations to give talks, where I always received very useful comments and suggestions. 10 Tracing responsibility for this work further back in time, I want to say thank you to those who mentored me at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Maryline Parca, and most especially Antony Augoustakis, who first introduced me to Valerius Flaccus. To UIUC itself, I am grateful for the opportunity to study, and to teach Myth and Latin. And a long overdue thank you to all at Hillsdale College who set me on this path: Gavin Weaire, Joseph Garnjobst, Lorna Holmes, Harold Siegel, and Justin Jackson. And before Then, there was Sherry Harris. Many thanks. Last but not least, I want to thank my family, friends, and church for their encouragement and prayers. I appreciate especially the rigorous proofreading of ST, EV and JV in the days leading up to the submission. I am thankful too for the several cats in my life who have enriched my world with catness and animal proximity: Thomas, Iris, Imogen, and Joab. Finally, thank you to my husband, John, who has constantly supported and indulged me throughout this process; to my son, Roy, who has ensured a proper and happy work-life balance; and to Him who is my Light and my Rock, who has lit my path, kept me safe in the storm, and prospered me on the way. Soli Deo Gloria. 11 12 13 Animals and Animal-Human Dynamics in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. Table of Contents. List of Abbreviations of Classical Authors and Texts. 16 General Introduction. 17 1. Animals & the Argonautica 20 2. Current Valerian Scholarship 24 3. Literary Background: Animals in Ancient Sources 28 4. Cultural Contexts: Animals in Flavian Rome 31 a. Domesticated Animals 32 b. Wild Animals 34 c. Influence of Roman Experience on Animal Depictions in Literature 36 5. Methodology & Structure of Thesis 40 a. Animal Subjectivity in Simile 44 b. Defining & Delineating Animal-Human Dynamics 48 c. Ordering of Material 52 Part I. ANIMALS in SIMILE. 1. Cross-Species Reflexivity I: Empathy & the Animal Experience 56 a. Bird Similes: Rationality & Life-Cycles 58 i. The Halcyon: Distress & Decision 60 ii. Mother & Chicks: Rite of Passage 66 iii. Cranes at the Nile: Life in Migration 71 b. Horse Vignettes: Horses in Human Society 76 i. Warhorse at the Ready: Training & Memory 78 ii. Warhorses at the Pyre: Universalising Traits 83 Conclusion 89 2. Cross-Species Reflexivity II: Animal Identity & Relationships 92 a. Lion Similes: Genre, Generations & Gender 93 14 i. Warrior Lions in Winter & Summer: Tradition & Heritage