The Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World

Animals have recently become recognized as significant agents of history as part of the 'animal turn' in historical studies. Animals in Byzantium were human companions, a source of entertainment and food - it is small wonder that they made their way into literature and the visual arts. Moreover, humans defined themselves and their activities by referring to non-human animals, either by anthropomorphizing animals (as in the case of the Cat-Mice War) or by animalizing humans and their (un)wanted behaviours. The Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World offers an in-depth survey of the relationships between humans and non-human animals in the Byzantine empire. The contributions included in the volume address both material (zooarchaeology, animals as food, visual representations of animals) and immaterial (semiotics, philosophy) aspects of human-animal coexistence in chapters written by leading experts in their field. This book will appeal to students and scholars alike researching Byzantine social and cultural history, as well as those interested in the history of animals. This book marks an important step in the development of animal studies in Byzantium, filling a gap in the wider research on the history of human-animal relations in the Middle Ages. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Contributors Acknowledgments Abbreviations Byzantine Animal Studies: History Beyond Humans Notes Part I What Do “They” Mean to “Us”?: Theoretical Perspectives On Byzantine Animals 1 More Than Meets the Eye: The Semiotics of Animals in Byzantium Animals as Signs and Concepts in Human Thought and Speech: The Case of Byzantium From Material to Symbolic: Human-Animal Contact, Collaboration, Consumption Beastly Barbarians Aristocrats and Their Steeds The Semiotics of Threat Consuming Animal Matter From Symbolic to Material: Animals as Signs and the Construction of Social and Moral Concepts Organizing Human Society Performances of Power Markers of Virtues and Vices Christian Zoology Animals’ Prognostic Capabilities Conclusion and Perspectives Funding Notes 2 Timotheus of Gaza and the Zoological Collection of Constantine VII: Two Byzantine Treatises Introduction Timotheus’ De Animalibus The Two Recensions of the Treatise The Composition The Content of Timotheus’s Treatise Posterity of Timotheus The Zoological Collection of Constantine VII Conclusion Notes 3 Christianising Animals: Physiologus and Hexaemeral Literature The Physiologus The Hexaemeral Literature Basil the Great Ambrose of Milan Pseudo-Eustathius John Philoponus Cosmas Indicopleustes Jacob of Edessa George of Pisidia Anastasius of Sinai Cosmas of Jerusalem Michael Glykas Constantine Manasses Neophytos of Cyprus (Or Neophytos the Recluse) Conclusion: Animals in Christian Thought and Spirituality Notes Part II Literary and Figurative Discourses On Animals 4 Animal Rationality in Byzantine Philosophy and Islamic Philosophy A Short Introduction: Animal Psychology and Animal Rationality in Ancient Greek Thought* Animal Rationality in Byzantium Animal Rationality in Islamic Philosophy Conclusion Notes 5 Unsung Heroes of Byzantine Hagiography: The Role of Animals in Martyrs’ Passions Interrogation Torture Imprisonment Execution and Burial Conclusions Notes 6 Animals in Byzantine Historical Writing The Genres of Byzantine Historical Writing and the Figurative Use of Animals Animal-related Proverbs in Byzantine Historiography Animal Names Calling for Puns and Characterization Animal Similes and Comparisons Pointing Out Moral Behavior Animals as Real and Concrete Beings in Byzantine Historical Narrative Horses as Commonplace Animals Elephants and Camels as Unusual Animals Animals in Ethnographic Digressions: the Imposing Shade of the Herodotean Tradition Animals for Pleasure and Entertainment Animals as Portentous Creatures Conclusions Notes 7 Animals in Legal Sources The Sources Animals Mentioned in the Legal Sources Work-, Pack- and Riding-Animals Grazing Animals “Winged Creatures”, Birds and Poultry Others, Including Wild Animals Terms With (Additional) Collective* Meanings Professions Mentioned in Laws Topics in Legal Sources Summary Notes 8 Animals in Satire The Mode of Byzantine Satire Humour and Animals The Palaiologan Animal Satires The Book of Fruit and the Book of Fish The Book of Birds The Synaxarion of the Honourable Donkey The Entertaining Tale of Quadrupeds Why Animals? Animals as Masks The Carnivalesque and Satire Didactic Humour Animals as a Unifying Mechanism Later Reception Conclusion Notes 9 Man, Beast and Nature: Descriptions of Hunting in Byzantine Literature The ‘Ordinary’ Hunt The Heroic-‘Imperial’ Hunt The Sportive-‘Aristocratic’ Hunt The Hunting Ekphraseis of the Twelfth Century Digenis Akritis: A Case of Heroic Pleasure Hunting The Literary Presence of Hunting in the Late Byzantine Period Notes 10 Animals in Byzantine Mosaics Introduction: Metonymy, Metaphor, and Talisman Animal Mosaics in Early Byzantine Churches Animal Mosaics in Early Byzantine Imperial Art The Iconophobic Reaction Animals in Mosaics After Iconoclasm Notes 11 Animals in Byzantine Manuscripts “Group Portraits” Animals in Handbooks Animals as Intrinsic to a Narrative, and for the Setting of a Narrative Animals as Metaphor, Allegory Or Symbol: the Exegetical Use of Animal Imagery Symbols of the Evangelists, and the Zodiac Animals in Ornament Canon Tables and Headpieces Initials Two Special Cases: the Giraffe and the Zebra General Considerations Notes Part III The Materiality of Animals in Byzantium 12 Animals as a Source of Food During the Byzantine Period: Dietetic Advice and Dietary Reality Scope of the Study Sources The Most Popular Food Animals Meat Consumption Patterns Milk and Dairy Products Poultry and Eggs Conclusions Notes 13 More Than Food: Animal Bone Finds as a Source for Different Research Questions Introduction State of Research and Structuring of the Material Animal Products and Labour: Domestic Animals Sheep (Ovis Ammon F. Aries) and Goat (Capra Aegagrus F. Hircus) Domestic Cattle (Bos Primigenius F. Taurus) Domestic Pig (Sus Scrofa F. Domestica) Domestic Fowl (Gallus Gallus F. Domesticus) Horse Equus Equus F. Caballus, Donkey Equus Africanus F. Asinus and Their Hybrids Dromedary – Camelus Dromedarius, Bactrian Camel – Camelus Ferus F. Bactriana and Their Hybrids Dog – Canis Lupus F. Familaris and Cat – Felis Silvestris F. Catus Regionality and Long-Distance Trade: Fisheries Black Sea and Bosphorus Danube Nile Red Sea Mediterranean Sea Wildlife: Hunting in Different Landscapes Unwanted Cultural Successor: the House Rat Rattus Rattus Notes 14 Animals as Diplomatic Gifts: From Species to Political Uses Diplomatic Animals On the Move Numerous Animals, Different Purposes Conclusion Notes 15 Animals We Love: Pets and Companion Animals in Byzantium? Animals We Love Of Dogs and Cats Funding Notes 16 It Was Not Easy Being a Mouse in Constantinople: Some Notes On the Role of Mice in Byzantine Life and Literature Naming and Taxonomy Human-mice Relationship: Between Literature and Reality The World of Mice The Mouse as a Symbol Funding Notes Index