Ashleigh Green - Birds in Roman Life and Myth

This book explores the place of birds in Roman myth and everyday life, focusing primarily on the transitional period of 100 BCE to 100 CE within the Italian peninsula.

A diverse range of topics is considered in order to build a broad overview of the subject. Beginning with an appraisal of omens, augury, and auspices including the sacred chickens consulted by generals before battle it goes on to examine how Romans farmed birds, hunted them, and kept them as pets. It demonstrates how the ownership and consumption of birds were used to communicate status and prestige, and how bird consumption mirrored wider economic and social trends. Each topic adopts an interdisciplinary approach, considering literary evidence alongside art, material culture, zooarchaeology, and modern ornithological knowledge. The inclusion of zooarchaeology adds another dimension to the work and highlights the value of using animals and faunal remains to interpret the past.

Studying the Roman view of birds offers great insight into how they conceived of their relationship with the gods and how they stratified and organised their society. This book is a valuable resource for bird lovers and researchers alike, particularly those studying animals in the ancient world.

Dr Ashleigh Green is a graduate of The University of Melbourne and a fellow of the State Library of Victoria. Her research interests include the study of birds in the classical world, and more generally what human-animal studies can tell us about societies both past and present. She was the 2021 recipient of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies Early Career Award and a 2022 Virtual Fellow for the Centre for the History of Emotions.

Series editor: Jeremy Armstrong

University of Auckland

Gijs Tol

University of Melbourne

The series remit embraces a broad span of time from the Mediterranean Bronze Age through the Byzantine period (c. 3200 BCE1453 CE). Although nominally focused on the Mediterranean Sea and areas which immediately border it, the series also welcomes studies on areas slightly further afield which are linked to the Sea by cultural, social, economic, religious, or political connections, and where the Mediterranean zone is directly relevant. A guiding principle of the series is the inclusive appreciation of all available material from a particular area, time, and culture, even if the primary emphasis is on the archaeological aspects. Finally, as suggested by its name, the series is particularly interested in publishing works which adopt a broad comparative and cross-cultural approach, as well as those which bring together concepts and themes more common in the study of archaeology from elsewhere in the world (most notably the Pacific and Australasia) with those from the Old World.

Birds in Roman Life and Myth

Ashleigh Green

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Global-Perspectives-on-Ancient-Mediterranean-Archaeology/book-series/GPAMA

Ashleigh Green

First published 2023

by Routledge

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2023 Ashleigh Green

The right of Ashleigh Green to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-032-16286-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-16289-8 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-24790-6 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003247906

Typeset in Times New Roman

by MPS Limited, Dehradun

For my parents

Dear Readers,

We are very pleased to introduce the new Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group book series, Global Perspectives on Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology, through this inaugural volume, Dr. Ashleigh Greens Birds in Roman Life and Myth.

As noted in the series description, the series remit embraces a broad span of time from the Mediterranean Bronze Age through the Byzantine period (c. 3200 BCE1453 CE). Although nominally focused on the Mediterranean Sea and areas which immediately border it, the series also welcomes studies on areas slightly further afield which are linked to the Sea by cultural, social, economic, religious, or political connections, and where the Mediterranean zone is directly relevant. As will be apparent from the volume before you, while the series will obviously have a strong focus on the presentation and discussion of archaeological material, both new and historical, it also explicitly encourages the union of archaeological and historical material wherever possible and appropriate. A guiding principle of the series is the inclusive appreciation of all available material from a particular area, time, and culture, even if the primary emphasis is on the archaeological aspects. Finally, as suggested by its name, the series is particularly interested in publishing works which adopt a broad comparative and cross-cultural approach, as well as those which bring together concepts and themes more common in the study of archaeology from elsewhere in the world (most notably the Pacific and Australasia) with those from the Old World.

Both the series editors and board members sincerely hope that you enjoy and appreciate this first volume in the series, and we look forward to bringing you other volumes which will deepen and expand our understanding of both the ancient Mediterranean world and our modern, global relationship to it.

Jeremy Armstrong & Gijs Tol

Series Editors

Global Perspectives on Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology

This book evolved from a PhD thesis submitted at The University of Melbourne in 2020. I completed this course with the assistance of an Australian Postgraduate Award and the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. I first had the idea to write about birds in ancient Rome at the end of 2015. I had been reading about birds in ancient Greece and Egypt, and was disappointed when I could not find an equivalent work on Rome. With the deadline approaching to submit a PhD proposal, I put forward the idea to write about Birds in Roman Life and Myth a nod to John Pollards 1977 publication, Birds in Greek Life and Myth. The original plan was, to say the least, ambitious. Initial discussions with my primary supervisor Frederik Vervaet and my secondary supervisors Tamara Lewit and James Chong-Gossard helped me to refine my scope and break the topic into manageable pieces. At this early stage I also reached out to Jeremy Mynott, whose work had been so influential to me. He was kind enough to provide feedback on some early drafts and remained in contact as the years progressed. This monograph represents the end of a long journey, the culmination of many years of hard work and collaboration.