Reflections on Theory and Method in Studying Animals in the Ancient World

The chapter addresses theoretical and methodological issues at stake in studying animals in ancient cultures. Any anthropological approach to the classical world entails facing the specificity of ancient evidence, which consists for the large part of literary texts. The peculiar nature of the ‘informants’ raises the question of how to deal with Greek and Latin literature both as 1. source of information about historical realities (human-animal relationships) and cultural patterns (common representations of dogs and other animals) 2. the final goal of our scholarship (close reading of ancient literary texts in which animals play a role). Combining semiotics, reception theory and anthropology (namely Eco’s concept of ‘cultural encyclopedia’ and Bettini’s theory of ‘symbolic affordance’) the risk of circularity can be avoided and literary criticism can shed new light on the ways ancient authors received and possibly reshaped (or played with) the stereotypes about the other species. The final part of the Chapter outlines the possible ways in which Classical studies can benefit from and contribute to the contemporary agenda of the Human Animal Studies.