Opposizioni di genere e polarizzazioni culturali. Il caso di χήν nell' Onirocritica di Artemidoro di Daldi

Discourses about non-human animal species played a role in ancient Greek strategies to construct and confirm gender difference. Notwithstanding the existence of male/female individuals within it, each species as a whole was often characterized as “masculine” or “feminine” according to the grammatical gender of the animal name or, as in case of a noun of common gender, based on certain morphological, ethological, or interactional features ascribed to the animal. The goose (ὁ/ἡ χήν) falls into the latter category. With the aim of elucidating a passage in Artemidorus’ Oneirocritica that objects to the interpretation of the goose as referring to a male person in the fulfilment of the dream, this paper offers an overview of the prevailing gender characterization of χήν in ancient Greek literary tradition.