Talking Beauties. Diffusion and popularity of parrots in ancient Greece and Rome

Parrots are considered to have been imported from India into the Mediterranean area right after Alexander’s expedition. The extant sources, however, point to a later date and seem to indicate a route via the Erythrean sea and Egypt, rather than an inland path through the territories of the Seleucid empire. The bird’s popularity reached its peak after the Roman conquest of Egypt. Thanks to their exotic beauty and ability to speak, parrots replaced native corvids as the talking bird of choice in Roman cities and imagination.