Human and Animal in Ancient Greece

Tua Korhonen, Erika Ruonakoski

Animals were omnipresent in the everyday life and the visual arts of classical Greece. In literature, too, they had significant, functions. This book discusses the role of animals both domestic and wild - and mythological hybrid creatures in ancient Greek literature. Challenging the traditional view of the Greek anthropocentrism, the authors provide a nuanced interpretation of the classical relationship to animals. Through a close textual analysis, they highlight the emergence of the perspective of animals in Greek literature. Central to the book's enquiry is the question of empathy, investigating the ways in which ancient Greek authors invited their readers to empathise with non-human counterparts. The book presents case studies on the animal similes in the Iliad, the addresses to animals and nature in Sophocles' Philoctetcs, the human-bird hybrids in The Birds by Aristophanes and...