THE SECRET LIFE OF ANCIENT PETS · Torch: U.S. · Winter 2020
Yes, you read that right: the ancients really did have pet apes, with the keeping of simian companions being a commonplace practice. Species used for companionship include Barbary apes and Ethiopian monkeys, and plenty of Roman authors from the likes of Pindar, Cicero, Plautus, and Martial have made observations about pet monkeys, with playwrights including them in their plays. Highly intelligent, apes took to learning new tricks very quickly, much to the ancients’ delight. They could play instruments, ride on the backs of goats, and hurl spears. Ancient Pompeiian art showed a young boy training his monkey to dance, and lamps had scenes of monkeys performing with jugglers and other circus masters. One painting illustrated apes driving chariots bearing Maltese dogs; an ape reaching for an apple graced the outside of an oinochoe (a Greek wine jug); and a mosaic portrays a young boy surrounded by all of his pets, including an ape lightly tugging on his cloak.
APES
In ancient Rome, animals were used in the arena as a means to display one's wealth.
Birds kept as pets were depicted frequently as a welcome addition to women’s dressing rooms. In these paintings, the birds were never in cages; instead, they could flit about freely. Birds remained more endearing to women compared to men, since women were the ones isolated in the home. For instance, Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, kept 20 geese for company. The ancients were especially partial to quails, herons and cranes, roosters, swans, ducks, and geese. These last two birds are featured prominently under banquet tables, funerals, and games and play. The quail was regarded as a sacred bird of Diana, and her birthplace, Ortygia, derives its name from the word for quail. Quails were prized for their pleasing voice and colorful plumage. One philosopher brought a quail from Carthage back with him; it could play with him, answer him, and keep quiet whenever its master wanted silence!
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BIRDS
Sources/Further Reading:
Lazenby, Francis D. “Greek and Roman Household Pets.” The Classical Journal, vol. 44, no. 5, 1949, pp. 245-252
Campbell, Gordon Lindsay. “Pets.” The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 269–281.
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