Man and Animal in Severan Rome
The Literary Imagination of Claudius Aelianus

This book argues that Aelian's highly influential compilation, De natura animalium, offers a sophisticated literary critique of Severan Rome.

Steven D. Smith (Author)

9781107033986, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 July 2014

310 pages, 11 b/w illus.
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.63 kg

'In this sophisticated book Aelian comes across as a hero with a universalizing literary project who combines an emphatic gaze on animals with a critical gaze on human culture and morality. Smith demonstrates deep insight into the age of this author, who has frequently been underestimated, not least, perhaps, because his topic is animals. Smith makes a convincing case for reading De natura animalium as a critique of Severan Rome, and he opens the reader's eyes to its ambiguities and anxieties in a fascinating way. The book is recommended for all who are interested in Roman culture and history, and especially those who study Roman literature and the literary imagination, as well as to students of ancient conceptions and uses of animals. I think they will enjoy it.' Ingvild Saelid Gilhus, Classical World

The Roman sophist Claudius Aelianus, born in Praeneste in the late second century CE, spent his career cultivating a Greek literary persona. Aelian was a highly regarded writer during his own lifetime, and his literary compilations would be influential for a thousand years and more in the Roman world. This book argues that the De natura animalium, a miscellaneous treasury of animal lore and Aelian's greatest work, is a sophisticated literary critique of Severan Rome. Aelian's fascination with animals reflects the cultural issues of his day: philosophy, religion, the exoticism of Egypt and India, sex, gender, and imperial politics. This study also considers how Aelian's interests in the De natura animalium are echoed in his other works, the Rustic Letters and the Varia Historia. Himself a prominent figure of mainstream Roman Hellenism, Aelian refined his literary aesthetic to produce a reading of nature that is both moral and provocative.

Introduction. Approaching the De natura animalium
1. The independent intellectual
2. Animals and agroikoi in Aelian's Rustic Letters
3. The hazards of variety
4. The Hellenized Roman
5. Stoicism
6. Animals, divinity, and myth
7. Egypt and India
8. The sexual animal
9. Bees, lions, eagles: Aelian and kingship
10. After animals: the women of the Varia Historia
Conclusion. 'Nature produces animals with many voices and many sounds, you might say ...'
Appendix: reconstructing Aelian's Katêgoria tou Gunnidos.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]