Animals in Greek and Roman Thought: A Sourcebook. Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancie

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Title: Animals in Greek and Roman Thought: A Sourcebook. Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World.
Author(s): Stephen Newmyer
Publisher: London/New York:  Routledge
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 0415773350
ISBN-13: 978-0415773355
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[size=+1]From the Bryn Mawr Classic Review:[/size]
Stephen Newmyer’s Animals in Greek and Roman Thought: A Sourcebook contains a useful and representative selection of passages from antiquity concerned with non-human animals, human/animal relations, and ethical obligations to animals. Routledge should be commended for including this topic among its series of sourcebooks for the ancient world; and, Newmyer, whose own scholarship on animals in antiquity engages a variety of ancient sources, most notably Plutarch, does a fine job of selecting and contextualizing these “classic” texts on animals. For students and scholars of the ancient world new to the subject of animal studies, Newmyer’s sourcebook offers an excellent introduction. Individuals interested in the history of western thought on animals and the origins of the animal rights debate might be surprised to discover just how relevant ancient discourse concerning animal characteristics and what, if anything, human beings owe non-human animals is to contemporary debates.

Read the full review at the Bryn Mawr Classic Review web site.

[size=+1]Additional Description:[/size]
Although reasoned discourse on human-animal relations is often considered a late twentieth-century phenomenon, ethical debate over animals and how humans should treat them can be traced back to the philosophers and literati of the classical world. From Stoic assertions that humans owe nothing to animals that are intellectually foreign to them, to Plutarch's impassioned arguments for animals as sentient and rational beings, it is clear that modern debate owes much to Greco-Roman thought.

Animals in Greek and Roman Thought brings together new translations of classical passages which contributed to ancient debate on the nature of animals and their relationship to human beings. The selections chosen come primarily from philosophical and natural historical works, as well as religious, poetic and biographical works. The questions discussed include: Do animals differ from humans intellectually? Were animals created for the use of humankind? Should animals be used for food, sport, or sacrifice? Can animals be our friends?

The selections are arranged thematically and, within themes, chronologically. A commentary precedes each excerpt, transliterations of Greek and Latin technical terms are provided, and each entry includes bibliographic suggestions for further reading.

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