Animals In Ancient Rome
Each civilization became more attached to certain species, more common in its territory, and related them to a god, a legend or a magical characteristic. Others were considered pets – many still are today – and there were those that were used as food or transport. Such was the relationship with animals in Ancient Rome.
Animals in Ancient Rome: the wolf
The history of this magnificent civilization begins with nothing more and nothing less than a legend starring two brothers – Romulus and Remo – and a wolf, Capitolina.
According to the story, these children were saved from being killed by the king, who wanted to drown them in the Tiber River.
Miraculously, the basket where the twins slept reached the Palatine Hill, where it was found by a wolf, who was left in charge of nursing them.
Later, a shepherd found the children in a cave and adopted them. Romulus ended up killing Remus and founding a new city built on the Palatine, called Rome.
The same one we know today!
Animals in Ancient Rome: Dogs were already pets
Not much is known about everyday life at this time, but what we see in the mosaics, statues and coins may be enough for us to know a little about their habits and activities.
We can also learn about animals in Ancient Rome that were considered pets.
For example, in the city of Pompeii, one of the houses that remained standing has a mosaic at its entrance where it says “ cave canem ”, which means “beware of the dog”.
Dogs were very common at that time as family companions and, above all, as guardians of homes.
But they were not the only animals chosen for the houses, as there were also geese.
The lower castes could not afford the “luxury” of keeping a guard dog. So they raised geese, whose shrieks can alert you to the presence of a stranger.
There is even a legend that, thanks to a goose, the villagers managed to save the city of Rome from an attack by the Gauls in the 4th century BC
Emperors were very strange and witty people, and they had very peculiar pets.
Julius Caesar not only raised rabbits, he also had a giraffe. Both Domitian and Caracala had a lion as a companion animal.
Animals in Ancient Rome: Wars and Sacrifices
Surely you’ve seen the Gladiator movie . This super Hollywood production also allows us to know a little about the customs of the time of the emperors.
The animals of Ancient Rome that were chosen to annihilate prisoners or sentenced to death were felines, such as lions, tigers and leopards brought mainly from Africa.
They were locked up and without food for days and then opened the cage when the prisoner in question was tied to a pole in the middle of the coliseum.
And, of course, there was no lack of “shows” in which people had to kill an animal, such as a hippopotamus, an elephant or a deer.
The most precious specimens were taken to the place where the emperor kept all his treasures.
In turn, we cannot ignore the Romans’ relationship with animals in times of wars and battles, even in hunting.
To order certain formations during the fights, names of different species were used : turtle, eagle, deer, hedgehog, crow, wolf, donkey, sheep, scorpion, butterfly, mouse or mule. The idea was to imitate some outstanding feature of each animal.
