The presence of animals In the Roman Empire, humans exploited animals on their farms, hunted them in the wilderness and at sea, trained and tamed them, used them to transport people and goods, utilized them in magic and medicine, kept them as pets, cheered them on the racetrack, killed them in the arenas, and sacrificed them to the gods. Generally speaking, the type of society contributes to determining conceptions of animals – an agricultural society will have other perspectives than a society of hunters and gatherers, an industrial society or a late modern society. Conceptions of animals in the Roman Empire. | 1 ANIMALS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE The presence of animals In the Roman Empire humans exploited animals on their farms hunted them in the wilderness and at sea trained and tamed them used them to transport people and goods utilized them in magic and medicine kept them as pets cheered them on the racetrack killed them in the arenas and sacrificed them to the gods. Generally speaking the type of society contributes to determining conceptions of animals - an agricultural society will have other perspectives than a society of hunters and gatherers an industrial society or a late modern society. Conceptions of animals in the Roman Empire were among other things influenced by these societies being agricultural and dependent on organic power and the productivity of animal muscles. The presence of animals was not the same everywhere. Some people such as farmers hunters and fishermen were dependent on animals for their living. On small farms and in villages people lived closer to the animal population than they did in Rome for instance. However the difference between the countryside and the cities was only one of degree - Egyptian cities had an extensive animal population Bagnall 1996 50 81 . The empire with all its provinces was held together by animals trotting through mountainous areas forests and deserts transporting food over land to the cities. Export articles were carried on their backs or on wagons to the docks and animals were used for personal travel. Everywhere the Mediterranean economy was totally dependent on and involved with animal life. How human animals and non-human animals relate to each other depends on the moral material and technological developments in a particular human society. It further depends on how the distinctions between humans and animals are drawn and on which sort of animal species we are talking about. The relationship between humans and sheep for instance will always be different from the way humans relate to lions or locusts. The cultural .
