Thinking about animals In the Roman Empire, there was increased interest in animals and their status in relation to This interest was dependent on a general expansion of knowledge during the empire and was closely linked to imperial expansion, which led to the development of encyclopaedic | 2 UNITED BY SOUL OR DIVIDED BY REASON Thinking about animals In the Roman Empire there was increased interest in animals and their status in relation to This interest was dependent on a general expansion of knowledge during the empire and was closely linked to imperial expansion which led to the development of encyclopaedic knowledge in many fields for instance in zoology. But more important for the present purpose this interest in animals was also nourished by the growing interest in man and his personality and characteristics. Animals were used to describe humans and not least to be a contrast to them so that humans were set apart as something special and close to the gods. What characterizes an animal What are the differences between animals and humans These questions were implied in natural histories and in the physiognomic tradition as well as in different types of vegetarian practice. And above all they were the focus of philosophical debate cf. especially Dierauer 1977 1997 Sorabji 1993 . The development of the conception of animals in philosophy vegetarianism natural histories and physiognomy is the theme of this chapter and the next. How animals were thought of in the first to the fourth century ce depended on the imagination and thought of previous centuries. There were different layers in the tradition concerning animals. In the background of the debate and frequently referred to loomed the enigmatic and partly mythical figures of Pythagoras from the sixth century bce and Empedocles from the fifth century BCE. From the fourth century BCE come the influential texts of Plato and Aristotle. However it is striking that much of what we know about the thoughts of Pythagoras and Empedocles stems from the first centuries CE as part of a Pythagorean revival at this time. Their ideas about reincarnation and vegetarianism were transmitted by authors such as Ovid 43 bce 17 ce Seneca 4 bce-65 ce Plutarch c. 50 120 ce Philostratus d. c. 250 ce Porphyry c. .
