Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
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CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS<br />
In Beast and Man: The Roots of Human Nature, Midgley explores the concept of human<br />
nature and in doing so addresses the idea that animal species are used as foils to help us further<br />
understand ourselves. 634 She draws examples from many time periods, including an excerpt<br />
from Plato’s Republic. 635 She proves the notion that animals are indeed “good to think,” 636 and<br />
that oftentimes we use an imaginary benchmark of animal behavior instead of actual observed<br />
behavior. 637 No doubt this is one of the reasons for the appearance of therianthropic deities.<br />
Man associates certain aspects of human behavior with animals, who are in turn associated with<br />
particular deities or types of deities. We can see such a trend in the literary and archaeological<br />
evidence gathered in this study.<br />
The first and most important conclusion we may draw from both the archaeological and<br />
literary evidence gathered here is that we should not assume that the Greeks, Romans, and<br />
Etruscans were completely adverse to animal worship. The literary sources that have been used<br />
to support this notion are not as clearly against animal worship as they have been taken to be, nor<br />
should we assume that these sources represent a majority opinion or an opinion that can be<br />
applied to any time period other than that of the author. The proliferation of theriomorphic and<br />
therianthropic imagery in the art and texts of ancient Italy indicates that the Etruscans and<br />
Romans were willing to accept the appearance of certain gods or supernatural figures (demons)<br />
in animal and/or hybrid form. A god of healing, such as Aesculapius, could appear in the form<br />
of a snake, and the lararium, the very center of Roman domestic religion, was commonly<br />
decorated with serpents that received offerings from a home’s inhabitants. Monumental<br />
buildings, such as Roman and Etruscan temples, meant to demonstrate the power and wealth of<br />
the dedicator, were often decorated with images of Juno Sospita and Achelous. Juno Sospita’s<br />
634<br />
Midgley 1995, 15.<br />
635<br />
Midgley (1995, 37) draws from the Republic Book IX as a way to demonstrate man’s tendency to demonize wild<br />
beasts who act without morality.<br />
636<br />
Lévi-Strauss 1969, 89.<br />
637<br />
Midgley 1995, 27. One of the only ancient examples of an attempt to scientifically describe animal behavior and<br />
personalities is Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, particularly books VIII-X. Pliny’s descriptions of animal behavior<br />
are not all based on first, or even second hand, observation, and instead consist of a collection of stories from other<br />
witnesses and folk-tales which Pliny has gathered together. Thus Pliny conforms to Midgley’s assessment of human<br />
opinions of animals.<br />
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