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of the common man who did not have time for philosophical pursuits. It may be that class
played a role in the acceptance of theriomorphic and therianthropic figures. The members of the
elite class who were required to uphold traditional values may have had to, at least publicly,
disavow the worship of animal or hybrid divinities. Yet we have evidence for the acceptance of
deities such as Juno Sospita, who donned an animal skin, over a large span of time; she was
embraced by Archaic Etruscans and Latins of the 6 th century BCE as well as the 2 nd century CE
Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. 41 As will be demonstrated in Chapter Four, Juno Sospita’s
traditional iconography reveals her kinship to liminal theriomorphic and therianthropic deities.
Smelik and Hemelrijk base the title of their article, “ ‘Who knows not what monsters
demented Egypt worships?’ Opinions on Egyptian Animal Worship in Antiquity as Part of the
Ancient Conception of Egypt,” on Juvenal’s Satire XV, which begins with a remark on Egyptian
religion.
Who does not know, Bithynian Volusius, 42 what sort
Of portentous gods the crazy Egyptian worships?
Some worship the crocodile, some tremble at the ibis sated with serpents.
A golden effigy of a monkey gleams,
Where magic chords resound from cloven Memnon
And ancient Thebes of one hundred gates lies ruined.
Whole cities worship cats here, or river-fish there,
There they worship a dog, no one venerates Diana. 43
Smelik and Hemelrijk translate portenta as “monstrous” here instead of “portentous” or
“marvelous.” It is important to remember that labeling something a monster is not an
uncomplicated idea. Just as the Latin word monstrum can possess several different definitions,
so too can the English equivalent. I. Lada-Richards sums up the idea of monstrosity as follows:
If we were to look for one single element of constancy within the ever- changing
borders of ‘monstrosity’, this would almost certainly be the relativity of the
‘monster’ as a humanly constructed concept, that is to say, the simple truth that
41 In this instance, there is a clear acceptance of a therianthropic deity by the upper-classes. Note, however, that she
is a native Latin divinity and not a Greek or Egyptian import.
42 Rudd (1991, 229) refers to this Volusius as “otherwise unknown;” however, one must wonder if Juvenal was not
familiar with the Volusius mentioned at Val. Max. VII.3.8 since both of these passages deal with an abhorrence of
Egyptian religious practice.
43 Juv. Sat. XV.1-8. Latin Text taken from D. Ivnii Ivvenalis Savrae XIV, edited by J.D. Duff, Cambridge, MA:
Cambridge University Press, 1966, p. 106. (Translation by Author.)
Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens / Aegyptos portenta colat? crocodilon adorat / pars haec, illa pavet
saturam serpentibus ibin. / effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci, / dimidio magicae resonant ubi Memnone chordae /
atque vetus Thebe centum iacet obruta portis. / illic aeluros, hic piscem fluminis, illic / oppida tota canem
venerantur, nemo Dianam.
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