Were Snakes kept as Pets in Ancient Greece & Rome?
If you search for pets in antiquity, it's likely you'll stumble upon snakes. It's a common story that the ancient Greeks & Romans kept them as pets, but where did this story come from, and is it true?
Looking at religious sources, historical and satirical, I try to paint together a clearer picture of snakes during these times. What role did they play? It may well have varied according to lifestyle, wealth or location. And when we say snakes, do we mean all snakes, or just one? Take a peek into snakes in Macedon, Greece & Rome, all in antiquity.
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Sources Used
Ancient Texts:
Apollodorus - Library (Βιβλιοθήκη)
Cicero - On the Responses of the Haruspices (Oratio de Haruspicum Responso)
Justin - History of the World (Historia Philippicae et Totius Mundi Origines et Terrae Situs)
Livy - History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita)
Lucian of Samosata - Alexander the False Prophet (Ἀλέξανδρος ἢ Ψευδόμαντις)
Martial - Epigrams (Epigrammata)
Ovid - Metamorphoses
Pausanias - Description of Greece (Ἑλλάδος περιήγησις)
Philostratus - On Heroes (Ηρωικός)
Pliny the Elder - Natural History (Naturalis Historia)
Plutarch - Life of Alexander (Βίοι Παράλληλοι: Ἀλέξανδρος)
Seneca - On Anger (de Ira)
Suetonius - Lives of the Twelve Caesars (De vita Caesarum)
Tacitus - The Annals (Annales)
Modern Studies:
Shemesh, Abraham Ofir (2022) ‘The household snake’: Detection and eradication of pests in the home by means of snakes, as reflected in Talmudic sources, JRAS, Series 3, 32, 3, Cambridge University Press.
Lazenby, Francis D. (1949), Greek and Roman Household Pets, The Classical Journal, Vol. 44, 4.
Credits
If you see any of your artwork in the video, please let me know so I can give you credit!
Film, TV & Game Clips:
'Alexander' (2004) | Oliver Stone | Intermedia Films ©
'Assassin's Creed Odyssey' (2018) | Ubisoft Montreal ©
'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981) | Steven Spielberg | Paramount Pictures ©
'Troy' (2004) | Wolfgang Petersen | Warner Bros. Pictures ©
Music:
All Music is licensed by Epidemic Sound
https://www.epidemicsound.com/
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:16 Snakes in Myth
03:59 Fork-Tongued Friends
05:53 Pest Control
#Snakes #AncientGreece #AncientRome #AncientHistory #ClassicalStudies #Classics #History #Latin #Greek #AncientGreek #Mythology #RomanMyths #GreekMyths #greekmythology