CHIARA THUMIGER (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON)
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ABSTRACT: This article examines references to the animal world and animal imagery in Greek tragedy in the light of ancient ideas on animals. Many scholars have explored how, at the time of tragedy, animals and humans appeared to share a range of emotions and qualities much wider than modern Western audiences tend to afford. As a consequence, I propose, much of animal imagery in ancient literature would benefit from being interpreted on the basis of such similarities and analogies, rather than as decoration or as a conventional device. On these premises, I explore how a ‘middle ground’ between animal and human is established in tragedy, in various ways: through the usage of generic terms for animal with reference to humans; through the motif of animals feeding on human cadavers; and through instances in which feelings are animalised, and the affected subject is represented as an animal. Finally, I analyse the motif of the ‘yoke’ as image of burden and partnership, an instance that joins together humans and animals in the face of crisis and necessity.
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