Animals in Greek and Roman Thought (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World)

Could animals think, feel or act with some measure of understanding? Greek and Roman writers approached the boundary between human and non-human life in strikingly different ways. Stephen T. Newmyer brings their arguments together in this second-edition sourcebook, with translated passages on animal intelligence, behaviour, morality and the natural world.

His commentary situates the selections within ancient philosophical and scientific debates. The texts reveal that questions about animals were also questions about humanity: what makes human beings distinctive, how far intelligence extends beyond them, and whether moral consideration stops at the species boundary.