- Indology, Ancient Religion, Iconography, Near Eastern Archaeology, History of Religion, Classical Archaeology, and 12 moreArt History, Ancient History, Cultural History, Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Mesopotamian Religions, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient myth and religion, Ancient Mediterranean Religions, Ancient Graffiti (Archaeology), Coroplastic Studies, and Gandharan Buddhist Artedit
The doctoral thesis “Your god is an ass. Greek and Roman caricatures of animals as a mirror of ancient values” deals with the history of humour as well as with the long and intense relationship of man and animal. Despite of its different... more
The doctoral thesis “Your god is an ass. Greek and Roman caricatures of animals as a mirror of ancient values” deals with the history of humour as well as with the long and intense relationship of man and animal. Despite of its different roles as assistant and friend the animal always remains “the other” as a stereotype, the contrast all human beings share. Laughter and therefore caricature on the other hand help us to gain distance to things, to reflect on them and, at the same time, on ourselves. In consequence, caricatures of animals are especially suitable to be a mirror that shows human weakness and faults.
Animal caricatures usually are pictures of animals acting like men, for example an ass being a teacher. They have existed since the 6th century BC but become more frequent in Hellenistic and Roman times, where the study focuses. They are represented mostly in terracotta and bronze figurines and can be allocated to different social areas like myth and religion, politics and education, leisure and so on. Considering the different cultural and functional contexts of each example as well as contemporary literary sources, the meaning of the selected caricatures is found.
Animal caricatures usually are pictures of animals acting like men, for example an ass being a teacher. They have existed since the 6th century BC but become more frequent in Hellenistic and Roman times, where the study focuses. They are represented mostly in terracotta and bronze figurines and can be allocated to different social areas like myth and religion, politics and education, leisure and so on. Considering the different cultural and functional contexts of each example as well as contemporary literary sources, the meaning of the selected caricatures is found.
Research Interests:
Published with the permission of Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Research Interests:
A Roman terracotta figurine representing a grotesque ithyphallic male figure with the characteristics of a cock is discussed in relation to its role as an apotropaic device.