Abstract

This chapter examines the role of animals in ancient epic poetry. It explains that throughout the Classical period an impressive range of creatures finds its way into the genre and these creatures functioned to contribute a moral message, signify the dynamic of a national group, behave as dynamic motivators within the very plot of the epic, and provide an element of fantasy. It suggests that the epic animal was in all respects a cultural creation and that the animal epithet served as a memory aid in the most practical of formulaic terms. This chapter mentions the number of references to animals in the Iliad and Aeneid.