by Jon Lackman | 2 October 2006 | Ancient, Books
Often perceived today as childish pablum, ancient animal stories were in fact deeply strange and serious, argue two books, one new, the other re-released. Harald Mielsch surveys ancient Greek animal stories represented in mosaics, reliefs, miniature books, carpets and frescoes. Heinz Mode’s classic on fabulous creatures (the centaur, the elephant god Ganesh, etc.) is out in a new edition. Perhaps surprisingly, both books agree that peculiar animal stories and odd hybrid animals are a relatively recent product of human culture, arising in societies’ highly-developed late phases. They also both admit to having little explanation for this. (Julia Voss, Frankfurter Allgemeine)
