Your God is an Ass. Greek and Roman caricatures of animals as a mirror of ancient values

Current Research Project

Title / Titel: Your God is an Ass. Greek and Roman caricatures of animals as a mirror of ancient values

Original title / Originaltitel: Dein Gott ist ein Esel. Griechische und römische Tierkarikaturen als Spiegel antiker Wertvorstellungen

Summary / Zusammenfassung: The Ph.D. project “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. Both these subjects might have had different meanings in ancient times and today and therefore first have to be examined separately.
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 project focuses. They are represented mostly in terracotta figurines, paintings, and mosaics and can be allocated to different social areas like myth and religion, politics and education, sports and 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 to be found.
The aim of this work is to gain new knowledge about ancient religious and secular thinking through the investigation of the different types of the animal caricatures. The project also brings a profit for the society of today: By understanding the values of the past we can learn more about the present and ourselves.

Publications / Publikationen: S. Voegtle, Der Affe im römischen Ägypten am Beispiel von neun Terrakottafiguren in der Archäologischen Sammlung, ASUZ 34/35, 2008/09 (im Druck)

Keywords / Suchbegriffe: archeology, antiquity, animal, caricature, iconography, humour, society

Project Leadership and Contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte

lic. phil. Simone Voegtle (Project Leader)