You are invited to an IIHSA Online Lecture on November 3rd, 2022 at 5.30 pm (Irish time) / 7.30 pm (Greek time) by Sean McGrath (Trinity College Dublin).

Animal anecdotes are ubiquitous in the literature of the imperial period: colourful tales about the remarkable behaviour of animals fill the pages of not only specialized zoological tomes but also of philosophical treatises, rhetorical works and the ancient novel. Moreover, many of these anecdotes emerge time and again with minor variations across both generic and linguistic borders. Over the past century, scholarship on this zoological tradition has mainly focused on source criticism, determining from which (oftentimes lost) sources our extant texts derived their material. Less critical attention has been dedicated to the rhetorical purpose of these animal anecdotes. For instance, many animal species became shorthand for certain philosophical issues, serving as paradigms for specific virtues or vices. This paper seeks to explore how Oppian’s Halieutica, a Greek didactic epic from the second century about fish and fishing, engages with the zoological discourse of its time. The Halieutica assumes that its readers arrive with a horizon of expectations about the marine world it depicts, which it in turn subverts, modifies, or elucidates. By reading Oppian’s fish next to similar accounts from, for instance, Pliny, Plutarch, or Aelian, we can better understand the contributions the Halieutica makes to the zoological tradition.

The lecture is co-hosted by the Department of Classics, Trinity College Dublin.