{"id":38,"date":"2017-04-21T14:48:15","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T14:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2017-05-01T19:28:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T19:28:15","slug":"bird-types","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/bird-types\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Differences Between Profit and Pleasure Birds <\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems that different variables were taken into consideration upon determination of a bird\u2019s purpose. It has been mentioned in breeding situations that rations of gender could be an indicator of the keeper\u2019s goal. If birds were to be kept for \u201cbeauty\u2026[they] would want more male birds than females [with regard to peafowl].\u201d1<\/a><\/sup>2<\/a><\/sup> This holds true, that in most species of bird, the males are more colorful and display-oriented than females. Therefore, this thought could be applied to many if not all species of bird, in the determination of keeping a bird or selling it for profit.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, pleasure birds could be kept as \u201cpets,\u2026talking birds,\u2026expensive birds\u201d within cages.3<\/a><\/sup> It is evident from texts that great care was put into the design of these personal,4<\/a><\/sup> perhaps even portable bird cages5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

And yet, it was not until \u201cthe last years of the Republic\u201d that peafowl became more commonly consumed as \u201ca luxury of the table.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup> The first person to prepare a peafowl for consumption was Hortensius the orator, for his \u201cinaugural banquet of his priesthood.\u201d7<\/a><\/sup> The breeding of peafowl for consumption began after the last pirate war, the product of this mass breeding program earned Marcus Aufidius Lurco 60,000 sesterces.8<\/a><\/sup> Peacock brains were one of the most \u201cfantastic dishes served to the Emperor Vitellius.\u201d9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Columella has been cited, stating that the act of breeding peafowl, for profit or pleasure, was \u201ca hobby for the cultivated gentleman [rather] than as an occupation for the serious farmer,\u201d though these birds could increase \u201ceven the farmer\u2019s pleasure in a country life.\u201d10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Many birds seen as pleasure birds could also be used for profit in elite banquets, as a novelty food, as with peafowl. This applies to small and large species. According to Jashemski, golden orioles were proposed in recipes with \u201casparagus patina\u2026[as] stuffing for suckling pig.11<\/a><\/sup> This behavior may have stemmed from antiquity, as \u201cPtolemaic Egypt\u2026bred [pheasants] for the table and for their beauty in royal gardens.”12<\/a><\/sup> Therefore there could be a duality of purpose in specific bird species.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/p>\n

Defining Native and Foreign Species <\/strong><\/p>\n

The peacock was introduced to Athens from South East Asia around the time of King Solomon the Wise\u2019s rule entered rule over Israel.13<\/a><\/sup> The popularity of these initial peacocks to Greece enticed the wealthiest to travel to and \u201cadmire\u2026that magnificent pair.\u201d14<\/a><\/sup> The excitement caused by the peacock translated to a new market for live-trade, and influences in design and fashion.15<\/a><\/sup> Peacocks came to be representative of Hera, and roamed freely in her temple.16<\/a><\/sup> As such, peacocks were openly adopted by Greek antiquity. And as Rome gained power over the region, so it too adopted the peacock as a symbol of Rome.17<\/a><\/sup> Few predators combined with the bird\u2019s biological sturdiness for climate resulted in excessively large areas of Rome with free roaming peacocks 18<\/a><\/sup> Therefore, a peacock in Rome would not necessarily be defined as a \u201cwondrous creature,\u201d defined by rarity due to exoticism and foreignism, and rather a familiar experience for the majority [within the region].19<\/a><\/sup> As such, the common peafowl transformed in Rome, from a rare luxury, to a native species of symbolic weight and great beauty.<\/p>\n

Other birds may have been adopted into Roman culture through annexation of land. Because the empire was so big, birds of north African or Eastern origins, it is possible that birds at the fringes of the Roman Empire, like the Purple Galliande could come to be considered domestic.20<\/a><\/sup> Their survivability in the Roman climate could help in defining them as domestic; but their use as symbols of wealth, perhaps, in villa frescos may veil them as foreign for the purpose of a statement of wealth, as with the depiction of larger animals imported for mass entertainment.21<\/a><\/sup> It could be assumed then, that the same knowledge of foreign species import, of circus animals such as tigers and lions, could be applied to birds. And yet, the transport of birds would have been easier than that of larger animals, as birds are smaller, more manageable under stress, and though perhaps delicate to environmental changes, could be transported in larger numbers to compensate for individual losses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. \u00a0Jennison, George. \u201cAmateur\u2019s Menagerie. Birds.\u201d Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient\u00a0Rome. Pennsylvania, US: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005:\u00a0108. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0Varro, Marcus Terentius. \u201cOn Agriculture: Book III.\u201d De Re Rustica. Loeb Classical Library,\u00a01934: 460. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0Jones, Frederick M.A. \u201cThe Caged Bird in Roman Life and Poetry; Metaphor, Cognition, and\u00a0Value.\u201d Syllecta Classica, 24 (2013): 108. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0Jones, Frederick M.A. \u201cThe Caged Bird in Roman Life and Poetry; Metaphor, Cognition, and\u00a0Value.\u201d Syllecta Classica, 24 (2013): 109. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0Jones, Frederick M.A. \u201cThe Caged Bird in Roman Life and Poetry; Metaphor, Cognition, and\u00a0Value.\u201d Syllecta Classica, 24 (2013): 113. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. \u00a0Jennison, George. \u201cAmateur\u2019s Menagerie. Birds.\u201d Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient\u00a0Rome. Pennsylvania, US: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005:\u00a0108. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. \u00a0Pliny, and Rackham, Harris. Natural History: With an English Translation\/ In Ten Volumes, III,\u00a0Book X: 293 \u2013 429. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938:\u00a0321. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  8. \u00a0Pliny, and Rackham, Harris. Natural History: With an English Translation\/ In Ten Volumes, III,\u00a0Book X: 293 \u2013 429. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938:\u00a0321. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  9. \u00a0Jennison, George. \u201cAmateur\u2019s Menagerie. Birds.\u201d Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient\u00a0Rome. Pennsylvania, US: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005:\u00a0108. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  10. \u00a0Jennison, George. \u201cAmateur\u2019s Menagerie. Birds.\u201d Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient\u00a0Rome. Pennsylvania, US: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005:\u00a0108. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  11. \u00a0Jashemski, Wilheima. \u201cBirds: Evidence from wall paintings, mosaics, sculpture, skeletal\u00a0remains, and ancient authors.\u201d The Natural History of Pompeii, 357-400. Cambridge,\u00a0UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002:\u00a0387. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  12. \u00a0Jennison, George. \u201cAmateur\u2019s Menagerie. Birds.\u201d Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient\u00a0Rome. Pennsylvania, US: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005:\u00a0109. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  13. \u00a0\u201cPeacocks.\u201d The Illustrated Magazine of Art, 1, no. 3 (1853): 143. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  14. \u00a0\u201cPeacocks.\u201d The Illustrated Magazine of Art, 1, no. 3 (1853): 143. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  15. \u00a0\u201cPeacocks.\u201d The Illustrated Magazine of Art, 1, no. 3 (1853): 143. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  16. \u00a0Jashemski, Wilheima. \u201cBirds: Evidence from wall paintings, mosaics, sculpture, skeletal\u00a0remains, and ancient authors.\u201d The Natural History of Pompeii, 357-400. Cambridge,\u00a0UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002: 389. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  17. \u00a0\u201cPeacocks.\u201d The Illustrated Magazine of Art, 1, no. 3 (1853): 143. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  18. \u00a0Jashemski, Wilheima. \u201cBirds: Evidence from wall paintings, mosaics, sculpture, skeletal\u00a0remains, and ancient authors.\u201d The Natural History of Pompeii, 357-400. Cambridge,\u00a0UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002: 389. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  19. \u00a0Beagon, Mary. \u201cWondrous Animals in Classical Antiquity.\u201d The Oxford Handbook of Animals\u00a0in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015:\u00a02. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  20. \u00a0Beagon, Mary. \u201cWondrous Animals in Classical Antiquity.\u201d The Oxford Handbook of Animals\u00a0in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015: 7. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  21. \u00a0Beagon, Mary. \u201cWondrous Animals in Classical Antiquity.\u201d The Oxford Handbook of Animals\u00a0in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015: 21. ↵<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Differences Between Profit and Pleasure Birds It seems that different variables were taken into consideration upon determination of a bird\u2019s purpose. It has been mentioned…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":705,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/705"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romancultureofbird\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}