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What makes us human? What, if anything, sets us apart from all other creatures? Ever since Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the answer to these questions has pointed to our own intrinsic animal nature. Yet the idea that, in one way or another, our humanity is entangled with the non-human has a much longer and more venerable history. In the West, it goes all the way back to classical antiquity. This grippingly written and provocative book boldly reveals how the ancient world mobilised concepts of 'the animal' and 'animality' to conceive of the human in a variety of illuminating ways. Through ten stories about marvelous mythical beings - from the Trojan Horse to the Cyclops, and from Androcles' lion to the Minotaur - Julia Kindt unlocks fresh ways of thinking about humanity that extend from antiquity to the present and that ultimately challenge our understanding of who we really are.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. The Sphinx (Sphinx aenigmatica); 2. Xanthus, Achilles' Speaking Horse (Equus eloquens); 3. The Lion of Androclus (Panthera leo philanthropus); 4. The Cyclops (Cyclops inhospitalis); 5. The Trojan Horse (Equus troianus); 6. The 'Trojan' Boar (Aper troianus ostentator); 7. The Political Bee (Apis politica); 8. The Socratic Gadfly (Haematopota oxyglotta socratis); 9. The Minotaur (Hybrida minotaurus); 10. The Shearwaters of Diomedea (Calonectris diomedea transformata); Conclusion.
About the author
Julia Kindt is a Professor of Ancient History at the University of Sydney, a Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council (2018-22), and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She is a senior editor of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religions (ORE), and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Ancient History and Antichthon. She is also a contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, the Australian Book Review, Meanjin, The Conversation and other periodicals. Her previous, highly regarded, books include Rethinking Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Revisiting Delphi. Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Summary
What makes us human? What, if anything, sets us apart from all other creatures? Julia Kindt unpacks ten ancient stories of marvelous mythical beings to explore bold new ways of thinking about humanity that reach from antiquity to the present and ultimately challenge our understanding of who we really are.
