Piazza Armerina Magistri procurator ad elephantos Venatores immunes Ursarii Vivarium/vivaria Syrian Goddess Sol Invictus
Zoo traditions in the ancient world Assyrians Pharaohs Ptolemies Rome Elites and emperors Syrian Goddess Sol Invictus
Roman empire showing location of Assyria
Temples of Sol Invictus and the Syrian Goddess and their precincts (located in Trastevere)
Syrian Goddess riding a lion (Coin of Philip II, reg. 244-49) (Photo: Classical Numismatic Group)
Antonius Proculus to Valerianus Antonius Proculus to Valerianus. Write the note to say that from the month of Agrippina until now we have been hunting every species of wild animals and birds for a year under the orders of the prefects. We have given what we caught to Cerealis and he sent them and all the equipment to you... Papyrus from Egypt (late 1st/early 2nd century CE)
Piazza Armerina
How to catch a tiger (mosaic, Piazza Armerina) Piazza Armerina, Sicily, 4th century
Wagon for transporting captured animals (mosaic, Piazza Armerina)
Capturing a rhino (Piazza Armerina)
Elephant covered in a net, pulled by chains( Piazza Armerina)
Animals being carried on board (Piazza Armerina)
Ostia and Rome
Vivaria in and near Rome Porta Maggiore (Porta Praenestina) Porta Labicana (?) Elephants: Ardea and Laurentum
Porta Maggiore/Praestina, Rome, where the vivaria were close to
Trailblazers in Rome M. Curius Dentatus: elephants (275) Pompey the Great: elephants in harness (80, 81, or 79 BCE) rhino (the elephant’s deadly enemy!) Julius Caesar: giraffes; elephants carrying torches in triumph (46 BCE) Mark Antony: lions in harness (46 BCE) Emperor Tiberius: elephants on tightropes Germanicus: dining and dancing elephants (12 CE) Septimius Severus: zebras
Coin of Antoninus Pius, showing elephant with legend saying munifcentia Aug. (148-9 CE)