Supplying Exotic Animals for the Roman Amphitheatre Games: New Reconstructions Combining Archaeological, Ancient Textual, Historical and Ethnographic Data

In both the past and the present, the public’s perception of events is certainly shaped by the information transmitted to them through the popular media. Consider the example of the use of exotic animals over the ages. Today, many of us marvel at the sight of wild African and Asian beasts in zoos, circuses and other entertainment venues—an excitement paralleled in Roman antiquity in the arena games of the Colosseum and elsewhere. At both times, documentation—film, television, newspapers, etc. in today’s world, and sources such as ancient literature, mosaics, and other art forms during antiquity—is generally focused on describing and depicting the thrilling events and displays, with perhaps less emphasis devoted to chronicling the capture, transport, and maintenance of these animals prior to their exhibition. The result, regardless of time-period, is an incomplete picture, but it is also one where our impressions, ideas, and data about such processes today might help shed new light on our knowledge and reconstructions of these events during Roman antiquity. To attain a better understanding of the situation and the link between past and present, it is important to begin in the contemporary