Patricia Hatcher, CUNY Graduate Center
Pliny the Elder wrote his Naturalis Historia in part as propaganda for the power of the Roman empire, and much work has been generated on the idea via the geographies of Books III- VI and ethnographies of Book VII (see Mary Beagon 2005; Sorcha Carey 2003; Trevor Morgan Murphy 1997; Valérie Naas 2011; Greg Woolf 2010). This paper will continue the tradition by turning to Book VIII and Pliny’s program concerning the animals that live on land. Though seemingly random, the placement of the animal contents following Books VII’s ethnographies is not an accident. After descriptions of such people as the Cynocephali (NH 6.195; 7.23) and Monocoli (NH 7.23) who live in exotic locations like India and Africa, Pliny moves to the fantastic beasts that also populate these areas. Scholarship has thus far overlooked the complementary nature of Book VIII with the Flavian propaganda concerning the concrete and very real marvels under the rule of Rome.
This paper will use the framework of Jefferey Jerome Cohen’s essay “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” (Cohen 1996: 3-25) to focus on the propagandistic process to which Pliny is able to harness these land animals. Cohen’s first thesis illuminates the ways in which the animals are an embodiment of Rome’s current cultural and political circumstances. They are a part of Pliny’s larger response via the Naturalis Historia to the chaos both during and after the reign of Nero. The subsequent Flavian rule chose to emphasize the natural wonders of the world under the domain of Rome in an effort to distance itself from the previous despot. The animals, though natural and real, still embody the exotic and dangerous— a worthy adversary for a noble Empire!
Through ruptured taxonomies (Thesis 3) of distant beasts (Theses 2, 4, 5), Pliny creates monstrous creatures out of the familiar. His land animals can be broken down into two distinct categories: seemingly 'normal' animals that nevertheless possess extraordinary qualities (such as elephants with extreme intelligence), and composite creatures that exhibit the physical characteristics of two or more 'normal' animals (such as the hippopotamus— a combination of a horse, ox, and boar). Though denizens of exotic lands, they make appearances in Rome via triumph or arena battle— all contained and safe under the direction of Rome and her army (Thesis 6). It is the safety net of Rome’s power that contributes to the public’s simultaneous fear and desire to interact with these land beasts.
Through Thesis 7, the monstrously described animals in Pliny’s Book VIII become a mirror for the Romans themselves. By viewing these beasts either in Rome or on the printed page, the people are reminded of the faraway locations from which they come and over which they rule. In creating distant yet familiar beings, Pliny encourages the Romans to define themselves as the non-monstrous ones. In this, we can see a continuity with previous scholarship’s focus on Roman hegemony and propaganda in Pliny's geography and ethnographies (see citatiions above).