ANIMAL IN THE ANCIENT WORLD - COW

(Greek: (bous); Latin: (bos )
There are currently about 800 breeds of modern cattle, generally divided into the western Bos taurus and the eastern B. indicus (Bradley and Magee, 317). All western modern cattle are descended from the now extinct aurochs (oxen, wild). They were first domesticated perhaps 10,500 years ago and first used for milking in the fourth millennium BC (Bollongino et al.; Clutton-Brock, 62–68; Shackleton and Harestad, 15). Modern cattle are in the family Bovidae and the genus Bos. WMW lists four subgenera and gives Bos taurus as the one under which the aurochs and modern cattle should be classified. Yet other nomenclature and classifications exist and some classify modern cattle and the aurochs as Bos primigenius (see summary of issues in WMW, 1153–54). Throughout the field of Classics, terms such as cattle, cow, bull, and ox are loosely used. Here, the following usages will be followed. “Cattle” is a collective noun referring to domesticated herds of members of the genus Bos. “Cow” refers to a mature, female member of the genus Bos. Yet, since English does not have a facile way of referring to one “cattle,” it is also used as a generic term for Bos taurus. “Bull” refers to a male member of B. taurus. An ox is technically an adult bull that has been castrated to render it more trainable (Aristotle Hist. an. 632a14f. describes the process) and is used here to refer to a B. taurus in its role as draft animal.

Cattle provided many benefits to those who kept them: meat, milk; hides; leather; manure (for fertilizer or fuel); muscle power; entertainment. Milk drinking was rare in Greco-Roman antiquity and while cow’s milk cheese was known (Aristotle Hist. an. 522a25f,) the cheese of goats and sheep was preferred (Dalby, 80–81, 217–18). Neolithic finds attest to domestic cattle, and the importance of the bull in Minoan culture is clear, especially in scenes of bull leaping. Cattle herds were carefully tended by the Mycenean Greeks although they are much less frequently mentioned on Linear B tablets than are sheep and goats (DOCS2, 131–32, 198; Enegren, 14–15; McInerney, 48–73). Beef was a dietary staple for Homer’s heroes and warriors, whose arms and shields made extensive use of leather (McInerney, 74f., 81f.).

In subsequent periods of Greek history, cattle were kept less for dietary needs than as draught and sacrificial animals. Burford studies oxen as draught animals and the effectiveness and history of ancient harnessing methods. Cf. Pettergrew’s (561f.) view on oxen and the Corinthian diolkos. In this role, oxen hauled loads ranging from large blocks of stone for public buildings, to trade goods to and from the harbor, and foodstuffs. It was also an essential animal for plowing. There is evidence for Mycenean ox plows (Pullen) and Hesiod lists three essentials for anyone: house, wife, ox (Op. 405). The ox was so vital to farming that Aristotle says that it was a poor man’s slave (Pol. 1252b).

Cattle became very important in ostentatious public sacrifices often with hundreds of head of cattle sacrificed (Howey, passim; Osborne, 178f.). After the events the meat and hides were often available to the priests and/or the public. When work animals outlived their usefulness, they were undoubtedly killed and their parts put to good use. This high demand for cattle implies a thriving cattle breeding program and Osborne (182) offers excellent data on the numbers of oxen needed at Athens alone and on herds kept by the city state (cf. Jameson on Greek cattle herding). The very names Boeotia and Euboea speak of their suitability for cattle. Aristotle (Hist. an. 595b5f.) discusses caring for horns and hooves and mentions a rare, reddish breed kept by the people of Epirus.

The Roman world was equally dependent on cattle, and their husbandry was treated in depth by writers such as Varro (Rust. 2.5.1–18), Columella (6.praef.–26.4) and Pliny (HN 8.70.176.–71.186). References are collected and well studied by White (275–88). Varro’s list of terms indicates the complexity and precision of cattle husbandry (Rust. 2.5.6). Each of four stages of the life of a bubalus has a name: (1) vitulus or vitula, calf; (2) iuvencus or iuvenca, yearling; (3) bos novellus, a “newling cow,” indicating tenderness; (4) vetulus, old. A male of groups three and four is a taurus and female a vacca. A sterile vacca is a taura and a pregnant one is a horda. Bulls (at a ratio of 2 per 60 cows) were kept for breeding and were exhibited in beast fights in the amphitheater (Toynbee, 149f.; Jennison, 26f.). There were established processes for training oxen to pull plows, for their feeding regimen, and for branding and herding. Cattle were bred, but the evidence is rather non-specific and White claims that less attention was paid to cattle breeds than to those of horses (278). Still, Columella (6.1.1–2) lists seven: the Apennine (strong but unattractive); the Campanian (small and white, cf. King, 210); Etruscan; Latin; large whites (vasti et albi); red (smallish); Ligurian (cf. Strabo 4.6.2). Varro (Rust. 2.5.9–11) compares types from around the empire. Lepetz and Audoin-Rouzeau trace breeding programs in the provinces, noting selection for larger size. Not all cattle were to be found in the country. King (408–10) notes that oxen died in their stalls at Pompeii.

Cattle pervaded all aspects of life. Mythology is filled with stories of special herds of cattle (e.g. the Sun’s or Geryon’s) and cattle raiding (e.g. Hermes and Apollo), and the Zeus-Pasiphae-Europa-Minotaur connection is well known. Aeschylus’ “ox on the tongue” (Ag. 35–36) and Seneca’s reference to the Augean stables would have been known to all (Apocol. 7). To dream of cattle could variously indicate good luck or death (Artemidorus, 1.39; 2.12; 5.56).

Cattle are found in art from earliest times. Minoan/Mycenean bulls abound as rhythons and in a variety of media depicting bull-leaping. Notable is a Minoan sealstone (Boston 27.657) with a cow licking her calf while it suckles (Beazley, no. 5) and the Vapheio cups famously depict the capture of (wild?) bulls. The bull appears frequently in Greek mythological scenes and the ox is depicted on vases pulling a plow (e.g. Paris, Musee du Louvre, F77 = BzA 164; Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg/Antike Sammlung F1806 = BzA 302815) or a cart (BzA 9023254). Richter (19–22, figs. 86–106) offers a nice selection of calves, bulls, and cows in various sculpted media, including a fifth century bc sealstone (fig. 92) also in Boston and very similar to the Minoan one mentioned above. Hoffmann’s books contain many images of bovine rhyta. The famous Moschophorus (Richter, fig. 87) and the cow on the Parthenon Frieze (Richter, fig. 94) that inspired Keats’ “heifer lowing at the skies” make us long for Myron’s lost statue of a cow that was so lifelike it attracted a bull (Mattusch, 144). Greek coins from places such as Phokis, Thourion, Gortyn, Apollonia, and Dyrrachium bore images of cows, bulls, and calves and one of the first things seen by one walking the Sacred Way at Delphi was a statue of a bronze bull dedicated by the people of Corcyra (Pausanias, 10.9.2). Toynbee (152–62), King (408–10), and Raepsaet offer representative examples of cattle throughout Roman art. Notable too is a coin from the Social Wars with an Oscan inscription, showing the Italian bull trampling the Roman wolf (British Museum, 1851-5-3-14).

By Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr,  in "Animals in the Ancient World from A to Z", Routledge, UK/USA, 2014, excerpts 35-36. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.