Human-animal hybrids

Aston, E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2635-8142 (2024) Human-animal hybrids. In: Felton, D. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth. Oxford University Press, pp. 215-229. ISBN 9780192896506 doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192896506.013.18

Abstract/Summary

This chapter argues that, while animal–human hybrid beings are often included in ancient accounts of marvels, they have a unique symbolic power because they deliberately and graphically challenge the divide between human and non-human animals, while avoiding, or resolving, the chaos and confusion threatened by shape-shifting and fluidity of form. A discussion of centaurs—the most frequently represented hybrid in ancient literature and visual art—illustrates the fact that the universal properties of the hybrid always have to be set against the degree of local adaptation: named individual hybrids such as the centaur Chiron were deeply embedded in the myths and religion of particular regions. While it is valid to note cross-cultural formulae of the hybrid as representing the dangerous, boundary-crossing ‘Other’, hybrid beings were just as deeply involved in, and shaped by, the prevailing cultural conditions of specific times and places as any other characters in the ancient story-world.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/119671
Item Type	Book or Report Section
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > Classics
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item