Ancient Collections and Menageries

Abstract

Exotic animals have long been the ultimate collectibles. Exotic animals, alive and active, have been more fascinating and exciting than natural history (museum) specimens, plants, or cultural artifacts — in part, because animals are less common, more difficult to acquire, and more expensive to maintain. And then, there is the fascination, both emotional and scientific. Since ancient times the passion for possessing wild animals from distant lands has overcome the great difficulties and expense of capturing, transporting, and maintaining them. To paraphrase a proverbial saying, if there were no zoo, someone would invent one. And many have done so over the past 5,000 years, in various ways. Cultural institutions, like the cultures that foster them, evolve over time. This evolution is certainly true for zoos and aquariums, which have evolved in parallel with the diversity of cultures that have nurtured them. Keeping wild animals is as old as the first attempts at domestication, which began about 10,000 B . C .; however, “collections” of wild animals were not assembled until the earliest urbanized civilizations began about 3000 B . C . These early collections, within the context of their times, were in effect the earliest zoos, even though they were not then referred to as zoos. Zoo-related terminology, as it now exists, did not come into use until the modern zoo concept developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a period when animal collections significantly changed and became the cultural institutions that are now familiar to us. Because an etymology for zoos and aquariums analogous to etymologies for natural history museums and botanical gardens 1,2 has not been developed, a preliminary etymology for zoos and aquariums is provided at the end of this chapter, following the discussion of the historical context within which these terms emerged. Past cultures, ancient through early modern, viewed nature as an integrated whole even while attempting to categorize its many parts. Ancient collections began as more than just gatherings of these parts; animals were kept within a natural setting. Early trade in exotic products also included both animals and plants, and rarely seen species were coveted acquisitions for those who could afford such extravagances. Collecting plants was useful and important because plants had food and medicinal values, while some were popular for their ornamental uses. Plant collections were widespread because plants were easy to transport (as seeds, bulbs, or cuttings) and were economical to maintain and display. Live animals, on the other hand, were more difficult and expensive to transport, maintain, and exhibit, and these difficulties made animals 2100_frame_C01 Page 1 Wednesday, March 21, 2001 8:00 AM