This paper examines the motif of docility in cultic animals of Mediterranean antiquity, animals that in their natural state are untamed and prone to unpredictable, even aggressive behavior. Four distinct types are considered: 1) animals compelled to docility by a dominating deity, such as the lions of Kybele and similar "mother" goddesses; 2) animals whose docility mimics that of their divine counterpart, as, for example, the feline companion (typically a leopard) of Dionysos; 3) animals that are depicted as docile per the mythologized protocol of ritual, as are the victims of Greek and Roman animal sacrifice; and 4) animals portrayed in a perpetual state of docility, toward each other and toward humans, as envisioned in the mythic restoration of the Biblical prelapsarian period (described in Isaiah 11:6-9) or in the “golden age” of Vergil’s fourth Eclogue. The paper proceeds to theorize regarding wider implications of these distinctive types of mythic docility. Approached through the lens of structuralism, the varying patterns of the power relationships between deity, animal(s), and worshipers is significant. The mother goddess, for example, sits atop a hierarchy, whereas Dionysos’ leopard and bacchants are portrayed as nearly equals of the god. Theories on religion and violence invite focus on the role of aggression—or, more precisely, on the repression or transference of aggression, as for each example of a docile animal there is a corresponding manifestation of pronounced aggression manifested by the deity or the worshipers.

Authors:
Jeffrey Brodd, California State University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Jeffrey Brodd is a University Professor/Principal Lecturer at California State University, Sacramento, United States

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