The animated nature Prodigies and portents in the Roman World

In 192 BCE an ox suddenly began to speak. Roma, cave tibi it said, Rome be on your guard. It was regarded as a prodigy and the Senate decided that the ox should be attentively looked after and fed.

This episode is not unique, speaking cattle were commonly allowed to graze on public lands and the world of Roman divination is rife with animals acting on their own accord, animated plants and objects with oracular capacities.

Yet, omens have remained on the margins of Classical research and are often dismissed as political manipulation, irrationality and peripheral to ‘real’ history.

To move towards a different understanding of Roman divination we need to abandon the view that there was a strict polar opposition between ‘things’ and ‘persons.’ What we need is a more accurate understanding of the agency of non-humans such as animals, plants, and non-living beings, and their interaction and relations with humans.

What if cattle were actually seen as being capable of uttering words and sculptures as animated objects that could move, cry and sweat?

How did that affect how Romans related stories like the aforementioned speaking oxen or experienced the presence of works of art?

This innovative study will use narratives of portents as a way to gain new knowledge about the agency of nature and set out a new direction of research on Roman religion by investigating what the perceived divine presence in animals, plants and objects can tell us about religious belief in the Roman world.