Birds in the Ancient World: Winged Words

"This is a wonderful book. I opened it thinking, ‘Oh dear. I’m not that interested in birds. Will I get anything out of this? Is it the work of an engaging eccentric?’ But I was drawn in by it so quickly. There’s a certain randomness about it, which is the randomness of ornithology, I suppose. It’s the sheer learning of it which is so engaging. It’s extremely learned in a field—natural history—where not all that many people are learned in this particular way. What particularly impressed me was the accomplished translations of classical literature. They’re all Mynott’s translations and they’re so idiomatic, so elegant. Then there is the wit and the beautiful illustrations. There are so many things to like about this book and it looks great. It tells you about ancient people as well as ancient birds. Exactly. Here’s a perspective on the ancient world which I wouldn’t have thought of and you wouldn’t think would be a coherent theme, but it is. And that was rather cheering, really. It’s taking a relationship between humanity and the natural world and illuminating the cheering side of human and animal relations. What it demonstrated to me was just how different human mindsets can be across time. It’s by no means the first thing we think about now—though I still worry if I only see one magpie first thing in the morning. So, that does slightly unite that world and this. “The ancient world was silent relative to ours because there was no background hum of engines—but there was a far greater roar of animals and bird noises around” But priorities have so radically shifted. Now we regard birds as signs of the damage that we’re doing to nature by their diminution in numbers. The worries when the sparrows disappeared from Trafalgar Square, for instance. It’s a different sort of sign now, but we’re still keeping our eye on them, because it tells us about us when we look at birds in a certain way. It was, wasn’t it? The ancient world was silent relative to ours because there was no background hum of engines—but there was a far greater roar of animals and bird noises around."