AMZ > EN > Exhibitions > Exhibition Bestiarium Antiquum in Gallery AMZ > Exhibition Bestiarium Antiquum

Exhibition Bestiarium Antiquum

EXHIBITION
Bestiarium Antiquum

December 29 2022. - February 16 2023.
Gallery AMZ, Pavla Hatza 6

Tuesday - Friday	12 noon - 6 pm
Saturday	10 am - 1 pm

free admission

The Gallery is closed on Mondays, Sundays and holidays.

The Night of Museums January 27. 6 pm - 1 am

Conceptually, the exhibition Bestiarium Antiquum presents items from the Greek and Roman collection of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, mostly those that have never been exhibited or published before. The items are presented through the prism of purpose, decoration, zoomorphic symbolism and a wider cultural and religious context, while the visuals of the exhibition offer a broader view on the relationship of ancient man and animals.
The ancient Greeks and Romans lived in a world teeming with animals. Animals were an integral part of their everyday life - from diet, labour and trade to war, literature, art and all the way to love. In addition to being domestic, wild or a working force, animals could also be sacred and were regularly sacrificed for the needs of religious festivals. Rituals of the Roman state religion, as well as private cults, required animal sacrifices in honor of the gods - bulls, heifers, sheep, pigs and goats were most common sacrificial animals. Outside the city, in addition to the cities themselves, domesticated animals were kept and bred for benefit and profit, and wild animals were hunted both for pleasure and as a source of food.

Scholars such as Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny the Elder and Seneca studied their anatomy and behavior. Greek and Roman authors such as Plutarch, Aelian, and Pliny the Elder wrote about animals in works on ethics, morality and natural history. Writers of prose and poetry, but also historians such as Homer, Aesop (the author of famous fables), Herodotus, Lucretius, Oppian, Ovid, Diodorus Siculus and Cassius Dio often used animals in their fables to tell stories and illustrate human experiences.

The most obvious and far-reaching difference between life in the ancient world and today's mechanized and technologically developed modern age is visible in the incomparably more important and extensive role played by animals of all kinds in antiquity. There was hardly any aspect of human life - be it production, movement, warfare or even leisure, in which animals did not have to participate.

The exhibition Bestiarium Antiquum supports the activities of the Association for the Welfare and Protection of Animals - LePas. At the exhibition, visitors can donate to support the work of LePas.

Social networks of the Association for the Welfare and Protection of Animals - LePas