Christophe Chandezon, Il gallo e la gallina. Forme storiche di una comunità antropozoologica in Grecia antica - p. 217
The species Gallus gallus was not present at all times in ancient Greece. While it is certainly possible that some specimens may have arrived in Minoan Crete or Mycenae as exotic animals, it is only during the Archaic Greek period that these animals are found on a permanent basis in Greece. The rooster and the hen offer a good case study for analysing the mechanisms leading to the introduction of a non-native domestic species into the fauna and bestiary of Greek culture. Initially, it was roosters, the male specimens, that aroused the interest of Greek communities mainly for the organisation of animal fights. Hen breeding, on the other hand, took hold only gradually and in a way that is very difficult to document for the early stages. During the Classical period, hen husbandry seems to be better documented, and in the Hellenistic and early Roman imperial periods, chicken and eggs finally became basic elements of the ancient diet. From a cultural point of view, the Greek lexicon and sacrificial bestiary also bear witness to a gradual introduction of hens into ancient Greek culture. Very early on, a term emerged to designate the males, while the introduction of a zoonym to denote the female specimen took a slower course. From Hellenistic times onwards, however, the hen is increasingly referred to as ornis, ‘the bird’, which is a tangible sign of the cultural importance that this animal was gradually assuming. Sacrifices of Gallus gallus specimens developed late and seem at first to be attested only for so-called new cults.
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