Includes bibliographical references and index.

Animals in the Roman Empire -- United by soul or divided by reason -- Vegetarianism, natural history, and physiognomics -- Imagination and transformation -- The religious value of animals -- Animals sacrifice : traditions and new inventions -- God is a man-eater? : the animal sacrifice and its critics -- The New Testament and the Lamb of God -- Fighting the beasts -- Internal animals and bestial demons -- The crucified donkeyman, the leontocephalus, and the challenge of beasts -- Winged humans, speaking animals.