{"product_id":"citizen-beast-the-place-of-animals-in-the-roman-empire-9781421455181","title":"Citizen Beast: The Place of Animals in the Roman Empire","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnimals, power, and belonging in the Roman Empire.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnimals were everywhere in the Roman world: in labor, ritual, entertainment, warfare, and luxury. In \u003ci\u003eCitizen Beast\u003c\/i\u003e, Martin Devecka argues that they were not merely background figures but central participants in the formation of empire. He examines how animals came to belong to Rome and how their incorporation mirrored the processes that shaped human citizenship, subjection, and exclusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBirds, mice, elephants, bears, pigs, donkeys, eels, and oysters serve as case studies for understanding how imperial power organized life itself. Through these examples, \u003ci\u003eCitizen Beast \u003c\/i\u003ereveals an empire that governed humans and animals together, treating both of them as economic resources and symbolic instruments. Roman writers often understood animals as intentional beings whose cooperation--or resistance--mattered. Devecka shows how these ideas helped structure legal practices, religious rituals, systems of punishment, and regimes of extraction. Animals helped enforce violence, stabilize hierarchy, and produce elite distinction, while also exposing the limits of imperial control.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy treating the Roman Empire as a multispecies world, \u003ci\u003eCitizen Beast\u003c\/i\u003e reframes familiar histories of power, agency, and governance. The result is a striking account of how empire functioned by managing living beings--and why animals must be understood as historical actors in their own right.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Martin Devecka\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Johns Hopkins University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Animals, History, Culture\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.77lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.58d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781421455181","brand":"Johns Hopkins University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48671166922889,"sku":"9781421455181","price":64.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_eb9cf267-1384-49c8-a193-e87c99e4410f.jpg?v=1791955517","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/citizen-beast-the-place-of-animals-in-the-roman-empire-9781421455181","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}