Donkey (Reaktion Books - Animal)
Jill Bough
Language: English
Pages: 198
ISBN: 1861898037
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Though donkeys have historically been among our most useful domesticated animals—from plowing fields to navigating difficult terrain—they have been much maligned in popular culture and given very little respect. So much so, that their perceived qualities of stupidity and stubbornness have made their way into the language of insult. But in Donkey, Jill Bough champions this humble creature, proving that after 10,000 years of domestication, this incredibly hard-working animal deserves our appreciation.
Bough reveals the animal’s historic significance in Ancient Egypt, where it was once highly regarded—even worshipped. However, this elevated status did not endure in Ancient Greece and Rome, where donkeys were denigrated, ridiculed, and abused. Since that time, donkeys have continued to be associated with the poorest and most marginalized in human societies. All that time and all over the world, donkeys continue to be used for innumerable tasks, and even today, donkeys are considered to be one of the best draught animals in developing nations, where they continue to make a vital contribution. Bough rounds out her account with a look at the variety of social, cultural, and religious meanings that donkeys have embodied, especially in literature and art.
With accounts that are both fascinating and touching, this cultural history of the donkey will inspire a new respect and admiration for this essential creature.
human society at about the time the first complex city-states were formed. He comments: I don’t think it’s wildly speculative to suggest that the use of donkeys, which were the first tamed transport animal, played an important role in the unification of distant cities. It marks the boundary between human societies concerned with survival and agriculture and stabilized people who wanted to explore and trade.3 The earliest long-distance merchant trading paths formed around 4000 BC involved the
stories attest to the fact that donkeys were believed to have prophetic abilities. Perhaps the most famous of these references is the biblical story of Balaam’s ass (Numbers 22: 21–35), the only animal actually to speak in the Bible (apart from the serpent). The donkey saw the angel of the Lord while the human did not and God chose to speak through a donkey to show Balaam the error of his ways. According to Jewish tradition, Balaam’s ass was special and she was hidden away and cared for until
fact, ‘ass’ (from the Latin asinus) is totally unrelated to arse (from Old English), spelt ‘ears’ but pronounced more like eh-arss. The two became confused due to the vowel shift from ‘ah’ to short ‘a’ (as in ‘dance’), plus the salacious thrill of the ‘naughty word’. 7 F. Zeuner, A History of Domesticated Animals (London, 1963), p. 378. 8 Comte de Buffon, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (Paris, 1749–88). 9 K. Marshall and Z. Ali, ‘Gender Issues in Donkey Use in Rural Ethiopia’, in
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