THE HOUND OF THE FALCONER. ROMAN AND BYZANTINE HAWKING IN THE VENETIAN CYNEGETICA

Abstract

An illustrated Byzantine manuscript of the Cynegetica by Pseudo-Oppian, housed in the Biblioteca Marciana of Venice, has deserved the attention of scholarship because it contains a vast collection of zoological, mythological and hunting images that could be traced back to an original Roman model. However, a careful examination of some of its miniatures reveals details that may be better understood in a Byzantine context. This is the case of a falconry scene on fol. 2v of the manuscript. A general overview of falconry and hunting from Antiquity to the late Byzantine Empire will let us focus on every single element of hawking of the aforementioned scene. The falconer, the hound and the partridges depicted by the Byzantine miniaturist of our codex unveil that this image is not just an illustration of the text, nor a copy of an ancient model, but the representation of a widely practiced activity in the Byzantine world.