Animal

This section provides cross-references for the animals mentioned in the paradoxographical texts. Since the identification of the animal referred to in the ancient texts can on occasion be a matter of dispute, the names are listed using the anglicized forms of the Greek names given in the texts, followed by the name in Greek. English names are also listed, but as cross-references only. Where the animal referred to by the Greek term is unknown or dubious, only the Greek forms are listed.

This section also includes references to human beings where the focus is on biology / physiology rather than culture. (Admittedly, many of the non-human references are to animal behaviour and culture rather than biology; the anthropocentric view underlying the approach taken here must be excused on grounds of practicality.)

There does not appear to be any recent free-to-view online general reference resource on animals in antiquity. though Thompson's 1895 Glossary of Greek Birds provides extensive details of references to birds in ancient Greek literature. The most up-to-date resources are Kitchell's Animals in the Ancient World from A to Z (2013) and Arnott's Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z (2007), but neither is freely available.

Brief further information may be found in the entries in the Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon, available online at the Perseus Project. For readers of German, the Pauly–Wissowa Realencyclopädie is gradually being put online as part of the Wikisource project; however, while it remains incomplete, the definitions given in the entries for this section will be based primarily on LSJ.