During
the lifetime of the geographer, Strabo (c. 64 BCE-23 CE), the people of the
Balearic Islands were undergoing a life-and-death war with a prolific foe. The
invaders targeted the islands’ food supply, destroying harvests, harming trees,
and causing famine. Even though the people of the Balearic Islands were renowned
for their slingshot prowess, the islanders were not able to drive off the
pillagers. According to Strabo and Pliny the Elder (c. 23-79), the Balearic
Islanders were desperate enough to turn the tide of war against their foe that
they sent representatives to Rome in order to beg Augustus (r. 27 BCE-14 CE)
for military aid. It might have been an awkward conversation, for the foes that
were giving the islanders so much trouble were not pirates or hostile
neighbors—instead, the bane of the Balearic Islands was a populous horde of hungry
rabbits.
Augustus’
exact response to the plea of the islanders is vague in our existent sources,
but he evidently did decide to help the Balearic Islands with their rabbit
problem. Part of his solution was apparently to send hunters and trappers to
help contain the rabbit population and to teach the islanders better ways to
hunt the hopping pests. A key component of the war on rabbits, according to
Strabo and Pliny, was to send ferrets to the Balearic island. These “wild cats
from Africa,” as Strabo oddly called the ferrets (Geography, I.2.6),
were unleashed into the rabbit burrows, forcing the animals up to the surface
and into the hands of the awaiting hunters. According to Strabo, Augustus’
efforts succeeded and the rabbit population was eventually brought down to a
safe and manageable level. By the time Pliny the Elder finished his Natural
History in the year 77, the fortune of the rabbits on the Baleric Island
had completely changed, as the animals had by then become a culinary delicacy.
Written
by C. Keith Hansley
Picture
Attribution: (Floor mosaic representing a centaur, from the Acropolis of
Rhodes, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).
Sources:
- Strabo's Geography, translated by H.C. Hamilton and W. Falconer (1903 edition), republished in The Complete Works of Strabo (Delphi Classics, 2016).
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D81
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