Bears in antiquity had natural observations recorded about them from as the early as Classical Greece, and were part of most natural histories that followed. One knows from Pausanias that bears roamed ancient Greece,[1] and archaeological evidence found such as bear teeth attest to his witness.[2] Natural Histories that studied bears were recorded by Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny and Oppian and were probably based on their first hand accounts or the testimony of hunters.[3] Bears came to represent a state between wild and tame, and were represented as such in cultural appropriations. The image of the bear was also commercialised in trade, as were its body parts.
- ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Laconia, chapter 20, section 4". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-24.
- ^ Archibald, Zosia H. (2014). Ancient economies of the northern Aegean : fifth to first centuries BC. [Verlag nicht ermittelbar]. p. 182. ISBN 9780191762727. OCLC 934655917.
- ^ Perlman, Paula (Fall 1989). "Acting the She-Bear for Artemis". Arethusa. 22: 115.