Monstrum in Fabula: Monsters and Monstrosities in Ancient Contexts

Monstrum in Fabula offers a wide-ranging exploration of how ancient societies imagined, defined, and used monsters. Bringing together essays on ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, and the Greek and Roman worlds, the volume reveals both the cultural specificity and the cross-cultural resonance of monstrous beings. Drawing on diverse analytical approaches—including recent developments in Monster Theory—the contributors examine how monsters embody fears, negotiate boundaries, and express social, moral, and cosmological concerns. Through close readings of texts, images, and myths, the volume highlights the narrative, symbolic, social, and psychological functions of monstrosity across different ancient traditions. This collection invites readers to reconsider the role of the monstrous as a vital lens for understanding how ancient peoples made sense of the unknown, the dangerous, and the extraordinary, while constructing their own social reality.