Pet Monkeys Were Popular in Ancient Rome, Burials Reveal

"How much interaction did the Romans have with Ancient India? A new article in the Journal of Roman Archaeology investigates the discovery of several burials for pet monkeys at the Red Sea port of Berenike on the Egyptian coast. The bones of these domestic pets suggest that some Romans, including soldiers, likely kept exotic pets in their households. But the skeletal remains are also strong indicators of the extensive trade networks that connected the Roman Empire with India via the Indian Ocean."

"It was long thought that Roman pet monkeys were Barbary macaques from Africa; however, three dozen newly excavated burials of Indian macaques dating from 1 to 200 CE in the Berenike animal cemetery tell a different story. The primates were buried among cats and dogs, each with a distinguishing collar indicating they were kept as pets. What is more surprising is the presence of piglet and kitten skeletons in the graves, suggesting monkeys even had their own pets."

Excavations at the Red Sea port of Berenike uncovered roughly three dozen burials of Indian macaques dated between 1 and 200 CE, interred alongside cats, dogs, and other animals. Each primate burial often included a collar, signaling domestication and use as household pets, sometimes even with piglet or kitten companions. These remains indicate that some Romans, including soldiers, kept exotic pets and that animals were transported across long distances. The presence of Indian macaques at an Egyptian port demonstrates active Indo-Roman maritime trade across the Indian Ocean, revising assumptions that Roman pet monkeys were primarily African in origin.

Read at Hyperallergic