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RELIGION AND APULEIUS’
GOLDEN ASS
THE SACRED ASS
Warren S. Smith
Religion and Apuleius’
Golden Ass
This volume examines Apuleius’ comic donkey novel, The Golden Ass,
within the context of the popular beliefs and Jewish and Christian writings
that were part of the intellectual culture of his own day in 2nd century c.e.
North Africa, a culture which can also be glimpsed in some early Arabic
writings.
The novel was written against a cultural and religious background in
which the donkey had various connotations, both positive and negative,
but tended to be admired in Jewish, Christian, and later, in Muslim writ-
ings. Smith explores the influence of such popular opinions on The Golden
Ass and how Apuleius presented Isis and Osiris as desirable alternatives
to the claims of both Christianity and magic, offering hope of spiritual
renewal partly modeled on contemporary religious apocalyptic literature.
Complemented by images of contemporary art, including amulets and terra-
cotta figures, this volume gives readers a better understanding of how
Apuleius, ostensibly a Platonist and member of the Roman establishment,
could maintain an intellectual independence in a North African milieu
while still drawing on hope in the salvation of the gods.
Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass provides a fascinating new approach to
this much disputed novel. It will be of interest not only to students and
scholars of Apuleius and Roman literature, but also to scholars interested in
Christian and Jewish literature and beliefs of the early centuries of the first
millennium c.e.
Warren S. Smith is professor emeritus of Classics at the University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, USA, and has also taught in Kenya and the Philip-
pines. He has edited Erasmus’ Annotations on Romans and Satiric Advice on
Women and Marriage from Plautus to Chaucer.
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Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass
The Sacred Ass
Warren S. Smith
For more information on this series, visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Monographs-in-Classical-Studies/book-series/RMCS
Religion and Apuleius’
Golden Ass
The Sacred Ass
Warren S. Smith
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Warren S. Smith
The right of Warren S. Smith to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Smith, Warren S., 1941- author.
Title: Religion and Apuleius’ Golden ass : the sacred ass / Warren S. Smith.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series:
Routledge monographs in classical studies | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022031036 (print) | LCCN 2022031037 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032192802 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032192826 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003258469 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Apuleius. Metamorphoses. | Religion and literature. |
LCGFT: Literary criticism.
Classification: LCC PA6217 .S65 2023 (print) | LCC PA6217 (ebook) |
DDC 873/.01--dc23/eng/20220711
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031036
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031037
ISBN: 978-1-032-19280-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-19282-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25846-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003258469
Typeset in Times New Roman
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To Anne Marie, again
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments ix
Preface x
1 Asinine Thinking 1
2 Magical Thinking: The Witchcraft Narrative 17
3 Fortune Competes with Providence: The Meaning
of Laughter 43
4 Robbers Think Like Heroes 55
5 Cupid and Psyche: Thinking Like a Winged Creature 61
6 Thinking Like a Christian Apologist 75
7 Is the Golden Ass a God? 88
8 Thinking Like a Christian 101
9 Christian and Jewish Apocalyptic Writings 128
10 Balancing Judaism and Christianity 154
Appendix: Lucius “Becomes” Apuleius 157
Bibliography 172
Index 186
Illustrations
1.1 La Burra de Balaam: Balaam’s talking ass
(Rembrandt, 1626). 2
1.2 Palestinian peasant at work ca. 1890. 7
1.3 Manger scene from early Christian sarcophagus. 10
1.4 Jesus enters Jerusalem, from tomb of Junius Bassus. 11
1.5 Al-Burak, the creature that carried Muhammed to heaven. 15
5.1 Botticelli: The birth of Venus. 65
5.2 Psyche discovers the identity of Cupid. 71
7.1 Alexamenos graffito, ca. 100 c.e. 89
7.2 Ass and foal amulet, ca. 400 c.e. 90
7.3 Terra-cotta of ass with book teaching baboons, Egypt. 91
8.1 Statue of Isis from Hadrian’s Villa. 114
Appendix 0.1 Velazquez painting of the royal Spanish
family, “Les Meninas” (The Handmaidens). 158
Acknowledgments
My first thanks for help in Apuleian scholarship will always go to the
team of Classicists who published collections of articles on Apuleius and
edited the 11 books of The Golden Ass, originally meeting at the University
of Groningen in the Netherlands and later at other venues including
Dartmouth College, Oxford, Rome, Rostock, Crete, and Greece. The
late Ben Hijmans was one of their leaders and when he first greeted me in
Groningen he said, “Everyone working on this project has read your doc-
toral dissertation [Yale 1968],” it was a unique and very meaningful wel-
come to the club. Others I came to know include (among many others) Rudi
Van der Paardt, Heinz Hofmann, Maaike Zimmerman, Ken Dowden, Steve
Harrison, Stavros Panayotakis, Regine May, Paula James, Danielle Mal-
Maeder, Luca Graverini, Wytse Keulen, Stefan Tilg, Ulkrike Egelhaaf-
Gaiser, Vincent Hunink, Niall Slater, Lara Nicolini, Gareth Schmeling,
and Ellen Finkelpearl; I had already known late Carl Schlam, who died too
young. I learned from all of these people and still cherish the memory of our
meetings together.
I owe much to the University of New Mexico for the support, freedom,
and opportunities they gave me over the years to develop courses and cur-
ricula at my own pace, and also to take time off to study and teach at a
variety of places including the Philippines and Kenya.
My interest in The Golden Ass first aroused when I was assigned to read
the novel in Freshman English at Wesleyan University. Apuleius fascinated
me then and continues to challenge me to this day.
I owe many thanks to the suggestions of the anonymous reader assigned
by Routledge Press, who went beyond the call of duty in his close reading of
my manuscript.
