Ingvild Saelid Gilhus is Professor of History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. She is the author of Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins (Routledge, 1997), and numerous articles about Gnosticism and the History of Religions.

Consulting a wide range of key texts and source material, "Animals, Gods and Humans" covers 800 years and provides a detailed analysis of early Christian attitudes to, and the position of, animals in Greek and Roman life and thought. Both the pagan and Christian conceptions of animals are rich and multilayered, and Ingvild Salid Gilhus expertly examines the dominant themes and developments in the conception of animals. Including study of: biographies of figures such as Apollonus of Tyana; natural history; the New Testament via Gnostic texts; the church fathers; and from pagan and Christian criticism of animal sacrifice, to the acts of martyrs, the source material and detailed analysis included in this volume make it a veritable feast of information for all classicists.