The names of fish in classical literature (in Horace's poetry)

This article deals with the names of the fish mentioned in Horace’s poetry. The author attempts to identify the ancient names of Mediterranean fish and compare them with their contemporary biological terms based on some previous research results obtained by O. Keller, A. Dalby, J. A. Higginbotham and others. It is often difficult or sometimes even impossible to make out with certainty what Horace means. The identification of the terms is quite complicated because of the deficiency in the information about fish in Horace’s works; therefore, the author bases his research on other Greek and Latin sources. Horace writes about eight types of fish: scarus, rhombus, passer, acipenser, mullus, lupus, muraena, thynnus. Thus the scarus equals Sparisoma cretense; the rhombus is supposed to be Scophthalmus rhombus or Scophthalmus maximus; the passer is similar to Platichthys flesus; the acipenser might have been Acipenser sturio, Acipenser naccarii and Acipenser stellatus with the Aegean sea and the Adriatic sea as their habitat. The Mullus corresponds to Mullus surmuletus or Mullus barbatus; the lupus is undoubtedly Dicentrarchus labrax. The question of the muraena is a matter of duccussion, but the author inclines toward the species of Muraena helena. The Thynnus obviously belongs to the tribe of Thunnini. This richly illustrated material provides a good picture of the fish diversity that was served and consumed in the Horace’s epoche.