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Dear Deb, the Romans owed some of their agricultural knowledge to the Phoenicians. e.g. the Carthaginian author Mago. Magos original work is lost, as far as I know, but it is frequently quoted in Roman sources like Pliny, etc. It contained also elaborate parts on animal breeding. Best Christian -- KNOCHENARBEIT Hans Christian Küchelmann Diplom-Biologe Konsul-Smidt-Straße 30, D-28217 Bremen, Germany tel: +49 - 421 - 61 99 177 fax: +49 - 421 - 37 83 540 mail: [log in to unmask] web: http://www.knochenarbeit.de web: http://www.knochenarbeit-shop.de Am 04.07.2014 um 19:06 schrieb Deb Bennett: > Hello to All: This is a thought I've been pondering of late, and > wondered > if anyone would be able to comment or provide a reference: > > Which ancient societies knew how to maintain or initiate > distinctness in > strains of domestic livestock -- cattle, sheep, hogs, dogs, chickens, > goats? > > I am not querying here the ORIGIN of domestication, or the act of > domestication per se. What I am specifically thinking of is the > Romans -- > they have been given credit for developing the Merino sheep. And I > also > know that wherever they conquered a region, if they found there some > strain of domestic animal that they admired or thought useful, they > knew > how to maintain the distinctness, i.e. by sequestering females in heat > and/or by castration of males or by physically controlling the > breeding > activities of males. > > But obviously, if the Romans conquered a country and found the strain > already in existence (for example the Maltese dog), then the people of > Malta must themselves already have known how to produce such a dog > through > the process of selective breeding. > > Can anyone guide me to literature on this subject? Any thoughts > will be > welcome! Thanks in advance -- Deb Bennett