MAY 2017 – A TALKING PARROT AT the institute for the study of the ancient world

While at ISAW, Pinkie spent time with scholars, academics, and students who cared for her, developed special talks about parrots in antiquity, and attempted to teach her to say "demokratia" (δημοκρατία), the Greek word for democracy.

Patrick J. Burns, Assistant Research Scholar, Digital and Special Projects at the ISAW Library, led discussions around specially prepared readings from Ovid, Persius, and Macrobius about parrots in Latin literature.

Patrick received his PhD in Classics from Fordham University with a focus on Latin poetry. Recently, Patrick has led the Iter Zoologicum, a tour of the Bronx Zoo during which he read selections about animals in antiquity with teachers, students, and other Classics enthusiasts.

Alexander Jones, ISAW's Leon Levy Director and Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity, wrote this poem for Pinkie: 

Limerick for Pinkie

Our Pinkie's no garrulous cockatoo!

She seldom will speak when she's talkèd to.

We'll forgive her; she's blest

With a fine salmon crest,

And besides, she's an expert nutcracker too.