Stills from the 1932 American historical film "The Sign of the Cross", on ancient Rome and Nero's persecution of the Christians

The execution scene involving a gorilla or chimpanzee belongs to a very late myth about Roman mores.

There is no confirmation that such a practice as the abuse of human women by wine-intoxicated apes ever existed. Nor, for that matter, is there a Latin word for the chimpanzee.

Some suppose that the satyrs of Roman mythology may have denoted large primates, chimpanzees in particular. Others put forward the view that Pliny's mention of a sphinx alongside winged horses and the mantichore may be a heavily euphemised reference to the chimpanzee.

As for unthinkable interactions between humans and beasts in ancient Rome, literary texts should sometimes, after all, be read less literally, especially in the case of Apuleius and Martial.