Mediterranean on The Gamecock Codex

Mappa Mundi Gallinae

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Mappa Mundi Gallinae, drawn in the conventions of an early-modern portolan chart: rhumb lines, compass rose, dotted trade-routes between the great breeding regions, and crimson markers for the principal lines. The densest concentration sits over Java, Bali, and Sumatra — the heart of the Oriental gamefowl — with secondary clusters in South Asia (Aseel, Asil), East Asia (Shamo, Koeyoshi), the Mediterranean (the Old English Game’s deep ancestry), the United Kingdom, and the American South. The routes mark the spread of the fighting cock from India and the Indies outward, by trade, by gift, and by conquest.

Aristotle on the Cock

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Aristotle’s History of Animals describes the cock in detail, distinguishing the fighting strains and noting the ‘game’ qualities that the cockfighter would later codify.

The Shape of Courage

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There is a bird on the standard of the Palmetto Regiment of the American Revolution. There is a bird on the coat of arms of Paraguay, on the flag of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, on the coinage of the Roman emperor Claudius, and on the weathervane of nearly every colonial church in New England. The same bird. In every case, the bird is drawn upright — comb raised, beak open, spurs forward — in the posture of an animal that has just decided to fight.