Inspired in part by the famous blue monkeys of Thera, in this original work, the author provides a survey of the diverse cultural attitudes toward monkeys through an examination of the iconographical, physical and textual evidence from several Mediterranean cultures. Contents: 1) Monkeys in Egypt: From the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period; 2) Monkeys in the Near East; 3) Monkeys in the Bronze Age Aegean; 4) Monkeys in the Greco-Roman World; 5) The Greco-Roman Legacy.