The Golden Ass

Peter Singer has breathed new life into Apuleius’s The Golden Ass—a hilarious, bawdy tale and one of the earliest novels.

Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, one of a handful of surviving ancient novels, has remained relatively unknown—until now. Renowned philosopher and animal rights activist Peter Singer remedies this neglect with a new edited version of the rollicking story of the travails, erotic adventures and ultimate enlightenment of a cocky young man who is transformed into a donkey.


Singer has teamed with Apuleius scholar and translator Ellen Finkelpearl and prize-winning artists Anna and Varvara Kendel to present Apuleius’s novel as not only an engaging and entertaining story but as a remarkable example of ancient empathy for animals and deep understanding of their suffering.

Apuleius (124–170 CE) was a Roman novelist, philosopher, and rhetorician.

Peter Singer an Australian philosopher, is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Ethics in the Real World and The Most Good You Can Do. Singer divides his time between Princeton and Melbourne.

Prominent Apuleius scholar Ellen Finkelpearl is the Helen Chandler Garland Professor of Ancient Studies at Scripps College, California.

Twin sisters Anna and Varvara Kendel studied at the Stieglitz Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, where they live. They have illustrated more than seven books and won prizes at international art competitions.