For the ancient Greeks, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and sometimes mantises went under the single name of akris, and modern translators of their works have to determine which insect seems most appropriate from the context. All of these insects were usually difficult to see and were known to people primarily through their sounds in open fields. These noises, produced by the insects’ rubbing parts of their bodies together, are often amazingly loud for the tiny creatures that generate them, and they are often synchronized. They are mating calls, produced almost exclusively by males, and some ancient myths suggest a surprising aware ness of this fact. In the case of the orthopterans, people also knew the insects through the enormous damage they inflicted on crops, which was only partially compensated for by their popularity as food. The Bible tells us that when the pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel leave Egypt, locusts were the eighth plague sent by Yahweh in punishment: “The locusts invaded the whole land of Egypt. On the whole territory of Egypt they fell, in numbers so great that such swarms had never been seen before, nor would be again. They covered the surface of the soil till the ground was black with them. They devoured all the greenstuff in the land and all the fruit of the trees” (Exod. 10:14-15).

In North Africa and the Near East, plagues of locusts have continued to occur up through the twentieth century, sometimes darkening the sky and confirming the general accuracy of the biblical descriptions. In similarly vivid terms, the prophet Joel compared locusts in their vast numbers and their destructiveness to an invading army (2:25). The same imagery was used by the Egyptians and in an inscription commemorating the deeds of Ramses II, the very pharaoh who was defied by Moses, at the battle of Kadesh, where the armies of the Hittites are said to have covered the mountains like locusts. For all the trouble such insects caused, however, the Egyptians do not seem to have hated or despised them, and one text from the Old Kingdom speaks of a ruler ascending to Heaven in the form of a grasshopper. According to an Islamic folktale from Algeria, the Devil looked scornfully on the newly created world and said, “I can do better than God.” “Very well,” replied God, “I will give you the power to bring to life whatever creature you create. Stroll about the world and return in a hundred years.” The Devil took up the challenge and put together a creature with the head of a horse, the breast of a lion, the horns of an antelope, the neck of a steer, and parts from several other animals. Since the parts did not fit properly, he began to whittle away at the creature, until all that was left was a tiny locust. The Lord said, “Oh, Satan . . . What is this! To show your impotence and my power I will send swarms of this creature around the earth, and thus I will teach people that there is only one God” (Dähnhardt, pp. 10-12). Perhaps because locusts in the Bible were always a scourge of God, the insects have usually not been heavily stigmatized. People will hardly ever eat creatures that they find repugnant except in times of severe hunger, but locusts and grasshoppers are eaten in much of Africa. They are also mentioned as a possible food in the Bible (Lev. 11:20-23). The New Testament states that John the Baptist lived on “locusts and wild honey” (Matt. 3:4; Mark 1:6).

Grasshoppers are very similar to locusts in appearance, but they do not breed as quickly and are solitary. In ancient Egypt the grasshopper was a popular motif, often appearing on festive items, cosmetic boxes, or jewelry. Grasshoppers do not seem to have shared the fearsome reputation of their close relatives. The song of grasshoppers, which is rhythmic, if not conventionally musical, charmed people. The prophet Isaiah said of Yahweh, “He lives above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants look like grasshoppers” (11:24). These insects have continued to be used as symbols of insignificance, in ways that may be either endearing or contemptuous. It is possible to see a bit of each response in the Greek myth of Tithonus, a prince of Troy who was loved by Eos, goddess of the dawn. The deity asked Zeus to grant her lover immortality, but she forgot to ask for eternal youth. As Tithonus grew old, Eos left him, and eventually he withered away to become a grasshopper or cicada.

Cicadas, especially, are generally known only through their sound, since they dwell in trees and are seen only when they die and fall to the ground. For the Greeks, they seemed to be incorporeal beings and symbolized immortality. In Plato’s dialogue “Phaedrus,” Socrates and the young man Phaedrus had been engaged in a passionate discussion of philosophy when the former remarked that the cicadas, while singing and conversing among themselves, must surely also be observing the two men’s dialogue.

Socrates explained that the cicadas had been men in a remote, primitive age. Then the Muses, goddesses of the arts, appeared, and a few people were so ecstatic that they would do nothing but sing. They would not even pause to eat or drink, and, without being aware of what was happening, they died. They returned to earth as cicadas. In gratitude for their devotion, the Muses decreed that they would sing from the moment of their birth until the day of their death, without need of food and drink. When their time on earth had expired, they would return to Heaven and report to the Muses, saying who had honored their mistresses and how.

Socrates assured his young pupil that the two of them might expect a good report from the cicadas for discoursing on the theme of love. These insects have traditionally had a similar meaning among the Chinese, who believed that cicadas lived only on dew. From the late Chou through the Han dynasties (ca. 200 B.C. through ca. A.D. 220), the Chinese would place jade cicadas in the mouths of their dead to ensure immortality.

For cultures of the Far East, the songs of insects such as cicadas and crickets also represent the chanting of Buddhist priests. Cicadas and crickets are sometimes kept in cages, and their songs are often esteemed more than those of birds. The Chinese also value crickets for their martial spirit. Gladiatorial combats between crickets have remained a popular sport in China since ancient times.

The repeated sounds of crickets have not always impressed Westerners as unequivocally beautiful. In Germany somebody with a neurotic obsession is said to have crickets in his head. On the other hand, repetitions can represent the sometimes irritating, yet essential, lessons of conscience.

One variety of cricket is known as the “house cricket” for its habit of frequently entering homes. Because these crickets are drawn to warmth, they are symbols of the hearth. To have such a visitor is traditionally considered good luck throughout Europe, and killing it can bring ill fortune. In Carlo Collodi’s classic for children Pinocchio (first published in Italy in 1883), the hero, a wooden doll that has come to life, smashes a cricket named Jiminy with a mallet but, after many misfortunes, regrets the evil deed. Disney Studios later made Jiminy Cricket into one of their most popular animated characters and even had him introduce the television show Walt Disney Presents. The word “mantis” is Greek for “seer,” and the praying mantis certainly looks the part. Its long front legs are constantly moving. For ancient people this suggested a conventional posture of supplication, with hands upturned toward the sky, while Christians have some times thought of its claws as hands folded in prayer. The wings of a mantis suggest the flowing robes of a priest, but the most noticeable feature of the insect is its enormous eyes. People in the ancient world believed that the mantis had the power to curse with its gaze. People in the Far East have been impressed by the aggressiveness of the praying mantis, which is willing to attack creatures several times its size. A traditional saying in Japan goes, “Like a mantis raising its arms to stop the wheel of a passing cart” (Shoeki, p. 81).

Like other religious figures, the mantis of folklore seems to veer between extremes of good and evil. There is a widespread legend that the praying mantis can divine the goal of a traveler at a glance, as well as any possible dangers along the way. When asked by a wanderer, the mantis will point in the direction he should take. In the nineteenth century, however, when females of the species were observed to eat their mates after copulation, people were disillusioned and even began to demonize the mantis.