Both animals depicted on the lamp’s discus held specific meanings in Ancient Roman culture. Crayfishes and crabs were usually associated with the constellation of Cancer, while herons were important birds associated with divination practices. Crawfishes’ and herons were also popular characters of Aesop’s fables, in which animals were anthropomorphised, acting like humans to provide a moral lesson to the reader. Ancient Romans translated Aesop’s fables from Greek into Latin. The stories were still popular in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.