The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

of their art while maintaining awareness of its lifeless status. Animals feature
prominently in ancient discussions of the phenomenon of naturalistic style, in particular
its lifelikeness, which is perceived as accurate representation and aliveness. Figures of
animals are regularly praised for their lifelike quality. When the viewing of works of art
is described, animals tellingly appear as judges of their lifelike quality. In fact, when
featuring as judges of lifelike works of art, animals—as constituents of the natural world
and separate from human cognition—suggest a specific attitude toward art itself: that it
can surpass its own essence as an artificial construction and, consequently, be recognized
as natural even by nature itself. It is clear, therefore, that animals offer an invaluable
insight into the judgment of representational art in Classical Greece, thus substantiating
Claude Levi-Strauss’s famous dictum (drawn from his structural analysis in
anthropology) that “animals are good to think with.” 3
“The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and the
Concept of Lifelikeness” is an investigation of the significant role of animals as guides to
the Greek understanding of the phenomenon of naturalistic style, in particular its lifelike
quality. It explores the problematic style of representations of animals in Classical Greek
funerary sculpture in light of the conceptual context of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.
that produced this style. It argues that the problematic, specifically contradictory, style of
Classical Greek animal funerary sculpture is the material and, at the same time, visual
manifestation of a contemporary contradictory attitude towards animals that is attested in
the literary record. The study is divided into four chapters.
3 C. Lévi-Strauss, tr. R. Needham, Totemism (London, 1969) 126.
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