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

adorned the west and east corners respectively of the front wall of the enclosure. 195 Its
body (length 1.05 m; height 0.63m) appears in profile to the left and its head turns
slightly sideways. The animal stands with its hindquarters upright, its tail curling
downward, and its forequarters crouched low as if ready to spring up and forward. The
area between its forelegs is occupied by what has been identified as the head of a heifer
or a bull. 196 This head, along with the forelegs of the lion, rests on a surface—the
original plinth of the statue—that breaks off abruptly at the height of the animal’s upper
forelegs. The right forepaw of the lion turns inward and its claws are sunken into the
head of the bovine, whereas its left foreleg extends forward with its claws firmly on the
plinth. 197
almost rectangular peribolos enclosed by walls on all four sides. Access to it is gained (via A2) through a
gap in the east wall. The width of the enclosure varies between 6.5m (on the east side) and 7m (on the west
side). The length of the front wall is 11.6m; it was built of dressed limestone ashlar, which has been now
destroyed. Visible today is only its fill with a modern cement overlay. For this information on the precinct
and an illustration of its position within the Kerameikos, see R. Garland, “A First Catalogue of Attic
Peribolos Tombs,” BSA 77 (1982) 138 and 137, fig. 2. The statue (Athens, NM 804) was found in 1863 in
the terrace of the precinct and was standing there until 1870, when it was moved to the National Museum in
Athens: A. Brückner, Der Friedhof am Eridanos (Berlin, 1909) 79; he also adds that a part of the lion’s tail
was discovered in 1870 in the area across from the monument of Dexileos, in the homonymous precinct
(A1), which is situated at the corner of the Street of the Tombs. Brücker’s 1909 account of the statue is a
synthesis of the 1863 and 1870 excavation reports by A. S. Rhousopoulos (AEphem [1863] 279, 295, 312,
and Bull. dell’Inst [1864] 45) and S. Koumanoudes (∆ύο γενικές συνελεύσεις τϖν ταίρων τ ς ν
θήναις ρχαιολογικ ς ταιρίας, 1870)—both cited as such in his discussion (2) of previous literature
on the site. For a summary of the history of the excavations before 1913, when the Kerameikos
excavations were turned over to the German Archaeological Institute, and a brief reference to the work of
Rhousopoulos and Koumanoudes, see U. Knigge, The Athenian Kerameikos. History-Monuments-
Excavations (Athens, 1991) 166; and 183-184 for a list of Greek excavations reports prior to 1913; also
124, n. 114 for the most recent finds from the precinct—a marble sarcophagus, identified as that of
Dionysios, containing an iron strigil and pottery, along with a burnt offering deposit containing large
numbers of pottery (100 pieces) and bronze arrowheads (80). For a more detailed account of these finds,
see R. H. W. Stichel, “Grabung im Bezirk des Dionysios von Kollytos,” AA 99 (1984) 56-61.
195 The other statue of a lion (Athens, NM 803) was discovered in 1870 in the vicinity of the precinct. S.
Karouzou, National Archaeological Museum. Collection of Sculpture. A Catalogue (Athens, 1968) 126,
mentions that both statues were “found in the Kerameikos in 1870.” Kaltsas, Sculpture 205, cat. no 411,
identifies Kerameikos as the find spot of the statues, but clarifies that one (NM 803) was found in 1870,
whereas the other (NM 804) in 1863.
196 Heifer: Brückner, Der Friedhof am Eridanos 79; bull: Kaltsas, Sculpture 205.
197 In old photographs (Brückner, Der Friedhof am Eridanos 80, fig. 47; M. Collignon, Les statues
funéraires dans l’art grec [Paris, 1911] 228, fig. 148) and recent reproductions of them (Todisco, Scultura
greca del IV secolo fig. 178), the lower hind legs of the lion are missing and modern supports stand in their
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