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

of Kollytos, this statue is thought to have been one of a pair (the other now lost) that
decorated the front corners of the precinct in which it was found. 217 The statue, whose
body (length: 1.78m; height 0.90m) rests on a plinth, has been dated to the last three
decades of the fourth century B.C. (ca. 320 B.C.), 218 and its identification as a hound of
the ancient Molossian breed (that referred to excellent guard dogs and is discussed in
detail in chapter three) has been proposed as early as 1909 by Otto Keller. 219 Hans
Riemann has remarked that the statue is constantly talked about as a dog, although it
combines a leonine body and the head of a dog. 220 Kawami admits that “the Kerameikos
hound is lion-like.” 221 In fact, she identifies, as mentioned earlier, its “heavy compact
chest, well-sprung almost barrel-like rib cage, and the carefully modeled toes with
prominent claws as those of a lion,” whereas she considers its heavy shoulders, thick
legs, and large paws to be those of a dog. 222 Although Kawami’s observations are not
without merit, the impression that one gains by looking at the statue is very much in
agreement with Rienmann’s opinion that it has the body of a lion and the head of a dog.
217
Kerameikos Museum P 670. The grave precinct of Lysimachides of Acharnai (A4) is the fourth of six
precincts (A1-A6) that line the south side of the Street of the Tombs on a hill in the southwestern corner of
the Kerameikos. It lies east of the precinct of Dionysios of Kollytos. “It is an approximately rectangular
peribolos 16.25m in length, whose depth varies between 5.9m, on the east side, and 6.85m on the west.”
The height of its front wall is 3.45m. The precinct has been dated to between 338 and 317 B.C. on the
basis of evidence that at the east the façade overlaps what remained of the front wall of the neighboring
precinct of Dionysios after the destruction of 338 B.C.: Garland, “A First Catalogue of Attic Peribolos
Tombs” 138 and 137, fig. 2, and Knigge, The Athenian Kerameikos 126. Regarding the statue, which is
placed at the eastern corner of the enclosure, Garland says (138) that it was doubtless matched by another
one at the western corner. Knigge (126) agrees with him. For an additional discussion of the precinct of
Lysimachides, and grave stelai found in it and bearing inscriptions with the name of Lysimachides, see
Brückner, Der Friedhof am Eridanos 76, fig. 45 and 83-85.
218
Todisco, Scultura greca del IV secolo fig. 178: 330-310 B.C; H. Riemann, Kerameikos II: Die
Skulpturen vom 5. Jahrhundert bis in römische Zeit (Berlin, 1940) 102: 320 B.C.
219
O. Keller, Die antike Tierwelt I (Leipzig, 1909) 104-107, 111-112.
220
H. Riemann, Kerameikos II: 101.
221
Kawami, “Greek Art and Persian Taste” 262.
222
Kawami, “Greek Art and Persian Taste” 262.
140