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

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Aristotle’s Politics, so pervasive is this attitude that the breed<strong>in</strong>g cycle <strong>of</strong> the animal is<br />

perceived as be<strong>in</strong>g affected by its liv<strong>in</strong>g together with humans:<br />

Human be<strong>in</strong>gs pair <strong>and</strong> breed at any <strong>and</strong> every season, <strong>and</strong> so also do many<br />

domesticated (sunanqrwpeuo&mena) animals ow<strong>in</strong>g to the shelter <strong>and</strong> the plentiful<br />

food they get by their association with man: I refer to those whose gestation<br />

periods are short, such as the sow <strong>and</strong> the bitch, <strong>and</strong> those birds which raise<br />

several broods. (HA 542a) [61]<br />

Aristotle confirms that the dog <strong>and</strong> the pig, as was the case with those <strong>in</strong> the house <strong>of</strong><br />

Chremylus, shared the same space with humans. This proximity is attested not only by<br />

the provisions <strong>of</strong> food <strong>and</strong> shelter that the author attaches to the animals, but also by his<br />

reference to them as “sunanqrwpeuo&mena,” which has been translated as<br />

“domesticated,” but its precise mean<strong>in</strong>g is that <strong>of</strong> “symbiotic with humans.” That<br />

Aristotle perceives this symbiosis as a shap<strong>in</strong>g force <strong>in</strong> the breed<strong>in</strong>g cycle <strong>of</strong> the dog is<br />

significant, for it suggests two ideas <strong>of</strong> his about the animal: that it had adopted a<br />

biological response to the human environment <strong>in</strong> which it lived, <strong>and</strong> that it was <strong>in</strong>ferior to<br />

humans because it had succumbed to their environment. When reversed, this evidence<br />

suggests that an anthropocentric attitude pervaded Aristotle’s view <strong>of</strong> the relationship<br />

between humans <strong>and</strong> the dog. Put simply, even though the dog shared the same space<br />

with humans, its conception with<strong>in</strong> <strong>Classical</strong> Greek society was shaped by deep-seated<br />

convictions about human dom<strong>in</strong>ion over animals.<br />

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