24.04.2013 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>in</strong>cident, Aegeas was a ferocious Molossian dog. His behavior, however, is consistent<br />

with that <strong>of</strong> the watchdog that Clytemnestra claimed to be <strong>in</strong> the Agamemnon: helpful to<br />

his master <strong>and</strong> harmful to his enemies; it is, therefore, to be judged as appropriate <strong>and</strong><br />

worthy <strong>of</strong> praise rather that condemn. Aelian also relates that Aegeas was a beautiful dog<br />

that Eupolis received as a gift, suggest<strong>in</strong>g therefore that Molossian dogs were a highly<br />

esteemed breed <strong>in</strong> fifth-century Athens. Aelian records that the death <strong>of</strong> Aegeas, who<br />

was named after his donor, was a reaction to that <strong>of</strong> Eupolis, <strong>and</strong> thus evidence <strong>of</strong> the<br />

love <strong>and</strong> devotion <strong>of</strong> this dog to his master. Aelian describes Augeas’s grief (howl<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

lament<strong>in</strong>g), self-imposed starvation, <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ally pass<strong>in</strong>g on his master’s grave <strong>in</strong> Aeg<strong>in</strong>a,<br />

a spot which was named afterwards Hound’s Dirge. His description <strong>of</strong> such details gives<br />

the impression that the story, despite its antiquity, was preserved <strong>in</strong>tact <strong>in</strong> his own time.<br />

Aegeas’s story is similar to the slightly earlier story <strong>of</strong> Xanthippos’s dog that took<br />

place also <strong>in</strong> Athens, but <strong>in</strong>stead <strong>of</strong> Aeg<strong>in</strong>a <strong>in</strong>volved the adjacent isl<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Salamis.<br />

Plutarch (A.D. I-II) records that <strong>in</strong> fear <strong>of</strong> the Persian <strong>in</strong>vasion (480 B.C.), Xanthippos,<br />

the father <strong>of</strong> Pericles, embarked on a boat to Salamis, leav<strong>in</strong>g his can<strong>in</strong>e companion<br />

beh<strong>in</strong>d. Unable to endure separation from his master, the dog swam along with the boat<br />

to Salamis, where it died <strong>of</strong> exhaustion. <strong>The</strong> spot <strong>of</strong> his death was still called “Dog’s<br />

Mound” <strong>in</strong> his time, Plutarch says (<strong>The</strong>m. 10) [162]. <strong>The</strong> similarity between the two<br />

stories may pose questions regard<strong>in</strong>g their reality or fiction, but it is important to keep <strong>in</strong><br />

is 1.11m each, were found <strong>in</strong> Rome. In their discussion, the authors present also the possibility that these<br />

sculptures may have formed part <strong>of</strong> a group, thought to represent a mythological hunt, consist<strong>in</strong>g also <strong>of</strong> the<br />

statue <strong>of</strong> a boar (currently on display <strong>in</strong> a separate location with<strong>in</strong> the gallery) <strong>and</strong> that <strong>of</strong> a hunter seriously<br />

destroyed by fire <strong>in</strong> 1762. Another idea favored is that these statues <strong>of</strong> dogs could have been funerary<br />

works guard<strong>in</strong>g a tomb. For a summary <strong>of</strong> their provenience, identification <strong>of</strong> their marble as Pentelic, <strong>and</strong><br />

good illustrations, see G. A. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi: Le sculture I (Rome, 1958) 77-78, figs. 48-49.<br />

Besides this pair <strong>of</strong> marble dogs, there is also another one housed <strong>in</strong> the Vatican Museums: B. Andreae et<br />

al., Bildkatalog der Skulpturen des vaticanischen Museums (DAI II; Berl<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> New York, 1998) 13-14,<br />

pls. 144-147, figs. 64-65. F<strong>in</strong>ally, a sixth marble statue <strong>of</strong> a dog found at Castel Fusano near Ostia is<br />

housed <strong>in</strong> the Palazzo Chigi <strong>in</strong> Rome: Picón, “<strong>The</strong> Dog <strong>of</strong> Alcibiades” 318.<br />

171

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!