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

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domestic cases. While Bdelycleon <strong>and</strong> some slaves set up a courtroom, another slave,<br />

Xanthias, compla<strong>in</strong>s about the behavior <strong>of</strong> the dog liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the house:<br />

XANTHIAS<br />

To hell with you! To th<strong>in</strong>k that we keep a dog like that!<br />

BDELYCLEON<br />

Tell me, what’s the matter?<br />

XANTHIAS<br />

If it isn’t that dog Labes! He just dashed through (para|&caj)<br />

<strong>in</strong>to the kitchen, grabbed (a(rpa&saj) a long Sicilian cheese,<br />

<strong>and</strong> he’s eaten it all up.<br />

BDELYCLEON<br />

<strong>The</strong>n that must be the first crime I br<strong>in</strong>g before my father.<br />

You be here to prosecute.<br />

XANTHIAS<br />

No, not me; actually the other dog says he’ll be prosecut<strong>in</strong>g<br />

if a charge is brought <strong>in</strong>to court. (Vesp. 835-843) [46]<br />

<strong>The</strong> words <strong>of</strong> Xanthias <strong>in</strong>dicate that not one, as was the case <strong>in</strong> the house <strong>of</strong> Chremylus<br />

(Ar. Plut. 1105), but two dogs lived <strong>in</strong> the house <strong>of</strong> Bdelycleon. <strong>The</strong> name <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong><br />

them, Labes, which translates as “Grabber,” 265 even though, is fictitious, appears to be<br />

<strong>in</strong>spired by the dog’s grabb<strong>in</strong>g the cheese. Unlike Augeas, Eupolis’ Molossian dog, who<br />

was named after his donor, the name <strong>of</strong> Labes <strong>in</strong>dicates that dogs were assigned names<br />

on the basis <strong>of</strong> their behavior. This tendency is also seen <strong>in</strong> Xenophon, whose fourth-<br />

century treatise On Hunt<strong>in</strong>g suggests that Phonax, mean<strong>in</strong>g “<strong>The</strong> Loud One,” is a good<br />

name for a hound (Cyn. 7.5.4). 266 <strong>The</strong> same tendency is also seen <strong>in</strong> the case <strong>of</strong><br />

265 A. H. Sommerste<strong>in</strong>, ed., tr., Wasps (<strong>The</strong> Comedies <strong>of</strong> Aristophanes 4; Warm<strong>in</strong>ster, 1983) 208, l<strong>in</strong>e 836.<br />

266 For a comprehensive catalogue <strong>of</strong> names given to dogs <strong>in</strong> classical antiquity, see F. Mentz, “Die<br />

klassischen Hundenamen,” Philologus 88 (1933) 104-129, 181-202, 415-442. For a compilation <strong>of</strong> ancient<br />

texts referr<strong>in</strong>g to names <strong>of</strong> dogs, <strong>and</strong> modern scholarship on them, see J. Diggle, ed., tr., <strong>The</strong>ophrastus.<br />

Characters (Cambridge, 2004) 411-412. Regard<strong>in</strong>g material evidence, the <strong>in</strong>scribed name <strong>of</strong> a female dog<br />

called FILOQERA, which translates as “Lover <strong>of</strong> Hunt<strong>in</strong>g” appears on a sixth-century (525-500 B.C.)<br />

Boeotian black-figured skyphos, which depicts women <strong>in</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g bread. For a brief<br />

description <strong>of</strong> this vase, see M. Brouskari, <strong>The</strong> Paul <strong>and</strong> Alex<strong>and</strong>ra Canellopoulos Museum (Athens, 1985)<br />

178

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