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

mythological dogs, such as those of the huntsman Actaeon, whose names, to mention
only two, are Harpalos (Ov., Met. 3.222; Hyg. Fab.181.11) and Harpyia (Hyg.
Fab.181.9; Poll., Onom. 5. 47); they correspond respectively to the masculine and
feminine versions of “Snatcher.” 267 As seen, the names of these dogs are attested in later
authors, but their inclusion here is relevant in that their etymology complies with the
behavior of Labes, who “snatched” (a(rpa&saj) the cheese from the kitchen.
Commenting on the term, Douglas McDowell states that it denotes the snatching of food
by dogs and other animals. 268 Douglas Olson clarifies that it refers to the snatching of
50, no. 384; also J.-J. Maffre, “Collection Paul Canellopoulos: Vases Béotiens,” BCH 99 (1975) 467-476,
figs. 29a-b, and 30a-b. Although dating from a later period (A.D. III), the masculine version of the canine
name “Lover of Hunting” appears in the inscription that accompanies the relief sculpture of a dog on a
funerary stele from the grave of a dog found at Pergamon. The inscription reads: “My name is
FILOKUNHGOS because I hunted ferocious prey with my swift feet”; M. Fränkel, Die Inschriften von
Pergamon (Altertümer von Pergamon vol. 8. pt. 2; Berlin, 1895) 513, no. 3559. For an illustration of the
stele, see S. Georgoudi, “Funeral Epigrams for Animals,” Αρχαιολογíα 11 (1984) 38, fig. 3. Also the
inscribed names of two dogs, Methepon and Ormenos, translated respectively as “Pursuer” and “Rusher”
appear in the depiction of the Calydonian boar hunt on the François Vase dated to ca. 570 B.C. For an
illustration of this scene and additional discussion of the sixth- and fifth-century iconography of this subject
primarily on pottery, see J. M. Barringer, The Hunt in Ancient Greece (Baltimore and London, 2001) 147-
161, fig. 82, 172-173.
267 As such, but in the plural form, translates also the name of Harpies, imaginary beings who appear in
myth as wind-storms that snatch the daughters of Pandareus and give them as servants to the Erinyes (Il.
16.150; Od. 1.241, 14.371, 20.77), and also as winged women who continuously snatch the food and befoul
the table of the blind, Thracian king Phineus (Hesiod frs. 150-156 in R. Merkelbach and M. L. West, eds.,
Fragmenta Hesiodea [London, 1967] 73-77; Apollonius of Rhodes [2.234-2.434]). For a thorough
summary of ancient literary references to and artistic representations of Harpies, see L. Kahil and A.
Jacquemin, “Harpyiai,” LIMC IV.1; IV.2 (Zurich and Munich, 1988) 445-450; 266-271. For a discussion
of the sustained relation of Harpies with the realm of the dead and their equation to demons, see S. I.
Johnston, Restless Dead. Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece (Berkeley, 1999)
180, n. 52. For a discussion of depictions of Harpies on ancient Greek pottery, with special reference to
their wings springing from the front of their shoulders as being a visual clue of their otherworldliness, see
B. Cohen, “Red-Figure Vases Take Wing,” in J. Oakley et al., eds., Athenian Potters and Painters. The
Conference Proceedings (Oxbow Monograph 67; Oxford, 1997) 141-155. For the frequent tendency to
confuse artistic representations of Harpies with those of Sirens, the most famous example being the socalled
Harpy Tomb in Lycia, see D. Tsiafakis, ““PELWRA”: Fabulous Creatures and/or Demons of
Death?,” in J. M. Padgett, ed., The Centaur’s Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art (New Haven
and London, 2004) 99, n. 36; also C. Smith, “Harpies in Greek Art,” JHS 13 (1892-93) 103-114.
268 D. M. McDowell, ed., Aristophanes. Wasps (Oxford, 1971) 243, line 837. A quick perusal of the
comedies of Aristophanes provides us with two additional examples of dogs snatching food (a(rpa&sasa,
Ach. 1160; u(farpa&sei, Nub. 490), 268 and one where the culprit is a kite (a(rpa&saj, Av. 892); three
examples were also found where food is snatched by humans as well (a(rpa&somai, Hierocles, Pax 1118; an
anonymous man, Eccl. 866; a(rpa&zein, poor people, Plut. 598).
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