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

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With regard to the modern def<strong>in</strong>ition <strong>of</strong> zw|~a <strong>in</strong> this passage, the majority <strong>of</strong><br />

translations says “figures.” Grene <strong>and</strong> Waterfield embrace this mean<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> so do<br />

Godley, Macaulay, <strong>and</strong> also De Sél<strong>in</strong>court <strong>and</strong> Mar<strong>in</strong>cola. 397 Similarly, the<br />

commentaries <strong>of</strong> Lloyd, Blakesley, <strong>and</strong> Walter How <strong>and</strong> Joseph Wells accept the<br />

mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> zw|~a as “figures.” 398 <strong>The</strong> last two authors, <strong>in</strong> particular, clarify that the word<br />

does not refer to “hieroglyphs (which the Greeks did not borrow) but [to] ‘figures’ <strong>of</strong><br />

animals, men, [<strong>and</strong>] plants.” 399 It should be kept <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d, however, that large-scale<br />

hieroglyphs can function as images. As Jeffrey Hurwit po<strong>in</strong>ts out, “the word that means<br />

‘hieroglyph’ or ‘sign’ can also mean ‘representation.’” 400 Also Liddell <strong>and</strong> Scott <strong>in</strong>clude<br />

this passage <strong>of</strong> Herodotus <strong>in</strong> their entry zw|~on, which they def<strong>in</strong>e as “figure” <strong>and</strong><br />

“image.” 401 Despite their disagreement on the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> zw|~a, these translations<br />

provide the first <strong>in</strong>stance <strong>of</strong> the underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the term as someth<strong>in</strong>g other than<br />

“animals.” It is important to remember that what enables this scholarly consensus is its<br />

recognition <strong>of</strong> the context <strong>in</strong> which zw|~a occurs <strong>and</strong>, more specifically, the direct<br />

connection <strong>of</strong> this context with the visual arts.<br />

c. Zw|~a on Khufu’s Causeway<br />

<strong>The</strong> second occurrence <strong>of</strong> the term <strong>in</strong> the second book <strong>of</strong> the Histories is <strong>in</strong><br />

connection with architecture. This time zw|~a, which refer aga<strong>in</strong> to carved images <strong>in</strong><br />

397<br />

Grene, <strong>The</strong> History. Herodotus 132; Godley, Herodotus 279; Macaulay <strong>and</strong> Late<strong>in</strong>er, <strong>The</strong> Histories.<br />

Herodotus 80; De Sél<strong>in</strong>court <strong>and</strong> Mar<strong>in</strong>cola, <strong>The</strong> Histories. Herodotus 97.<br />

398<br />

Lloyd, Herodotus Book II II 32; Blakesley, Herodotus, with a Commentary 170, n. 17; W. W. How <strong>and</strong><br />

J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus I (Oxford,1912; repr. 1957) 159.<br />

399<br />

How <strong>and</strong> Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus 159, do not expla<strong>in</strong> what type <strong>of</strong> source led them to this<br />

suggestion. Similar obscurity characterizes also their reference to Egyptian scarabs as objects on which<br />

such “figures” were to be found.<br />

400<br />

J. M. Hurwit, “<strong>The</strong> Words <strong>in</strong> the Image: Orality, Literacy, <strong>and</strong> Early Greek Art,” Word <strong>and</strong> Image 6<br />

(1990) 180.<br />

401 9<br />

LSJ , 760, s.v. zw|~on.<br />

239

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