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

studying freestanding statues of lions. In defending his choice of subject, he conveys the
generally dismissive attitude of his colleagues towards his engagement with this type of
material:
Why offer a reappraisal of classical Greek funerary animals, chiefly lions, at this
time and in the fashion presented here? For one reason the body of material is
large and, save the admirable set of lists published in connection with the drainspouts
from Olympia, really little studied beyond single, isolated examples. In
Greece, the islands and Asia Minor, lions are the itinerant archaeologist’s delight.
They are inevitably tethered in the courtyards or gardens of museums, or even
outside their entrances. Therefore there is no complex red tape, no frustrating
delays or refusals in photographing or otherwise studying them. No one is jealous
or possessive of the droits de la publication of a marble lion….Professional
colleagues, particularly those working in Greece and Turkey, tend to feel that
anyone studying lions is either perpetuating a big joke or slipping into second
childhood. Like marble cuirassed statues, lions are everywhere, and their pursuit
meets with such success that one is encouraged to travel far and wide in the
byways of classical lands. 14
Vermeule’s opening and closing remarks that “the body of material is large” and that
“lions are everywhere” speaks of the abundance, and therefore, popularity of animal
sculpture in antiquity. When contrasted with his colleagues’ scorn of his engagement
with this body of material, such evidence reveals a scholarly view of animal sculpture
that does not correspond to ancient reality. This realization, as well as the prevailing
preoccupation with the human form, are succinctly summarized in a later article (1986)
by Trudy Kawami, which underlines the need for incorporating animal sculpture in the
study of stylistic change in Greek art: “Scholarly research has focused on the human
figure as a characteristic theme in Greek art and the major indicator of stylistic change.
We forget that animal sculpture was also highly valued.” 15
Although divorced from the topic of style, further evidence of the need to
recognize the significance of animal representations for the study of Greek art is found in
14 C. Vermeule, “Greek Funerary Animals, 450-300 B.C.,” AJA 76 (1972) 50.
15 T. S. Kawami, “Greek Art and Persian Taste” 265.
15