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

Regarding modern translations of zw|&wn, the majority agrees on the meaning of
“figures,” except for two that interpret zw|&wn as “animals.” 403 To judge from previous
examples of zw|~a in an artistic context, these zw|&wn can be only generally understood as
images of some kind, but the passage provides no additional clue in support of a more
precise identification of “figures” or “animals.”
The fact that Herodotus mentions the polished stone of carved zw|&wn as the
material of the causeway, immediately after he discusses its dimensions, strongly
suggests that his description centers on the architecture of the structure. It is thus
probably safe to assume that, when he speaks of li/qou te cestou~ kai zw|&wn
e0ggeglumme/nwn, he means refined carved images of some kind, most likely in relief
sculpture, that adorned the walls of the causeway, rather than freestanding sculpture.
What cannot be clarified is whether these were the internal or external walls of the
structure. Additional evidence against freestanding sculpture is also suggested by the fact
that if Herodotus had this kind of sculpture in mind, then, given his usual, and already
noted, references to statues as a)ga&lmata, it is reasonable to assume that he would have
used this term here instead of zw|&wn. In apparent support of this point, although it can be
mere coincidence, is the picture that emerges from the archaeological record: almost no
statues were found in the cult complex of Khufu at Giza. 404 The picture is no different
403 “Figures”: Grene, The History. Herodotus 185; Godley, Herodotus 427; Macaulay and Lateiner, The
Histories. Herodotus 120; Waterfield, Herodotus. The Histories 145. “Animals”: H. Goedicke, Re-Used
Blocks from the Pyramid of Amenemhet I at Lisht (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition,
no. 20; New York, 1971) 8, n. 2; De Sélincourt and Marincola, Herodotus. The Histories 124.
404 Z. Hawass, “The Programs of the Royal Funerary Complexes of the Fourth Dynasty,” in D. O’Connor
and D. P. Silverman, eds., Ancient Egyptian Kingship (Leiden and New York, 1995) 236, states that “no
statuary program can be established for Khufu because no statues have yet been found at Giza, except for
the alabaster bases found inscribed with the king’s name.” Such evidence should not be taken to mean that
all causeways of Old Kingdom pyramid complexes were devoid of freestanding statues. As D. Arnold,
“Royal Cult Complexes of the Old and Middle Kingdoms,” in B. E. Shafer, ed., Temples of Ancient Egypt
(Ithaca, 1997) 73, n. 128, suggests, the walls of causeways of pyramid complexes of the fifth and sixth
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