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

Undoubtedly, these zw|~a did show something. The fact, however, that Herodotus never
explains what raises the question whether he knew or cared about their content.
e. Zw|~a on the Breastplate of Amasis
The next occurrence of the term in Herodotus is in the third book of the Histories.
Here zw|~a are mentioned as images of some kind decorating a linen breastplate that the
Egyptian king Amasis (reign c. 570-526 B.C.) sent as a gift to the Spartans, but the
Samians stole from them. Herodotus relates the story, while speaking of another conflict
between Sparta and Samos. 448 In an attempt to reverse their expulsion from their
homeland, a group of Samian citizens who had recently returned from Egypt, and whom
the Samian tyrant Polycrates (reign 535-522 B.C.) suspected of overthrowing him,
appealed to Sparta. Herodotus’ account starts with the Spartan response to their request:
After this, having made their preparations, the Lacedaemonians made their
expedition against Samos. As the Samians tell the story, this was to repay the
kindness done to the Lacedaemonians by the Samians when they helped them
against Messenia. However, the Lacedaemonians say that this was not the reason
for their assisting the Samians in their need; rather, they themselves wanted to
take revenge for the theft of the bowl that the Samians stole from them when they
were taking it up to Croesus, and also to the theft of the breastplate that Amasis,
king of Egypt, had sent to them, the Spartans, as a gift. The Samians had stolen
the breastplate the year before they took the bowl. The breastplate was of linen
and with many (suxnw~n) zw|&wn woven into (e0nufasme/nwn) it, and decorated
with gold and ei0ri/oisi a)po_ cu&lou embroidery. The greatest wonder (qwma&sai
a1cion) of it is that each single fine thread of the fabric has in itself three hundred
and sixty strands, and they all can be seen to be there. One exactly like it was
dedicated by Amasis, in Lindus, to Athena. (3.47) [103]
Herodotus uses zw|&wn, the genitive plural of zw|~on, to refer to the decorative elements of
a linen breastplate, but, as seen previously, he is not concerned with conveying what
448 For an historical analysis of the relationship between Sparta and Samos, see L. H. Jeffery and P.
Cartledge, “Sparta and Samos: A Special Relationship?” CQ 32 (1982) 243-265; and for the contribution of
Herodotus’ text to the modern understanding of this relationship, see B. M. Mitchell, “Herodotus and
Samos,” JHS 95 (1975) 77-78.
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