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

keep in mind, however, that, as it is, this definition of zw|~on appears to stem from an
“essentialist” conception; no evidence exists to suggest an automatic connection with any
notion of realism in representation. The silence on this aspect, however, may mean that
we have here an aspect of a work of art that was taken for granted. In sum, this evidence
suggests that zw|~on may be very close to the modern definition of representational or
figural art, which may, in turn, explain why the term “figure” has been applied to the
ancient zw|~on indiscriminately.
Regarding the fact that Mandrocles’ painting centered on a historical subject,
William Childs recognizes an affiliation with Anatolian and Near Eastern art rather than
with that of the Greek mainland. 496 He sees a distant parallel between the painting of
Mandrocles and the historical reliefs of Lycian tombs, which, in accordance with
Assyrian iconographic tradition, depict cities and also sieges of cities. 497 In the same
way, for example, that representations of cities on the smaller frieze of the Nereid
Monument from Xanthos (ca. 380 B.C.) and the west wall of the Heroon from Trysa (ca.
370 B.C.) were parts of historical narratives that served to glorify the actual deeds of the
local dynasts, the bridge represented in the painting described by Herodotus can be seen
as glorifying the deed of both Mandrocles and Darius. 498 Tonio Hölscher suggests that
496 W. A. P. Childs, The City-Reliefs of Lycia (Princeton, 1978) 95, where he finds it pointless to “discredit
totally the historical bent of Greek art of the fifth century,” evident, for example, in the Attic vases, which
show the killing of Hipparchos by Harmodios and Aristogeiton. He does highlight, however (95) the
Eastern Greek interest in specific illustrations than in generic types, which he explains (95, n. 50) as “the
result of Oriental influence in accordance with the interest, however, rudimentary, in historical specificity.”
497 Childs, The City-Reliefs of Lycia 95. He discusses in detail (48-54) parallels between the iconography
of the city motif, primarily in battle and siege contexts, in Lycian and Assyrian reliefs. As an example, he
offers (52) the city sieges on the bronze gates of Shalmaneser from Balawat, where the seated figure of
Shalmaneser and his officials watch rows of soldiers attacking a city, while lines of prisoners are led away
from the city. The scene recalls that depicted on slab 878 of the Nereid Monument, where a siege mound,
soldiers, and figures leading prisoners away are depicted.
498 Childs, The City-Reliefs of Lycia 97, presents a tripartite division of the reliefs and the function of the
city motif on them. The city of Type I (e.g., Merehi Sarcophagus, Xanthos, exterior southeast wall of
Heroon at Trysa, City Sarcophagos, Telmessos), he states, 95, depicts in typical Oriental manner the power
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