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

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image as an object was not important. 561 At the same time, the descriptions on these<br />

<strong>in</strong>scriptions suggest that there was no dist<strong>in</strong>ction between image <strong>and</strong> subject, which<br />

accords well with previous evidence for zw|~on. In regards to the variety <strong>of</strong> action <strong>and</strong><br />

also animate <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>animate subjects, the picture that emerges from these <strong>in</strong>scriptions<br />

appears to be no different from the one formed by the extant sculpture. Given this<br />

evidence, the zw~ia <strong>of</strong> the Ch<strong>and</strong>ler stele, which were to be placed aga<strong>in</strong>st the Eleus<strong>in</strong>ian<br />

stone <strong>of</strong> the Erechtheion frieze can be identified with the sculptural representations <strong>of</strong> this<br />

frieze as described <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>scriptions <strong>and</strong> preserved <strong>in</strong> the extant sculpture.<br />

As noted earlier, Caskey def<strong>in</strong>ed the zw~ia <strong>of</strong> the Ch<strong>and</strong>ler stele as “figures.”<br />

Although this def<strong>in</strong>ition is true, it does not do justice to all subjects represented by the<br />

sculpture <strong>of</strong> the frieze. As mentioned earlier, the term figure refers to the representation<br />

<strong>of</strong> a bodily form, especially the human one. In this respect, the translation <strong>of</strong> zw~ia as<br />

“figures” is restrictive <strong>in</strong> the sense that it makes one th<strong>in</strong>k that human be<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> animals<br />

were represented by the sculpture <strong>of</strong> the frieze. As a result, the application <strong>of</strong> the modern<br />

term “figures” onto zw~ia tends to dismiss the objects, <strong>and</strong> both natural <strong>and</strong> manmade<br />

features that accompanied the human <strong>and</strong> animal figures placed there. It should be<br />

remembered, however, that <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>scriptions that record the payments <strong>of</strong> the sculptors,<br />

all objects <strong>and</strong> features seem to be <strong>in</strong>separable elements <strong>of</strong> the human <strong>and</strong> animal figures.<br />

More specifically, objects <strong>and</strong> features not only surround the figures described, but also<br />

mark their specific positions. Two women are described as positioned beside a wagon<br />

<strong>and</strong> two mules (fr. XVI, col. I, 153-154) [87], a boy beh<strong>in</strong>d a breastplate (fr. XVII, col. I,<br />

161) [88], <strong>and</strong> a man as lean<strong>in</strong>g on a staff beside an altar (XVII, col. I, 177-178) [88]. In<br />

561 For a discussion <strong>of</strong> this idea, see Donohue, Xoana 23, n. 54.<br />

284

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