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

is, however, more explicit in its description. The examples of bronze a)ndria&ntej, stone
a)ga&lmata, and gegramme/na zw|~a to which it refers are all grouped together under the
same label: artistic representations of real bodies (mimh&mata tw~n a)lhqinw~n
swma&twn). This wording seems to be influenced by, if not a direct borrowing from,
Plato’s earlier reference in the Laws to the bodies of subjects represented in works of art
(tw~n memimhme/nwn…e3kaston tw~n swma&twn) [144]. 610 This impression is further
reinforced by Alcidamas’ use of the terms sxh&mati (form) and ta&cei (arrangement),
which were also used by Plato in the Laws. 611 As mentioned earlier, sw~ma is Plato’s
usual word for the body of a human being and animal. If the influence of Plato on
Alcidamas is considered here, then Alcidamas’ swma&twn may be perceived as bodies of
similar entities as well. What needs to be mentioned, however, is the contention that
ancient Greek conflated sw&mata (“bodies”) with images of human beings, a linguistic
usage which, in turn, reveals an anthropocentric infiltration in the vocabulary of the
arts. 612 That Alcidamas calls the bodies to which he refers a)lhqinw~n (“true”) is a detail
that deserves further attention. 0Alhqinw~n derives from a)lh&qeia, a word, whose
standard meaning is “truth,” but, when in connection with the visual arts, as is the case
here, has many implications and connotations. Pollitt identifies four different meanings
when a)lh&qeia is used in this context: a) “real experience” as opposed to “anticipation or
“imagined experience,” b) the “real thing,” an external physical reality, as opposed and
610
On the basis of evidence emerging from On Those Who Write Speeches, Alcidamas is considered a rival
of Isocrates (436-338), therefore, a contemporary of Plato (429-347 B.C.). For a discussion of the rivalry
between Alcidamas and Isocrates, see Muir, Alcidamas xii-xv.
611
In his commentary on this treatise of Alcidamas, Muir, Alcidamas. The Works and Fragments xiv,
speaks of the familiarity of this author with the work of Plato in the following way: “Perhaps the most
surprising evidence of a connection is with Plato/Socrates: Alcidamas had clearly picked up some notion of
the theory of the Forms and had also read at least the last section of the Phaedrus where the mythical story
of Theuth is taken up by Socrates to expand on the limitations of the written word.”
612
Schnapp, “Are Images Animated,” in Renfrew and Zubrow, eds., The Ancient Mind 42 (without
documentation).
314