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

Conclusions
Animals are fundamental components of the art, thought, and language of
Classical Greek culture. They are valuable guides to the ancient Greek understanding of
the phenomenon of naturalistic style in art. They help account for a range of deviations
from naturalism that is tied to the notions of inconsistency, incongruity, and contradiction
that hold together the elements of style in Greek art, in particular sculpture.
Representations of animals in Classical Greek funerary sculpture are especially valuable
in interpreting the phenomenon of naturalistic style by revealing that their contradictory
style is the material manifestation of a contemporary contradictory attitude toward
animals that is attested in the literary record and maintains a conceptual affinity with the
duality that characterizes contemporary linguistic usage concerning animals. In this way,
animals establish that the principle of combining essentially differing elements, as
defined by the conceptual context of Classical Greek culture, is the fundamental structure
on which the conception of style in contemporary art rests.
Ancient texts dating from the fifth century B.C. and the first and second centuries
A.D. indicate that in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. animals are favored and valued as
subjects of works of art in both sculpture and painting. As subjects of representation,
animals are a means by which artistic skill is measured and the fame of the artists is
established in both Classical Greece and throughout classical antiquity. This conclusion
is in opposition to the prevailing view in scholarship that places the animal form in a
position subordinate to that of the human one in Classical Greek art.
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