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

scholarly interpretations of the problematic style of representations of animals in
Classical Greek sculpture do not take into account.
The present study has also shown that the contradictory style of Classical Greek
animal sculpture, as exemplified by the above statue of the dog from the Kerameikos, is
rooted in the contradictory attitude toward animals that is reflected in Classical Greek
literature. Fifth- and fourth-century texts demonstrate that Greek culture was primarily
anthropocentric and held a contradictory attitude toward animals: on the one hand, it
allowed them to occupy an important position in everyday life and thought, but on the
other, it denigrated them. The dog is a case in point. While regarded as a standard
inhabitant of the Classical Greek household who had open access to shelter and food, and
a faithful protector of the property and human members of this household, the dog was, at
the same time, seen in a negative light. It was deemed a gluttonous, two-faced creature,
whose behavior was treacherous and dangerous as evident from its stealing food,
fawning, biting, and also scavenging on human corpses. The dog was beaten for stealing
food and eaten because its flesh was considered therapeutic food. This ambiguity in the
collective conception of the dog is a representative example of the generalized
contradictory attitude of Classical Greek culture toward animals. The contradiction
inherent in this attitude serves as the conceptual basis for the contradictory style of
animals in contemporary sculpture.
The dual attitude of Classical Greek culture toward animals is also reflected in
contemporary linguistic usage. The meaning(s) of the word zw|~on usually taken to mean
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