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

instead of a message highlights the perception of the image as the living model itself
rather than as a mere object of depiction. 107 In this way, first, strong likeness to a
prototype, and second, accuracy and aliveness emerge as constituent elements of a
lifelike image which caused audiences to respond with astonishment to it. This evidence,
in turn, indicates that lifelikeness was a valued quality of works of art in fifth-century
Greece.
Moving to the fourth century, a famous passage of Xenophon from his work
Memorabilia also presents lifelikeness as a valued quality of works of art, in this case,
statuary. Xenophon records an informed discussion between the philosopher Socrates
and a practicing artist, the sculptor Cleiton, on the subject of mimesis:
“Cleiton, that your statues of runners, wrestlers, boxers, and fighters are beautiful
I see and know. But how do you e0nerga&zh| (produce in) them that illusion of life
(to_ zwtiko_n fai/nesqai) which is their most alluring charm to the beholder?
As Cleiton was puzzled and did not reply at once, “Is it,” he added, “by faithfully
representing the form of living beings that you make your statues look as if they
lived?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Then is it not by accurately representing the different parts of the body as they
affected by the pose—the flesh wrinkled or tense, the limbs compressed or
outstretched, the muscles taut or loose—that you make them look more real
members and more convincing?”
“Yes, certainly.”
“Does not the exact imitation (a)pomimei=sqai) of the feelings that affect bodies in
action also produce a sense of satisfaction in the spectator?”
“Oh yes, presumably.”
“Then must not the threatening look in the eyes of fighters be accurately
represented, and the triumphant expression on the face of conquerors be imitated
(mimhte/a)?”
with its voices, cries, and songs, death is the world of silence…To animate a statue, made of stone or clay,
and breathe life into it after having fashioning it—as in the case of Hermes making Pandora come alive, or
of the living statues in the service of Hephaestus—is to give it a voice.” Also for a discussion of images as
“speaking, and therefore, living objects” in ancient Greece, see J. Svenbro, tr. J. Lloyd, Phrasikleia: An
Anthropology of Reading in Ancient Greece (Ithaca and London, 1993) 9-25, 49-63.
107 Stieber, “Aeschylus’ Theoroi” 93, argues that the designation “truthful messenger” suggests that the
visual message conveyed by the image was similarly accurate, detailed, and trustworthy as the information
reported by the character of the messenger in Greek plays. Thus, the language of the fragment, she says,
clearly emphasizes realism.
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