Overview

Having earned the title of ‘man’s best friend’ through their millennia-long relationship with humans, dogs have been constantly present in human life. The great number of textual and artistic representations of canines attests to the popularity of these animals in ancient Greece, where the existence of domesticated dogs has been traced back to the early Neolithic period. Dogs appear in more than 2,000 painted and sculpted scenes of Athenian art, serving a variety of roles: they are the faithful companions of warriors and riders, valuable collaborators in the hunt, cherished pets, and status symbols. They are present in the gymnasium, the symposium, and in domestic scenes. They are shown happily playing with children, providing protection and companionship for women, and accompanying males in various aspects of their everyday lives. They are associated with gods and mythical heroes and are even depicted on funerary reliefs, accompanying their humans in death. This book offers a thorough study and analysis of the iconography of dog depictions in Athenian sculpture and vase painting, employing an interdisciplinary approach to explore their multifarious function and the extent to which they were influenced by the human-canine bond.

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9781803279978

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Katia Margariti has a PhD in Classical Archaeology and is a Research Associate of the Department of Classics of the University of Reading. Having published three books and peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals, she is currently co-authoring two books and co-editing a conference proceedings volume. She is co-founder and administrator of the online group for the study of animals in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Zoa – Animals in Greco-Roman Antiquity), co-organizer of two major international conferences on animals in the ancient Mediterranean. Her research interests focus on Greek art and iconography with special emphasis on ancient Athens, funerary art (especially funerary sculpture) and animals in antiquity.

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