Just inside the Sewardstone Road, at the Westerly end of Victoria Park are the now badly damaged Dogs of Alcibiades which have stood here since 1912.
Donated by Lady Aignarth, the sculptures are copies of 2nd Century Roman statue of a dog held at the British Museum. The dog in question originally belonged to Alcibiades, a 5th Century Athenian statesman and friend of Socrates.
Sadly, the statues have been badly damaged in recent years, but maybe one day soon they will be repaired.
Does anyone know the story of how Alcibiades' dog lost his tail? I'm referring to Balzac's reference in Eugenie Grandet. Can't find anything about it; perhaps some classically educated Brit out there knows.
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DeleteLook at Jennings dogs on Wikipaedia, it tells you the answer on the dogs of Alcibiades section
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