Set III-1-dog-001. The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris when considered a subspecies of the grey wolf or Canis familiaris when considered a distinct species) is a member of the genus Canis (canines), which forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant terrestrial carnivore. The dog was the first species to be domesticated and has been selectively bred over millennia for various attributes. In ancient Indo-European mythologies, dogs often serve as watchdogs, guarding the gates of the Underworld.
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“ The Magi differ a great deal from the rest of the human race, and particularly from those priests in Egypt who think it it impure to kill any living thing except for the purpose of sacrifice. The Magi, however, will kill everything with their own hands except dogs and human beings, and even compete with each other for the privilege of killing ants as well as snakes [ὄφις] and all creatures that creep and fly. Since they have observed this custom from the very beginning, let it be. „
● Herodotus (484-425 BC), Histories I: 140, 2-3 | Translated by Andrea L. Purvis & Robert B. Strassler. Copyright © 2007.
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“ Here are further facts relating to dogs which I have heard. Puppies are born blind, and when they emerge from their dam's womb they cannot see. For the first fortnight they are afflicted in this way, that is for as many nights as the moon does not appear, but after that the dog has the sharpest sight of any animal. Ant it is held in honour by the Egyptians, for they have named a district [Cynopolis] after it, and they assert that the reason for this is twofold: first, when Isis was seeking everywhere for Osiris, dogs led the way and tried both to help her to trace his son and also to keep off the wild beasts. Ant the second reason is this, that at the same time that the Dog-star rises (the story goes that it was the dog of Orion), the Nile also in a sense rises, coming up to water the land of Egypt, and pours over the plough-lands. And so the Egyptians pay honour to the dog for bringing and summoning this fertilising water. „
● Claudius Aelianus (175-235 AD), On the Characteristics of Animals X: 45 | Translated by Alwyn F. Scholfield. Copyright © 1958-1959.
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“ Clearchus, the Peripatetic philosopher, states that the inhabitants of Argos are the only people in the Peloponnese who refuse to kill a snake [ὄφις]. And these same people, if a dog comes near the market-place on the days which they call Arneid, kill it. „
● Claudius Aelianus (175-235 AD), On the Characteristics of Animals XII: 34 | Translated by Alwyn F. Scholfield. Copyright © 1958-1959.
| Editorial notes: {...} - Omitted text; [...] - Translation back to the original, clarification, or curator's commentary. |
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