Dog-Heads

[caldrail]

Recently I watched a program about medieval psychology, which was interesting. One thing the ppresenter talked about were the Dog-Heads, men with heads of dogs, thought to have villages and farms of their own and always 'somewhere over the horizon'.

 

Now as to whether the continued claims of medieval people to have spotted these creatures wandering around at night are true, who can say?

 

Thing is... I've wondered if the myth of these creatures started because of egyptian heiroglyphs depicting similar creatures. Egyptian wares and oddities may well ahve travelled about with trade especially in roman times and perhaps during the medieval as well, and since your typical peasant is none too educated and remained very literal about his christian worldview, that he interpreted images in this way? And from a few interpretations, a rumour becomes accepted as established expectation.

 

Its interesting that medieval explorers who went out to find these Dog-Heads asked the locals where they were, only to be told 'We thought they lived where you come from"

 

Bizarre...

[Gaius Octavius]

There was/is a radio program called the 'Art Bell Show'. There were many 'reports' by some, that they had seen 'were' dogs in Ohio.

[caldrail]

I'm thinking in terms of those glyphs of jackal headed people (mythological figures but your average traveller in older times wouldn't know that) which were interpreted literally, and if there's a further connection to lycanthropy I would be astonished, as surely this was down to the human fear of wild wolves picking off weak and helpless members of their society?

[DecimusCaesar]

Terry Jones in 'Medieval Lives' mentions a similar subject when discussing the Mappae Mundi of the Middle Ages. He says that far too many modern people take these maps (as well as the images of the creatures with heads in their stomachs etc) in a far too literal manner. The Mappae Mundi he argues, is a map of the mind, not of physical geography or of the inhabitants of the world. Therefore it's hard to determine if Medieval people really did believe in the existence of dog headed people, or whether we moderns find it difficult to interpret Medieval symbols and their psychology.

 

That said, didn't Medieval travellers like Marco Polo expect to run into dog headed men in his travels in Asia? Afterall Ancient Greeks like Herodotus believed in giant gold digging ants in India, so it's not that much of a step towards medieval belief in monsters.

[caldrail]

Medieval maps were expected to be visually pleasing, and to some extent, the images of monsters were speculatory or decorative (reinforcing the image of lands unknown at the extremes of the world). Since many people reported sightings or close encounters with Dog-Heads, its a fair bet there were those who did believe.

[Northern Neil]

Medieval maps were expected to be visually pleasing, and to some extent, the images of monsters were speculatory or decorative (reinforcing the image of lands unknown at the extremes of the world). Since many people reported sightings or close encounters with Dog-Heads, its a fair bet there were those who did believe.

Maybe the Church found it convenient that people believed in such things, as it deterred the 'ordinaries' from taking too much of an interest in long distance travel?

[caldrail]

Doesn't seem likely, since most people were bound to the land under the manorial system and there were penalties for those who absconded. Besides, peasants were too busy paying tithes and taxes and if they travelled, what would happen to their strips of land? Its more likely that the legend of certain things - dog-heads, monopods, serpents etc - were a curiosity to many and the makers of maps felt bound to locate them somewhere. They were very real creatures to the average medieval person, even though they existed in legend, and a map that showed their location must have seemed more erudite.

[The Augusta]

As soon as I read the opening post on this thread I immediately recalled those old maps where one would read 'Here be Dragons' - a term that has passed into folklore. Could these dog-heads have been marked to denote similar unexplored or wild areas on a map?

 

Just a thought.

[Kosmo]

Could these areas be where people with dog breath were noted? Maybe they've seen how often people look like their dogs? Then you don't depict the humans but the dogs that they look like

If various monstrous creatures were on the maps this is less strange then depicting nonexisting lands. Searching for an island in mid-Atlantic could easily kill a crew low on food and water.

Maybe this maps had a hidden key, for the unknowing looker the map not only showed the way to wealth (this knowledge was highly prised) but also scaring creatures and unreal lands. Use the famous map of Piri Reis and you will be in a lot of trouble...

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Recently I watched a program about medieval psychology, which was interesting. One thing the ppresenter talked about were the Dog-Heads, men with heads of dogs, thought to have villages and farms of their own and always 'somewhere over the horizon'.

 

Now as to whether the continued claims of medieval people to have spotted these creatures wandering around at night are true, who can say?

 

Thing is... I've wondered if the myth of these creatures started because of egyptian heiroglyphs depicting similar creatures. Egyptian wares and oddities may well ahve travelled about with trade especially in roman times and perhaps during the medieval as well, and since your typical peasant is none too educated and remained very literal about his christian worldview, that he interpreted images in this way? And from a few interpretations, a rumour becomes accepted as established expectation.

 

Its interesting that medieval explorers who went out to find these Dog-Heads asked the locals where they were, only to be told 'We thought they lived where you come from"

 

 

 

Bizarre...

 

A recent discovery of a stone dating back to 700AD found in a cemetery on the Shetland Isles jogged my memory of an earlier stone in fact one of four that have been found in 1992 in the same cemetery, what stood this particular stone known as the Mail Stone out from the rest was that on it it depicted a mystery figure with a dog head or either wearing a dog head mask.

 

HERE'S a very interesting paper on the Mail Stone, scroll down to page 4 of 11 for a picture of the mysterious figure, plus many more depictions of dog head figures from across Europe.

 

HERE'S the original article that jogged my memory.

[caldrail]

As soon as I read the opening post on this thread I immediately recalled those old maps where one would read 'Here be Dragons' - a term that has passed into folklore. Could these dog-heads have been marked to denote similar unexplored or wild areas on a map?

 

Just a thought.

 

Sort of. All those empty spaces were filled in with fantasy because people believed such things existed in those days and they had to live somewhere didn't they? Besides, it made the map look pretty and who was going to prove the map-maker wrong?

[ASCLEPIADES]

Recently I watched a program about medieval psychology, which was interesting. One thing the ppresenter talked about were the Dog-Heads, men with heads of dogs, thought to have villages and farms of their own and always 'somewhere over the horizon'.

 

Now as to whether the continued claims of medieval people to have spotted these creatures wandering around at night are true, who can say?

 

Thing is... I've wondered if the myth of these creatures started because of egyptian heiroglyphs depicting similar creatures. Egyptian wares and oddities may well ahve travelled about with trade especially in roman times and perhaps during the medieval as well, and since your typical peasant is none too educated and remained very literal about his christian worldview, that he interpreted images in this way? And from a few interpretations, a rumour becomes accepted as established expectation.

 

Its interesting that medieval explorers who went out to find these Dog-Heads asked the locals where they were, only to be told 'We thought they lived where you come from"

 

Bizarre...

Salve, C

 

Here comes Ctesias of Cnidus, Indica, cp. XXXVII:

 

"On these mountains there live men with the head of a dog, whose clothing is the skin of wild beasts. They speak no language, but bark like dogs, and in this manner make themselves understood by each other. Their teeth are larger than those of dogs, their nails like those of these animals, but longer and rounder. They inhabit the mountains as far as the river Indus. Their complexion is swarthy. They are extremely just, like the rest of the Indians with whom they associate. They understand the Indian language but are unable to converse, only barking or making signs with their hands and fingers by way of reply, like the deaf and dumb. They are called by the Indians Calystrii, in Greek Cynocephali ["dog-heads"]. They live on raw meat. They number about 120,000."

 

J. Lendering hypothesizes Cynoscephalae might be a translation of the Indian svap

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, Amici

 

 

Saint Christopher Cynocephalus

[caldrail]

J. Lendering hypothesizes Cynoscephalae might be a translation of the Indian svap