Horses and Dogs

[dean]

Hello,I was reading just the other day that Caesar had wanted a horse just the same as Bucephalus- and it made me wonder about Alexander's own horse.It just occurred to me that it wasn't the most common practise to give animals names. I can't remember any person who lived BC who gave a name to his animal. Not sure if I am making much sense here but anyway- Alexander gave his dog a name- named after the Macedonian month of January- Peritas. Are there any other famous kings, emperors who actually named their horse or dog- as if it were a person?Best wishes,
Dean

[yiannis]

I'm sure that they named their pets and animals in generals just as we do today.
The most famous dog and horse respectivelly must have been Kerberus and Pegasus!I wan interested to find depictions of dogs in ancient Greek vases, so I visited Perseus. Here're a few of the more beautiful ones:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 92.11.0052 (boy & dog)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 92.11.0088 (boys & dog)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 90.24.0467 (Hunter & dog)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 92.11.0122 (boy, dwarf & dog!)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 90.14.0111 (hunter & dog)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 91.01.0955 (boy & dog)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 91.07.0741 (dog)http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/im ... 90.03.0472 (men with leashed dog)A bit off topic but I love dogs!

[Halil]

Thanks, Yiannis, for the images. I love dogs too.Interesting how most of the dogs were of a very similar type. It may be a dumb question, but what is the curved stick-thing the two boys are holding in the first two images?Best regards
Halil

[ruthaki]

One of my most favorite Greek sculptures is a life-size one of a dog in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Each time I'm there I love to go and look at it.
And did you know they'd found a dog's grave while they were digging for the Metro around Syntagma square?So, I'm certain dogs were loved and valued by many of the ancients just as Alexander loved his own.

[yiannis]

Halil, the curved stick-thing that you reffer to, troubled me as well. At first I thought that it's just a stick, perhaps a go-fetch kind of game between man and dog, but then I realized that these men must be athletes and the "stick" must be the tool they used to scrape off the sand and oil from their bodies. (It was called "strengis")
http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_658.pdf

[Halil]

Ah, yes, of course, that makes sense. It would have been used as a symbol by the artist to show that the person depicted was an athlete as opposed to a hunter or whatever. Now that opens up a new question, so what association did the athlete(s) have with a dog of the type shown? Was the dog there to show that this athlete was as fleet as a hound of the coursing type?Ruth- yes, I know the statue you mention. It is beautiful.Cheers
Halil