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Dogs in the Ancient World - Coggle Diagram
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II. Support Topics
Explanation: The dog was a companion, protector, and hunter for the Greeks and the spiked collar, so well-known today, was invented by the Greeks to protect the necks of their canine friends from wolves.
Evidence/Evaluation: Dogs appear in Greek literature early on in the figure of the three-headed dog Cerberus who guarded the gates of Hades.
Topic Sentence: Clearly, the dog was an important part of Egyptian society and culture but the same was true of ancient Greece.
Link: Though separated by different cultures and hundreds of years, the dog is depicted as the loyal, devoted friend to his master, whether that master returns the devotion or not.
Explanation: every family should have two types of dog, a hunting dog and a watchdog (De Re Rustica I.21). Dogs protected people not only from wild animals and thieves but also from supernatural threats.
Evidence/Evaluation: Dogs are mentioned in the Roman law code as guardians of the home and flocks. In one case which was recorded, a farmer brings a suit against his neighbor because the neighbor's dogs rescued the farmer's hogs from wolves and the neighbor then claimed ownership of the hogs.
Topic Sentence: The great Latin poet Virgil wrote, “Never, with dogs on guard, need you fear for your stalls a midnight thief”.
Link: In ancient Rome, the dog was seen in much the same way as in Greece and the well-known mosaic, Cave Canem (Beware of Dog) shows how dogs were appreciated in Rome as guardians of the home just as they had been in earlier cultures and are still today.
Topic Sentence: In ancient Egypt, the dog was linked to the dog-jackal god, Anubis.
Explanation: Domesticated dogs were buried with great ceremony in the temple of Anubis at Saqqara and the idea behind this seemed to be to help the deceased dogs pass on easily to the afterlife (known in Egypt as the Field of Reeds) where they could continue to enjoy their lives as they had on earth.
Evidence/Evaluation: The best-known dog interred in this way is Abuwtiyuw who was honoured with a grand burial in the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE) near the plateau of Giza.
Link: The intimate relationship between dogs and their masters in Egypt is made clear through inscriptions which have been preserved.
Explanation:The blood of a dog was an important component in sealing oaths and swearing allegiances because dogs were thought to have been given to humans as a gift from heaven and so their blood was sacred.
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Explanation: many years after the battle of Kurukshetra, making a pilgrimage to his final resting place. On the way, he is accompanied by his family and his faithful dog. One by one his family members die along the path but his dog remains by his side. When at last Yudhisthira reaches the gates of paradise he is welcomed for the good and noble life he has lived but the guardian at the gate tells him the dog is not allowed inside
Evidence/Evaluation: Yudhishthira is shocked that so loyal and noble a creature as his dog would not be allowed into heaven and so chooses to remain with his dog on earth, or even go to hell, rather than enter into a place which would exclude the dog.
Topic Sentence: In ancient India, the dog was also highly regarded. The Indian Pariah Dog, which still exists today, is considered by many to be the first truly domesticated dog in history and the oldest in the world (though this has been challenged).
Link: the dog is then revealed to be the god Vishnu the preserver, who has been watching over Yudistira all his life, thus linking the figure of the dog directly to the concept of the divine. This story was used as the plot in an episode called “The Hunt” in the famous TV series The Twilight Zone in which a farmer resists the temptations of the devil in the afterlife by refusing to enter “heaven” without his dog. In this episode, as in Mahabharata, dogs are more than welcome in the true paradise.
Evidence/Evaluation: This has been inferred from excavations in the region which have uncovered graves in which dogs are buried with their masters and from inscriptions on temple walls.
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Link: According to this myth, dogs pre-date the present race of human beings and so should be treated with respect the way one would treat an elder. The Aztecs also buried dogs with their dead and their god of death, Xolotl, was imagined as a huge dog.
Explanation: Dogs were bred in pens as a food source, as guardians and pets, and for hunting, but were also associated with the gods.
Explanation: People were encouraged to care for dogs just as they would other human beings. An injured dog should be nursed back to health, a pregnant dog should be cared for as one’s own daughter and her puppies looked after for at least six months following birth; after which they should be given good homes.
Evidence/Evaluation: Persian dog breeds included the Saluki, the Sarabi Mastiff, the Alabai (Central Asian Sheepdog), Afghan, and Kurdish Mastiff.
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Link: During daily meals, it was stipulated that one should always reserve three morsels of food for one’s dog to be given in gratitude for their company.
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Evidence/Evaluation: The dog Garm was thought to guard the afterlife of Hel, keeping the dead souls in and the living out.
Dogs were often buried with their masters as protectors and guides in the afterlife and dogs feasted at the feet of their warrior masters in the great hall of Valhalla after death.
Topic Sentence: The dog was also associated with the afterlife, protection, and healing in Celtic and Norse cultures.
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Explanation: The famous Nimrud Dogs, clay figurines of canines found at the city of Kalhu, were buried under or beside the threshold of buildings for their protective power.
Evidence/Evaluation: Five other dog statuettes were recovered from the ruins of Nineveh and inscriptions relate how these figurines were imbued with the power of the dog to protect against danger.
Topic Sentence: Dogs protected the home and amuletic images of canines - such as the one mentioned above from Uruk - were carried for personal protection.
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IV. Bibliography 
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