Mythological Dogs
Greek Mythology
The stories about dogs in Greek Mythology are fairly short so for this segment it would be a couple of the dogs from Greek mythology telling their stories to each other. I will definitely mention Cerberus, Argos, and probably Laelaps. Their stories are mentioned briefly in a prior post.
Egyptian mythology
The Egyptians are known for revering cats highly but what a lot of people don't know is that the revered dogs just as highly. It was a crime to kill a dog and even harsher a crime if the dog was collared and clearly a pet. People would mourn their dogs as they would their humans, believing they will meet them again in the afterlife. When dogs died people would shave their heads and eyebrows, which was the sign of mourning. Anubis was represented with the head of a Dog, some say it is a jackal but the Egyptians actually did not distinguish between domestic dogs and jackals given that the breeds in that region closely resembled them.
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Basenji PuppyBasenji dogs are an Egyptian dog breed that is one of the oldest breeds known. |
Xolotl
Aztec god of fire and lightning but also twins, deformities, and sickness. He is the king of the underworld and in Aztec mythology, not a very nice guy. Dogs were looked down upon in Aztec culture so I want to display probably the only dog that could be a "bad boy." He was also the twin of Quetzalcotl who was highly revered. This is kind of odd given that twins were seen as a deformity. In the creation story all the gods sacrifice themselves for the sake of the world, Xolotl acted as the executioner who was supposed to sacrifice himself at the end. There are different endings to this, some include him actually commiting suicide as he is supposed to, others have him not doing so then crying so hard his eyes fall out, and another has Quetzalcotl returning and exacting punishment. No matter how it happens Xolotle is seen as a trickster with hollow eye sockets.
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