Cynocephaly
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The characteristic of cynocephaly, or cynocephalus (Template:IPAc-en), having the head of a canid, typically that of a dog or jackal, is a widely attested mythical phenomenon existing in many different forms and contexts. The literal meaning of cynocephaly is "dog-headedness"; however, that this refers to a human body with a dog head is implied. Such cynocephalics are known in mythology and legend from many parts of the world, including ancient Egypt, Libya, Greece, India and China. Further mentions come from the medieval East and Europe. In modern popular culture cynocephalics are also encountered as characters in books, comics, and graphic novels. Cynocephaly is generally distinguished from lycanthropy (werewolfism) and dogs that can talk.
In addition, the Greeks and Romans called a species of apes cynocephalus (these apes are suspected to be baboons).<ref>Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, cynŏcĕphălus</ref><ref>Charlton T. Lewis, An Elementary Latin Dictionary, cynocephalus</ref><ref>Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed., CHAP. 35.—ETHIOPIA</ref>
EtymologyEdit
The word cynocephaly is taken (through Latin) from the Greek word κυνοκέφαλοι kynokephaloi, plural of the word κυνοκέφαλος,<ref>Diodorus Siculus, Library, 3.35.5</ref> from kyno– (combining form of κύων kyōn) meaning "dog" and κεφαλή kephalē meaning "head".
The same "dog" root is found in the name Cynomorpha ("dog-shaped") for a sub-group of the family Cercopithecidae, which contains many species of macaques and baboons.
Ancient Greece and EgyptEdit
Cynocephaly was familiar to the ancient Greeks from representations of the Egyptian gods Duamutef (son of Horus), Wepwawet (the opener of the ways), and Anubis (the god of the dead) with the heads of jackals. The Greek word (Template:Langx) "dog-head" also identified a sacred Egyptian baboon with a dog-like face.<ref>The binomial name for the yellow baboon is Papio cynocephalus, while Cynocephalus has also been adopted as the genus name for an Asian arboreal gliding mammal also known as a colugo.</ref> Rather than literally depicting a hybrid human-animal state, these cynocephalic portrayals of deities conveyed those deities' therianthropic ability to shift between fully human and fully animal states.<ref name="dunn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In an Ancient Egyptian hybrid image, the head represents the original form of the being depicted, so that, as the Egyptologist Henry Fischer put it, "a lion-headed goddess is a lion-goddess in human form, while a royal sphinx, conversely, is a man who has assumed the form of a lion."<ref name="wilkinson">Template:Cite book</ref> This non-literal approach to depicting deities may have confused visitors from Greece, leading them to believe that Egyptians worshipped cynocephalic gods, or even that mortal cynocephalic entities populated Egypt.<ref name="velde">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Reports of dog-headed races can also be traced back to Greek antiquity. In the fifth century BC, the Greek physician Ctesias, in his Indica, wrote a detailed report on the existence of cynocephali in India.<ref>Ctesias, Indica §§ 37, 40–3</ref> Similarly, the Greek traveler Megasthenes claimed to know about dog-headed people in India who lived in the mountains, communicated through barking, wore the skins of wild animals and lived by hunting.<ref>Megasthenes, Indica, vis-a-vis Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis 7.2: 14–22; Fragments XXX. B. Solin. 52. 26–30.</ref> Claudius Aelianus also mentioned the dog-headed tribes in India, and he, too, wrote that they are of human shape and clothed in the skins of beasts. He also added that although they have no speech and howled to communicate, they were capable of understanding the Indian language.<ref>Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, 4.46</ref> Herodotus reports claims by ancient Libyans that such creatures inhabit the east of their lands, as well as headless men and various other anomalies.<ref name="herodotus">Template:Cite book</ref>
The best estimate for the place where the battle between the Argonauts and the Cynocephali took place is modern day North Serbia or South Hungary.<ref name="argonauts">Template:Cite book</ref>
Some Greek writers also mention the Hemicynes (singular, Hemicyon), meaning half-dogs (from "ἡμι" meaning "half" and "κύων" meaning "dog").<ref>Strabo, Geography, 7.3</ref><ref>Hesiod, Fragments, CW.F40</ref>
Late AntiquityEdit
There is a description of two saints Ahrakas and Augani with a dog's head from the legend about the life of the Coptic saint Mercurius Abu-Sayfain, whom they faithfully served. According to the Coptic legend, preserved in an Arabic translation, the two "cynophali devoured the grandfather of St. Mercurius, and were preparing to eat his father when an angel appeared and surrounded them with a ring of fire. They repented and became companions of the father, and later accompanied Mercurius into battle."<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> They are described as being "bodyguards" of Mercurius.<ref name=":1" /> Their image on the icon is in the Coptic Museum.<ref>Template:Ill. Template:Langx. ISBN 5-89321-100-6</ref><ref>Template:Langx. Orthodox Encyclopedia. Volume 33. p. 568—570. ISBN 978-5-89572-037-0</ref>
The cynocephali offered such an evocative image of the magic and brutality deemed characteristic of bizarre people of distant places that they kept returning in medieval literature. St. Augustine of Hippo mentioned the cynocephali in The City of God, Book XVI, Chapter 8, in the context of discussing whether such beings were descendants of Adam; he considered the possibility that they might not exist at all, or might not be human (which Augustine defines as being a mortal and rational animal: homo, id est animal rationale mortale), but insisted that if they were human they were indeed descendants of Adam.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, City of God, Book XVI, Chapter 8</ref>
Saint ChristopherEdit
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, certain icons covertly identify Saint Christopher with the head of a dog. Christopher pictured with a dog's head is not generally supported by the Orthodox Church, as the icon was proscribed in the 18th century by Moscow.<ref>Pageau, Jonathan. "Understanding The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher", Orthodox Arts Journal, July 8, 2013</ref>
The roots of that iconography lie in a hagiographic narrative set during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, which tell of a man named Reprebus, Rebrebus or Reprobus (the "reprobate" or "scoundrel") being captured by Roman forces fighting against tribes dwelling to the west of Egypt in Cyrenaica and forced to join the Roman numerus Marmaritarum or "Unit of the Marmaritae", which suggests an otherwise-unidentified "Marmaritae" (perhaps the same as the Marmaricae Berber tribe of Cyrenaica). He was reported to be of enormous size, with the head of a dog instead of a man, both apparently being typical of the Marmaritae. He and the unit were later transferred to Syrian Antioch, where bishop Peter of Attalia baptised him and where he was martyred in 308.<ref>David Woods, 'St. Christopher, Bishop Peter of Attalia, and the Cohors Marmaritarum: A Fresh Examination', Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 48, No. 2 (June 1994), pp. 170–186</ref> It has also been speculated that this Byzantine depiction of St. Christopher as dog-headed may have resulted from a misreading of the Latin term Cananeus (Canaanite) as caninus, that is, "canine".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The late 10th century German bishop and poet Walter of Speyer portrayed St. Christopher as a giant of a cynocephalic species in the land of the Chananeans (Canaan in the New Testament) who ate human flesh and barked. Eventually, Christopher met the Christ child, regretted his former behavior, and received baptism. He, too, was rewarded with a human appearance, whereupon he devoted his life to Christian service and became an Athleta Christi, one of the military saints.<ref>Walter of Speyer, Vita et passio sancti Christopher martyris, 75.</ref>
Medieval EastEdit
Cynocephali also figure in medieval Christian worldviews. A legend that placed Andrew the Apostle and Bartholomew the Apostle among the Parthians presented the case of "Abominable", the citizen of the "city of cannibals... whose face was like unto that of a dog." After receiving baptism, however, he was released from his doggish aspect.<ref>David Gordon White, Myths of the Dog-man (University of Chicago Press) 1991:22.</ref>
Ibn BattutaEdit
Ibn Battuta encountered what were described as "dog-mouthed" people on his journey, possibly describing a group of Mentawai people (who practice tooth sharpening), living on an island between India and Sumatra:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Quote
Medieval WestEdit
Paul the Deacon mentions cynocephali in his Historia gentis Langobardorum: "They pretend that they have in their camps Cynocephali, that is, men with dogs' heads. They spread the rumor among the enemy that these men wage war obstinately, drink human blood and quaff their own gore if they cannot reach the foe."<ref>simulant se in castris suis habere cynocephalos, id est canini capitis homines. Divulgant apud hostes, hos pertinaciter bella gerere, humanum sanguinem bibere et, si hostem adsequi non-possint, proprium potare cruorum. Paul the Deacon, Historia gentis Langobardorum Book 1, ch. 11.</ref> At the court of Charlemagne, the Norse were given this attribution, implying un-Christian and less-than-human qualities: "I am greatly saddened" said the King of the Franks, in Notker's Life, "that I have not been thought worthy to let my Christian hand sport with these dog-heads."<ref>Notker, Life of Charlemagne, Book II §3.</ref> The ninth-century Frankish theologian Ratramnus wrote a letter, the Epistola de Cynocephalis, on whether the Cynocephali should be considered human (he thought that they were).<ref>Patrologia Latina 121: 1153–56.</ref> If human, a Christian's duty would be to preach the Gospels to them. If animals, and thus without souls, such would be pointless. Quoting St. Jerome, Thomas of Cantimpré corroborated the existence of Cynocephali in his Liber de Monstruosis Hominibus Orientis, xiv, ("Book of Monstrous men of the Orient"). The thirteenth-century encyclopedist Vincent of Beauvais acquainted his patron Saint Louis IX of France with "an animal with the head of the dog but with all other members of human appearance… Though he behaves like a man… and, when peaceful, he is tender like a man, when furious, he becomes cruel and retaliates on humankind".<ref>Vincent, Speculum naturale, 31:126.</ref>
The Nowell Codex, perhaps more commonly known as the manuscript containing the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, also contains references to Cynocephali. One such reference can be found in the part of the manuscript known as The Wonders of the East, in which they are called "healfhundingas" or "half-dogs." Also, in Anglo-Saxon England, the Old English word wulfes heafod ("wolf's head") was a technical term for an outlaw, who could be killed as if he were a wolf. The so-called Leges Edwardi Confessoris, written around 1140, however, offered a somewhat literal interpretation: “[6.2a] For from the day of his outlawry he bears a wolf's head, which is called wluesheued by the English. [6.2b] And this sentence is the same for all outlaws."<ref>lupinum enim caput geret a die utlagacionis sue, quod ab Anglis 'uuluesheued' [= Old English wulfes heafod 'wolf's head'] nominatur. Et haec sententia communis est de omnibus utlagis. Leges Edwardi Confessoris § 6.</ref> Cynocephali appear in the Old Welsh poem Pa gur? as cinbin (dogheads). Here they are enemies of King Arthur's retinue; Arthur's men fight them in the mountains of Eidyn (Edinburgh), and hundreds of them fall at the hand of Arthur's warrior Bedwyr (later known as Bedivere).<ref name="Green 84-85">Green, p. 84-85.</ref> The next lines of the poem also mention a fight with a character named Garwlwyd (Rough-Gray); a Gwrgi Garwlwyd (Man-Dog Rough-Gray) appears in one of the Welsh Triads, where he is described in such a way that scholars have discussed him as a werewolf.<ref>Bromwich, p. 73–74</ref><ref>Bromwich p. 385</ref>
High and late medieval travel literatureEdit
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Medieval travellers Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Marco Polo both mention cynocephali. Giovanni writes of the armies of Ögedei Khan who encounter a race of dogheads who live north of the Dalai-Nor (Northern Ocean), or Lake Baikal.<ref>John of Plano Carpini, The long and wonderful voyage of Frier Iohn de Plano Carpini, Chapters 11 and 15</ref> The Travels of Marco Polo mentions dog-headed barbarians on the island of Angamanain, or the Andaman Islands.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> For Polo, although these people grow spices, they are nonetheless cruel and "are all just like big mastiff dogs".<ref>Yule, Henry and Cordier, Henri. The Travels of Marco Polo, Chapter 13, Vol II</ref> In The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, dog-headed men are described as inhabiting the island of Nacumera (the Nicobar Islands).<ref name=":0" />
The dog-headed people were also found in the New World. Christopher Columbus reported that the Taino were familiar with the cynocephali.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I was presented with a map of the New World drawn by Piri Reis, which included an image of a dog-headed man fighting a monkey in what is now Colombia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1519, the Governor of Cuba instructed Hernán Cortés to investigate rumours of cynocephali while on his expedition to the American mainland.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
According to Henri Cordier, the source of all the fables of the dog-headed barbarians, whether European, Arabic, or Chinese, can be found in the Alexander Romance.<ref>Henri Cordier's 'Notes and Addenda' in the Sir Henry Yule edition of The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2.</ref>
Modern EuropeanEdit
In his feature Giant Egg, David Attenborough speculates that the indri, a type of lemur from Madagascar, may be one possible origin to the myth of dog-headed men.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ChinaEdit
In Central and East Asia a common calendar system consists of a twelve-year cycle, with each year represented as an animal. The eleventh animal of the twelve-year cycle is the dog. Often such animals are depicted as human figures with an animal head. Thus, the cynocephalic depiction of the eleventh zodiac animal is common (possibly with a tail).Template:Citation needed
Additionally, in the Chinese record Book of Liang, the Buddhist missionary Hui Shen describes an island of dog-headed men to the east of Fusang, a nation he visited variously identified as Japan or the Americas. The History of the Northern Dynasties of Li Dashi and his son, Li Yanshou, Tang historians, also mentions the "dog kingdom".Template:Citation needed
Modern appearancesEdit
{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} The use of dog-headed characters is prevalent in modern literature, particularly in comics and graphic novels. They often serve as extras or have significant roles in various works. For example,
- In Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, Jews are depicted with mouse heads, while Americans have dog heads, Germans have cat heads, and the French have frog heads.
- Doghead is a villain in the comic book Ghost Rider.
- Dog-headed creatures appear in role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. The Vargr<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> in the game Traveller are a notable example.
- Terry Jones's book The Saga of Erik the Viking features a fearsome race of dog-faced warriors.
- The film Marquis portrays the Marquis de Sade with the head of a Spaniel.
- Mr. Peanutbutter in BoJack Horseman is a cynocephalic person with Labrador Retriever characteristics.
- The Camp Half-Blood Chronicles and The Trials of Apollo books include the Cynocephali as monsters.
- The Mummy Returns features an army of jackal-headed warriors called the Army of Anubis.
- Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker trilogy includes a cynocephalic half-man named Tool.
- The Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey features a dog-headed policeman as the hero.
- The Age of Mythology video game includes Anubites, Egyptian mythical units with jackal heads.
- The album (Mankind) The Crafty Ape by Crippled Black Phoenix features a cynocephali on the cover and a song called "A Letter Concerning Dogheads".
- Ode to Kirihito is a seinen manga series by Osamu Tezuka that centers around a disease called "Monmow" that deforms its victims into dog-faced people.
- In the video game Dominions 5, a race of dog-headed people known as the Cynocephalians are one of five vassals of the Kingdom of Ind. In Dominions 6 they receive their own separate, playable nation in the 'Late Age' known as the Calystriian Republic of Andramania.
Other dog-headed creatures in legendEdit
- The Talmud states that at the time before the Messiah, the "face of the generation will have the face of a dog." Talmud, Sotah 49b; Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a<ref>Talmud, Sotah 49b; Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a</ref>
- According to the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, human-like beings with the appearance of dogs and the feet of deer are seen by Baruch in the Second Heaven.<ref>Kulik, Alexander (2010). 3 Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch. Pages 29 and 137. De Gruyter. Template:Isbn. Retrieved 27 July 2024.</ref>
- The Chinese legend of Fuxi included variations where he had a dog's head, or he and his sister Nüwa had ugly faces.
- In Saami mythology, according to Craig ChalquistTemplate:Who, Padnakjunne ("Dog-Face") are cannibalistic humanoids with dog snouts.Template:Cn
- In the United States there are tales of dog-headed creatures, including the Michigan Dogman,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the wolf-like Beast of Bray Road of Wisconsin.
- In Estonia, Koerakoonlane (literally 'dogsnouters') were part of mythology, as gathered by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald.
- The Wulver of Shetland in Scotland.
- Psoglav in Serbian mythology.
- Itbarak in Turkic mythology
- Adlet in Inuit mythology, specifically that of Greenland, Labrador, and Hudson Bay
See alsoEdit
- Ghouls and qutrubs sharing same origin of myth
- Saint Guinefort
- Theriocephaly, generic term for human-shaped bodies with animal heads
- Ulfheðnar, wolf-associated berserkers
- Werewolves, which figure in archaic Greek and other European traditions.
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Bromwich, Rachel (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University Of Wales Press. Template:ISBN.
- Ctesias, Indica, as excerpted by Photios in his Epitome, tr. J.H. Freese, available from Livius.org Template:Webarchive.
- Green, Thomas (2007). Concepts of Arthur. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. Template:ISBN.
- Megasthenes, Indica, tr. J.W. McCrindle, Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian. Calcutta and Bombay: Thacker, Spink, 1877. 30–174, available from Project South Asia
- Paul the Deacon, Historia gentis Langobardorum ("History of the Lombards"), ed. L. Bethmann and G. Waitz, "Pauli historia Langobardorum." In MGH Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum 1 (saec. VI-IX), ed. G. Waitz. Hanover, 1878. 12–187; tr. Foulke, W.D. History of the Langobards. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1907. Available from Northvegr.
- Leges Edwardi Confessoris, ed. and tr. Bruce R. O'Brien, God's peace and king's peace: the laws of Edward the Confessor. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. Template:ISBN.
External linksEdit
- Anthony Weir, "A holy dog and a dog-headed saint": St Guinefort and St Christopher Cynephoros or Cynocephalus
- Christopher Columbus & the Monstrous Races