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7/24/2019 Dog Burials in the Greek World
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Dog Burials in the Greek World
Leslie Preston Day
American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 88, No. 1. (Jan., 1984), pp. 21-32.
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Dog Burials
in
the Greek World
LESLIE PRESTON
DAY
(Pl. 6, figs. 5-6)
Abstract
Recent excavations of Ear ly Iron Age tombs at Kavo u-
si, Crete , have revealed new evidence for dog bur ial in the
Greek world. Dogs were sometimes, although not regu-
larly, buried with hum ans in chamber an d tholos tombs
of the Late B ronze Age on Crete and the Ma inland. In
the Early Iron Age the practice continued on Crete,
where dogs were buried in pits in cemeteries separate
from their masters, often accompanying horses or don-
keys. Thi s practice is reflected in the sacrifices at the fu-
neral of Patroklos in the Iliad Dogs were probably in-
tended to act as companions or guar dians on the journey
to the Underw orld, although they may have served a fur-
the r fun ction of purifica tion, to judge from th e use of dogs
in purification rites in the later periods. The custom of
dog burial died out after the Geometric Period, and a
changed attitude toward dogs can be seen in the more
sentimental treatment revealed in tomb markers and epi-
gram s. Th e Kavo usi dog burials have their closest paral-
lels in D ark Age Crete, but th e num ber of dogs involved
and the presence of pup pies make them un usual.
During the excavation in 1981 of an Early Iron
Age tomb at Kavousi in East Crete,' the remains of
numerous dogs were uncovered in a pit beneath the
burial chamber. They may represent a sacrifice that
accompanied the burial rites, as do other dog burials
found in Late Bronze-Early Iron Age tombs. Th e
tomb belongs to a cemetery of Sub-Minoan through
Protogeometric graves2 in the mountains above the
modern village of Kavousi at a site called Vronda.
The cemetery is well known from the excavations of
Harriet Boyd (Hawes) in 1900 and belonged to a
nearby settlement.' In 1981, Geraldine C. Gesell,
William Coulson and I were able to clean these tombs
and excavate a new tholos with the help of Costis Da-
varas and under the auspices of the American School
of Classical Studies at
at hen^.^
This previously unexcavated tomb is, like the oth-
ers in the cemetery, a small tholos. Its ground plan is
horseshoe-shaped; it measures 1.30 1.60 m. on the
Th is article represents only a preliminary report on one aspect
of the Kavousi excavations. For a fuller report, see G.C. Gesell,
L.P. Day and W.D.E. Coulson, "Excavations and Survey at Ka-
vousi,
1978-1981," Hespen a 52 (1983) 389-420.
In all the tombs whose contents are known there was a small
amount of early Geom etric pottery , but the majority of the material
belonged to the Sub-M inoan through Protogeometric Periods.
H. Boyd, "Excavations at Kavousi, Crete, in
1900," AJA 5
21
American Journal ofArchaeology
88 (1984)
interior, with a stomion or short dromos opening at
the flat end on the north (ill. 1). Preserved to a height
of 1.34 m., it lacks the uppermost wall courses. The
tomb had been robbed, so little was found within it;
the few diagnostic sherds were either Protogeometric
or Byzantine, the former probably from the material
removed by the robbers, and the latter from pots
thrown in when the tomb was filled in after the
robbing.
Beneath the floor of the tomb was a pit, 0.80 m.
deep, cut into the soft bedrock (ill. 2). Th e sides of the
pit followed roughly the lines of the walls of the tomb,
but they were often cut back under the tomb walls by
KAVOUSI VRONDA X
e e
I
Pd
m
Ill. 1. Kavousi. Plan of Vronda, Tomb
X
(1901) 125-57.
Many thanks are due to Mr . Davaras and the Greek Archaeo-
logical Service for their permission a nd ai d, and to George Se kada-
kis, the local landowner at Vronda. T he w ork was m ade possible
through grants from the College of Wooster, the University of Te n-
nessee, Knoxville, the University of Minne sota and the Am erican
Philosophical Society.
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22 LES L I E P R E S TO N DAY [ AJA
88
S e c t i o n t h r o u g h
Ill.
2.
Kavousi. Section of Vro nda, T om b
X
as much as
0.10
m. The pit contained a loose fill of
stones and a little earth, and there were many skele-
tons of animals lying in contorted positions horizon-
tally and vertically in the fill (pl.
6,
fig.
5).
A brief
preliminary investigation of these bones by Sheilagh
Wa ll of Bristol University has shown that t he anim als
were mostly canids, a num ber of them puppies, w ith
fox or ma rten and a few donkey bones mixed T he
dogs were ap paren tly throw n into the pit whole, since
the skeletons were foun d fully articulated a nd showed
no signs of having been butchered (pl. 6, fig. 6).
The dogs seem to have been deposited before the
walls of the tomb were built, although this sequence
cannot be proved. T he re was little ceramic material in
the fill with the animals, a nd although most of it was
non-diagnostic, there was nothing conclusively later
than Protogeometric. The facts that the pit lay just
below the tomb and that the tomb walls followed
roughly the same plan suggest tha t the builders of the
tomb knew of the pit; it is unlikely that they would
have run the risk of underm ining t he tomb by digging
out the pit beneath it. Of course, the possibility that
the pit was dug and the dogs thrown in after the tomb
was robbed cannot be ruled out entirely, especially
since local workmen reported tha t it was customary in
the Turk ish period to throw unw anted animals,
most-
Although a prelim inary cou nt and identification of these bones
have been made, a thorough study of them, including measure-
ments, breeds a nd ages, h as yet to be completed.
R.M. Daw kins, 'Excavations at Plati, BS 2 1913-14)
13-15.
Possibly it occurred more often than we think, since animal
bones from tombs were not always recognized, kept, studied or pub-
ly sheep and goats, alive into pits and let them starve.
It is difficult to see, however, how the tom b could have
avoided collapse if this were the case. Moreover, pits
dug below tombs like this one are not unknown in
Cr eta n tholoi; one pit of L M I11 date occurs in a tom b
at Pl ati in the Lasithi Plain , although it wa s used as a
receptacle for a larnax and not for animal bu ri ak 6
T h e burial of dogs, either associated with hu ma n
burial or made separately, is not an unknow n practice
in the ancient Greek world.' Although such burials
were never a regular f eat ure of funera l practice, a
number of examples are found both on Crete and
Mainland Greece in the Late Bronze Age and on
Crete in the Early Iro n Age,8 and a few ar e known
from late r periods. A catalogue, in chronological or der
by are a, of known dog burials in th e ancient world
follows. It does not claim to be complete, for there
must be other exam ples which are unrecognized, un-
published or not known to the author. Th e dogs are
most commonly buried with humans in tombs, but
dogs ar e also found buried with other anim als in pits
within human cemeteries. Less common, and of a
rath er different natu re, ar e the instances of dogs bur-
ied alone, intramurally. Finally, I have included ex-
amples of dum ps which contained dog bones and ex-
amples from neighboring but non-Greek areas where
puppies were sacrificed as part of religious rituals. In
each of these categories I have listed both the certain
remains of dogs and those which are less securely
identified, but may be dogs. Dogs and other animals
may occasionally have entered tombs and been unable
to escape, victims of their own curiosity or hunger
rather tha n deliberate sacrifices.
CA TA LO GU E ( il l. 3)
I . DOGS
BURIED WITH
H U M A N S
IN
T OM BS
A.
C Y PRUS
Lapithos
(E C 1-11)
To mb 30 3, Chamb er A. Fragments of a dog's skull were
found in the chamber along with two hu man bodies and a
large portion of a n ox. Th e ox bones were interpreted as
rema ins of the f unera l meal, the dog as a sacrifice to serve
its master after death.
E. Gjerstad et al. , The Swedish Cyprus Expedition
(Stockholm 1934) 47-49. P. Astrijm,
The Swedish Cy
lished, especially in earlie r excavations. Th e jaws of dogs and pigs,
for example, are easily confused when only the skull remains, and
some animals have, no doubt, been erroneously identified.
No dog burials are recorded from the islands of the Aegean in
this period, which is not surprising, since little has been excavated
there in comparison with the work done on the Mainland and
Crete.
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19841 DO G BUR IALS I N T H E G R E E K W O R L D 23
Ill. 3. Sites at which dog burials have been found
prus Expedit ion 4.1B (Lun d 1972) 275. H . Cassimatis,
Les rites funeraires
h
Chypre, R D A C 1973, 132-33.
2. Lapithos ( M C I )
Tom b 322, Chamber D second level. Near the center of
the back wall lay th e almost complete skeleton of a dog.
Only a few scattered human bones were found, all be-
longing to a single individual.
E. Gjerstad et al., T h e Swedish Cyprus Expedit ion 1,147 ,
156.
J .
Wiesner,
Grab undjensei t s
(Berlin 1938) 135.
3 Politiko ( M C I )
To m b 3. Bones of one dog and one horse wkre found in
this round pit tomb.
E. Gjerstad, Studies on Prehistoric Cyprus (Uppsala
1926) 52, 81, 86.
H
Cassimatis, R D A C 1973, 141-42.
4 Politiko ( M C I )
To m b 18. A skeleton of a dog was found with th e remains
of 12-1 5 hum ans in a round pit tomb. Th is unus ual mass
burial was interpreted as a warrior tomb.
E. Gjerstad, Studies on Prehistoric C ypr us 53, 81, 86. H
Cassimatis, R D A C 1973, 141-42.
B. C R E T E
5
Knossos Maurospelio ( L M 1113)
Chamber To mb IX , chamber A. Th e human burial was
in a larn ax wh ich stood on 0.65 m. of ea rth, of which th e
lower 0.30 m, was a grave deposit containing the skull
an d leg bones of a dog.
Th e larnax was M M , but the soil below it was disturbed
and contained some L M I11 sherds.
E
J
Forsdyke, Th e Mav rospelio Cemetery at Knossos,
BS
28 (1926-27) 248,264.
6
Archanes Phourni ( L M I II A
?
Tholos B. In the c learing of th e blocking of th e dromos
were found the bones of a dog, mostly from the body, but
also from the skull. Th e skull was found separate from
the body.
Th e use of the tomb runs from M M I1 to L M IIIA, and
the dog remains ap pear to belong with the latest features.
J
Sakellarakis, Praktika 1966, 178.
7 Gournes (L M II IB)
Cham ber To mb I. A pit in the dromos contained a la rnax
with a skeleton and tw o sealstones. On e meter above the
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24 L E S L IE P R E S T O N DAY [AJA88
pitinth edromos fillwereth eskeletonof asm alldogand
sheepbones,mixedwithtracesof burnin g.Possiblythese
weresacrificesoverthegrave.
J . Hazzidakis , Deltion
4
(1918)64.A.Kanta,The Late
Minoan 111 Period in Crete
(SIMA58,Goteborg1980)
47.
8 Karphi
(SM)
Tom bsM 16,M 17.Tom bM 16containedtheremains
of fourhu ma nbodies,aswellasbonesof dog,sheepand
goat.M 17wasanother chamberof thesametomb,but
noanimalboneswerefoundinit.
H.W .andJ.D.S. PendleburyandM.B .Money-Coutts ,
"Excavationsinthe Plainof Lasithi111:K arphi," BSA
38(1937-38) 107.M .Andronikos,Totenkult Archaeo-
logia Homerica
III.W,Gottingen1968)88.
C .
GREEK MAINLAND
9 Mycenae, Kalkani Cemetery (LHIIIA-B)
Ch am ber Tom b533.Askeletonof adogwasfoundscat-
teredaboutthetombsouthofthewesterndoorjamb.
A.J.B.Wace,Chamber Tombs at Mycenae Archaeologia
82.Oxford1932)116.
10. Dendra (L H I I IA : )
Royal
Tholes
Tom b,Pi t No, 2, opposite theentrance,
containedtheunbu rntbonesof humansandanima ls,in-
cludingthe well preserved skullof a dog. It w as inter-
preted by theexcavatoras apitof sacrificialvictims,but
Mylonassuggeststhatthepitwassimplyfilledwiththe
remnantsof previousburials.Th ree dogteethwerealso
found scatte redonth efloorof thetomb.
A. Persson,
The Royal Tombs at Dendra near Midea
(Lund1931)18,29,31,69.G.Mylonas,
Mycenae and
the
Age
(Princeton
128-29'
A ' Furu-
mark' Mycenaean Pottery
2 '
Chronology (repr'
Stock-
holm1972)53.
11. Asine (LHIIIA:2)
Chamber To mb 1 : l . On a bench in the middle of the
cham berwasthewellpreservedhea dof adoglyingclose
tothelatest hum an skeleton. Th eexcavatorsthought it
mightrepresentasacrifice
pars pro toto.
0 . FrodinandA.Persson,Asine (Stockholm 1938)358.
A. Furumark,
Mycenaean Pottery
2.
Chronology
62.
12.
Mycenae, Kalkani Cemetery
(LHIIIA:2)
Cham berTomb 505.Inthe
drOmOsand
m.above
thefloor a layer of black earth was foundwhich con-
tainedtwohum anskeletons,amassofsherds ,and anim al
bones,includ ingthesk ullsof adog,apigan dah orse
?).
A.J.B.Wace, Chamber Tombs at Mycenae 14,116n.1.
A. Furumark ,
Mycenaean Pottery
2.
Chronology
64.
13. Oxylithos, Euboea (LHIIIA:2)
TholosTomb.Oftheeightburialsinthetomb,threein-
humations(ofawoman,ayouthandaboy)haddeposits
of anim albonesabovethecorpses,includingcow,sheep,
goat,piganddog.Thesewereinterpretedasanimalsac-
rificesoverthegraves.
G.Papavasileios,n cp l r i; v i v Eb/3oip h p X a l o v i + o v
(Athens 1910)26.A. Furu mark ,
Mycenaean Pottery
2.
Chronology 58.M .Andronikos,Totenkult 87.
14. Thebes, Kolonaki Cemetery ( L H )
Ch am ber To mb 6.Just outsidethewallof thedromos,in
an unquestionably Mycenaean layer, the skeletonof a
dogwasuncovered.
T he term"M ycenaeanncertainlyreferstotheL H peri-
od,butthematerialcannotbemorecloselydated.
A.Keramopoulos,Deltion 3(1917)13 7.
15. Perati, Attica ( L H 111C:l ; 1190/85-1100 B.C.)
Tomb 1 . In Lakkos 2 were found th ree human skele-
tons, oneof which had been cremated, along with the
burned bonesof adog.Th iswasinterpreted asananimal
sacrifice.
Sp.Iakovides,
Perati
(Athens1970)vol.1p.159;vol.2
pp.32,42,59.
16. Athens, Areopagus (M G I)
Grave I 18:3.Dogboneswerefoundinthefillingearth
over the grave of a cremated woman of middle years
(45-50). Itissuggestedthattheyrepresentpar tof apuri-
ficationrite for the benefitof either the deceasedor the
survivors.
E ' Geometric On
t h e
A reo ~ag u s :
1897,1932,1947,"Hesperia 43(1974)334,362.
17. Athens, Kerameikos (LG 11; 2nd or 3 rd quar ter of
8thc.)
Grave 94.Tw odogsaccompanied theburialof asingle
individual,possiblywithsomechthonicsignificance.
K. Kiibler,
Kerameikos
5.1 (Berl in 1954)25, 269. E.
Smithson,Hesperia 43(1974)334n.27.
18 Volos, Thessaly (6thc.)
GraveinPaspaliaCemetery.Inacistgravelinedathead
andfootwithslabswasfoundasingleindividualwiththe
bonesof adogat his feet.T h eexcavator suggestedth at
theanimaldiedfromgriefforitsmasterandwasburied
withhim,or,morelikely,thatthedogcrawledintofeed
the
corpse
andwasunable
to get
out,
A,
A ~praktika
1909,159-62.
~ ~
POSSIBLE BUT DUBIOUS EX MPLES OF DOG BURI LS
N
HUM N TOMBS
A.GREEK MAINLAND
19.
Leukas
( E H )
Grave R2. Circular gravewhich included the bonesof
sheep,goat,cowanddog,accordingtoWiesner.Theex-
cavator,however, doesnotm entionthe presence ofdog
bones,
W.Dorpfeld,Alt-Ithaka 1(Munich1927)225.J.Wies-
ner,Grab und Jenseits 135,erroneouslycitesDorpfeldp.
220.
20. Vapheio ( L H 11)
TholosTomb.Thetombwasfoundtocontaintheteeth
of severaldogsonthe floor.
Ch . T s o u n ta s an d J . I . M an a t t ,
The Mycenaean Age
(London 1897)152.M. Andronikos,
Totenkult
87.
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19841 D O G B U R IA L S I N T H E G R E E K W O R L D 2 5
21. Perati, Attica ( L H I11 C :l ; 1165/60-1075 B.C.)
To mb 36. T race s of a sma ll animal, possibly a dog, were
found with sheep and goat bones and the cremated re-
mains of a human.
Sp. Iakovides,
Perati
vol. 2, pp. 33, 59.
B.
CRETE
22. Praisos (L M I11 or G eometric)
Tholos Tom b A. No hu man skeleton was found, only the
teeth of a m an , as well as bones of an ox an d a dog.
L M 111, according to Pini, but Bosanq uet dated the tomb
to the Geometric Period, and some of the pottery looks
even a little later.
R.C. Bosanquet, "Excavations at Praesos. I,"
BSA
8
(1901-1902) 242. A. Kanta, The Late Minoan Period in
Crete
179. I. Pin i,
Beitrage zur minoischen Griiberkunde
(Wiesbaden 1968) 104.
11.
DOGS BURIED WITH OTHER ANIMALS IN PITS IN
CEMETERIES
CRETE
23. Prinias (uncertain date)
On e or two instances (the reports are contradictory a nd
may represe nt a differing report of the same burial or two
sepa rate ones) of a pit c ontaining one or two horses and a
small animal, possibly a dog, all carefully laid out. The
excavator says the tomb is earlier tha n G eometric, but is
not certain if it is S M or P G .
D Levi, "Atti della Scuola," ASAtene 38 (1976) 321. G
Rizza, "Tombes de Chevaux,"
Acts of the International
Archaeological Symposium The Relations between Cy-
prus and Crete, ca.
2000-500
B.C.
(Nicosia 1979) 295,
322.
24. Knossos, Tekke Cemetery (uncertain date)
Between Tomb F and a Geometric tomb was a bothros
containing a nearly com plete skeleton of a donkey mixed
with dog and cow bones.
Possibly the bothros is associated with Tomb F, which
the excavator dates to the early 9th ce ntury.
H
Catling,
JHS-AR
1976-77, 16.
The Relations be-
tween Cyprus and Crete, ca.
2000-500
B.C.,
322 (Cold-
stream commenting on Rizza's paper).
25.
Knossos, KMF Cemetery
(uncertain date, but before
E O )
Tomb 79. Remains of a small animal, perhaps a dog,
were found above two horse skeletons, which we re them -
selves one above the other in a pit. All the anim als were
found below a secondary burial containing two Early
Orientalizing ash urns and a n umbe r of small pots.
H Catling,
JHS-AR
1978-79, 50.
111.
DOGS BURIED ALONE INTRAMURALLY
GREEK MAINLAND
26. Athens, Agora (4t h c.)
Grave of a dog behind the Stoa of Attalos. A round pit
wa s sunk in the bedrock with walls and floors lined with
clay. Th e dog was laid in it with a large beef bone near its
head.
H.A. Thompson, "Excavations in the Athenian Agora:
1950,"
Hesperia
20 (1951) 52. S. Immerwahr,
Early
Burials from the Agora Cemeteries (Excavations at the
Athenian A gora, Picture Book 1 3, Princeton 1973) last
page.
27. Athens, Areopagus (late Hellenistic, end 2nd c.-
early 1st c. B.C.)
West Slope. Among the ruins of houses and shops was
found a sm all terracotta jar containing the skeleton of a
small dog, accompanied by an unguentarium.
R.S. Young, "An In dustr ial District of Ancient Athens,"
Hesperia
20 (1 95 1) 268 an d n . 131.
IV. DUMPS WITH DOG BONES
GREEK MAINLAND
28. Athens, Agora
(late Hellenistic)
A well in section
AA
at 97/r 362 contained the bones of
175 newborn infants, along with the nearly complete
skulls of over 85 dogs and a scatte ring of sh eep , goat, pig
and horse bones. Th e dogs represent at least three differ-
ent breeds. It is suggested that the dogs and infants were
victims of starv ation or disease.
Associated with Sulla's siege in 84 B .C.?
J.L. Angel, "Skeletal Material from Attica," Hesperia 14
(1 945) 31 1 and n. 73.
V. DOG SACRIFICES
NON-GREEK AREAS
29. Sardis, Lydian Trenchn
(late 7th-early 5th c., possibly
575-525)
Nearly 30 caches were fou nd, each containing four almost
identical pots: a jug, oino choe, skyphos an d shallow bow l,
together with a n iron knife. Each jug contained the bones
of a puppy. The se caches had been placed in small pits,
and they a re interpreted a s the residue of a ritual meal to
Hermes Kandaulas. Although the puppies had been cut
up , there is no indication that they were consumed.
G Hanfmann, "The Fourth Campaign at Sardis
(1961),"
BASOR
166 (Apr. 1962) 8-9; "T he Fifth C am-
paign at Sardis (1962),"
BASOR
170 (Apr. 1963) 10-1 1.
C. Greenewalt , Jr . ,
Ritual Dinners in Early Historic
Sardis
(Berkeley 1978).
30. Motya, Sicily
(uncertain da te, but 5th c. and later)
A Punic cemetery was found to contain the cremated
bones of infants and animals, mostly young domestic an -
imals (lambs, kids, calves, puppies, kittens and a mon-
key). Th e bones of each creature were placed in a jar and
buried, and sometimes stelai were erected over them.
The se a re interpreted as victims of a ritual sacrifice.
J
Whitaker,
Motya
(London 1921) 131, 257-60.
MYCEN E N ND HOMERIC PR CTICES
T h e e a r li e st d o g b u r i a l s so f a r u n co v e red i n t h e
e a s te r n M e d i t e r r a n e a n w e r e m a d e o n C y p r u s i n t h e
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26 LESLIE PRESTON DAY
[AJA 88
Early and M idd le Bronze Ages9; they ar e relatively
uncommon among the animal sacrifices which regu-
larly accompanied hum an burials. T h e practice of dog
sacrifice, however, seems to have died out after M C I
(1850-1800 B.C .), many cen turies before the custom
appeared in Greece. Dog sacrifice was also practiced
in the Late Bronze Age by the Hittites,lo but there is
no evidence that the custom appeared earlier than i n
G~~~~~
or that there
was any
influence on the M ~
naeans f rom ~~i~ ~ i~h~~~ is, the n,~ no indication ,
that the practice of dog burial was imported into
Greece f rom ei ther Anatol ia or Cyprus, and thus
there
is no
reason
to
suppose
that it was
anyth ing
oth-
er tha n a spontane ous an d indigenous development.
However the custom originated, it spread widely
throughout Mycenaean Greece. T h e majority of rec-
ognized dog burials occurs in the chamber tombs and
tholoi of th e L H I11 period
(nos.
9-14). Mo st of these
are in ch amber tombs (nos. 9 ,1 1 ,1 2 ,1 4) , wi th on ly a
few recognized in tholoi
(nos.
10, 1 3), a less common
grave type. Th e canid skeletal materia l in these tombs
was
lound i n the main
either On
t he floor
9 Or in a pit
t he
floor (nos lo
15). At D endra
(no.
10) the excavator suggested that
the bones of the dog, which w ere fou nd together with
hum an rem ains in a pit, represented a sacrifice of the
anim als and serv ants of the dead person, but they may
represent debris an
ear
lier burial . In some instances, the dog rema ins were
found above the human skeletons
(nos.
12, 1 3), sug-
gesting a sacrifice of a nim als made after the bu rials.
In a single case
(no.
11) the dog was actually placed
on a bench in the ch amb er close to the corpse it accom-
panied, but usually such care was not taken with the
animal.
The Mycenaean burials which dogs accompanied
were usually inhumations, but in two late examples
the hum an rem ains had been cremated. At Perati (no.
15) the burn ed bones of a dog were found in a cist
with three persons, only one of whom had been cre-
H . Cassimatis, Les rites funeraires i Chypre, R D A C 1 97 3 ,
116-66 esp.
122-23.
O
C. Greenewal t , J r . , Rttual Dtnners tn Early Htstorzc Sardzs
(Berkeley 1978) 41-42; N. Robertson, Hitti te Ritual at Sardis,
Classical Antzqutty I (19 82) 122-40; J .C . MacQueen , Th e Hzttztes
and thezr Contemporaries in Asia Mtn or
(London
1975) 137 ,
dis-
cusses dog sacrifices of the L ate Bron ze Age at Bogazkoy, wher e the
dog is seen as a companion to the dead.
I A. Persson, Th e Royal Tom bs at Dendra near Midea ( L u n d
1 9 3 1 ) 6 9 ;
G . M y lo n as ,
Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age
(Prince-
ton 1966) 128-29.
Z
G . Mylonas, Homeric and Mycenaean Burial Customs, A J A
mated; presumably the dog had been placed on the
pyre w ith th e deceased.
Correlation between the presence of dogs and the
sex, age or statu s of the individuals they accompanied
is difficult because the evidence is incomplete. In the
few examples where we do know about the human
remains, no clear pattern emerges. T h e th010~ t Oxy-
lithos (no. 13) contained remains of a wom an, a youth
and a boy, all with anim al bones over the burials. T h e
~ ~ -
cist in To mb I at Perati (no. 15) held the rem ains of a
youth and two 50-year-olds, but it is not clear what
their sex was. O n the sta tus of the ind ividuals there is
more information, based on the material placed with
the bodies in the graves, alth oug h the circumstances of
finding do not always present a clear picture. With
the exception of the tholos tombs (nos.10, 13) , the dog
burials do not seem to accompany particularly weal-
thy individuals or to be a part of royal or even aristo-
cratic funer ary rites.
It would be of interest too to know if the breed of
dog buried in the tombs is always the same, or whe th-
er more th an one breed is represented. In particular,
the determination
of
the breed might give information
on the functi on the dogs performed in life, which
might also shed some light on the reasons
for
their
burial. No such information is available, however,
and one can only hope that f utu re excavators
of
dog
burials will
recover
these kinds
of
da ta .
Although no thorough study
of
these dog burials
has been made, their occurrence in M~~~~~~~~raves
has been noted'2 and linked with the passage in the
n i a d whic h describes the funera l rites for patroklos.i3
He re , after making the customary sacrifices of sheep
and cows, and having wrapped the corpse in their fat
and piled the skinned carcasses on the pyre with of-
ferings of honey and oil, Achilles made some further
and unusu al sacrifices for his friend. H e killed four
horses, two of P atroklos' nine dogs and twelve Tr oja n
youths and placed them as sacrifices on the funeral
pyre. The dogs are described as
rpa rc f i cs
that is,
dogs fed from the table, and th eir th roats w ere cut.14
52 (1 948) 72-73; Mylonas (su pra n . 1 I ) 1 1 6 ; M . Andron ikos , T o -
tenkult (Archaeologta Homerzca
III .W, Gottingen
1968) 85 , 87;
D .
Kurtz and J . Boardman , Greek Burial C ustoms (London 1971) 66;
E.
Vermeule, Aspects of Death zn Early Greek Art and Poetry
(Berkeley 1979) 58-61. See also a num ber of excavators, e.g., A.
Keramopoulos,
Deltron 3 ( 191 7) 137;
Persson (supra n.
1 1 ) 6 9 .
I l t a d 2 3 .1 7 1 - 7 7 .
l Th e word used, Gccporop-rjuas could also mean with their
heads cut off ' : so G . Autenreith , A Homertc Dictzonary (N o rm an
1958) 72 . Th is meanin g would possibly connect the rite with tha t
observed at Asine, where only the head of the dog wa s placed in the
tomb:
0.
Frodin and A.W. Persson, Astne (Stockholm 1938) 358.
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984 DOG BURIALS I N T H E G R E E K W O R LD 27
The sacrifice of humans and animals is not a regular
feature of Homeric burial practice; it occurs only in
connection with the funeral of Patroklos and is not
mentioned in the description of the burials of other
heroes.15 It is not clear if this practice reflects the M y -
cenaean custom or that of Homer's age, but there are
only a few points of similarity between Homer's ac-
count and the dog burials of the L ate H elladic period.
In the absence of any contemporary written doc-
umen ts referring to the beliefs underlying th e practice
of dog burial, scholars can only speculate on the basis
of clues given in Homer or references in writers of
later an tiqu ity, which give indications of attitudes or
beliefs involving dogs an d the ir sacrifice. Since H om er
is the author who is closest to the period when dog
burials were regularly made, the passage in the
liad
has been the usual basis for explaining the practice.16
Mylonas suggests that the horses and dogs sacri-
ficed on the p yre of Pat rokl os we re considered pa rt of
the belongings of the dead m an and, like the other be-
longings, were placed on the pyre to give pleasure
and comfort to the depa rting psyche on the tri p to the
U n d e r ~ o r l d . ' ~n dro nik osl* a nd V e r m e ~ l e ' ~gree
that the animals were m eant to accompany the dead
on their journey. T h e jars of oil and honey placed
with the body on the pyre a re similar sorts of posses-
sions, but they might also have been intended to pro-
vide sustenance on the journey. Scholz ha s suggested
that the animals were m eant to serve their masters in
the U n d e r w ~ r l d , ~ ~ut, as Vermeule points out, the
anim al bones wer e neither collected from the fire nor
b ur ie d al on g w i th th os e of P a t r o k l o ~ , ~ ~fact which
suggests that their function was completed after the
cremation. Besides, the an imals never a ppe ar in an y
renderings of the afterlife in H ades. A nother possibil-
ity, put forth by Kurtz a nd Board man, is that the dogs
At Archanes, also, there is evidence for the severing of the dog's
head: J Sakellarakis, Prakttka 1966, 178.
l G.
Mylonas,
AJ A
52 (1948) 59.
l 6
T he Linear B tablets are so far silent on the subject of dogs,
although the presence of dogs is implicit in the use of the word
kun cigetai (huntsmen): J . Chadwick, Documents tn Mycenaean
Greek2
(Cambridge 1973) 132.
Mylonas (supra n. 15) 59; cf. also Mylonas (supra n. 11) 116.
Andronikos (supra n. 12) 85.
l 9 Vermeule (supra n. 12) 61; also
J
Maringer , Der Hun d in
der Mythologie der vorgeschichtlichen Menschen,
Acta Praehtsto
rica et Archaeologica
11-12 (1980-1981) 41, for dogs found in hu-
man graves in northern Europe.
20 H .
Scholz,
Der Hu nd in griechisch romischen Magie u nd Re
ligton
(Berlin 193 7) 37.
2 l
Vermeule (supra n. 12) 59.
2 2
Kurtz and Boardm an (supra n. 12) 66.
2 3 E.
Smithson, A Geometric Cemetery on the Areopagus: 1897,
1932, 1947,
Hesperia
43 (1974) 334. See also M .P. Nilsson,
Ge
were not offerings, but simply pets buried with their
masters.22 f this is so, it suggests a sentim ental regard
for dogs which does not seem in keeping with t he atti -
tudes toward them expressed in various Mycenaean
media, such as the scenes of hunting which became
popular in wall paintings of Mycenaean palaces at
Tiryns and Pylos at approximately the same time
when dog burial began to be practiced.
Exam ination of later Greek thou ght may aid in un-
derstanding the significance of dog burial in the
Mycenaean period.
Smithson has proposed that the
dog burial over the grave of a woman on the Areo-
pagus in Athens no. 16 may have been connected
with some purification rites for a woman who died in
childbirth, either for the deceased herself or for the
protection of the survivors.23Although we have no
contemporary written evidence to support the theory
that dog sacrifice was practiced as a purification rite,
there is evidence for this practice in later antiq uity .24
In classical Greece dogs were considered sacred to
certain deities, and performed both cleansing and the-
rapeutic functions either alive or dead. Dogs, particu-
larly puppies, were sacred to Hek ate an d were sacri-
ficed to her.25Through this connection with Hekate
the dogs had chthonic associations, which may be re-
lated to the sacrifice of dogs as part of a burial ritual.
T h e association of pupp y sacrifices with He kate m ay
be pertinent to the K avousi dog burials, which include
a number of puppies. Dog sacrifices were also part of
th e cult of A res /E ny alio s a t S ~ a r t a , ~ ~here they also
seem to have had a purificatory significance. T h e dog
would remove the pollution which came from a
wound inflicted by weapons, a rite which Scholz con-
nects with both w ar and h unting.27 Dogs were also
used in parts of the Gree k world for purifying whole
armies .28T hi s connection of the dog with the p urifi-
schtchte dergriechischen Religion
2 (Munich 1955) 95, 104.
24 T h e most complete analysis of the role of the dog in later Gre ek
religion is by Scholz (supra n. 20). See also the following: Greene-
walt (sup ra n. 10); M . Leach,
God Had a Dog
(New Brunswick,
N . J .
1961); L. Malten, Da s Pferd im Toteng lauben, JdI 29
(1914) 236-38; N.J. Zagan iaris, Sacrifices de chiens dans I'anti-
quite classique,
Platon
27 (1975) 322-29.
S Greene walt (sup ra n. 10) 41 n. 4 and 43-45; Scholz (supra n.
20) 40-43; Leach (sup ra n. 24) 18 and 21; Nilsson (supra n. 23)
724; S. Karouzou, 'An Und erworld Scene on a Black-figured Le-
kythos,
J H S
92 (1972) 64-73, esp. 66-67. T he chthonic associa-
tion of dogs can also be seen in Kerberos, the watchdog of Hades:
see Scholz (supra n. 20) 29-37.
26 Scholz (sup ra n. 20) 16-18; Greenewalt (supra n. 10) 41;
Leach ( sup ra n. 24) 182. Pausanias (3.14.9) says the same ritual
was practiced at Kolophon.
27 Scholz (supra n 20) 16.
28
In Boiotia and Macedonia, for example, a dog was killed and
split in half, then the whole army was purified by marching be-
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2
8 LESLIE PRESTON DAY
[AJA
88
cation of w arr ior s is significant in light of the fact that
the earliest mention of dog sacrifice in literature is at
the funeral of Patroklos, a fallen warrior. A third
deity associated with dogs is Eilioneia/Eileithyia, es-
pecially in he r cult at A r g ~ s . ~ ~ere, dogs and cocks
were sacrificed to ease a woman in childbirth. Dogs
were considered to have other healing powers as well,
whethe r alive or dead, especially for pregn ant women,
but also for people suffering from various illnesses.
Dogs were present in the sanctuaries of Asklepios30
and were thought to cure blindness or abscesses by
licking the eye or the w ound. T he y wer e also used in
the diagnosis of mysterious diseases; they were put
into contact with the afflicted person, then killed and
examined because they were thou ght to have taken on
the disease themselves. T hu s, the dog could have
connections with disease and childbirth through the
cults of Asklepios and Eileithyia, with war through
the cult of Enyalios, and with the Underworld and
death through the association with Hekate. In all
these cases a purification was accomplished through
the sacrifice of a dog.
Although not found in the mainstream of the Greek
world, dog sacrifices are known to have occurred as
part of religious rituals in neighboring parts of the
M e d i t e r r a n e a r ~ . ~ ~t Sardis no. 29 puppies were
killed, dismembered and interred, although not ap-
parently eaten, as part of a ritual banq uet to Herm es
K a n d a ~ l a s . ~ ~n M otya near Sicily
no.30),
puppies
and other young animals and infants were burned a nd
placed in jars in a special cemetery, often w ith grave
markers above them; this practice must have been
par t of a sacrifice.34 n both these cases, however, the
deposition of the animals was remarkable; puppies
were used rather than mature canids, and either the
burial w as made in a special area or the animals were
neatly laid out with the other remains of the ritual.
tween the two halves of the animal. A similar rite was practiced
among the Hittites and possibly the Persians; see also Herodotos
7.39. Young dogs were preferred for this rite. See Scholz (supra n.
20) and 0 . Masson, A propos d'un r i tuel hi tt i te pour la lustration
d'une armke, R H R 137 (1950) 5-25.
q Scholz (supra n. 20) 1 5,2 2; Green ewalt (sup ra n. 10) 41; Nils-
son (supra n. 23) 95.
Scholz (supra n. 20) 13-16.
Scholz (supra n. 20) 13; see also E.E . Burriss, Th e Place of
the Dog in Superstition as revealed in Latin Literature, C P 3 0
(1935) 32-35.
3 Dog burials are also found in northern Europe: see Maringer
(supra n . 19) 37-41. Ma ring er discusses dog sacrifices in Europe
from Sweden to Italy and as far east as South Russia from the N eo-
lithic Period (7000-2000 B.C.) to the 5th century A.C. Th ere ar e a
num ber of examples of dog burials from the Neolithic period. Th e
dogs accompanied huma ns a nd we re buried at the foot of the dead,
in the grave itself, or over the grave, and they were often cremated
along with the human dead. Occasionally, parts of the dog were
Th er e is no indication of any treatme nt of dog buria ls
in the Greek world that would suggest a similar spe-
cia1 rit ual .
Finally, a suggestion was made by Scholz that the
dogs were buried with their
masters/mistresses to
serve as gu ardians or watchdogs for the dead.35 H e
also suggested that w hen th e dog wa s not actually bu r-
ied with th e dead, a figural representation of the dog
could be considered to have the sam e function, such as
that on the box from the Fifth Shaft Grave at M ycenae
or the funeral markers in the form of dogs on later
graves. T h e idea of the dog as a gua rdian is not incom-
patible with the concept of the dog as a com panion for
the dead on the journey to the Und erworld , but there
is no evidence available to support this interpretatio n.
LATER GRE EK ATTITUDE S TOWARD DOGS
We can never know for certain the reasons for the
sacrifice of dogs in the La te B ronze Age tombs. I n the
absence of contemporary documents we must look to
Ho me r, where dogs and horses accompanied the dead
man on the pyre an d hence on the journey to the U n-
derworld , possibly to ward off evil. Th er e is no certain
indication in Homer that such animal sacrifices also
had a purificatory function, but the possibility exists
and is given weight by the later Greek writers who
repo rt the use of dogs in purification rites. Co rrela ting
the examples of dog burials with information on the
sex, age and physical condition of the perso ns they ac-
companied might give a clue as to whet her or not their
sacrifice was part of a purification rite. If dogs could
be show n to have been buried most often w ith women
of childbearing age, they might indicate a rite for
women who died in childbirth. Dog bones found with
a man who was obviously a warrior might suggest a
purification rite for one who had died in battle, possi-
bly one who was not p roperly purified before battle.36
missing. In the Bronze Age (1800-800 B.C.) dog sacrifices were
made at sacred sp rings and bogs, although dogs also continued to be
buried with individuals. After the Bronze Age, dogs are found
buried u nder the foundations of buildings, buried intram urally, or
buried along with an individual. Th ere ar e many instances in Swe-
den, Denmark and Germany of dogs and horses accompanying
their hum an masters in the grave, as in Viking ship burials.
For references to dog burials in the ancient Near East, see P.
~ s t r ~ m ,
he Middle Cypriote Bronze ge
(Swedish C yprus Ex pe-
dition 4.1B) 275 n. 6.
Dog burial was also practiced in prehistoric China: see
J
Trei s tman,
The Prehistory of China
(New York 1972) 112, 113,
132.
3 3
Greenewalt (supra n. 10) 50-54.
J
Whitaker,
Motya
(London 1921) 131,257-60.
3 5 Scholz (supra n.
20
37.
6 Patroklos died wearing ano ther man's arm or and for this rea-
son may have needed extraord inary rites.
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19841 D O G B U R IA LS I N T H E G R E E K W O R L D
29
Dogs might also have been buried with individuals
who died of disease, since in later times dogs were
used for diagnosis and healing. W hile these are inter-
esting possibilities, nothing in the deposition of the
dogs from this early period gives any indication of a
special religious ritual.
Although the motives which led to dog burials are
uncertain, an examination of the circumstances of
those bur ials points u p the attitudes of the G reeks to
their dogs. A thorough study of Greek attitudes to-
wa rd dogs lies beyond th e scope of this a rticle , but t he
changes in the treatment of dogs after death suggest
something about their position w hile
alive.37T he cus -
tom of inte rring dogs, wh ethe r to accompany the dead
to the Underworld or as part of a purification ritual,
shows a consistent attitu de towards dogs, one which is
not sentimental, but implies a reciprocal relationship
between h uman s and dogs.
Before the Late Bronze Age we have no evidence
for special burial a rran gem ents for dogs, or any indi-
cation of this reciprocal relationship. There is clear
evidence tha t canids constituted pa rt of the food sup-
ply of the Early Bronze Age people of Lerna and
Troy ,38but appa rentl y the eating of dogs petered out
after this period, and by the L ate Bronze Age it would
appear that dogs were considered animals who per-
formed useful functions for people, alive or dead.
O ur earliest literary source for the Greek attitude
to dogs is, of course, the Ho me ric poems, and we find
in Homer an ambivalence toward dogs which contin-
ued throughout Greek civilization. Unfortu nately, we
do not know if this atti tude belonged just to H om er's
era or was handed dow n from the Mycenaean age or
the intervening Dark Ages. Dogs were later consid-
ered to be unclean, possibly because of their unsocia-
ble behavior (public urination and copulation) and
For the whole subject of the role of the dog in the ancient
world, see 0 . Keller,
Dte anttke Tterwelt
1 (Leipzig 1909) 91-151
and R.H.A. Mer len , De Cantbus: Dog and Hound in Anttgutty
(London 1971), which, however, lacks references. See also S.H.
Lonsdale, Attitudes towards Animals in Ancient Greece,
Greece
a n d R o m e 26 (1979) 149-52, as well as Scholz (supra n. 20).
Greenewalt (su pra n. 10) 31, n. 1; N. G . Gejvall ,
Lerna: The
Fauna
(Princeton 1969) 117-18.
3 9 Scholz (supra n. 20) 7; Lonsdale (supra n. 37) 151-52.
4 Iliad 1.4; see also Priam in Book 22.66-76.
4 1 A good exam ple of the am bivalence and the juxtaposition of
two contradictory views of dogs can be seen in the burial of Patro-
klos
Iliad
23.173-83). H ere Achilles sacrifices two of Patroklos'
faithful dogs on the funeral pyre, yet he boasts that he will give
Hektor's body to the scavenger dogs rather than giving it proper
burial.
4 2 Odyssey
17.292-322.
4 Kurtz and Boardman (supra n. 12) 135-36. For stelai with
men and dogs, see B.S. Ridgway, The M an-and-D og Stelai ,
/ d l
86 (1971) 60-79. Ridgway suggests (p. 76) that the dog motif en-
their eating of carrio n39 ; n Ho me r there is great fear
of dogs defiling the dead on the battlefield, a fear
which is voiced at the very opening of the
Iliad
and
repeated on num erous occasions.40 Conversely, dogs
are viewed as loyal companions, fed from the tab le,41
and a sentimental attachment to dogs can be seen in
the
Odyssey
in the description of faithful old Argos,
Odysseus' dog, who recognizes his master after 20
years and dies happily.42
T hi s rather sentimental attitude continues into the
Classical and H ellenistic periods, along with the idea
that dogs are unclean yet have both sacred and th era-
peutic powers. The dog became a common represen-
tation on grave stelai from the late sixth century on,
and sc ulptured dogs were often set up as grave mar k-
e r ~ . ~ ~h e sentimental attitu de toward pet dogs can be
seen especially in the burial of the dog with its beef
bone behind the Stoa of Attalos in the Athe nian A gora
no.
26).44By the Late Hellenistic period, pets were
buried and may even have been given their own
gravestones and epigramm atic epitaphs.4 5
T h e dog sacrifices in the Late Helladic tombs thus
show a different attitude toward dogs from that of ei-
ther earlier or later periods. Dogs seem to have been
valued for their usefulness in the hunt, as guardians
or as com panions, but n owh ere do we see the sort of
sentimental regard for them as pets displayed by the
later Greeks.
D O G S A N D D O G B U R I A L O N C R E T E
Whatever the reasons for the custom, dog burials
seem to have spread from Late Helladic Greece into
the island of Crete in the L M
I
period.46Th e ea r -
liest known dog burials on Crete have been found in
L M I cham ber tombs and tholoi
nos.
5-8), the ma-
jority in the more common ch amber tombs nos. 5 7
tered Greece as an Orientalizing feature, but dogs appeared on a
numb er of Geometric pots and probably became simply more popu-
lar during the Orientalizing period. Her suggestion that the man-
and-do g stele originated as a type in East Greece is reiterated by H .
Hiller,
Iontsche Grabreliefs der ersten Halfte des Jahrhunderts u
C h r . I s tM t t t -B H 12, Tiibingen 1975) 138. One regrets the lack of
information about dog burials in Asia Mino r.
4 4
This sentimental attitude is not limited to the Greek world.
Compare the burial of a pet dog and its bone above the grave of a
young boy in 4th millennium A1 Ubaid: I L N Sept. 11, 19 48, 304,
fig. 8.
4 5 See G. Herrl inger,
Totenklage um Tiere in der antiken Dicht-
ung (Stu ttgart 193 0), for a list of these epigrams for dogs.
4 6 The earliest Mainland material seems to antedate that on
Crete, although one cannot be absolutely certain that the practice
began on the mainland and spread to the island. There is no evi-
dence for burials of dogs there before the destruction of Minoan
sites around 1450 B.C., so this seems to be a Mycenaean custom
which spread to Crete.
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30 LESLIE PR ESTON DAY [AJA 88
8). As on the Ma inl an d, the dogs were deposited ei-
ther in the main chamb er (nos. 5,8) or in the dromos
(nos.
6,7) ,
but none h as been found in a pit . Th e dogs
found in the blocking of the doorway of Tholos B at
Archanes (no.
6)
and in the dromos of the Gournes
tomb (no.
7)
probably represent sacrifices of the an i-
mals after the burial . For these Cretan examples
there is no evidence for the age a nd sex of the individ-
uals buried with t he dogs, and the objects found in the
tomb suggest that th e social status of these people was
not particularly high.
Since the custom of dog buria l seems to have been
introduced into Crete from the M ainla nd, there is no
reason to suppose that the motives and atti tudes be-
hind th e L M I11 practice were different from those of
the M ycenae ans. A similar reciprocal relationship be-
tween Cretans and dogs can be seen on representa-
tions in M ino an a rt . As early as the Early Bronze Age
dogs are depicted reclining on pyxis lids from Zakro
a n d a to m b o n M o ~ h l o s . ~ 'ogs frequently ap pea r on
M ino an sealstones, mostly of the Second Palace P eri-
od, and are depicted as hunt ing48 or accon~ panying
hum an or sacred figures.49Often the dogs are shown
wearing collars, an indication that they are domesti-
cated. Rhyta in the form of dogs' heads were also
used, both on Crete a nd on the Ma inlan d.5o Dogs,
then, were apparently appreciated for their useful-
ness, and they may also have been regarded as pos-
sessing special properties connected with religion,
since rhyta were formed in the shape of dogs' heads.
There is no evidence, however, that dogs were re-
garded sentimentally.
After the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization
dog burial continued to be practiced on Crete, but
there wa s a major change in the circumstances of bur -
ial. At Knossos and Prinias (nos. 23-25) canids were
buried in the Sub-Minoan and Protogeometric peri-
ods, not with a n individual in the same tomb , but sep-
arately in pits not connected with the hu ma n grave. It
is nearly impossible to associate these animal burials
with the grave to which they belonged, and dating is
therefore difficult. In two instances (nos. 23, 25), the
dogs accompanied a pair of horses, and with th e third
4
Zak ro pyxis : Pla ton, Zakros. Th e Discoz~ery f a Lost Palace
qfAricient Crete (N ew York 1971) 69. h lochlos pyxis: Sp. h iar ina -
tos, Crete and ,21ycenae (N ew York 1960) pl . 6 and p . 11 6.
4
A .
Evans ,
P.11
4 (1935) 524-25.
Evans,
P.11
2 (1928) 764-66.
5 0 See G Karo , Mino i sche Rhy ta , J d I 26 (1911) 262; J de
Mo t. Vases egPens en forme d 'animaux, R A ser . 4 .4 (1904)
201-24; R . Laffineur. Le rhyton PgPen en forme de tPte de chien
(no. 24) a nearly complete donkey skeleton was
found. Often care was taken with the laying out of the
animals (nos.
23, 25).
It is in this group that the Ka-
vousi dog burials should also be placed; although
clearly associated with a partic ular tomb, they ar e re-
lated chronologically an d geographically to the K nos-
sos and Prinias burials , and they are also accom-
panied by donkey bones.
These Early Iron Age dog burials can be inter-
preted as a survival on Crete of a Mycenaean tradi-
tion which had disappeared elsewhere, and, indeed,
this survival can be seen in other elements of the
burial practice. T h e tradition, although it did sur-
vive the collapse of M ycenae an cultu re, continued in a
modified form, in wh ich horses or donkeys were also
sacrificed an d the an imals w ere placed in pits outside
the grave itself. T h e details of these Cr eta n Iron Age
dog burials, in particul ar the interme nt of both horses
an d dogs and often the practice of cremation, seem to
correspond m ore closely to Hom er's account of the fu-
nera l of Patroklos th an do the circumstances of buria l
in the Mycenaean chamber and tholos tombs. If
in-
deed, Hom er w as describing a n actual burial custom,
however uncom mon, it seems to be not the M ycenae -
an funeral practice b ut the modified form which sur -
vived into the Dark Ages. Whether Homer is refer-
ring to the actual Cretan custom or its survival else-
where is uncertain; no other similar burials of the
Early Iron Age have yet been found, but the custom
may well have survived elsewhere.
POST MYCENAEAN DOG BURIALS ON THE
MAINLAND
Athens has produced two examples of dog burials
of Geo metric date (nos.
16, 17),
an d in both cases the
dogs were placed in or above the grave, like the
L H
I11 examples, not in pits nearby as on Crete. The
grave on the Areopagus (no. 16) contained the cre-
mated r em ains of a wom an of middle age, but the dog
bones above her had not been burned. In addition to
these two exam ples of actual dog bu rial, there a re pos-
sible representations of dog sacrifices on at least one
Geom etric vase,52 nd dogs are often found in prothe-
des htuskes Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bulletzn des M use es
Ro ya u. ~d Art et d Histoire ser . 6 ,
45
(1973) 291-99.
5
T h e use of tholos tombs, for example , cont inued in Ea st Cre te ,
a l though the tholoi were not so monumental as their Mycenaean
predecessors.
j J Boardm an, Att ic Geometr ic Vase Scenes: Old and New ,
JHS 86 (1966) 1-5.
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984
DOG BURIALS I N T H E G R EE K W O R L D 31
sis scenes on other Geometric vessels. On these pots
they are shown as pets or guardians, sometimes as
hu nte rs, an d almost never as scavenger .̂^^
After the Ge ometric period the custom of dog buria l
disappears almost entirely. Th e animal found at the
tomb near Volos
no.
18 might represent a deliberate
buria l, but no certain examples can be found from the
Arch aic period or the fifth centu ry. Although this lack
of evidence does not mea n that the practice wa s aba n-
doned, it does indicate that at the very most it was
rare. T h e single dog burial from the fou rth century is
quite different from the earlier types: an an imal bu r-
ied alone, intramurally, and not within a cemetery
no.26 . T h is is obviously the bu rial of a beloved pet,
as the beef bone at its mouth so poignantly indicates,
and the dog buried in a jar on the Areopagus during
the Hellenistic period
no.
27 is also a pet. T h e well
containing the large nu mbe r of dogs and infants no.
28 seems to have received the cleanup from some
single catastrophe, possibly a plague or starvation,
and has no connection with the earlier burials. I was
able to find no exam ples of dog buria ls after the H el-
lenistic period, but their existence is suggested by the
many epitap hs for dogs which have come down to us
in the literary reco rd.54
ON LUSIONS
T h e practice of dog burial in Greece seems to have
spru ng up on the Mycenaean mainland, probably in
the L H 1IIA:l period, but possibly as early as L H 11,
if the dog teeth from the Vapheio To m b no.20 rep-
resent the interment of a whole anima l. How the cus-
tom originated is unclear, but it does not seem to have
been imported from outside the Greek world. Once
begun, it spread widely throughout Greece and into
Cre te. Although the sacrifice of dogs was cer tainly not
a regula r feature of Myc enaean f une rary rites, it was
employed on a number of occasions with burials of
men and w omen of various social classes in tholos and
chamber tombs. When cremation began to be prac-
ticed, dogs continued to be sacrificed, and the animal
5 For hun t ing dogs and foxes, see P .E . Arias and M . Hirm er ,
A
Htstory ofGreek Vase Paintin g (tr . and revised by
B.
Shefton, Lon-
don 1962) pl. 6 (Boston M F A no. 25.42).
54 Obviously, more dogs were buried than archaeology would in-
dicate, to judge from th e epigra ms on tombs of dogs recorded in the
literary tradition: see Herrlinger (supra n. 45). These epigrams,
however, may have been literary exercises rather than records of
actual stones and may represent an atti tude toward dogs rather
tha n an actual practice.
5 5 Th e burial of horses, without th e dogs, survived on Cy prus : see
Kurtz and Boardman (supra n . 12 ) 186 , 320 ;
V.
Karageorghis, Sa
lamis tn Cyprus
(London 1969) 8-10 and 27-99.
could be either burned or interred. Without written
evidence we cannot know the reason why dogs were
sacrificed by the Mycenaeans, but the Homeric pas-
sage indicates that they accompanied the dead in the
journey to the Underw orld, possibly serving as guar d-
ians, possibly for purification, to judge from later
practices.
After the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, and
durin g the ensuing D ar k Ages, the custom of interring
animals as part of the funeral ceremony was kept
alive on Cr ete , a s w ell as on C y p r ~ s . ~ ~he separation
of the animals from the humans on Crete, however,
represents an important new development. Another
new feature is the presence of horses or donkeys,
which perhaps Homer recalls in description of the
animal sacrifices which accompanied the funeral rites
for Patroklos. A few dog burials were made in Athens
in the Geo metric Period, and others ar e possibly rep-
resented on Attic Geometric pottery, but the animals
were placed in or above the tomb an d were not accom-
panied by horses. These burials may well represent a
survival of the Mycenaean custom, as on Crete, or
they may have been reintroduced from e l ~ e w h e r e . ~ ~
After the Ge ometric P eriod , the practice of dog sac-
rifice disappears, and only a few burials of beloved
pets are found. The dogs which are represented as
faithful pets and guardians on gravestones and the
sculptured dogs used as grave markers may have
taken over the same role previously held by the sacri-
ficed animal, but certainly they represen t a m ore sen-
timental attitu de toward dogs which can also be seen
in the later creation of fune rary epigra ms for dogs in
Hellenistic and R om an times. Lite rary sources, how-
ever, show contradictory feelings about dogs; the dog
is also seen as unclean , yet powerful for therape utic or
purificatory purposes. The well deposit from the
Athenian Agora of dogs and infants represents an ex-
ception to the sentimen tal att itud e towa rd dogs, but it
may res ult from th e disposal of victims of an e xtra or-
dinar y misfortune, such as plague or starvation.
T h e dog burials found a t Kavousi do not fit neatly
56 Th er e is, however, a gap of several hundred years between the
examples of dog burials at P erati an d those in Athens. Possibly the
practice of dog sacrifice was anothe r element of the rene wal of in-
terest in Mycenaean culture which might have accompanied the
rise of hero cults in the 8th century, and which may be connected
with th e promulgation of the Homeric poems: seeJ .N. Coldstream,
Hero Cults in the Age of Hom er, JHS 97 (1977) 8-17. I t is un -
fortunate th at the re is so li t tle evidence for this period from East
Greece. This Mycenaean custom and many others may well have
been kept alive in the East G reek settlements and reintroduced into
the Main land at a la ter t ime.
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32
L E S L I E P R E S T O N D A Y
[AJA 88
into this pa ttern. T he ir closest parallels in date and
location ar e, of course, the dog burials at K nossos and
Prin ias, which, like the Kavousi tomb, contained don-
key or horse bones. Th e anim als at Kavousi, however,
were not laid out so neatly, but instead give the im-
pression of having been thr ow n into the pit uncerem o-
niously. At Kavousi, furthermo re, the animals w ere
thrown into a pit below a tomb, rather than a pit out-
side the grave itself. There are, in addition, larger
numbers of dogs represented in the Kavousi burials,
and th e presence of puppies finds no parallels on
Cre te or elsewhere in the Greek w orld. It is quite pos-
sible that th e Kavousi anim als were deposited for rea-
sons different from those which motivated dog burials
elsewhere. Th e closest parallel for the num bers of an-
imals and the way they were thrown into a pit is the
deposit in the well in the Athenia n A gora, and possi-
bly the Kavousi dogs represent a cleanup from a
plague or some other natural disaster, a disaster
which may also have claimed the person(s) buried in
the tomb. T h e presence of pupp ies, however, may also
suggest a religious ritual, as at Sardis or Motya, al-
though the puppies at Kavousi were not given the
kind of special and careful burial found at these sites.
Anothe r possible explana tion
is
that the animals were
sacrificed before the burial was made, in connection
wit h some kind of purification rite. We cannot know
at present the exact reason for the dog burials at Ka-
vousi, but whatever it may have been, they provide a
new example of an unusual tradition of Late Bronze
Age and Early Iron Age Greece, an example with
some peculiar features which may suggest that the
animals were sacrificed for reasons different from
those which normally motivated dog burials.
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL STUDIES
THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER
WOOSTER O H I O
44691
ADDENDUM
Wal ter Burkert's article, Itinerant Diviners and Magi-
cians: A Neglected Elemen t in Cul tural Contacts, in
R.
Hagg ed. ,
Th e Greek Renaissance of the Etghth Century
B.C.: Traditton and Innovation
(Skrifter Athens
4.30,
Stockholm 1983) 115-19, appeared too late to be incorpor-
ated into this discussion. Burkert (p.
118)
mentions three
Babylonian bronze figurines portraying a ma n followed by
a large dog which were found at the Samian Heraion and
dat e to the first half of the 7th century H Kyrieleis, Baby-
lonische Bronzen im Heraion von Samos, Jd I 94 19791
32-48). Burkert believes that the figurines are connected
with the Sum ero-Babylonian healing goddess Gula , the
great doctor
assugalatu
whose worship involved dog sacri-
fice, and suggests that her cult had an early influence in
Greece on the cult of Asklepios and possibly also of Apollo.
Such a n influence could also have motivated s ome of th e dog
burials, so that it would be important to know when this
cult m ight have been introduced into Greece.
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FIG.
3 .
Sealing from Persepolis showing a Persian trireme with
the ram turned upward 5th-4th c.
B.C.).
After
L
Casson, Ships
and Seamanship fig.
105)
FIG.
2 . Ship models from the tomb of Tutan kha me n. After H
FIG.4
Sho re attack scene of the m iniatu re fresco from W est
Carter, Tomb
of
Tut Ankh. Amen 3, pl. 63
House, Akrotiri, The ra. After S Marinatos, Thera 6, pl. 7
FIG. Kavousi. Vronda, Tom b X. Dog skeletons at top of pit
FIG.6 . Kavousi. Vronda, Tom b X. Dog skeletons at top of pit,
closeup