Cynocephali Dog Cynocephaly History of Dog Cynocephaly Modern Appearances of Dog Cynocephaly Dog-Headed Jackal Ancient Greek Legends Ancient Chinese Legends Dog-Headed Creatures in Legends Dog Cynocephaly: The Origins Ibn Battuta "Dog-Mouthed" People Cynocephalus Saint Christopher What does cynocephali mean? Etymology Lycanthrope Dog Men Anubis Lycaon
Cynocephaly, derived from the Greek words "kyon" (dog) and "kephale" (head), refers to the mythical creature with the head of a dog or jackal on a human body. These dog-headed beings have been featured in various cultures' myths and legends across history, including ancient Egypt, Greece, medieval Europe, and even China.
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.
Cynocephaly, the notion of dog-headed humans, lacks biological credibility. Scientific scrutiny reveals substantial barriers in the genetic and anatomical realms. The earliest known reference to dog headed humans were found in Libya, carved into the cliffs and boulders on a plateau 4000 years ago.
DOG CYNOCEPHALY: THE KEY ASPECTS This material proudly presented by WWW.GOOGLE.COM
The characteristic of cynocephaly, or cynocephalus, 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 KYNOKEPHALOI (Cynocephali) were a tribe of dog-headed men native to Africa and India. The name Kynokephalos means dog-headed from the Greek words kuรดn "dog" and kephalos "head". The legend probably originated in ancient travellers' accounts of African baboons which were mistaken for a tribe of men. Indeed the name Kynokephalos was later used by the Greeks for this very animal.
Mythical Creatures: Cynocephali are not werewolves, but rather beings with a permanent dog or jackal head on a human body.
Wide Presence in Mythology: Stories and depictions of cynocephaly appear in diverse cultural contexts, suggesting a widespread fascination with this concept.
Distinction from Werewolves: While both involve canine features, cynocephaly differs from werewolves, where a human transforms into a dog-like creature, rather than having a permanent dog head, according to Ancient Origins.
Variations in Depictions: While the core concept remains the same (dog head on a human body), the specific details and stories surrounding these creatures vary across different cultures and time periods.
Ancient Egyptian Influence: Some scholars suggest that ancient Egyptian deities like Anubis, with his jackal head, may have contributed to the development of the cynocephaly myth in other cultures, particularly in Greece.
Not a Disease: Cynocephaly, despite its name (derived from Greek words for "dog" and "head"), is not a medical condition.
Medieval Interpretations: In medieval Europe, cynocephali were often depicted in illuminated manuscripts, sometimes as a way to represent or demonize specific groups like Muslims or Jews, says Dana K Rehn.
Saint Christopher: One prominent example of a cynocephalus in medieval times is Saint Christopher, who is sometimes portrayed with a dog's head in Orthodox iconography, particularly in accounts of his carrying the child Jesus across a river.
Symbolic Meaning: The figure of the cynocephalus often serves as a reflection on what it means to be human, exploring themes of nobility, carnality, and the boundaries between human and animal.
From the Greek word kynokephaloi, where kyno means "dog" and kephaloi, or more accurately kephale, means "head", cynocephaly literally translates to doghead. The first mentions or depictions of the cynocephalus are usually attributed to the ancient Egyptians. Their legendary deity Anubis, who's depicted with the body of a man and the head of a jackal or dog, is one of the earliest known examples of a cynocephalic figure and even today, remains one of the most famous. Anubis was a prominent figure in Egyptian mythology, associated with the religious traditions of mummification and the afterlife, and depictions date back to around 2700 BC.
Over 2,000 years later, sometime in the fifth century BC, a Greek historian and physician by the name of Ctesias of Cnidus is believed to have written a record of the Persian view of India, including some rather bizarre claims of a race of people known as โMonopodsโ who had a single leg with a huge foot so large it could shade them from the hot sun. He also mentioned the existence of men with dogโs faces, but it seems much of what he wrote only appears in texts discussing his book by writers who came after him. A fourth century BC ancient Greek traveller, historian, and ethnographer named Megasthenes, wrote in a book called Indica of a tribe of mountain-dwelling dog-headed men in India, who communicated by barking and hunted like wild dogs.
From these ancient beginnings, the doghead mystery continued for another two thousand years or more. However, before discussing cynocephaly as it appeared in one form or another in later cultures, weโll look at why dogs were chosen. While it is far from certain, the selection of dogs over other animals, particularly in the context of cynocephaly, possibly comes from cultural, religious, and practical reasons that varied across different societies.
Religious Significance
and Symbolism
In ancient Egypt, dogs (and jackals) were closely associated with death and the afterlife and this connection made them a potent symbol of protection and guidance for the souls of the departed.
Human-Dog Relationships
Dogs were among the first animals to be domesticated by humans, creating a deep bond and mutual dependence. This relationship โ as guardians, hunters, and companions โ may have influenced their depiction in mythology and folklore.
Symbol of Duality
Dogs embody a unique duality, being both protectors and potential threats. The creation of dog-headed men could represent this balance, combining human intellect and culture with a canine's primal instincts and power.
Mythical
Supernatural Qualities
The keen senses and loyal nature of dogs may have been seen as attributes that would complement human abilities. This combination might have been seen as creating a being with heightened abilities, suitable for roles in myth and legend.
Symbolism
and Interpretations
Cynocephalic figures often represent duality, bridging the gap between human intellect and animal instinct.
Protection: - In Egyptian mythology, dog-headed gods serve as guardians in the afterlife, highlighting themes of safety and the transition to the next world.
Wisdom vs. Savagery: - The presence of cynocephalic beings reflects human natureโs complexities, illustrating the struggle between civilized behavior and primal instincts.
Transformation: - These figures symbolize metamorphosis, representing the transformative process inherent in life and death, further enriching cultural narratives that explore existence's dualities.
Genetic
and Anatomical Aspects
The concept of a human body with a dog's head is not biologically feasible. Genetic differences between humans and dogs are vast. The human and canine developmental pathways that lead to separate skull formations are distinct, preventing a viable combination. Human skull structure, brain size, and facial anatomy are uniquely adapted to their species. These attributes cannot coalesce into a single functioning organism. Scientific consensus emphasizes that the incompatibility of these features results from divergent evolutionary paths, underscoring the impracticality of cynocephalic beings.
Instances in Nature
There are no documented instances in nature of creatures exhibiting cynocephaly. Scientific investigations have uncovered no biological evidence to suggest the existence of dog-headed humans. Myths and legends persist across various cultures, yet they lack empirical support in the biological and zoological record. This absence of credible evidence reinforces the understanding that cynocephaly resides firmly within the realm of mythology rather than reality.
Dog-Headed
Deities and Rulers
Cynocephalic deities are not infrequent in mythology, but the most familiar example must surely be Anubis โ ancient Egypt's traditionally jackal-headed god of the dead, but now needing a taxonomic makeover, as the Egyptian jackal has lately been revealed to be a species of wolf, not a jackal at all. Originally, Anubis was the much-dreaded god of putrefaction, but in later tellings he became transformed into a guardian deity, protecting the dead against robbers, and overseeing the embalming process. His head's form was derived from the canine scavengers in Egyptian burial graves during the far-distant age preceding the pyramids when graves were shallow and hence readily opened.
The Furies or Erinnyes โ the terrifying trio of avenging goddesses from Greek mythology โ were the three hideous daughters of the Greek sky god Uranus and Gaia (Mother Earth), consisting of Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. Although they are more commonly depicted wholly as women, in early traditions they were described as possessing canine heads, as well as leathery bat-wings, fiery bloodshot eyes, foul breath, and hair composed of living serpents (like the trio of gorgons). Their allotted task was to harangue and punish evil-doers, especially parent-killers and oath-breakers, but eventually they were transformed into the kinder Eumenides.
Another figure in Greek mythology who underwent a canine transformation, although this time in reverse, was Lycaon. This wicked, foolhardy king of Arcadia served up the roasted flesh of his own son, Nyctimus, to Zeus, in order to test whether the supreme Greek deity would recognise it.
Needless to say, Zeus did, and as a punishment he changed Lycaon into a wolf. Interestingly, however, Lycaon is often portrayed not as a complete wolf, but rather as a wolf-headed man.
Interpretations:
Then and Now
Throughout the ages, the interpretation of cynocephalic creatures has evolved with the cultures that ponder them. In the past, they were often seen as a bridge between humanity and animals, as well as the natural and supernatural worlds. They provoked contemplation about the limits of humanity and the existence of extraordinary life forms. In the modern world, cynocephaly reappears through various mediums such as literature, video games, and movies, now a staple of the fantasy genre. These contemporary reimagining's often play on the idea of the "noble savage" or explore themes of hybridization, shapeshifting, and identity, demonstrating that humanity is still drawn to the enigmatic nature and the liminality of these creatures.
The characteristic of cynocephaly, or cynocephalus, 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, Turkey, 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.
Etymology
The word cynocephaly is taken (through Latin) from the Greek word, plural of the word from kyno - meaning "dog" and kephale 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 Egypt
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 "dog-head" also identified a sacred Egyptian baboon with a dog-like face. 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.
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." 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. in Turkish myth they are known as Itbaraks, as described in the Oghuz Khagan Narratives.
Anubis
I feel Anubis deserves his own section since he is perhaps the most recognisable example. Thatโs particularly true since his crossover into popular culture. Anubis is the often maligned god of the dead in ancient Egypt. Far from being a terrifying deity, he was a protector of tombs, the patron god of embalmers, and the guide for souls coming into the afterlife. Some believe his form as a jackal came as a response to the desecration of shallow graves by opportunistic jackals searching for food. He was originally the god of the dead in the Old Kingdom.
That role passed to Osiris in the Middle Kingdom. The Greeks and Romans even associated him with Cerberus and the underworld. In early depictions, Anubis takes the form of a black wolf. His colour represents the colour corpses turned during mummification. He became a wolf-headed man during the Middle Kingdom. Given the proliferation of wall paintings and the crossover of religions between Egypt and Greece at sites like Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, itโs hardly surprising that dog-headed men appear elsewhere in historical texts.
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. 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. 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. Herodotus reports claims by ancient Libyans that such creatures inhabit the east of their lands, as well as headless men and various other anomalies.
Cynocephali living in India itself were also reported by 17th-Century English theologian and geographer Peter Heylyn. He travelled widely and write extensively during the reign of Charles I, the Interregnum, and the Restoration of Charles II. Nor should we forget Sir John Mandeville, even though his (in)famous supposed journeys to incredible faraway lands in Africa and Asia during the 14th Century owe considerably more to imagination than to peregrination. In his tome Travels, he averred that a tribe of hound-headed people inhabited a mysterious island of undetermined location called Macumeran.
Here, curiously, they venerated an ox, and were ruled by a mighty but pious king, who was identified by a huge ruby around his neck and also wore a string of 300 precious oriental pearls.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. Some Greek writers also mention the Hemicynes (singular, Hemicyon), meaning half-dogs.
The Greek physician Ctesias, in his work Indica, gives us another account of the Cynocephali, describing them as a warlike people dwelling in the mountains of India: There is a race of men living in the mountains who have the head of a dog, they wear the skins of wild animals, and they speak no language, only barking. They live by hunting and possess a great herd of sheep and goats, whose milk they drink. Ctesias' depiction adds to the mystique of the Cynocephali, emphasizing their rugged way of life and their unique place among the wonders of the ancient world.
The ancient historian, Herodotus referenced the Cynocephali in his Histories, placing them among the many strange and wondrous races said to inhabit the remote corners of the world: For the eastern region of Libya, which the nomads inhabit, is low-lying and sandy, as far as the River Triton; but westward of this river the land of the Libyans is exceedingly mountainous and wooded and full of wild beasts. Here too are the huge snakes and the lions, and the elephants and the bears, and the asps, and the horned asses, and the dog-headed men, and the headless men that have eyes in their chests, as the Libyans say, and the wild men and the wild women, and many other creatures not fabulous. This vivid description paints a picture of a world teeming with the extraordinary creatures.
Saints Ahrakas and Augani (icon XVIII c.) 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." They are described as being "bodyguards" of Mercurius.Their image on the icon is in the Coptic Museum.
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.
Cynocephalus Saint Christopher. 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.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. 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".
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.
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.
Ibn Battuta 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:
Fifteen days after leaving Sunaridwan we reached the country of the Barahnakar, whose mouths are like those of dogs. This tribe is a rabble, professing neither the religion of the Hindus nor any other. They live in reed huts roofed with grasses on the seashore, and have abundant banana, areca, and betel trees. Their men are shaped like ourselves, except that their mouths are shaped like those of dogs; this is not the case with their womenfolk, however, who are endowed with surpassing beauty. Their men too go unclothed, not even hiding their nakedness, except occasionally for an ornamental pouch of reeds suspended from their waist.
The women wear aprons of leaves of trees. With them reside a number of Muslims from Bengal and Sumatra, who occupy a separate quarter. The natives do all their trafficking with the merchants on the shore, and bring them water on elephants, because the water is at some distance from the coast and they will not let the merchants go to draw it for themselves, fearing for their women because they make advances to well-formed men. Elephants are numerous in their land, but no one may dispose of them except the sultan, from whom they are bought in exchange for woven stuffs.
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." 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."
The ninth-century Frankish theologian Ratramnus wrote a letter, the Epistola de Cynocephalis, on whether the Cynocephali should be considered human. If human, a Christian's duty would be to preach the Gospels to them. If animals, and thus without souls, such would be pointless. 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".
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: โFor from the day of his outlawry he bears a wolf's head, which is called wluesheued by the English. And this sentence is the same for all outlaws." 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). The next lines of the poem also mention a fight with a character named Garwlwyd, a Gwrgi Garwlwyd appears in one of the Welsh Triads, where he is described in such a way that scholars have discussed him as a werewolf.
High and late
medieval travel literature
Medieval travellers Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Marco Polo both mention cynocephali. Giovanni writes of the armies of Ogedei Khan who encounter a race of dogheads who live north of the Dalai-Nor (Northern Ocean), or Lake Baikal. The Travels of Marco Polo mentions dog-headed barbarians on the island of Angamanain, or the Andaman Islands. For Polo, although these people grow spices, they are nonetheless cruel and "are all just like big mastiff dogs". In The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, dog-headed men are described as inhabiting the island of Nacumera (the Nicobar Islands).
The dog-headed people were also found in the New World. Christopher Columbus reported that the Taino were familiar with the cynocephali. 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. In 1519, the Governor of Cuba instructed Hernรกn Cortรฉs to investigate rumours of cynocephali while on his expedition to the American mainland. 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.
China
Cynocephaly, the concept of beings with dog-like heads, appears in various Chinese legends and historical accounts. A Buddhist missionary named Hui Shen described an island east of Fusang inhabited by cynocephalic people. Li Dashi and his son, Li Yanshou, also mentioned a "dog kingdom" in their historical writings. These accounts, along with others, suggest a recurring theme in Chinese lore of dog-headed humanoids.
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). 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".
Japan
Cynocephaly, the belief in dog-headed human-like beings, doesn't have a strong presence in Japanese mythology or folklore. While the concept of cynocephaly (dog-headed people) is found in various cultures worldwide, including mentions in Chinese and other ancient texts, there's no significant evidence of it being a prominent feature of Japanese mythical or legendary traditions.
In Japanese mythology, the Cynocephali are known as "Jinmenken," or human-faced dogs. These creatures appear in urban legends and are often associated with dark omens or supernatural events. Unlike the Western depiction of Cynocephali, Jinmenken are described as having the body of a dog and the face of a human: Jinmenken are said to roam the streets at night, appearing as ordinary dogs with human faces. These eerie creatures are often believed to be spirits or yลkai, bringing bad luck to those who encounter them. This unique interpretation reflects Japan's rich tradition of yลkai folklore, adding a distinctly unsettling twist to the concept of human-animal hybrids.
Celtic and Irish
Less well known than the above-mentioned examples is the fact that dog-headed entities also feature in Celtic lore and mythology. As pointed out by Professor David Gordon White in his definitive book, Myths of the Dog-Man (1991), Irish legends tell of several cynocephalic people. Perhaps the most notable of these legends concerns a great invasion of Ireland from across the western sea by a race of dog-headed marauders known as the Coinceann or Conchind, who were ultimately vanquished by the demi-god warrior Cรบchulainn. Moreover, a tribe of dog-heads opposed King Arthur, and were duly fought by him (or by Sir Kay in some versions of this tale).
Irish legends also claim that St Christopher, a Canaanite who became the patron saint of travellers, was originally a giant cynocephalus, standing 5 cubits (7.5 ft) tall, who could only bark and howl, but prayed to God to grant him the power of speech so that he could defend Christians and spread the Christian word. God answered his prayer, and St Christopher later carried the infant Jesus safely across a swiftly-flowing river, possibly his most famous deed. Interestingly, certain Byzantine iconography also depicts St Christopher as a cynocephalus. However, in his book Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary (1996), Leslie Ross speculated that this perhaps resulted from confusion between the Latin words 'cananeus' (meaning 'Canaanite') and "canineus" (meaning "canine").
Shetland folklore tells of a supernatural entity known as the wulver, which has the body of a man but is covered in short brown hair and has the head of a wolf. According to tradition, this semi-human being lives in a cave dug out of a steep mound halfway up a hill, and enjoys fishing in deep water. Despite its frightening appearance, however, the wulver is harmless if left alone, and will sometimes even leave a few fishes on the windowsill of poor folk. A similar wolf-man entity is also said to exist in Exmoor's famous Valley of the Doones. Click here for further information on ShukerNature concerning British dogmen.
Tartaria (Marco Polo)
There has long been a tradition of describing dog-headed warriors within armies to instill fear in their enemies. Marco Polo, in his accounts, mentioned the presence of Cynocephali with an interesting reference to Tartaria. He wrote: Tartar chiefs, with their dog's-head followers... ate the bodies of their victims like so much bread. This striking imagery served not only to terrify opponents but also to cement the Cynocephali's reputation as fearsome and otherworldly beings in the annals of history.
St. Augustine
In The City of God, St. Augustine considered the existence of the Cynocephali and their place within Godโs creation, reflecting early Christian efforts to reconcile such beings with theological doctrine: For what can be more monstrous, or more incredible, than to be told of a race of men who have the heads of dogs, and who do not speak, but bark? Yet we are assured of the existence of this people by authors who have been sent to visit them, who are called dog-headed. St. Augustine's reflection highlights the tension between faith, reason, and the mysterious accounts of the ancient world, as he grappled with how such beings could fit within the religious order.
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Ancient References
Ancient Greece and India provide rich accounts of cynocephaly. Greek physician Ctesias documented a tribe of dog-headed men known as the Cynocephali in his 5th-century BC work "Indica." His contemporary, historian Megasthenes, also described these beings, noting their mountainous habitats, animal skin attire, and bark-like communication. Such references illustrate a blend of myth and reality, emphasizing how deeply ingrained this concept was in ancient thought.
Cultural Significance
Cynocephaly held profound cultural significance, particularly in ancient Egypt. Deities such as Anubis and Wepwawet, depicted with dog or jackal heads, symbolized protection, the afterlife, and transformation. These divine figures illustrated the integration of human attributes with animalistic traits, reflecting broader themes of duality and the complexities of existence. The portrayal of cynocephalic beings resonates beyond mythology, as they represented humanityโs fears and fascination with the unknown, establishing a lasting cultural legacy.
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
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.
The Chinese legend of Fuxi included variations where he had a dog's head, or he and his sister Nuwa had ugly faces.
In Saami mythology, according to Craig Chalquist, Padnakjunne ("Dog-Face") are cannibalistic humanoids with dog snouts.
In the United States there are tales of dog-headed creatures, including the Michigan Dogman, 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
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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 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.
REAL-LIFE CYNOCEPHALI This material proudly presented by KARL SHUKER
Zoologists seeking to nominate real animals as the inspiration for the legends of cynocephali generally offer two principal candidates. The first of these is the baboon, of which there are several species. The heads of these large monkeys are certainly dog-like. Indeed, the yellow baboon is actually known scientifically as Papio cynocephalus. Moreover, the sacred baboon P. hamadryas is native to Ethiopia โ source of the earliest cynocephalus myths. An alternative name for a third species, the olive baboon, is the anubis baboon, and it has the taxonomic name P. anubis.
The second candidate is the indri Indri indri [once Indri brevicaudatus] โ one of the largest modern-day species of lemur, and indigenous to Madagascar. Measuring over 3 ft, but only possessing a very short, inconspicuous tail (hence brevicaudatus), and often spied sitting upright in trees, this highly distinctive creature does look remarkably like a short dog-headed human. The indri did not formally become known to science until 1768, when French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat arrived in Madagascar. Even so, when other, earlier travellers visiting this exotic island returned home to Europe and regaled their listeners with much-embellished accounts of their journeys, these may well have included exaggerated tales about the indri.
Certainly, it would not take a sizeable stretch of the imagination to convert a dog-headed lemur into a fully-fledged cynocephalus โ thus breathing life into a being that never existed in reality, yet which would be faithfully chronicled by a succession of relatively uncritical scholars for many centuries.Of such, indeed, are legends all too often born.
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