Dogs in Myth & Practical Advice
Dogs, and their wolf-ancestors, had a long history with the Romans as evidenced by the famous tale of the mythical founders of the city. Romulus and Remus were said to have been suckled by a she-wolf as infants before they grew up, Remus was killed, and Romulus founded Rome in April of 753 BCE. This myth provides a divine origin for the city but, as far as dogs go, foreshadows their later appearance in a number of important Roman myths and tales in which they serve the same sort of practical purpose as the she-wolf. Love History?
Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! The breeding of dogs in Rome, especially for hunting, was considered a serious business & dogs of high quality were much sought after.
The goddess Diana, the huntress, is often seen with her dogs and one of the most enduring tales from Ovid (l. 43 BCE – 17 CE) is of Diana and Acteon, the young hunter who pays for an accidental indiscretion with his life. Out on a hunt with his dogs, Acteon chances upon the goddess bathing and, to ensure he will never tell what he saw, she changes him into a deer who is killed by his hunting dogs. Here, the dog performs the role of protector and avenger. Acteon is punished for seeing what no mortal should see and the mystery of the divine is kept by the gods.
The goddess Trivia (the Roman version of the Greek Hecate) was also associated with dogs. Trivia was the goddess of ghosts, graveyards, witchcraft, and crossroads whose approach was silent and invisible but who, like Hecate, could be seen and heard by dogs. As with Hecate, a dog who seemingly barked at nothing was thought to be warning the family of the approach of Trivia or one of her ghosts.
The Roman writer Varro (l. 116-27 BCE) is among the earliest authors to deal with the subject of dogs on a purely practical level. He claims that every home, especially a farm, should have a guard dog and a hunting dog. Varro emphasizes the importance of the watch dog and follows the Greek policy that it should be white in order to clearly be distinguished from a wolf at night. He also suggests these dogs be fitted with a thick, studded collar (known as a melium) to protect its throat from wolf attacks. The melium collar, Varro claims, would prevent future wolf attacks – even on dogs wearing no collar – because once wolves had experienced the pain of the melium they would come to fear dogs.
Dog MosaicWikipedia User: WolfgangReiger (Public Domain)
Nemesianus (l. c. 283 CE) was among the later Latin writers and, between Varro and him, many others had addressed the subject of dogs and their uses. Nemesianus distills advice from earlier eras in his Cynegetica (“On the Hunt”) when he suggests the best ways of breeding dogs (beginning at the start of the year) and how to know which puppies are most worthy of attention. Nemesianus contends that a large litter of puppies will wear out the mother and some of inferior quality may deny superior dogs of food.
He therefore suggests that one make a ring of fire around the puppies, with the mother on the other side of the flames; the mother will save those of the best quality first and one may then focus ones attention on them at the expense of their lesser siblings (Cynegetica of Nemesianus, 497). Whether this advice was followed is unknown but the breeding of dogs in Rome, especially for hunting, was considered a serious business and dogs of high quality were much sought after.
Among the most popular breed was the Vertragus, a hunting dog of exceptional speed and skill which was also prized for its beauty. The writer Grattius (l. 63 BCE – 14 CE) praises the Vertragus for its refined features but more for its incredible speed, writing how it runs “swifter than thought or a winged bird” so that hunters could now chase game on horseback with their dogs ahead of them as opposed to the more cumbersome method of hunting with Laconian hounds who moved more slowly (Cynegeticon, 171). The Vertragus (ancestor of the modern Italian Greyhound) served as a guard dog as well as a hunter and also provided an owner with an additional benefit: warmth. People would sleep with their Vertragus hound because the dogs generated a significant amount of heat.
Hunting Dog MosaicCarole Raddato (CC BY-SA)
Another breed, more popular with women and children, was the Canis Melitae or Melitan (the Maltese) best known among ancient Romans for sleeping comfortably on ones lap and therefore known as a lapdog. The Melitan was a status symbol in that only the upper class could afford one and served another purpose besides warmth and companionship: they were thought to draw fleas away from their owners. The Melitan may have been the breed of dog written of so lovingly in an epitaph of a tomb dated c. 100-200 CE. The inscription reads:
The Melitan became especially popular subjects for chous, Greek ceramic drinking vessels usually decorated with figures, on which they are depicted with and without collars. A chous from Athens, known as Melitan Dog with Grapes, dated to 450-435 BCE, shows a Melitan with a thin lightly ornamented collar. These are narrow, delicate collars, sometimes adorned with bells. They were like those of the Vertragus when it was not on a hunt; when hunting, the Vertragus would have worn a spiked collar or a thick collar of leather.
The speed of the Vertragus encouraged the Romans to race them. This led to the development of a light-weight leather collar and leather thong-leash, the lyam, which passed through a metal ring on the collar, the two ends held in the hand of the owner or handler. Metal collars were considered too heavy for racing hounds and, further, stained the animals neck an unattractive gray. Racing collars were painted in different bright colors to easily identify the winning dog.
Racing collars were painted in different bright colors to easily identify the winning dog. At the start of the race, the dogs were lined up with their handlers and, at a signal, the person would let go one end of the thong-leash and release the dog on the track. Arrian (l. 86-160 CE) describes these collars with their metal ring but fails to mention how they were fastened. They could have had clasps or even buckles.
Pliny the Elder (l. 23-79 CE) mentions far more elaborate and expensive dog collars in his works, claiming that a collar of gold will calm a dog and keep it from incessant, needless barking. These gold dog collars were held by clasps which interlocked and were engraved with the owners name and sometimes a clever saying relating to the dogs personality. This practice would lead to the same on the slave collar, worn by many of the enormous population of slaves throughout Rome, giving the slaves name and owners name and address. Slave collars, of course, were far from gold and this distinction was the norm in Rome as dogs were almost always treated better than slaves.
Columella (l. 4 -70 CE), another Roman writer, claims that a dog is the most important aspect of home-owning and the first purchase one should make upon establishing residence. He echoes the advice of Xenophon (l. 430-c. 354 BCE) to keep the name of a dog to one or two syllables for ease in training “so that each may obey more quickly when he is called” but discourages people (farmers, specifically) from owning hunting dogs which will only lure them away from their home and duties in pursuing the hunt (On Agriculture, Book VII.xii.13).
Columella emphasizes the importance of owning a dog to guard the farm, home, ones produce, and livestock. He also suggests these guard dogs be of two different colors: a white dog who will protect the premises at night and be easily differentiated from a wolf or other predator and a black dog to intimidate would-be thieves by day and be invisible to the same at night. He suggests specific dog names such as Ferox (“savage”) or Celer (“speedy”) which should fit the dogs individual personality and serve as warning to others of what the dog was known for.
Dog, PompeiiBen Lawson (CC BY-NC-ND)
The Romans invented the buckle for use in military gear (though the concept could have come from China) and it afterward made an appearance on dog collars. Exactly when this happened is unclear, but it was prior to 79 CE when Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. A dog discovered among the ruins of Pompeii wears a buckle collar inscribed with praise for saving its masters life from a wolf attack. The most popular collar, however, appears to have been the metal spiked work of Greek origin which was used in hunting, for guard dogs, and especially in the arena for dog fights.
The Molossian (probably the ancestor of the Neapolitan Mastiff) was one of the preferred fighting breeds, equipped with its large spiked collar, and was also the breed that accompanied the Roman army on their conquests throughout the world of the Mediterranean and beyond. The Molossian is thought to have been eventually bred specifically for combat and was the Romans main war dog, though not their only one.
In 231 BCE, the Roman consul Marcus Pomponius Matho took up the campaign in Sardinia which his brother had failed to complete. The Sardinians practiced guerrilla warfare, striking at the Roman legions and then vanishing into caves and woods. According to the historian Zonaras (l. 1074-1130 CE), Marcus Pomponius “sent for keen-scented dogs from Italy” who were able to track the Sardinians to their hideouts and alert the handlers who followed them. The campaign in Sardinia had been dragging on for years without showing any sign of resolution until these dogs were brought into the campaign. Marcus Pomponius secured his victory and was able to return to Rome in triumph.
The precise breed of the “keen-scented dogs” Marcus used is unknown but they are thought to have been hounds, perhaps the Vertragus. The Molossian, however, is well documented as the most formidable war dog of the Romans. These dogs are claimed to have often formed their own companies among the troops and were protected by armor and the thick, spiked, metal collars formerly used to protect the dogs from wolves.
Although there is evidence of Molossians being used as guard dogs in camps and as messengers, there is some controversy regarding the claim they were used in battle. Writer Ria Horter of The Canine Chronicle, for example, cites a scholar by the name of Dr. Robert van der Molen who claims he has proven that dogs were never used in battle in the ancient world. Horter cites Molens work, Dogs in the Greek and Roman World, in claiming that dogs never featured as regular combatants on the field.
Molossian HoundOsama Shukir Muhammed Amin (Copyright)
This claim, however, is contested by authors who point to military companies of Molossians under Roman handlers on the front lines. Further, ancient sources such as Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Polybius, and others write of a number of different types of dogs used in the Roman army during different eras: canes pugnaces (attack dogs in chain mail and spiked collars, also the premier fighting dog in the arena), canes villatica (guard dogs), canes nare sagaces (tracking dogs) and canes pedibus cleres (chasing dogs) among others.
The breed known as the Cane Corso was definitely used in battle. This was a large mastiff regularly used as a guard dog; its very name, in fact, can be translated as guard dog. The Cane Corso was sometimes used as a piriferi (fire-bearer) on the battlefield according to the Greek writer Polybius (l. 200-118 BCE). The Romans would strap buckets of flaming oil to the backs of the dogs and release them toward the front lines of the opposing cavalry.
The Cane Corso is most likely the dog often depicted in ancient engravings as it frequently was chosen as a farm dog to protect the home and livestock as well as a hunting dog and so was a familiar figure in popular use. In later writings the breed seems to become associated with the Molossian.
Julius Caesar, invading Britain in 55 BCE, met opposition from Celtic warriors with their own dogs which are frequently identified as the English Mastiff but Caesar himself never names them. Historians believe it more probable Caesar encountered Molossians which had been brought to Britain by Carthaginian traders. The Molossians would have interbred with the local dog population to produce the Mastiff, but it seems unlikely the Mastiff would have already been a breed in Britain when Caesar arrived there.
The use of dogs in Roman warfare under Marcus Pomponius and Polybiuss report of the Cane Corso seem to contradict the claim by van der Molen as cited by Horter. The Romans held dogs in high esteem and many works were written regarding breeding, training, and care for the animals. It would hardly be surprising that the Romans, ever practical, would have used dogs in combat.
The Romans relied heavily on their dogs to assist and protect them in their daily lives and so, although it may seem a contradiction to a modern audience, it is not surprising that dogs were also offered in sacrifice to the gods. As with other cultures, the Romans sacrificed the best of what they had, not what they could easily do without, and dog sacrifices are the best example of this.
Cave Canem, Dog MosaicMitch Barrie (CC BY-SA)
In the same way, the fighting dog – whether in the Colosseum or a local ring – was far from poorly used but, rather, highly honored and well-cared for. The owners reputation and, often, livelihood depended on the dogs performance in a fight and they received better care and greater attention than many of the slaves in Rome or even some family members.
There is some evidence that dogs could be seen in a negative light – the Romans, after all, coined the phrase dies caniculares – “the dog days of summer” – associating dogs with intolerable heat because of their link to Sirius, the dog star, which was prominent in that season, but positive associations far outweigh the negatives. The most frequent depiction of the dog in ancient Rome is of a loyal servant, a trusted guardian, and always as a close companion. Did you like this article?
The relationship of the ancient Romans with their pets
Dogs played an important role in ancient Roman society and they were bred as pets, guardians, for herding, hunting, and for war.
Many beautiful virtues were appreciated in dogs: loyalty (fides), obedience, unconditional affection, nobility of soul, great intuition, spontaneity in expressing one’s emotions through the movements of the tail, the different ways of barking, and the different postures of the body. Pliny the Elder (23 A.D.-79 A.D.) called the dog “man’s most faithful companion”.
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There were also breeds similar to modern Spitz, Greyhounds, Dachshunds and Sheepdogs. Like the molosses, another breed of dogs came from Greece, which originated more specifically from Laconia, the homeland of Sparta. It was the so-called Spartan or Laconian race. Horace mentioned that “Spartan” and Molos are “the shepherd’s best companions” . The Laconian breed should be distinguished by large dimensions, a small head, a straight nose, erect ears, a long and flexible neck, and black and shiny eyes. The dog should chase the prey vigorously, with great noise and barking, and lead them into the net. It can, therefore, be suspected that it was rather a type of greyhound.
Judging by the recommendations of Cato and Columella, reasonably rational breeding was carried out by selecting dogs with appropriate external features and temperament. These authors provide a number of practical tips for breeding dogs, even details such as animal names. They propose that these names be short of the type: Sylax, Ferox. Celer, Alka, Roma, Lupas, Cerva, motivating that the longer the name, the more difficult it is for the animal to get used to it.
Later, the Romans themselves began to use dogs in battle, as evidenced by, among other things, the reliefs from Trajan’s Column. Historical accounts also mention the use of fighting dogs in circus arenas. Most often they were contrasted with criminals (including Christians), prisoners of war or other animals. Professional gladiators fought them reluctantly; killing a dog in the arena did not bring much glory, and the danger of being bitten to death was considerable. Large, strong and sharp-tempered dogs were selected for combat purposes. They were also used to chase runaway slaves, but their main task was to pursue the enemy who had been smashed in battle.
The Romans encountered fighting dogs during long wars with the Germans and the Celts. In the battle with the Cimbri, at Vercellae they had to fight a formal battle with these animals. Dogs fought even when their masters were killed or enslaved. They also defended the fortified Cimbri camp most effectively and for the longest time. The Romans broke into the fortifications only after killing all the animals. It is worth mentioning that dogs in battles were also used in a more armoured form. One source states that in the mid-seventh century BCE the Magnesian riders in the war against the Ephesians were accompanied by fighting dogs, which were released to break through the enemy ranks; then there was a driving charge. War dogs were then often sent into battle with barbed collars and armour. Returning to the Romans, Julius Caesar’s troops must have met with fighting dogs during the Gallic Wars. Even before the conquest of Britain, in the 1st century BCE, a large number of dogs were brought to Rome, which, according to the Greek Geographer, were famous for their great hunting skills .
The existence of luxury dogs is attested by numerous written and material sources. They were kept for entertainment and play at home, well-fed and cared for. The muzzle was probably unknown and not used, but the dogs had collars sometimes made of very valuable materials. Pliny describes the grief of a certain senatorial family after the loss of a precious favourite in a shipwreck with a no less valuable collar on his neck. Such dogs were often treated on an equal footing with family members and were often erected posthumous monuments and tombstones. Sometimes the owner’s last wish was to rest with his four-legged friend. There was found monument with the following dedication:
How They Did It – Pet Dogs in Ancient Rome
Cane Corso is an impressive dog breed. It is a native Italian breed that is believed to originate in the region of southern Italy. Since their beginning, they were quite a frightful sight to see. With their pointy ears and muscular body, they remain one of the most fearful dogs to this day.
They belong to the Molosser family of dog breeds. This dog breed family originated in an old Greek tribe and the kingdom of Molossians, and it is clear where they got their name from. They were large and muscular dogs that had a strong defensive and guarding instinct. They served the Greeks for many centuries and were quite popular throughout the Molossian kingdom as well as the whole of Greece.
This breeds name consists of the Italian word “Cane” that translates to the word “dog”. The second part of the name is “Corso” and it is believed that this word comes from the Latin word “cohors” that roughly translates as “protector” or “guardian”. That was their first purpose, to guard and protect farms and farmers from invaders as well as wild predators. Thus the name Cane Corso came to life. They are also known by their other names such as Cane Corso Italiano, the Italian Cane Corso, and the Italian Mastiff.
This breed is closely related to the Neapolitan Mastiff, they are practically cousins and they share their genetic heritage. Both of these dog breeds came to life when the Roman empire attacked Greek islands and encountered the Molosser dog breeds. They decided to take some of these dogs back to the Roman empire and breed them with the native dog breeds. The first dogs that were created in Roman times from the original Molossers were called “Canis Pugnax” – the Roman dogs of war.
These two dog breeds started to divide and became two completely different dog breeds through carefully introducing other native Italian dog breeds into their genetic pool. They were carefully bred so each breed would have distinctive traits and today we can see these differences.
These dogs were famous Roman war dogs. They were trained for a specific purpose on the battlefield and their imposing looks stroke fear in their enemies. They used to be even bigger and they had special armor made especially for them so they could stay alive as long as possible and be shielded from arrows and spikes. The Romans trained these dogs to charge their enemies while carrying flamings buckets of oil on their side. There are many ancient pictures and statues of these dogs in armor and depicted as guardians and companions of Roman soldiers.
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Besides the famous war history of Cane Corso, they had other purposes as well. Since they were used mostly by farmers as general farm-working dogs, they were also used for big game hunting. They were extremely fit and had great stamina and power so they could take on bigger animals and not get hurt.
Cane Corso dogs were also used for bloodsports in ancient Rome. They were involved in all sorts of blood “entertainment” the Romans had such as bull-fighting, tiger and lion fighting, gladiator battles, and dog battles. It is said that 4 Cane Corsos could kill a tiger or a lion.
These dogs were extremely successful in the “Tauromachy” a sport that involved bulls and dogs. The goal was for the pack of usually four dogs to immobilize the bull by grabbing them by the ears or the muzzle. These are the two most sensitive parts of the bull and if the dogs would manage to catch the bull it would immediately immobilize them due to the extreme pain. This barbaric sport existed in Spain and illegally in Italy up until the 20th century.
After the bloody Roman part of this Cane Corso history, they started to move towards the quieter life and were mainly used as guard dogs as well as farm dogs. In Italian farms, these dogs had several jobs given to them. They used to guard livestock, helped farmers with heavy loads, and were used as hunting dogs because of the traits these dogs had from ancient times. Their natural guarding instinct made them into great guard dogs of everything they believed to be their property.
They were used a bit less in the hunting activities but they were known to be successful in the hunting of large game such as deer, wild boars or even bears though they were first and foremost used as guard dogs.
In more recent times, this breed encountered some problems. The First World War and the Second World War nearly made this breed extinct. After the First Great War, there were still enough bloodlines left but that was short-lived. Almost all Italian men were drafted in the Second World War and the farms were left unattended and the dogs were abandoned.
With no one to care for the dogs, they weren’t bred anymore and started to die out. Those who remained were most likely killed for their fierce loyalty and unwillingness to leave their owners.
After the War, the traditional Italian lifestyle was completely changed and there were fewer farms that needed a guard or a working dog. Those that remained turned to mechanical farm assistance so the dogs jobs rendered obsolete. Also, firearms became popular and easier to purchase so it became easier to defend your farm and land without the assistance of a large guard dog.
Very few pureblood dogs remained and they were brought to near extinction. They managed to survive in the rural parts of Italy where they remained employed by the Italian farmers and families. In the 1970s a group of enthusiasts started to gather all the information about these dogs and they tried to track as many as possible. They began planning the selective breeding of the breed and we know today that thanks to them, this beautiful and historic dog breed is still around.
This dog was officially recognized by the Italian Kennel Club in 1994 and accepted provisionally by the FCI in 1997. In 2007 they were fully admitted by the FCI and 3 years later they were recognized by the American Kennel Club where their popularity is still rising to this day.