There was however a christian monk named Saint Christopher who was sometimes depicted with the head of a dog. There were also many stories going back through history of peoples generally referred to now as the “cynocephali” who were reported as far back as ancient greece, as a race of people who had the features of dogs and walked upright and wore human clothing and lived in cities.
I have my doubts… to say the least, but I think it’s fascinating that we have this weird, ongoing obsession as a species with our mammalian cousins, particularly canines that walk upright. Likely this goes back ten thousand years or more to when people were starting to settle down and do agriculture, we had to deal with a LOT more wolves and we had very complex relationships with wolf packs or wolf families who we shared space with. While likely most of them we killed before they could kill us, I imagine over such vast, vast stretches of history that there were probably more than a few collaborative relationships.
Considering how gossip and stories tend to be passed down, my bet is that someone once saw a bunch of people that wore wolf skins over their heads (think roman velites) and, from mouth to mouth exaggeration, it became “walking, talking dogs/wolves”
Do you think the left figure depicts a christian monk? I find it hard to tell and no dates are provided.
It’s not a Christian monk.
AMAFs.
There was however a christian monk named Saint Christopher who was sometimes depicted with the head of a dog. There were also many stories going back through history of peoples generally referred to now as the “cynocephali” who were reported as far back as ancient greece, as a race of people who had the features of dogs and walked upright and wore human clothing and lived in cities.
I have my doubts… to say the least, but I think it’s fascinating that we have this weird, ongoing obsession as a species with our mammalian cousins, particularly canines that walk upright. Likely this goes back ten thousand years or more to when people were starting to settle down and do agriculture, we had to deal with a LOT more wolves and we had very complex relationships with wolf packs or wolf families who we shared space with. While likely most of them we killed before they could kill us, I imagine over such vast, vast stretches of history that there were probably more than a few collaborative relationships.
Considering how gossip and stories tend to be passed down, my bet is that someone once saw a bunch of people that wore wolf skins over their heads (think roman velites) and, from mouth to mouth exaggeration, it became “walking, talking dogs/wolves”