A Jew’s Best Friend?

The Image of the Dog Throughout Jewish History

By Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, Rakefet Zalashik

Sussex Academic Press

Copyright © 2014 Sussex Academic Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-84519-401-7

Contents

Acknowledgments,
Introduction Rakefet J. Zalashik and Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman,
Chapter One Dog Cult in Persian Period Judea Meir Edrey,
Chapter Two From Unclean Species to Man’s Best Friend: Dogs in the Biblical, Mishnah, and Talmud Periods Sophia Menache,
Chapter Three Good Dog–Bad Dog: Jews and Their Dogs in Ancient Jewish Society Joshua Schwartz,
Chapter Four Uncultured, Uncontrolled, and Untrustworthy — Yet Protective and Productive! The Dog in the Mindset of the Jews of Medieval Islam Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman,
Chapter Five The Bread, the Children, and the Dogs Kenneth Stow,
Chapter Six “If a Jew Has a Dog …”: Dogs in Yiddish Proverbs Robert A. Rothstein,
Chapter Seven A Dog without a People for People without a Dog: Rudolphina Menzel and Canines in Canaan Susan M. Kahn,
Chapter Eight Only Yesterday: A Hebrew Dog and the Colonial Dynamics in Pre-Mandate Palestine Uri S. Cohen,
Chapter Nine An Israeli Heroine?: ‘Azit the Canine Paratrooper Rakefet J. Zalashik,
Chapter Ten Adam Resurrected: A “Dog’s” Journey from the Circus to Asylum Iftah Biran,
Chapter Eleven Taking the Circumcised Dog by the Throat: A Critical Review of Contemporary Rituals for Dogs in America Aubrey L. Glazer,
Chapter Twelve Teaching the Jews and the Dog: A Pedagogical Essay Katharine Baker and Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman,
The Contributors,
Index,

CHAPTER 1

Dog Cult in Persian Period Judea

Meir Edrey

Dogs have played a crucial role in man’s everyday life ever since they were first domesticated, presumably around 10,000 BCE. Dogs were found to be useful guardians of the camp, helpers during the hunt, a source for food, skilled shepherds and loyal companions. As human society developed, dogs assumed more and more useful roles in it. Despite their many positive traits, though, dogs were also considered by many cultures of the Ancient Near East — and especially those of the southern Levant — to be tainted, chthonic animals, associated with impurity, disease and the underworld. It was inevitable that an animal so integral to human society would find its way into the realm of the supernatural, where it assumed both positive and negative symbolic roles. It seems that this ambivalent attitude towards dogs was one of the factors that made them such a common commodity in cultic rituals of various cultures in the Ancient Near East. In light of recent archaeological evidence it could be suggested that the people of Judea shared that practice.

Dogs in Near Eastern Cults

Copious evidence, both textual and archaeological, clearly shows that dogs were frequently used in rituals of Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Practiced from prehistoric times, perhaps most ancient was the burial of dogs adjacent to and accompanying dead humans. The reasons for such burials might have been pragmatic (i.e., the dog was his master’s property to be carried with him to the afterlife alongside his other possessions), or perhaps protective (i.e., the dog was buried to guard his master from the perils of the underworld), or the reason might have been a sympathetic one and the beloved dog was buried as a companion on the journey to the afterlife. Whatever the reason, these burials show a strong connection between dogs and people from a very early age

As human society evolved and became more complex, so did the world of beliefs and dogs’ role in it. Dogs were used ritually as sacrificial animals, as revered animals, or as active participants in the ritual as the representatives of a deity. In other cases, figurines of dogs were used in place of the animal itself.

In Mesopotamia, dogs were primarily associated with the goddess Gula-Ninisina, a healing goddess worshiped primarily at Isin, located some 200 km. south-southeast of Baghdad. The cult of Gula-Ninisina is recorded from the third millennium BCE and was still thriving during the first millennium BCE. As the archaeological, iconographic and textual evidence shows, the dog was the main epithet of the goddess and dogs were used in various healing rituals in Gula’s temples (Figure 1.1). Dogs also frequently appear in other various cultic texts in both positive and negative roles.

Ancient Egyptians associated many animals with their gods. Dogs (or perhaps jackals) were primarily associated with Anubis, god of the underworld. They were also associated with other minor deities such as Duamtuef, Wepwawet or Khentimentiu, and as such were revered in special temple precincts and were often given royal burials. The Greek historian Herodotus of the fifth century BCE wrote that the dog was a subject of veneration and worship in Egypt in his time. According to Heterodotus, if a dog belonging to an Egyptian family died, the members of the household shaved their heads and bodies as a sign of grief.

Asia Minor (Anatolia and northern Syria) has produced an abundance of both archaeological and textual evidence for the use of dogs in a cultic setting across an extended period of time. Many Hurrian, northern Mesopotamian and Hittite cultic texts attest to a variety of rituals in which dogs, and especially puppies, were used to “absorb” impurity from people or places, and sacrificed to chthonic deities. The “evil” which resided in the person or place was transferred to the dog through various means such as holding the dog against the person’s body, waving it over the person or location, having it lick disease-ridden organs, or by spitting into its mouth. The ritual would usually conclude with the sacrifice of the dog and the disposal of all the remains by burial in a pit in the ground. The discovery of a cultic pit structure, known as an “Abi”, at Tell Mozan (Hurrian Urkesh), located in northeastern Syria and dated between 2300–2100 BCE, holds evidence to the existence of “pit rituals” in which dogs and other animals were sacrificed to underworld/chthonic deities and then buried in pits. Inside the structure, the skeletons of 20 puppies and one adult dog were unearthed alongside the remains of many other sacrificed animals. At Tell Brak, also located in northeastern Syria, the burial of a donkey and a dog has brought attention to a Mari document dated to the eighteenth century BCE in which a choice is made between sacrificing either animal at covenant ceremonies. At Iron Age Sardis, ca. 575–525 BCE, located in western Turkey, excavations revealed 27 buried pot clusters in which the skeletons of puppies were found. These could be connected to the Lydian cult of Kandaulas (a god who was given the epithets “Dog throttle” and “Friend of thieves” by the Byzantine poet Hipponax) in which dogs were apparently ritually choked or suffocated, or to a Carian cult in which dogs were sacrificed to Enyalios or Hecate, the two chief gods of Caria.

Dogs were also frequently used in cults and rituals in Ancient Greece; Plutarch wrote that all Greeks used dogs as a sacrificial animal in purification rituals. Dogs in Greece were primarily associated with Asklepios, god of Medicine, and were regularly employed in healing rituals in Asklepios’ temple at Epidaurus. They were also associated with other deities such as Hecate, a chthonic goddess patroness of witchcraft and ghosts, and were frequently sacrificed to her during funerary rites. In Sparta and Macedonia, dogs were sacrificed to Ares-Enyalios, the god of war, and in Athens dogs were occasionally sacrificed to Kore (later known as Persephone) and Demeter.

In Persian period Iran, dogs were especially revered and were considered to be the second most important being to the chief deity Ahura-Mazda, second only to humans. An entire chapter in the Zend Avesta, the Zoroastrian sacred scriptures, was dedicated to dogs’ role in life, their proper treatment and to the punishments for those who mistreat them. Dogs played a key role in the funerary rites of the Zoroastrian religion, and were awarded a proper burial upon their demise. One funerary tradition of the Zoroastrians, practiced in Yezd, was to expose the human corpse to the “gaze of a dog” and place food for it around and on the body; in Marvin H. Pope’s opinion, this tradition might be echoed in a late Rabbinic story of the death of King David. According to Midrash Qohelet Rabba 5:10, David died on the Sabbath and was left where he lay, while a pack of hungry dogs drew near the body. King Solomon asked for advice and was instructed to cut up a carcass of an animal and place it around the body, and to place a loaf of bread or a child on the body so it could be moved on the Sabbath.

It appears, therefore, that dog-related cults were fairly common throughout the Ancient Near East. In most cases they were either connected to a healing cult or deity such as that of Gula in Mesopotamia or Asklepios in Greece, or to chthonic cults such as those practiced by the Hurrians, Hittites or Greeks. But what of dog related cults closer to Judea?

Southern Levantine Cultic Dogs

While Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and the Aegean world may offer a relatively-extensive supply of literary sources for the cultic use of dogs in rituals, written sources are scarce, though not entirely unknown for the cultures of the southern Levant (i.e., the area between modern Israel and greater Syria, including Cyprus). The Old Testament offers some references to dogs (see below), and a cultic offering list from Ugarit would seem to mention a dog among other sacrificial animals. Nevertheless, what the southern Levant fails to provide in terms of literary evidence is counterbalanced by an abundance of archaeological evidence, mainly in the form of dog burials.

The earliest evidence for the cultic use of dogs was found at the sanctuary at Gilat, located in the northern Negev and dated to the Chalcolithic Period (ca. 4500–3500 BCE). Inside the cultic site, six dog burials were found, one of which accompanied by a burial offering. Dog burials with burial offerings were also found at Hajar Eyid, located some two km. north of Ashkelon, dated to the Early Bronze Age IA (ca. 3500–3300 BCE). At Tel Haror, biblical Gerar, located in the western Negev, Israel, some 20 km. west of Beersheva, numerous bones of puppies and crows were found buried in favissa pits (a depository for out of use cultic material similar to a geniza) inside a temple dated to the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000–1550 BCE. These burials were often accompanied by offering vessels. Analysis of the bone material from the earlier period indicated that the dogs’ necks were broken, while the later material showed cut marks suggesting that the method of sacrifice was modified. Another dog burial was found near a Middle Bronze Age cult place at Lachish. In a temple dated to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550–1200 BCE) at Bet She’an, located in the Jezreel valley of northern Israel, a basalt relief was unearthed. The relief portrays the images of a dog and a lion in two registers. In the upper register, the two animals are in strife, and in the lower register it seems the dog had prevailed (Figure 1.2). It was suggested by several scholars that the two animals were representations or epithets of gods worshiped in the temple. At the Philistine site of Tel Miqne, identified with biblical Ekron, located some 35 km. southwest of Jerusalem, the remains of a puppy with its skull placed between its legs were found near a cultic installation. An iron knife was also found in proximity to the burial. Remains of other dog bones bearing cut marks were found elsewhere at the site, all dated to Iron Age I (ca. 1200–1000 BCE). At Philistine Ashkelon, bone remains of two puppies also bearing cut marks were found buried in pots dated to the same period. At Kahlde, located ca. 10 km. south of Beirut, eight dog burials were unearthed next to several large stones, perhaps stelae. Ashes and both human and animal bone fragments were found in proximity. These burials could be dated either to the Iron Age I or the subsequent Persian-Hellenistic periods. At Tel Yavne, located some 20 km. south of Jaffa, a large favissa pit was found containing a sizeable amount of ceramic offering bowls, cult stands and fragments of animal bones including those of a single dog. The finds were dated to the ninth century BCE (Iron Age II), and should probably be linked to the nearby Philistine temple.

But the majority of dog burials in the southern Levant are dated to the Persian period, 586–332 BCE. Indeed, it would seem that the dog burial phenomenon had reached a pinnacle during this era throughout the region, although exactly why this happened is unclear.

At Tel Dor, located some 14 km. north of Caesarea, several dog burials were found, some of which found next to favissa pits containing cultic vessels. At Tell el-Hesi the articulated remains of a decapitated puppy were found buried in a pit. Another articulated headless dog was unearthed in a silo dated to the late Persian/early Hellenistic period. Other canid bones were also found at the site in pits dated to the same period. A few dog burials accompanied by possible burial offerings were also found in Beirut. Dog burials dated to the Persian or subsequent Hellenistic periods were also found in Ashdod, Shoham, Tel Qasile, Apollonia-Arsuf, Gezer, and Tel Hesban. But while the sites discussed above can display no more than several dog burials, one site stands out in its enormous amount of dog burials. In Persian-period Ashkelon, over 1500 individual dog (mostly puppy) burials were unearthed at two areas of the excavation. Each dog was in an individual shallow, unmarked pit. The dogs were laid on their side, tails tucked between their hinder limbs, apparently with no burial offerings and with no specific orientation (Figure 1.3).

There might also be evidence for the existence of a dog-related cult in Cyprus. In Kition, a Phoenician settlement on Cyprus, a small alabaster inscription known as the “Kition plaque” was unearthed during excavations in the nineteenth century. This plaque, dated to the mid fifth century BCE, records the personnel who received salary from the local temple of Astarte and Mkl. Among these personnel two disputed words appear in sequence; klbm and grm. The simplest literary translation would be “dogs” and “puppies”. Some scholars, though, have interpreted these as metaphors referring to people serving in the temple. Van den Branden suggested klbm should be understood as a term for human male temple-prostitutes, and grm as lambs, for adolescent male prostitutes. He later revised his interpretation and maintained these were temple prostitutes who received their names due to animal masks or costumes they wore during rituals. Van den Branden based his theories largely on an interpretation of the biblical verses in Deuteronomy 23: 17–18:

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There shall be no cult prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute of the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog, into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

Since verse 17 speaks of female and male prostitutes, and verse 18 continues and states that one should not use tainted money from the wages of a whore or a dog in the temple in Jerusalem, dog here was understood by many scholars as an analogy for a male prostitute. Although temple prostitution was a well-known phenomenon in the Ancient Near East, due to the abundant evidence for the cultic use of dogs in temples, one must also consider that the dog here might be literally a dog serving in a temple. It could be suggested that dogs were simply considered as impure as whores. Another reference to whores and dogs in the Old Testament can be seen in 1 Kings 22:38:

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And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the harlots washed (themselves in it), according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken.

Here the biblical writer uses dogs and prostitutes in order to stress the indignity that befell Ahab, the corrupt king of Israel who married the Phonecian princess Jezebel, introduced Canaanite cults to Israel, and its capital Samaria. The dog burials described above attest to an extremely long southern Levantine tradition of dog burials often found in clear cultic context, which suggest the use of dogs in rituals and cults, similar to their use in other cultures as attested in the archaeologic, iconographic and textual evidence found throughout the Ancient Near East.

Two more dog burials were recently added to this vast list, dated by the excavator to the Persian period. Unlike the Ashkelon dogs (who were mostly puppies), these dogs seemed to have died of old age. However like the Ashkelon dogs, these two also showed no signs of violence, sickness or malnutrition. While some scholars reject the connection of dog burials to a cult, most agree this evidence must be cult related. Could a dog-related cult have also been practiced in Persian period Judea?

(Continues…)Excerpted from A Jew’s Best Friend? by Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, Rakefet Zalashik. Copyright © 2014 Sussex Academic Press. Excerpted by permission of Sussex Academic Press.
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