Chair of Near Eastern Archeology
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Dogs

PICT1259 Bronzeplättchen Hund 3 slide

IB 13a

Embossed illustrations of dogs in standing, squatting and crouching positions. The dog has pricked ears and medium-long hair.

Umzeichnungen Hund 13a

PICT1255 Bronzeplättchen Hund 2 slide

IB 13b

Maybe the hair along the back means only a stylised reproduction of the fer.

Umzeichnungen Hund 13b

PICT1252 Bronzeplättchen Hund 1 slide

IB 13c

No hints to the function or type of the dogs are given.

Umzeichnungen Hund 13c

PICT1260 Terrakotte Hund 3 slide

IB 1828

Bearded man with dog. The dog is very tall and bulky, and it wears a collar. Better preserved depictions (below) identify the dog as a fighting dog.

Parallele Hundekampf

IB 29 Bronze-Figurine Kniender mit Hund nach rechts

IB 29

Bronze figurine: Kneeling person with dog.

Isin Rampe mit Hundegräbern

Isin I, Plan 3

North-east of the Temple of Gula: a ramp (4.5 m wide, 32 m long, with burnt bricks) leads to the temple; above and beside it, 33 burials of dogs have been unearthed.

Isin IB 18 Hundefigurine mit Inschrift

IB 18

The terracotta figurine of a dog bears a dedication to Gula.

isin

Canidae (dogs) have a special position in the 2nd mill. BC, acting as symbol for the goddess Gula. The dog has long been known as Gula‘s companion. The dog’s role in the art of healing could result from the antiseptic effect of its saliva.

The special position of the dog is also attested to by burials of dogs, found in relation to a ramp leading up to the temple of Gula at Isin.

Another, yet less unpleasant picture is the dog, demonstrably kept in the temple precinct of Isin, playing the role of the scapegoat, meaning a medical problem was "solved", i.e. a person was "healed" by transferring the disease or illness to the dog and consequently beating it half to death, to exorcise the bad. The buried dogs attest a relatively huge number of broken bones that were not necessary lethal but some of which had not healed up completely.