The Legendary Dogmen

Daily Mail, 30th June 2023:

What are the dog-like humanoid creatures depicted on the Mappa Mundi?

These dogmen are examples of the cynocephalus. The name is derived from the Greek words kyno, meaning dog, and kephale, head. They are found in a surprising number of ancient cultures. The Mappa Mundi, Hereford Cathedral’s 13th-century map of the world, depicts mythical creatures in its margins. The dogmen are shown being chased out of the Garden of Eden by an angel to exile on a rocky promontory in the Far North.

Cynocephali can be traced back to Ancient Egypt, where Anubis, the god of death and funeral rites, is depicted as having a human body and the head of a jackal. These wild dogs were associated with death as they lurked in cemeteries. Greek historian Herodotus, in his Histories of 425 BC, writes: ‘Here, too, are the dog-faced creatures, and the creatures without heads, whom the Libyans declare to have their eyes in their breasts.’

Around 400 BC, Greek physician Ctesias described the tribes of Cynocephalus. He believed they came from the Far East: ‘They speak no language, but bark like dogs, and in this manner make themselves understood by each other. Their teeth are larger than those of dogs, their nails like those of these animals, but longer and rounder. They inhabit the mountains as far as the river Indus. Their complexion is swarthy. They are extremely just, like the rest of the Indians with whom they associate. They understand the Indian language, but are unable to converse, only barking or making signs with their hands and fingers by way of reply. They number about 120,000.’

Cynocephali also appear in the Welsh Arthurian poem Pa Gur:
On the mountain of Eidyn
He [Arthur] fought with dogheads.
By the hundred they fell; they fell by the hundred,
Before Bedwyr the Perfect.

They also featured in the mythical deeds of Alexander the Great. And St Christopher, patron saint of travellers, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is depicted in certain icons as a cynocephalus, made human by his conversion. Medieval theologians, including St Augustine, debated if such creatures were more human than dog and whether they could have a soul. They were a popular motif for scribes at the time the Mappa Mundi was created. In the 13th century, it was reported that Mongol invaders from the East were tribes of dog-headed men. Franciscan monk Juan de Pian de Cipriano reported seeing cynocephali on a visit to the court of the Mongol Great Khan in 1246.

The word cannibal may have come from the man-eating cynocephalic people.

Gerald Spence, Cardiff.