Dog-Headed Men: Episode 005

Dogs have a special place in our tiny hearts here at The Midnight Library.

We’re fond of them as a species and we feel a bond with their... ancestry. It took a little digging on our part, but we’re so pleased to share with you the little-known history of The Dog-Headed Men.  So come, sit, and stay as we have for you a dog show like no other. Good boy!

Cynocephali illustrated in the Kievan psalter, 1397

A cynocephalus. From the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).

Anubis attending the mummy of the deceased, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Monstrous humans by Sebastian Münster [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Dog-headed man, 'Hortus Sanitatis' (1491). Woodblock illustration of a dog-headed man or Cyanocephalus, from Ortus (Hortus) Sanitatis

Cynocephali - dog-headed men

Jacob van Maerlant: Der Naturen Bloeme - dogheads

KB.NL Ms. KA16 fol-004r

Figure of the Eastern Zodiacal Dog as a dog headed and possibly tailed person. Rubbing from the tomb of Gim Yu-sin of Later Silla (now Korea).

17th century icon of St-Stephen and St-Christopher

REFERENCE LINKS:

1. Gods and Monsters

2. Boing Boing

3. Ancient Origins

4. Into the Wonder