Dog Crucifixion In Ancient Rome

[Silurian]

Hello everyone,

I am reading Tom Holland's 'Rubicon' at the moment and have just read a passage about an annual crucifixion of guard dogs. Apparently, this was a belated punishment for failing to bark and warn about the imminent sacking of Rome by the Gauls. Geese, however, were celebrated.

Does anyone know of the primary source(s) for this dog crucifixion? I'd be interested to find out if this was true or a fiction of anti-Roman propaganda from later sources.

Thanks

Silurian

[caldrail]

That's a curious one. It is true that the Romans used animals in some criminal punishments, but to crucify dogs in religious ceremonies? Not exactly a practical proposition given canine anatomy. A sacrifice of dogs perhaps, but I find it hard to accept they were crucified, since cricifixion was intended to be, quote, a nasty 'orrible death... It goes on for hours..., and if the idea was a religious ritual why were dogs veing punished by such a severe punishment instead of being 'humanely' despatched?

 

Still, I might be wrong, so I too await any confirmation.

[Melvadius]

That's a curious one. It is true that the Romans used animals in some criminal punishments, but to crucify dogs in religious ceremonies? Not exactly a practical proposition given canine anatomy. A sacrifice of dogs perhaps, but I find it hard to accept they were crucified, since cricifixion was intended to be, quote, a nasty 'orrible death... It goes on for hours..., and if the idea was a religious ritual why were dogs veing punished by such a severe punishment instead of being 'humanely' despatched?

 

Still, I might be wrong, so I too await any confirmation.

 

I need to check if it is in my abbreviated copy of Pliny but various on-line religeous sites quote Pliny Natural History 29.57 as the source for this particular story.

[Nephele]

We've had this question of dog crucifixion before, although it was some years back (Pantagathus cited some sources):

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4686

 

Dogs were also sacrificed during the annual observance of the Robigalia, as Ovid mentions in his Fasti (Book IV). But Ovid doesn't say how the dogs were killed.

 

I'm in agreement with Maty that the act of canine crucifixion should be counted among The Top Ten Roman Atrocities.

 

-- Nephele

[Silurian]

We've had this question of dog crucifixion before, although it was some years back (Pantagathus cited some sources):

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4686

 

Dogs were also sacrificed during the annual observance of the Robigalia, as Ovid mentions in his Fasti (Book IV). But Ovid doesn't say how the dogs were killed.

 

I'm in agreement with Maty that the act of canine crucifixion should be counted among The Top Ten Roman Atrocities.

 

-- Nephele

 

Thanks for that Nephele.

[caesar novus]

I heard a professor say that it was exactly 1 pair crucified per year, so although it was a needless gratuitious act... the bodycount seems tiny compared to what the plural form might envision.

 

Not to justify animal cruelty (I'm vegetarian myself), but it can be somewhat refreshing when a culture doesn't 100% sentimentalize pets (and especially dogs just for being indiscriminately devoted to an owner regardless of their qualities). In my area there are silly helicopter rescues of dogs just for looking sick, even when that deprives scarce equipment from being available to rescue humans - maybe for a month if there is a breakdown or accident. Les Mccann put it in crude perspective with other urgencies in his antiwar song "Compared To What":

 

Slaughterhouse is killin' hogs

Twisted children killin' frogs

Poor dumb rednecks rollin' logs

Tired old lady kissin' dogs

I hate the human love of that stinking mutt (I can't use it!)

[caldrail]

Now that really is interesting. The religious connations of the cross only ought to arise from christianity in the later empire because before that the cross was merely the preferred Roman means of executing criminals in a lingering torturous manner publicly. But now it seems there was a pagan significance to it, albeit a minor one. Treating criminals as they would a dog?

 

As for crucifying a dog because one didn't bark a warning in 390BC, doesn't that seem a little odd? Animals were after all not human and could not make decisions in the Roman mindset. They behaved as dogs do. But it seems as if the Romans are seeking a cultural scapegoat for their embarrasement.

 

This does of course highlight Roman attitudes to animals, which were regarded as no more than resources in exactly the same way you would view a quarry, although some animals were obviously more useful in agricultural or utility functions.

Edited February 28, 2010 by caldrail