Canine Connections

[sdi]

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woof woof

I've mentioned before that the second-greatest Cynic [κυνικός, "doglike"] philosopher was Crates, who was nicknamed "the opener of doors" for his habit of barging into people's houses and lecturing them on philosophy (and somehow getting away with it).

While pondering over the Isis and Osiris myth today, I remembered that there is an Egyptian deity called Upuat, whose name translates to "the opener of ways." He is also doglike—depicted as a jackal or wolf—and, just like philosophy itself, he opens the way into Duat (the intermediate world between heaven and earth). I am curious if there's a connection or joke there, but alas, I suspect it's not possible to know.

(Fun fact, Upuat's cult center was Lycopolis [Λυκόπολις, "wolf-city"], which is where Plotinus was born. He was also an "opener of ways," wasn't he?)