Canine Connections

[sdi]

𓃧
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?)

Comments

[jprussell]

Interesting. For what it's worth, the idea of dogs/wolves as guardians of the way into the land of the dead seems to be very, very, very old - you get hints of it in Indo-European, Native American, and apparently, even Egyptian myth. I wonder if it goes back to some ur-source, or if it's just parallel recognition of something about canines.

Cheers,
Jeff

[k_a_nitz]

snap!

[sdi]

Perhaps it's just that dogs have a tendency to dig up graves?

[jprussell]

Perhaps, though positing that as the whole explanation strikes me as a bit reductive. Presumably their interest in graves has some kind of reflection on higher planes that points to why they have a more exalted role in myth.

[sdi]

Is hunger and a safe and easy food supply insufficient reason for interest?

I mean, by all means meditate on it, but sometimes I think a spade is just a spade!

[sdi]

Thomas Taylor'd again, this time a footnote to Iamblichus quoting Michael Psellus: "Magic, indeed, investigates the nature, power, and quality of every thing sublunary; viz. of the elements, and their parts, of animals, all various plants and their fruits, of stones, and herbs: and in short, it explores the essence and power of every thing. From hence, therefore, it produces its effects. And it forms statues which procure health, makes all various figures, and things which become the instruments of disease. It asserts, too, that eagles and dragons contribute to health; but that cats, dogs, and crows are symbols of vigilance, to which, therefore, they contribute."

You might also find Isha Schwaller de Lubicz, Her-Bak ("Chick-Pea"): The Living Face of Ancient Egypt, chapter 34 "The Jackal" to be of interest: there, it is asserted that the jackals are symbolic of "digestion;" that is, recycling, rumination, extraction of value that would otherwise be lost.

So one mark in favor of my theory, and one mark against!

[jprussell]

Interesting! And to be fair, I was not saying that hunger + safe, easy food was not a sufficient reason for interest, but more that whatever higher plane influences led to that hunger, and those sources being available, and dogs finding that a congenial way to solve the one with the other, and for humans to observe them doing so, and so on (and on) might be expressed in myths that use that very straightforward and concrete observation as the starting point.

[sdi]

I was thinking about something unrelated and it occurs to me that jackals, wolves, etc. are crepuscular—that is, they live in the twilight between day (overworld) and night (underworld). That doesn't answer your question, but maybe it's another thread to follow...

[k_a_nitz]

And there is also Cerberus allowing the souls of the dead to enter the underworld

[sdi]

And to not let them back out!

[jprussell]

Definitely had him in mind when I mentioned Indo-European myth! One very interesting take on this "very old" hypothesis is Tom Rowsell's shortish documentary "The World's Oldest Myth? World Tree and Reincarnation Documentary": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exlcT_iL9-U

He doesn't touch on the Egyptian connection at all, and he presents some of his claims as more definite than I think they warrant, but it's certainly fascinating.

[sdi]

Just been pondering this a bit more. Of the two Egyptian dogs, Anubis is always depicted sitting (𓃣) because he is a guard dog (cf. Kerberos), while Upuat is always depicted standing (𓃧) because he is a guide dog.