Dog Burials in the Greek World

Abstract

Recent excavations of Early Iron Age tombs at Kavousi, Crete, have revealed new evidence for dog burial in the Greek world. Dogs were sometimes, although not regularly, buried with humans in chamber and tholos tombs of the Late Bronze Age on Crete and the Mainland. In the Early Iron Age the practice continued on Crete, where dogs were buried in pits in cemeteries separate from their masters, often accompanying horses or donkeys. This practice is reflected in the sacrifices at the funeral of Patroklos in the Iliad. Dogs were probably intended to act as companions or guardians on the journey to the Underworld, although they may have served a further function of purification, to judge from the use of dogs in purification rites in the later periods. The custom of dog burial died out after the Geometric Period, and a changed attitude toward dogs can be seen in the more sentimental treatment revealed in tomb markers and epigrams. The Kavousi dog burials have their closest parallels in Dark Age Crete, but the number of dogs involved and the presence of puppies make them unusual.