Greyhound in ancient Egypt: myth, art, and what's true

Part 1

What the evidence actually shows

One of the earliest known Egyptian tomb paintings, dated to around 3500 BCE, shows a man walking his dog on a leash. Later tomb reliefs from the Old Kingdom show hunting dogs chasing gazelle and ibex across the desert alongside their owners. Egyptologists describe this dog as a sighthound, built with erect ears and a curling tail, and note that it looked much like a greyhound.

Even so, historians are careful about calling every one of these dogs a greyhound. Ancient Egyptian sources didn't use breed names the way you would today; instead they used general words, iwiw for a barking dog and tesem for a hunting hound. Because modern breed definitions aren't flexible enough to map neatly onto ancient art, identifying a specific breed from a single painting or relief is genuinely difficult.

The Greyhound's own origins are contested among historians, too. Graves containing sighthound-type dogs appear in Mesopotamia from around 5000 BCE, and similar dogs show up in Egyptian imagery from around 4250 BCE. Graves with sighthound-type dogs in Mesopotamia date to around 5000 BCE, while similar dogs appear in Egyptian imagery from around 4250 BCE. The Tesem, an Egyptian term for a hunting dog, appears in Predynastic depictions, making it one of the oldest documented dog types.

Part 2

Dogs in Egyptian religion and daily life

Your dog's ancient counterparts earned their keep as hunting partners. The Greyhound-type dog was used in open-area hunts for large game, and was also kept as a pet and guard dog. Other tomb paintings, from the Old Kingdom through the New Kingdom, show hunting dogs chasing gazelle and ibex in the desert beside their owners.

Historians think this link grew out of real desert dogs and jackals that scavenged around shallow early graves, which may be why Egyptians placed a canine god in charge of protecting the dead. Some accounts say Anubis's image drew on more than one kind of dog, including sighthounds such as the Greyhound and the Basenji, alongside the jackal. Dog mummies have also been found at several Egyptian sites, including Rhoda in Upper Egypt and near Thebes.

A stela of the ruler Intef Wahankh the Second shows him with three of his dogs standing before him. Other sources describe the dog of King Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, as buried within it.

Part 3

Named dogs from the archaeological record

• One dog, named on a stela or collar, was called Brave One.
• Another was called Reliable.
• A third dog bore the name North-Wind.
• Another dog was named Good Herdsman.
• And one dog was simply called Useless.

One example of this care is Abutiu, a royal guard dog who died before 2280 BCE, during Egypt's Sixth Dynasty. When Abutiu died, a pharaoh whose name has not survived ordered an elaborate ceremonial burial for him, including a coffin from the royal treasury, fine linen, and incense. The inscription describes Abutiu as a sighthound with erect ears and a curling tail, much like a greyhound.

Part 4

From the Nile to modern sighthounds

Sighthound-type dogs are said to have traveled beyond Egypt with traders. Phoenician traders are said to have carried Egyptian hounds to the island of Ibiza around 3,000 years ago. Phoenician traders are also said to have brought Egyptian hounds to Malta about 2,500 years ago. The Greyhound may also be the breed shown in Egyptian battle scenes, including the Victory Stele of Ramesses the Second celebrating his triumph over the Hittites at Kadesh.

The Saluki is described as dating back to around 7000 BCE, while the Greyhound is called possibly the oldest type of hunting dog, with ancestors shown in Egyptian tomb paintings around 5,000 years old. Those are two different claims about two different dogs, which is a sign that oldest-breed titles depend on which source, and which dog, you happen to be reading about.

Part 5

Separating popular myth from the record

It helps to be clear about what's confirmed and what's guesswork when you read about your dog's distant history. What's confirmed is that Egyptian art shows slender, sighthound-type dogs from the Pre-Dynastic period onward, and some of these dogs had individual names and elaborate burials.

So treat bold claims about a direct ancestry between Anubis and your dog's breed with some caution. What you can say with confidence is that dogs much like sighthounds walked beside Egyptians for thousands of years, were named, sometimes mourned, and sometimes buried with royal honours.