Cynocephaly

Let's take a quick look at the condition of cynocephaly, having the head of a dog.



A Holy Dog and a Dog-Headed Saint tells the stories of St Guinefort and St Christopher among others. Very interesting stuff.

The Cryptid Zoo has a short piece on Cynocephali from a cryptozoological viewpoint. What's interesting of note is that Cynocephalids seem to have sprung from beliefs that other tribes, ie barbarian tribes, were seen as 'monstrous,' and less than human. It was only when Western writers and explorers set these descriptions down literally, rather than figuratively, that we begin to see the birth of these real-life "monsters".



That's, of course, just supposition on my point. However, there is another interesting article titled "Dogs: God's Worst Enemies?" From the abstract:

In a broad survey of negative and hostile attitudes toward canines in pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, the author posits that warm ties between humans and canines have been seen as a threat to the authority of the clergy and indeed, of God. Exploring ancient myth, Biblical and Rabbinical literature, and early and medieval Christianity and Islam, she explores images and prohibitions concerning dogs in the texts of institutionalized, monotheistic religions, and offers possible explanations for these attitudes, including concern over disease.

It's interesting in the realm of werewolfery, as werewolves were heartily punished by the Church in Medieval Europe, seen as agents of Satan or worse. More accurately, those the Church wished to be rid of were declared werewolfs. Wait, there's nothing worse than Satan. In an earlier post here, I quoted Alby Stone on the entymological roots of the word warg:

This is a complex word: it is often used simply to mean 'wolf', but it also denotes an outlaw or the state of outlawry... It would be easy to assume that outlaws were called warg simply because their offences were of an especially savage kind, and that they were likened to wolves, wild, bestial, and uncivilised, as a result.

The end result of all this talk of cynocephaly, religion and werewolfery is this seemingly endless loop between dogs are evil so men who are evil are dogs who are evil who are men... whether there is an actual historic kernel as the basis to this mythology, or what this kernel might be is lost to us. But from a werwolf scholar's point-of-view, it's definitely a path worth pursuing.