#dog-headed men
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Werewolf Fact #75 - Cynocephali (dog-headed men)
This month's folklore fact is a long-awaited one from over on the Patreon: the cynocephali or "dog-headed men."
Some depictions of cynocephali (the one above is from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493) are mistaken for werewolves fairly frequently; there are several differences of note, including but not limited to the fact that they are otherwise very, very human (normal hands and feet, no tail, etc) and that their ears are not always shaped like a wolf's/pointing directly upright. They often are, however, so don't take the ear shape as a surefire thing, either. When in doubt, make sure the depiction is actually meant to be showing a werewolf before using it for, I don't know, a royalty-free image in your werewolf publication (I've seen several). The cynocephali do not shapeshift, nor are they associated with wolves. They have nothing to do with werewolves. Yes, it was just a plot to make you click this link and read about cynocephali.
Cynocephali, or singular cynocephalus, is a term derived from the original Greek word "kynokephaloi," meaning "dog-headed." They have other names as well, which mean a range of things such as "dog-faced" and "half-dog." They were mentioned in assorted accounts and tales of travelers in Africa and India, appearing in sources as old as ancient Greece, and some similar beings can be found in other cultures, such as China. Likewise, depictions of and discussions of such beings continue into the Middle Ages. This same term was later used to refer to baboons, to which no-fun modern day scholars now attribute all cynocephali legends (although we do have at least one Ottoman depiction of a cynocephalus battling a monkey).
There are many quotes across various sources and time periods about these beings, including but not limited to this one from the fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus, Histories 4. 191. 3 (trans. Godley) [source: Theoi]
"For the eastern region of Libya, which the Nomads inhabit, is low-lying and sandy as far as the Triton river; but the land west of this, where the farmers live, is exceedingly mountainous and wooded and full of wild beasts. In that country are the huge snakes and the lions, and the elephants and bears and asps, the horned asses, the Kunokephaloi (Cynocephali) (Dog-Headed) and the Headless Men that have their eyes in their chests, as the Libyans say, and the wild men and women, besides many other creatures not fabulous."
Some stories of the cynocephali are also frightfully specific as to how they live, rear livestock, grow fruit, weave baskets, wage war, and much more, even including details of their society, clothing, how long they live, etc. It's all quite interesting. If you'd like to read more specific quotations, you can find many on one of my favorite websites, Theoi.
Sources seem to dispute one another as to whether they bark, do not bark but only howl, only shriek, or whatever other sounds they may make, and there is also a range of descriptions including elements such as if they have beards and whether hair covers their bodies as well as the dog-head. Overall, probably the majority of sources say they wear the skins of animals as opposed to having fur, but there are those that also call them hairy all over.
Please note that I will not be covering/discussing any gods from ancient Egypt in this post, because despite what some modern day scholars like to discuss, I don't consider them "cynocephali." They were wolf-headed deities, not dog-headed (or even jackal-headed), and are overall only related to cynocephali legends by proxy and by modern scholars always putting everything into blasted categories for their next thesis. There were some dog-headed deities in ancient Egypt, and Anubis, Wepwawet, Duamutef, etc, were not among them, and even then, we can't really assert that the dog-headed deities among the ancient Egyptians are actually related to other legends and records of cynocephali.
With that out of the way, let's continue...
One of my personal favorite stories involving a dog-headed man is a version of the tale of Saint Christopher, though these depictions and this tale are not seen as canon by churches and has been proscribed in Eastern Orthodoxy (where such depictions were generally most common). Some of these depictions still survive, however. Some sources believe that Byzantine depictions of a dog-headed Christopher come from mistaking "Cananeus" (meaning "Canaanite") for "caninus," i.e. canine.
In the story about a dog-headed Saint Christopher, there lives Reprebrus (among other variations of his name; ultimately, they all essentially mean "reprobate"), who is captured by Romans in battle and made to serve among them. Reprebrus was said to be of "enormous size," with the head of a dog, said to be typical of his kind. He was later baptized and martyred. However, in another version (this one from Germany), Saint Christopher is depicted as a giant cynocephalus who ate human flesh and performed many atrocities. He meets the Christ child later and carries him across a river, as in tradition (the name Christopher means "bearer of Christ") and repents for his sinful behavior. He is baptized and becomes human, dedicating himself to serving Christianity and became a soldier saint.
There are far more fascinating details in the story than I relayed here in extreme simplicity, but that's a very simple view (the story is actually very specific about different regions and even the unit in which he served).
Other depictions of cynocephali exist in certain Christian traditions, with Ahrakas and Augani sometimes being depicted with dog heads in Coptic Christian tradition, in the life and legend of Saint Mercurius.
Bestiaries also got pretty wild with the creatures depicted therein, many of which were also mentioned in classical sources (such as the Herodotus quote earlier in this post). The image above is from between 1357 and 1371, in a work called The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, or simply Mandeville's Travels, the memoirs of a man who traveled across the Middle East, India, and even as far as China. Medieval bestiaries also recorded all the same creatures shown here: a monopod or sciapod, a cyclops, a blemmy, and a cynocephalus, each different civilizations of beings said to dwell across the world (and often cited in multiple sources over considerable spans of time, which generally cite the same or similar regions for each civilization, which I've always found very interesting).
Mentions of the cynocephali span across centuries, such as in works by scribe Paul the Deacon, a Benedictine monk, and they are even mentioned in the Nowell Codex, a surviving Old English work containing Beowulf (as well as a work of the life of Saint Christopher and Wonders of the East, among others). They are also acknowledged in the works of multiple noteworthy explorers, including but not limited to Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Ibn Battuta, and Piri Reis.
With that, I think that's a decent overview! Hope you enjoyed the post.
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#folklore#mythology#dog-headed men#dog heads#cynocephalus#cynocephali#dog man#fantasy creature#folklore fact#folklore thursday#myth#history#fantasy#werewolf#werewolves#not actually werewolves but people mix them up a lot#a werewolf has to shapeshift to be a werewolf#also these are dog-headed men not wolf-headed men#but anyway#research
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A darkness dwelling mythical race. They have been depicted both with and without armor and weapons.
#BriefBestiary#bestiary#digital art#fantasy#folklore#legend#myth#mythology#monster#psoglav#psoglavac#psoglavec#dog-headed men#anthropophagus#montenegrin folklore#montenegrin legend#bosnian legend#bosnian folklore#cyclops#one-eyed monster
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completely and entirely forgot that Vetinari and Carrot get together to gleefully "reward" Samuel Vimes and also ruin his blood pressure forever.
#also vetinari emotes a lot more than I remember. I think over time my brain slotted him into that vague category#a lot of villains (or at least...characters wearing black) get slotted into; the chilly removed chessmaster#who only shows emotion when there's a reason to.#when actually he was wildly frustrated in reaper man; he smiles in men at arms (multiple times!)#also I love the line ''The Patrician looked at Carrot. He seemed to be shuffling futures in his head.''#(also uh. um. no one is going to like this but I could see carrot/vetinari. I just think it would be neat.#AND then you could have some fun parallels with vimes and angua given that they're both dogs on a leash. so to speak.#anyway the charismatic king-that-wasn't and the dictator determined to usurp the gods is worth thinking about some more.)#discworld
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the way i want to climb this man like a tree!!!!!😍😍😍😍 god I am so in deep w the Logan Howlett x Reader fics rn. He’s actually fucking PERFECT!!!
Give me your fic recs PLEASE😩😩😩😩😩💖
#logan howlett#logan howlett smut#logan howlett x fem!reader#logan howlett x reader#logan howlett x you#x men#wolverine#wolverine x reader#deadpool and wolverine#wolverine smut#I need him so deeply#slobbering like a dog w a bone#🥰🥰🥰🥰#😍😍😍😍#im head over heels right now#in LOVE#fic recommendation#fic recs please
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love love love how similar these two panels are. makes me insane
#putting my ramblings in the tags because that’s the only way i know how to write something semi cohesive#but!! im obsessed with the way the arrangement is almost the same#both shirase and dazai in the middle. behind them the people they’re leading#but shirase (the one chuuya should’ve been able to trust) is pointing a gun at him#and not only shirase all the sheep are holding weapons#plus all the faceless GSS men staring chuuya down as well#and then you have dazai and the port mafia#same arrangement but they’re not holding any weapons#despite the way they should be his enemies they’re not posing any immediate threat#also!! something i just thought about but i do believe there’s something to be said about how dazai is also looking down on chuuya#he is the one holding the power right now#but he is not standing and instead crouching down#if he wasn’t on an elevated position (which is arguably his position in the mafia) he would be on the same level as chuuya#but he is offering chuuya to get on the same level as him by joining the mafia!!!#finally giving him the chance to be somewhere people will treat him as an equal#and of course eventually becoming dazais partner and true equal#man. head in hands media analysis is my passion. or something like that#bungou stray dogs#bsd spoilers#bsd fifteen#bsd fifteen spoilers#bsd chuuya#bsd dazai#soukoku
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"Puppy Love"
#puppies#dog#black male beauty#black male body#muscular#muscular definition#male tenderness#male torso#bald muscle#bald head#ai men#ai generated#ai artwork#ai art community#gay ai art#art direction#beauty illustration#male pinup#beefcake pinup#calendar worthy#gay art
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I need to be institutionalized
#the way they are holding each other#these fucking old men oh my godddddddd#bashinh my head into the wall#I hate them I love them#bsd#bungo stray dogs#bsd fukuchi#bsd fukuzawa#fukufuku
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shout out to james mcavoy for insisting on having long unwashed and unkempt hair (extensions) for dofp. wet dog charles you are so important to me
#the trending nasty dog audio on tiktok but instead of nasty he's just kind of depressed and sassy#james mcavoy was so right for this is decision though because yes i do want to see charles xavier in paisley with a mop on his head#charles xavier#x men#x men days of future past#days of future past#dofp#film#movies
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Practice doodles while I learn how to draw yautjas. Ended up making my own yautja in the process. :]
#been rewatching all the predator movies#including the god awful AVP ones#but I eat them up every single time cause big hot alien men#prey is def the best predator movie we have gotten in a while cause most of them are so wild and dog water#also naru absolutely ate 💅#i just slapped some stickers on that one yautja’s fat head cause i wanted something else there but didn’t know what#okay rambling time over#tagging time#cynicatalyst#yautja#yautja art#predator art#predator franchise#prey 2022#feral predator#naru prey
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MY LITTLE CHUUYA..
#the giggle#the sillies#bsd#bungou stray dogs#gay men#i'm not okay#tall caca head#CHUUYA IS TALL TRUST!!#my little chuuya#chuuya nakahara#gayhot#ngh#my little pony#bungo stray dogs
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I'm 5 feet tall with a delicate build, and I work out regularly. No amount of body-building changes the fact that the average man could easily wrap his entire fucking hand around my neck and EASILY choke me to death, or break my wrists or my fucking spine. That terrifies me. It terrifies me than in a real one on one fight to the death, I'd probably be the one dying. I'm thinking of that video where a woman stabbed a guy with a big knife like 15 times, and he still kept fighting, whaling on her. What the fuck are those tiny "self defense" blades supposed to accomplish ? My best bet would probably be to slice his jugular or push my thumbs into his eye sockets, but how the fuck am I supposed to do that if he's restraining my arms. It TERRIFIES me that I can't fight, and even if I could, I'd probably not stand a chance against the average man, and definitely not if there were more than one.
Do any of you know self defense tips that ACTUALLY work? No convoluted moves. If a brute has got me in a fucking chokehold, I won't be thinking about the steps of popular self defense moves. I'll be panicking, losing strength and consciousness. The way i see it, my best bet would be carrying a fucking dagger, but even that requires intense training to learn how to use efficiently.
#going through news headlines and losing my mind why are men such violent dogs ?#rape and mutilation cases EVERYDAY#i want to kill them#i want to fucking clean out the filth by serial killing rapists#kam kam kam my god what a wretched world#mine#they start wars and WE are the casualties we are the ones suffering rape and torture and mutilation#you want me to feel bad for veterans with ptsd ?#i hope every single one of you kills yourself#holy shit#usually i skim the headlines but i decided to read through the stories today#and all it's done is make me realize how depraved and horrifically perverse men are#and then you've got libfems on social media making cutesy posts about how men are soft and smol and deserve love and tenderness#like no all you uncivilized fucking hyenas deserve is a bullet in the head#and even that is being merciful#reading about the nanjing massacre and i'm on the verge of tears holy fucking shit#it's ALL of them#no matter how civilized and polite they pretend to be#all of history is a testament to it#radfem
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"geno's got the new tape job, i asked about that the other day. he said just switching it up, always looking for something new even in year seventeen."
"do you think it distracts the goaltender?"
"we should ask."
blue jackets @ pens || 6.12.22
#evgeni malkin#pittsburgh penguins#mouth hanging open. shaking his head like a wet dog#the man of all men#anyway that tape is so fucking ugly he said if sid can have his stache i get to do this#geno#mine.gif
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concept: take your kid to work day but you work for The Company
#lethal company#can you imagine though#like it’s objectively going to be bad no matter what you do no matter how safe you try to make it#they’re gonna have a bad time#like even if you tell them to stay on the ship there’s dogs and the possibility of masked men and giants outside#and you and your crew are inside risking your lives and you could all die and the kid is just sat inside the ship waiting for you#and like. if you give them a walkie so you can chat with them they’re going to hear a bunch of grown-ups shitting their pants#and possibly dying#also bonus point in my head i’m imagining like. what if the crew does die?? and they didn’t have enough for quota#so this kid knows they have to arrive with the quota their other parent will be waiting for them at the company#but they know something bad will happen if they don’t meet quota they just don’t know what#so it’s the final day and they decide they have to go to a moon as a last effort to try and make quota to avoid The Consequences#the kid writes the report about it and only gets a C. ‘vivid descriptions and very imaginative. next time write about your parent’s actual#job’
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good morning cherished mutuals, one of the first conversations i had after waking up today was about how stinky n gross asher is 😔💔
#I KNOW .... i know he is#i have to bathe him like a dog . giant puppy of a man in every single way#trick him into using actual shampoo + conditioner instead of that 15-n-1 shit men always use by saying it makes his hair softer#and softer hair = more head pats from wife#♡ — text#💕 the music in me
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[ID: a manga panel of Tachihara from Bungou Stray Dogs. he sweats nervously. he has a lopsided smile and his eyebrows are slightly furrowed. he says, "...ha...ha ha... mad thirsty for blood, huh? but we already know your skill." /End ID.]
the face of a man who is scared, yet also turned on
#knowing that tachihara is the fifth hunting dog actually makes everything that happens with him before the reveal 100x funnier#mans is going through like twelve different crises here#imagine you join the mafia as an undercover government spy to get revenge on the woman you blame for your brother's death#and then flash forward a couple years and you're holding a gun to an enemy hostage's head#as you're trying to save the MAFIA BOSS (you are still aligned w the government) from dying#and your superior threatens the hostage's sister causing the hostage to go sicko mode#and suddenly you realize this guy could kill you. and you also might be attracted to men .#hello grace here#grace reads bsd
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No wonder they got the whole budget this season it’s literally coming down to them at the end
#these damn old men#oh my god my head in my hands#how many times are we gonna get a gay flashback#bsd#bungo stray dogs#bsd season 5#fukufuku
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