Journal Article

DOGS OF WAR, OR DOGS IN WAR? THE USE OF DOGS IN CLASSICAL GREEK WARFARE

Rees, Owen

2020

Overview

In 1941, E. S. Forster wrote a short article, published in this journal, which compiled all of the instances he could identify in the ancient source material that described dogs being used in a military capacity. G. B. A. Fletcher, who had identified a few obscure references that Forster had not cited, responded to Forster's paper later that same year. The purpose of both papers was simply the compiling of a list, a purpose that had been inspired by Forster's interest in the French army's recruitment of dogs on the outbreak of the Second World War. The result was a thorough catalogue of known examples, showing the ancient dog being used for a variety of purposes such as patrol work or observation duties, or being used as combatants or despatch couriers. The primary aim, according to Forster was to ‘make a comparison with modern practice’ – that is, the French practice he had read about; the only exception for which he could find no ancient evidence was what he called ‘Red Cross’ work.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Subject: Allusion / Ancient Greek / Ancient history / Bibliographic literature / Biographies / Classical literature / Greek civilization / Greek literature / Heroism & heroes / Literary influences / Literary translation / Narrative techniques / Plutarch (46?-120?) / Source materials / Transliteration / War / Writers