Laconian (dog)

Laconian
Statue of a hunting dog with Laconian characteristics found on the Acropolis c. 520 BC[1]
Other names
OriginLaconia, Ancient Greece
Breed statusExtinct
Traits
Colour tan with white markings or black with tan markings
Litter size 8
Dog (domestic dog)

The Laconian (Ancient Greek: Λάκαινα, romanized: Lákaina)[2], also known as the Spartan, is an extinct dog breed from ancient Laconia, in Greece. In antiquity, it was famous for its swiftness and keen sense of smell, and typically used for hunting.

Widely depicted in classical art and literature, the breed was about eighteen inches high at the shoulder, typically tawny or black-and-tan, and highly valued for chasing both larger game (such as deer and wild boar) and smaller prey (like hares).

Multiple names were used for the Laconian breed, though their exact usage and relationships remain debated. Some controversy exists with the nature of the relationship between the term Castorian and Laconian, with some scholars considering Castorians a subtype of Laconian, and others considering it only possibly related. There is also some debate on the relationship of the term Vulpine and the Laconian with most scholars regarding the Vulpine as a legitimate designation for the Laconian, either as a variety of the breed or as a possible predecessor.

Several later sources speculate on the legacy of the Laconian. The modern Hellenic Hound has been suggested as a descendant, and some writers link the breed to the origins of several European hunting breeds. Individual dogs such as Alexander the Great's Peritas and Odysseus's Argos have also been proposed as Laconians, while literary references, including Shakespeare's "out of the Spartan kind," have been interpreted in connection with the breed.

Reputation

The Laconian hounds were very swift scent hounds[3] that were renowned[4] and highly valued for their hunting skills[5][6][7]. They were depicted in classical sculptures,[8] mosaics, gravestones, coins,[9] vases,[10] and drinking cups.[11][12][13][14]

Contemporary fragments include writers such as classical writers Pindar,[5] Sophocles,[15] Xenophon,[16] Plato,[17] Aristotle,[18] Theophrastus,[19] Nemesianus,[20] as well as later Roman writers such as Virgil[21], Horace,[22] Plutarch[23], Petronius,[24] Pliny The Elder,[25] Oppian,[26] and Pollux.[27] Late antiquity writer Claudian[28] and Elizabethan playwright Shakespeare[29] also make allusion to the breed.

Characteristics

Two principal surviving sources describe the breed: Xenophon (c.350 BC) and Aristotle (c.350 BC).[30][31]

Both sexes gained sexual maturity at eight months old and remained sexually active throughout their lives. Gestation lasted sixty to sixty-three days. Typical litter was of eight pups.[18][25] Puppies typically opened their eyes after twelve days.[18][32] On average, the male lived for ten years and the female twelve.[18][25][33]

Typically either tan with white markings on the face, throat, chest, legs, and stern or black with similarly placed tan markings.[34]

Based on artistic depictions of the breed, the Laconian was estimated to be about eighteen inches high at the shoulder and weighed between thirty and forty pounds, or roughly the size of a "very large beagle or small harrier."[34]

  • Attic red-figure lekythos of a hunter and a Laconian. Early Classical, c.475–450 BC. [35]
  • Attic red figure kantharos in the shape of the head of a dog. made in Athens, by Brygos, c.500–475 BC [36]
  • Attic red-figure kylix of a Laconian scratching itself by Euergides, Late Archaic, c. 500 BC.[37]
  • Detail on a votive relief depicting a 'Lakonian' hound accompanying the seated Artemis, c.400 BC [38]

Hunting traits

Oppian's Cynegetica gives the characteristics and habits for dogs best suited for "the swift chase of the gazelle and deer and swift-footed hare".[26][39] Xenophon's Cynegeticus covers technical advice on hunting and contains a detailed description of the Laconian.[40][30][16]

Both authors agree that for the best hunting dogs, the head should be light with dark eyes with a long neck; ears should be small and thin with little hair[41]; the chest and shoulder blades should be broad with sloping ribs; the forelegs should be shorter than the hind legs; and the tail should be long, straight and prominent. Both recommend selecting larger dogs over their smaller counterparts.[16][26][34]

Appellatives

The Laconian is known by several appellatives.[42] There is some scholarly debate over which of the appellatives refer to the Laconian hound.

The term Laconian refers to the region of Laconia in ancient Greece and, when applied to dogs, may denote either a general geographic origin, or, more likely, a specific breed or an "entire family of hounds 'of Laconian pedigree'".[43] The most frequent appellatives are variations on Laconian (Spartan, Lacedaemonian), which were used synonymously.[43]

Appellatives derived from the names of Spartan villages such as Amyclaeus[21][23][44] (from Amyclae) or Cynosuran[45][44] (from Cynosura) may have been used to refer to the same breed but bred in that specific village, or to identify different local variants, though the limited nature of the sources leaves some ambiguity.[43]

Aristotle describes the Laconian as the result of a cross between a dog and a fox.[a][18][46] Most scholars agree that Vulpine (latin for fox-like) is a valid appellative of the Laconian, either as a sub-type of the Laconian breed[43][46] or to refer to the overall breed of the Laconian.[3]

Castorian & Vulpine

In his treatise, Xenophon clearly distinguishes the larger Castorian[b] (Greek: καστορίδες, romanized: kastorides) and the smaller fox-like Vulpine (Greek: ἀλωπεκίδες, romanized: alopekides).[16] Pollux, echoing Nicander of Colophon, in his 2nd Century AD thesaurus Onomasticon, merges the Castorian[c] and theVulpine. He states that kastorides are alopekides, since he claims that it was Castor himself who crossed dogs with foxes and thus create a new breed.[27][47]

Most scholars classify both the Castorian and the Vulpine as sub-types of the overall Laconian breed.[46][48][49] However, some rebut this view, stating Xenophon does not specify that they are sub-types Laconian, but rather of dogs in general.[d]

Manns[50][46] and other scholars[43] noted the contradiction between Xenophon and Pollux's observations and theorized that both may be true if either,

  1. kastorides and alopekides interbred and, over time, became indistinguishable,[51] or
  2. one of the sub-types became extinct.[52][53]

In contrast, Margariti observes that no Classical sources support Pollux's claim and, since the Onomasticon was compiled several centuries after the Classical period, considers it of limited reliability.[3]

Speculated Laconians

Speculated descendants

It is speculated that the Hellenic Hound may be the modern-day descendant to the Laconian.[54] Both breeds have similar lifespans, litter sizes, and colouring.[55][18][56]

Hull speculated that as the Laconian, after losing favor to the greyhound, may have been cross bred with the Segusiae by Bishop of Liege, St. Hubert, to make the hounds of his kennel from which "came the four royal races: the white hounds of the king, the hounds of St. Hubert, the gray hounds of St. Louis, and the fawn hounds of Brittany." From these four lines "came all of the modern tracking hounds—the bloodhound, the basset hound, the beagle, the harrier, and the foxhound."[57]

Speculated individuals

It has been speculated that Alexander the Great's favourite dog, Peritas, may have been a Laconian.[58]

It has also been theorized that Odysseus's dog Argos may have been a Laconian.[59]

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus brags: "My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind [...]",[29] which is interpreted to be an intended reference to the Laconian breed. However the description more closely matches the basset hound, a breed contemporary to Shakespeare.[60]

Notes

  1. ^ Margariti notes that Aristotle does not reference the Castorian or the Vulpines but rather describes the Laconian as the offspring of dogs and foxes.
  2. ^ The Castorian's name was derived from the myth that they were bred from hounds that Castor was said to have received from Apollo. See Xenophon, Cynegeticus.
  3. ^ Pollux also lists two alternative names for the Castorian: the Menelaid (after Menelaos) and the Harmodian (after Harmodius). (See Pollux Onomasticon Book 5, Chapter 37 or Rajewicz, p.67 and Hull, p.33) Margariti puts forward that since the "only well-known Greek" named Harmodius was one of the Athenian Tyrannicides, the Castorian may not have been "thought of as having exclusively originated in Sparta". or (see Margariti, p.6-7)
  4. ^ Margariti notes that Aristotle makes no meantion of the Vulpine or the Castorian, noting only that the Laconian descends from a cross between a fox and a dog. She also notes that the belief that the two terms are sub-types of Laconians may have come about due to Xenophon's reference to "the Spartan Castor in connection with the Castorians". See Margariti, p.6-7

See also

References

  1. ^ Walter-Herwig Schuchhardt in H. Schrader, ed., Die Archaischen Marmorbildwerke der Akropolis (Frankfurt 1939), pp. 262–264, no. 377. "Es handelt sich um den lakonischen Jagdhund, […]"
  2. ^ Walter-Herwig Schuchhardt in H. Schrader, ed., Die Archaischen Marmorbildwerke der Akropolis (Frankfurt 1939), pp. 262–264, no. 377. "Es handelt sich um den lakonischen Jagdhund, […]"
  3. ^ a b c Margariti, Katia. Dogs in Athenian Sculpture and Vase Painting of the Archaic and Classical Periods. Archaeopress, 2023. Laconian hounds p.6-7
  4. ^ Toynbee, Jocelyn M. C. (1996). Animals in Roman Life and Art. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-0-8018-5533-7.
  5. ^ a b "From mount Taygetus cometh the Laconian hound, the cleverest creature in chasing the quarry" p.631 Pindar. Fragments.
  6. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.104
  7. ^ Rajewicz, Sebastian (2020-01-01). "Gennaiai kynes. Laconian hounds". Studies on Ancient Sparta, ed. R. Kulesza, N. Sekunda, Gdańsk 2020, 65-84. p.71, p.76
  8. ^ "Statue of a hunting dog". Acropolis Museum. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  9. ^ "Dog Days". Coin Talk. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  10. ^ Haworth, Marina. The Wolfish Lover : The Dog as a Comic Metaphor in Homoerotic Symposium Pottery. Archimède n°5. 2018 p.14 fig 5, Archéologie et histoire ancienne, 5, pp.7-23. Interior tondo of an Athenian red-figure kylix, c. 480 B.C. Attributed to the Dokimasia Painter. BA 204493*, ARV2 412.11, 1651, Ferrara, Museo Nazionale di Spina T931A. Drawing: Michelle Ranta.
  11. ^ "200982, ATHENIAN, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Canino, Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, B2009". carc.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Rhyton with the Head of a Laconian Dog - Workshop of the Patera and Baltimore Painters". Google Arts & Culture.
  13. ^ Attic red-figure cup, detail of a Laconian hound scratching his head, by the Euergides Painter, c.500 BC (ceramic), Greek, (6th century BC) / Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library
  14. ^ An athlete and his dog. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston acc. No. 01.8038) Kylix interior; Brygos Painter, 500–450.
  15. ^ Sophocles, Ajax 8 p.43 "Athena: [...] Right well thy sense Hath led thee forth, like some keen hound of Sparta![...]" See also:Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part VII: The Ajax. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1907.
  16. ^ a b c d Xenophon, Cynegeticus. Translated by Henry Graham Dakyns. "There are two breeds of sporting dogs: the Castorian and the fox-like. (1) "Kastoriai", or Laconian, approaching possibly the harrier type; "alopekides", i.e. vulpocanine, hybrid between fox and dog."
  17. ^ Plato, Parmenides 128C. "You follow the arguments with a scent as keen as a Laconian hound's, [...]" Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.
  18. ^ a b c d e f Aristotle, Historia Animalium. "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aristotle's History of Animals, translated by Richard Cresswell". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2025-05-19. Classics MIT editionBook IX, Chapt. I. Book IX, Chpt. XXVII. Book IX, Chpt. XX.
  19. ^ Theophrastus, Characters, book XXI. chapter vii: The Man of Petty Ambition "For himself he will buy nothing, but will make purchases on commission for foreign friends — pickled olives to go to Byzantium, Laconian hounds for Cyzicus, Hymettian honey for Rhodes; and will talk thereof to people at Athens"
  20. ^ "LacusCurtius • Nemesianus — The Chase". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  21. ^ a b LATIN: Virgil. Georgics, Book 3, line 405. ENGLISH: Virgil. The Georgics, Book 3, line 405. Translated by John Dryden, Project Gutenberg, 1995.
  22. ^ Horace (circa 66 BCE-9 BCE). Epodes. Original latin quote: "nam qualis aut Molossus aut fulvos Lacon, amica vis pastoribus" Translated: "For, like a Molossian, or tawny Laconian dog, that is a friendly assistant to shepherds" (alternate location)
  23. ^ a b Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales, 748B. Gregorius N. Bernardakis, Ed. "κύνα Ἀμυκλαίαν" Note: Plutarch did not state the name of the original author of this fragment.
  24. ^ Petronius, Satyricon 2, 40 "We were still at a loss what to expect when a tremendous shout was raised outside the doors, and lo and behold! a pack of Laconian dogs came careering round and round the very table."
  25. ^ a b c Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis 10 CHAP. 83. (63.) – Generation of All Kinds of Terrestrial Animals. "There are several kinds of dogs; those of Laconia [...]"
  26. ^ a b c Oppian, Cynegetica 1, 396 Select quotation: "These among dogs are the most excellent and greatly possess the mind of hunters: [...] Lacedaemonian [...]"; "Such are the dogs which should be arrayed for the swift chase of gazelle and deer and swift-footed hare."
  27. ^ a b Pollux Onomasticon Book 5, Chapter 37. "And the Kaatorides, the offspring of Kaator, were the gift of Apollo." alternatively see Hull's book's appendices for translation.
  28. ^ Claudian, Stilicho 3, 302 "[...] there follow them dogs of various shape, breed and character; some whose heavy jowls fit them for big game, some swift of foot, some keen of scent; shaggy Cretans bay, splendid Spartans, and Britons that can break the backs of mighty bulls."
  29. ^ a b Shakespeare, William "A Midsummer Night's Dream - Act 4, scene 1 Folger Shakespeare Library
  30. ^ a b Rajewicz, Sebastian (2020-01-01). "Gennaiai kynes. Laconian hounds". Studies on Ancient Sparta, ed. R. Kulesza, N. Sekunda, Gdańsk 2020, p.66
  31. ^ Margariti, Katia. Dogs in Athenian Sculpture and Vase Painting of the Archaic and Classical Periods. Archaeopress Archaeology, 2025. https://doi.org/10.32028/9781803279978. Also available at: https://books.google.ca/books?id=kB5eEQAAQBAJ.
  32. ^ Rajewicz, Sebastian (2020-01-01). "Gennaiai kynes. Laconian hounds". Studies on Ancient Sparta, ed. R. Kulesza, N. Sekunda, Gdańsk 2020, p.73
  33. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.48
  34. ^ a b c Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.32
  35. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece. P.211
  36. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece. P.223
  37. ^ Waern-Sperber (2001:fig. 8) from Trantalidou, Companions from the Oldest Times: Dogs in Ancient Greek Literature, Iconography and Osteological Testimony p.110
  38. ^ Katia Magariti, Dogs in Athenian Sculpture and Vase Painting of the Archaic and Classical Periods (Archaeopress 2025), pp. 10–11, note 119. Included under "probable depictions of Laconian hounds"
  39. ^ Oὐ μόνον ἡ κυνηγία – on the complexity of the content of Oppian's Kynegetika Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2014, vol. 19, iss. 1, pp. [27]-40 ISSN 1803-7402 (print); ISSN 2336-4424 (online) Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/130046
  40. ^ "Xenophon - Greek Historian, Military Strategist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  41. ^ The Dakyns translation states that the dog should have "ears long and thin". Other translations (Marchant and Bowersock, 1925) translates it as "ears small and thin". Hull describes it as "small, upright, prick ears, more like those of a terrier than those of a hound". Original greek: "ὦτα μικρά."
  42. ^ Rajewicz, Sebastian. "Gennaiai kynes. Laconian hounds". Studies on Ancient Sparta, ed. R. Kulesza, N. Sekunda, Gdańsk 2020, p.66.
  43. ^ a b c d e Rajewicz, Sebastian (2020-01-01). "Gennaiai kynes. Laconian hounds". Studies on Ancient Sparta, ed. R. Kulesza, N. Sekunda, Gdańsk 2020, p.67.
  44. ^ a b Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.33
  45. ^ Callimachus, Hymns 3, To Artemis, 93-97. translated by A.W. Mair and G. R. Loeb. "[...] Κυνοσουρίδας [...]" "And he gave thee seven Cynosurian bitches swifter than the winds – that breed which is swiftest to pursue fawns and the hare which closes not his eyes; swiftest too to mark the lair of the stag and where the porcupine hath his burrow, and to lead upon the track of the gazelle."
  46. ^ a b c d Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.31
  47. ^ Rajewicz, Sebastian (2020-01-01). "Gennaiai kynes. Laconian hounds". Studies on Ancient Sparta, ed. R. Kulesza, N. Sekunda, Gdańsk 2020, p.68.
  48. ^ Manns, Otto. Über die Jagd bei den Griechen. Druck von Baier & Lewalter, Jan. 1888. p.10 "[...] der lakonischen Kastor- und Fuchshunde[...]"
  49. ^ Anderson, John Kinloch (2015). "Dogs". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2265. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
  50. ^ Manns, Otto. Über die Jagd bei den Griechen. Druck von Baier & Lewalter, Jan. 1888. p.22 "[...] der lakonischen Rasse und sicher, ohne fehl zu gehen, als Fuchshunde ansprechen."
  51. ^ Gaza, Timothée de (1950). Timotheus of Gaza. On Animals, @, Fragments of a Byzantine Paraphrase of an Animal-book of the 5th Century A.D. Translation, Commentary ... by ... F.S. Bodenheimer ... and A. Rabinowitz ... Académie internationale d'histoire des sciences.
  52. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece
  53. ^ Anderson, J. K. (1985). Hunting in the Ancient World. doi:10.1525/9780520349735. ISBN 978-0-520-34973-5.
  54. ^ Athens Bureau (4 September 2023). "The 6 dog breeds with ancient Greek roots". Greek City Times.
  55. ^ "FCI-Standard N° 214 - Hellinikos ichnilatis (Hellenic Hound)" (PDF). Fédération Cynologique Internationale.
  56. ^ "Greek Harehound Breed Guide - Learn about the Greek Harehound". Pet Paw. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  57. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.38
  58. ^ "The eccentric dog breeds that vanished". BBC. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  59. ^ White, David Gordon (7 May 1991). Myths of the Dog-Man. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-89509-3. [The Laconian], a light hunting variety, was probably represented in Homer by Odysseus's faithful hound Argos (Swiftfoot).
  60. ^ Hull D.B. (1964), Hounds and Hunting in Ancient Greece p.21, p.31
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