Peritas
Peritas (Greek: Περίτας) was Alexander the Great's favorite dog, who accompanied him during his military exploits.
History
The eponymous city
Dog type
What type of dog the mythical Peritas was, is hard to ascertain and remains unknown. Peritas is sometimes referred to as a Molossus,[1] or a Bulldog,[2] perhaps from the fierce nature of a few stories. Peritas may also have been a Laconian, a classic ancient Greek hunting dog,[3] as depicted in the mosaic.
Tales of Peritas
According to Pliny, it was the king of Caucasian Albania who delighted Alexander by giving him a dog which had attacked and beaten both a lion and an elephant.[4] There is also the story of Alexander meeting Sophytes, a ruler of an area probably around Jech Doab in Punjab.[5] Sophytes gave Alexander one hundred and fifty dogs known for their fearsome strength and courage. Wishing to test their strength, Sophytes had a lion fight two of the weakest dogs. He released two others to help once those two seemed at a disadvantage. The four were doing well against the lion when Sophytes sent a man with a scimitar to hack at a leg of one of the dogs. Alexander protested strongly, and guards took the man with the blade away, until Sophytes offered Alexander three dogs for that one. The dog then calmly accepted its fate without making a sound, and continued to have a firm bite on the lion until it had succumbed to its loss of blood.[6] It is unlikely that any of these pertain to Peritas.
In popular culture
Peritas appears as a posthumous character in Scoob!. He is depicted as a Great Dane who is an ancestor of Scooby-Doo. His bond with Alexander the Great sealed the gates to the Underworld.
See also
References
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- ↑ Ryan O'Meara (2011). Clever Dog: Life Lessons From the World's Most Successful Animal. Veloce Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-84584-345-8.
- ↑ John Kistler (2011). Animals in the Military: From Hannibal's Elephants to the Dolphins of the U.S. Navy. ABC-CLIO. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-1-59884-346-0.
- ↑ "The works of Xenophon". 1890.
- ↑ Pliny, Natural History Book VIII. pp. 149–150.
- ↑ Pierre Herman Leonard Eggermont (1993). Alexander's Campaign In Southern Punjab. Peeters Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 978-9-06831-499-1.
- ↑ Diod. Sic. 17.92