154 



DISCOVERY 



her properly. The unfortunate philosopher is com- 

 pelled to make a fool of himself carrying the spoilt 

 little Melitean dog, which peers, yapping, out of the 

 fold of his cloak and keeps on licking his long beard. ^ 



In general the attitude of the ancient Greeks towards 

 the dog was very much our own. Prototypes of most 

 of the familiar dog stories are to be found in the 

 collection of anecdotes about animals made by .■Elian, 

 including the dog story of Sir Walter Scott's Talisman, 

 and that of the faithful animal which refuses to survive 

 its master.- There is no trace in Greece of the Semitic 

 view that the dog is an unclean animal. 



In religion it is therefore unimportant. Sacrifices 

 of dogs to the war god have been mentioned ; at 

 Argos there was an obscure sacrifice of dogs in connec- 

 tion with the feast of Linus, a hero connected with the 

 fertility of flocks and herds. From some shrines dogs 

 were excluded, probably on account of their uncleanly 

 habits. That they were attached to temples for pro- 

 tection has been noticed. They were used in midnight 

 magical offerings at the cross-roads to Hecate, the 

 goddess of magic and the underworld, and their howling 

 was considered a bad omen. They were also closely 

 attached to the god of healing, Asclepius, and in some 

 of the miraculous cures recorded in the dedicatory 

 tablets at his great shrine at Epidaurus the healing 

 was effected through the licking of the patient by one 

 of Asclepius's dogs.' That a dog's tongue has healing 

 properties is a world-wide belief based upon observa- 

 tion of canine habits. ■• Langne de cliien, sert de 

 medecine, runs a French proverb. Their association 

 with the god of healing is therefore readily intelligible, 

 but it is remarkable to find, upon the unimpeachable 

 authority of an inscription confirmed by a fragment 

 of a contemporary comic poet, that at the beginning 

 of the fourth century B.C. the Athenians offered sacrifice 

 to the sacred dogs at a shrine of Asclepius and to the 

 " dog leaders," who are more probably spiritual 

 agencies of some kind than human guardians of the 

 dogs. So crude a superstition is unique in the ritual 

 of the state religion of its time and place. ^ 



• lMC\a.-a.,DeMerced.Cond.,-n. There is an excellent transla- 

 tion of this author by the brothers Fowler published by the 

 Oxford Press. 



- ^lian, op. cit., vii. 25, 40. 



3 These are discussed in Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 249. 



•• See Gaidoz, " A propos des chiens d'Epidaure," Revue 

 Archeologique, 3rd series, iv. 217. 



5 The matter has been discussed by Famell, Classical 

 Quarterly, xiv. 139 foil. 



.\MON-GST other articles to appear in the July number of 

 Discovery will be the first instalment of a paper by Mr. 

 Julian Huxley on Sex and Us Determination ; an account by 

 Major W. T. Blake, the airman, who is participating in a 

 round-the-world flight, of The Progress of Aerial Photography ; 

 and a narrative by Mr. Edward Liveing, compiled from various 

 sources, of the fate of the poet Shelley, the centenary of 

 which falls on July 8. 



Fertility Rites in Modem 



Egypt 



Winifred S. Blackman 



Oxford Researdt Sluiienl in Antliropology 



Rites to ensure the birth of children are practically 

 world-wide and they are of great variety. The failure 

 of offspring involved the weakening of the tribe, which 

 in early times was dependent on its numerical strength 

 for its defence against hostile neighbours. Hence the 

 importance of the possession of children, especially 

 those of the male se.x. 



Love for their children is a marked trait in the 

 character of the modern Egyptians. I have heard 

 it asserted that an Egyptian man is seen at his best 

 when among children, and my own observations have 

 so far certainly borne out this statement. While 

 visiting various villages in Upper Egypt, I have 

 frequently attended to inflammation of the eyes and 

 other lesser ailments of the inhabitants. On these 

 occasions men, almost as often as women, have brought 

 their children for me to see, with a view to asking my 

 advice as to their health, and I have been struck by 

 the gentle way in which they treated their little ones. 



Under Muslim law a man may divorce his wife if she 

 bears him no children. A woman divorced for this 

 reason has but a smaU chance of obtaining another 

 husband ; hence the prospect of childlessness is a very 

 real terror to her. The methods resorted to in order 

 to prevent such a catastrophe are numerous. 



Some years ago when I was working at a large 

 collection of charms and various magical appliances 

 at the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford, it occurred to 

 me that some so-called " pendants," which my brother 

 had brought from Egypt and given to me, might have 

 some " magical powers " attached to them. These 

 " pendants " are modern copies of ancient Egyptian 

 blue-glazed amulets, representing gods, goddesses, 

 sacred animals or scarabs. I showed these objects 

 to the Egyptian Sheikh then resident in O.xford and 

 cLsked him what they were used for. After some 

 hesitation he told me that they were women's charms 

 and were used in Upper Egypt * as a means for pro- 

 ducing children. He also told me that, in the event of 

 a man travelling about that part of Egypt with these 

 charms, the women would flock out of the villages to 

 meet him in order that they might " jump " over them. 



Soon after my arrival at Gebel Meir in Asyut Province 

 in the winter of 1920-21, a certain number of child- 

 less women sent appealing messages to me asking 

 me if I could let them have a bone out of the large 



^ As a result of my personal researches in Egypt I have found 

 that these charms are used very generally all over the country. 



