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Abstract

The paper focuses on Greek epitaphs set up for dogs and attempts to demonstrate the kind of data that can be extracted from such texts. It analyses the texts of canine epitaphs and compares them not only to similar Latin inscriptions and literary evidence, but also to Greek funerary inscriptions set up for humans, as the structure of the canine epitaphs is often similar to the structure of human ones. Topics such as dog names and ‘professions’ are also touched upon in the paper, and it is concluded that dog owners seem to have named their dogs in a similar manner to how they have named their slaves and have adopted a pattern of expressing their grief over the loss of a pet from the epitaphs commemorating the deaths of dependent members of their households.

Keywords

Greek and Latin inscriptions, epigraphy, epitaphs of dogs.

Lyubov G. Eliseeva, Institute of World History RAS; State Academic University for the Humanities; Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Evgeniia N. Andreeva, Institute of World History RAS; State Academic University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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