St. Christopher Cynocephalus and other dog-headed people

St. Christopher (he of the popular medal) is frequently identified as "a member of the tribe of the Marmaritae," which is described in "all the earliest surviving accounts of his martyrdom" as "a land of cannibals and dog-headed peoples." As David Woods explains in The Origin of the Cult of St. Christopher, "the Greek tradition came to interpret this passage absolutely literally, and this is why Byzantine icons often depicted St. Christopher with a dog's head." (Cynocephalos means "dog-head.")

In Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf-Manuscript, Andy Orchard explains the origins of the dog-headed Christopher story:

The Latin Life of Saint Christopher derives ultimately from apocryphal accounts of the adventures of the apostles Andres and Bartholomew, who in their wanderings in Parthia come across a dog-headed cannibal . . . The creature, who calls himself Abominable, is struck with a profound desire to become a Christian, and does so, being renamed Christianus by Andrew, and acting as their guide in their subsequent adventures.

In some of these legends, the dog-headed person is rewarded with a human appearance upon baptism.

Here are some dog-headed people of a less benign aspect, from the Kievan Psalter (1397):

Wikipedia has an excellent article on the various cultural manifestations of cynocephaly here.

Comments

[Highlyeccentric]

Just a note, since i'm told LJ doesn't co-operate with trackbacks, to say that this post is linked in the latest carnivalesque:
http://highlyeccentric.livejournal.com/242435.html

[gail]

Thanks Highly. I don't take trackbacks either, since a recent spam invasion. Usually I find out who has linked my posts by checking Technorati every now and then.