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The Maltese Dog

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

J. Busuttil
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Extract

The Μελιταῖον κυνίδιον, as the very word κυνίδιον or its Latin equivalent, catulus, suggests, was a little lap-dog. It was so small that Aristotle compares it with an ἴκτις or marten and Aelian with the Indian Phattage. People commonly called it νανούδιον—a little dwarf. It was a well-proportioned, flat, long-haired dog with a bushy tail and a sharp nose of the type of the Spitz or Pomerian. We are also informed that it barked in a squeaky voice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , October 1969 , pp. 205 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1969

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References

page 205 note 1 The usual word is κυνίδιον—a little dog. The affectionate term κυνάριον is used by Theophrastus, (Characters, 21. 9)Google Scholar and by Athenaeus, (Deip. 12. 518)Google Scholar. κύων is found in two of Aesop's Fables (Aesopica, Perry, Univ. of Illinois Press, 1952, pp. 349 and 357)Google Scholar. In Latin, Pliny employs the words catulos Melitaeos (NH iii. 140).Google Scholar

page 205 note 2 Cf. Hist. Anim. ix. 6, 612b10.Google Scholar

page 205 note 3 Cf. Aelian, , On Animals, 16. 6.Google Scholar

page 205 note 4 Cf. Stählin, O., Paedagogus (Leipzig, 1905), i. 27Google Scholar. Scholion to the Paedagogus of Clement of Alexandria.

page 205 note 5 Cf. Arist. Probl. x. 12, 892aGoogle Scholar; RE viii, p. 2552Google Scholar; cf. Lietch, Virginia T., The Maltese Dog (Maryland, 1953)Google Scholar, passim.

page 205 note 6 Cf. Lucian, περὶ τῶν έπὶ Μισθῶν Συνόντων 34: καὶ βάυον λεπτῇ τῇ φωνῇ—τοιαῦτα γὰρ τὰ Μελιταῖα.

page 205 note 7 Cf. Perry, , op. cit. 349, 73.Google Scholar

page 205 note 8 Cf. Deip., 12. 518.Google Scholar

page 205 note 9 Cf. Onirocriticon, lib. v, ed. Hercher, (Leipzig, 1864), 41.Google Scholar

page 205 note 10 Cf. Theophrastus, , Characters, xxi. 9.Google Scholar

page 205 note 11 Cf. Lucian, , op. cit. 34.Google Scholar

page 205 note 12 Cf. Aelian, , Varia, 13. 41.Google Scholar

page 205 note 13 id. vii. 40.

page 205 note 14 Cf. Tymnes, , Oxford Book of Greek Verse, no. 577.Google Scholar

page 205 note 15 Cf. Lucian, , op. cit. 34.Google Scholar

page 205 note 16 Cf. Alciphron, , Epis. lib. iii, letter 22.Google Scholar

page 206 note 1 Cf. Suidas, , Lexicon, sub voceGoogle Scholar Μελιταῖος.

page 206 note 2 NH xxx. 43Google Scholar: ‘ii quoque quos Melitaeos vocamus stomachi dolorem sedant adplicati saepius.’

page 206 note 3 RE viii, p. 2552.Google Scholar

page 206 note 4 Cf. Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines (Paris, 1881), 697, s.v. Chien.Google Scholar

page 206 note 5 Cf. Murray, M. A., Excavations in Malta, iii. 20.Google Scholar

page 206 note 6 ‘Inter quam et Illyricum Melite, unde catulos Melitaeos appellari Callimachus auctor est.’

page 206 note 7 Cf. Miller, E., Mélanges de littérature grecque (Paris, 1868), 213.Google Scholar

page 206 note 8 vi. 277.

page 206 note 9 Cf. op. cit.

page 206 note 10 Cf. Byzantinus, Stephanus, Ethnika (Graz, 1958), 443, 6.Google Scholar

page 206 note 11 Cf. Schaefer, , Etymologicum Magnum (Leipzig, 1816)Google Scholar; and Miller, E., op. cit. 213.Google Scholar

page 207 note 1 Cf. Krumbacher, O., Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, i. 573–4 (reprint by Bert Franklin, New York).Google Scholar

page 207 note 2 Cf. Stephanas Byzantinus, op. cit. 443, 6.Google Scholar

page 207 note 3 Cf. Jahreshefte des Osterreich. Arch. Instituts Wien, 8 (1905), 242 f.Google Scholar

page 207 note 4 Cf. RE as above; Mayr, A., Die Insel Malta im Altertum (München, 1909), 1–20.Google Scholar

page 207 note 5 Cf. Kaibel, O., Inscriptiones Graecae, xiv, no. 953.Google Scholar

page 207 note 6 Cf. Appian, , x. 2. 16.Google Scholar

page 208 note 1 Cf. Keller, O., op. cit. 243–4Google Scholar; Mayr, , op. cit. 20.Google Scholar

page 208 note 2 Cf. Malta Illustrata (Malta, 1647), 129Google Scholar: ‘Hoggi è quasi estinta questa razza.’