“Unearthed After Centuries: The Stunning Discovery of a Roman Dog That Could Rewrite History!”
Roman Dog Remains Unearthed Beneath A Stone Structure In Belgium
TV OostThe remains were unusually well preserved for the region.
In the Velzeke region, well-preserved ancient remains are relatively rare. This is largely due to the conditions of the local soil, but as archaeologist Arne Verbrugge told VRT, “Because this dog was buried beneath a stone foundation, it has been exceptionally well preserved.”
The dog’s remains were handed over to the Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences for further study, but Verbrugge explained how the discovery alone can allow historians to draw some conclusions about the burial.
“What’s also interesting is the connection to a building,” Verbrugge said. “The dog was buried beneath a significant structure, and we probably have to consider this a kind of building sacrifice. We know from historical sources that dogs sometimes played a role in certain religious or ritual practices. They were meant to provide a kind of purification or cleansing — for example, during the construction of a new building or in certain healing rituals.”
As explored in a 1921 paper by Columbia University professor Alberta Mildred Franklin, dogs in particular had a ritualistic association with Hecate, the goddess of magic, witchcraft, sorcery, and ghosts, and there were numerous festivals involving dogs — especially as sacrifices.
TV OostThe dog’s burial may have served a ritual purpose, though the exact nature of such a rite is unclear.
One of the most notable ceremonies was the Supplicia Canum, or the “punishment of the dogs,” which involved parading live dogs, suspended from a forked device, through the city. In the same procession, meanwhile, geese adorned in gold and purple were given great honor. This was meant to commemorate the Gallic siege of Rome in 390 B.C.E., during which the cries of geese alerted Romans to the nighttime assault, while the city’s watchdogs, oddly, failed to respond.
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