Back to Times Before the Roman Empire
According to one of the versions of Dogue’s origin, the
ancestors of these dogs were brought to the territory of France,
Spain and England by Phoenician traders. Some graphical evidences
prove that large war dogs with square heads and broad shoulders
existed on the territory of Mesopotamia and Egypt before Roman
Empire flourished. So, taking into consideration ancient Dogue
bones, one may suppose that born merchants, Phoenicians took
Assyrian dogs into their swift rowing boats and transported them
to the west coast of Europe. Why should they do that? At closer
inspection this theory does not stand up to examination.
A comparison of Assyrian dogs’ depictions with Roman war dogs’
images would certainly reveal substantial likeness. One may
discover that not only shapes of dogs, but also faces of humans
are alike. Still, according to specialists’ examination, it’s not
the matter of simple outward resemblance: artists of the ancient
world produced their images in accordance with canonical samples,
so the same generalized images of humans, dogs and other creatures
were used by artists for centuries. The art was representing
types, not portraits. Thus, none can be certain that huge war dogs
on Egyptian and Mesopotamian artwork were Mastiffs’ ancestors.
They could be any other indigenous big fighting dog breed.
Moreover, it’s highly improbable that Phoenician traders would
transport massive war dogs in their boats. The conditions there
were very restrained and living creatures, especially huge war
dogs seems to be too risky and fragile merchandise - moreover the
one, that needed substantial feeding.
