Dear listfellows,
Last night, I was again reading in James Marrow's excellent book on
Passion Iconography in Northern European Art. In one passage, he
explains the image of dogs for Christ's tormentors in the later
medieval passion tracts - it derives from Psalm 21, a classic OT
source for elaborations upon the Passion narrative (Ps. 21.17 iuxta
LXX: circumdederunt me canes multi). (See also F. P. Pickering, "Das
gotische Christusbild", *Euphorion* don't remember the no. and year).
I was wondering about the general image of dogs in the MA. Was it
all derived from biblical sources? If so, how is the biblical image,
generally? Jews were often called "dogs", and I don't know whether it
all goes back to Ps 21. The Middle Dutch poet Jacob van Maerlant, for
example, frequently uses "joden - roden" (Jews, curds/dogs) just
because it's (for him) a convenient rhyme.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Christoph Cluse
Uni Trier, Germany
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