The Origins and History of the Hellenikos Ichnilatis
The Hellenicos Ichnilatis or Ellinikos Ihnilatis (AKA: Hellenic Scenthound; Greek Harehound; Greek Hound) is descended from the chasing (hare-hunting) dogs of Xenophon’s age. The Ancient Greeks were breeding various genuine tracking and chasing breeds, prominent among them were those of Laconia, Argolida, Crete and generally of the Southern Greece. The ancient lagonikoi were called laconicoi (from their place of origin, i.e. Laconia). The word lagonikos (= leporarius) derives from the word laconikos and not from the word lagos (=hare), as one might think.
The hare-hunting dogs were called and are still called lagothires, lagoskila (=harehounds). This is a slight alternation of the word laconikos, which eventually became lagonikos.
In Ancient Greece the hounds were used widely for hunting game (elk, wild boar, deer) and frequently for small prey (hare). The Ancient Greeks used their best hounds in war, trained (such as the molosser) for fighting in the battlefield. They were also used as messengers and (just like today the greyhounds) as pets. The rich Athenian women were accustomed to the company, both in their houses and in their walks, of such dogs.
Ancient Greek
murals, pottery, coins etc. certify that the hounds have a long history
in our country. We see them accompanying the hunter, the warrior, the
comedy writer, the lady, the Bacchante and, especially, we see them as
the inseparable company of Artemis, the goddess of hunting.
Dogs were also associated with the worship of Ancient Greeks.
The name Lagonikos (in latin Lepus = hare) is mentioned in Greek Mythology meaning a constellation (Sirius). The speedy hound Kefalos was famous for the large number of preys it killed.
The Origins of the Ancient Greek Hounds
According to the prevalent opinion, the hound dog breed in general is the first dog breed worldwide. The primitive man was a hunter and his dog was a hound. And it has to be like that, because the speedy hounds chased their prey in such a manner that the prey was forced to pass in front of the hunter, who was lurking in the bushes holding a club in his hand, or the prey would be so exhausted by the hard chase that it would fall down, facilitating its killing by the hunter.
The Greek Hound originated from the ancient Egyptian Greyhound, the primogenitor of the Mediterranean hound breeds, which came from the Abyssian vicious dog Canis simensis or from the Assyrian Greyhound, both of them distant descendants of the Canis familiaris intermedius, son of Tomarctus, the first dog on earth, small-sized, that looked like a hyena (we are talking millions of years ago!)
In the 2nd millenium bC, or perhaps even earlier, about 4.000 years ago, the Cretans and later the Phoenicians, brought and traded from Egypt, especially from the Nile lowland and the Near East, hounds in Greece. This primeval hound adapted to the climate and the land of Greece and cultivated with the breeding of the Greeks. Those early breeds are depicted on the murals of the Palace of Tiryns, entitled “Departure for the Hunt” and “Wild Boar Hunt”, dated 3.500 years ago!
From these hounds came the chasing or hare-hunting dogs of Xenophon’s age. For their evolution more than one thousand years have past. From these hunting dogs originated the Hellenicos Ichnilatis.
Xenophon (who lived from 430 to 354 bC) apart from a historian, a philosopher and an army general, was a hunter and the first canine breeder in the world. In his famous book “On Hunting”, Xenophon gives many advice to hunters and breeders of his age, most of them applicable even today.
