Page 23 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 9

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 3

EDERATUS - MUSTELA

The Ancestors of the North African Sloughi in Roman Times and an Approach
to the Vertragus in the Tunisian Mosaics, the Galgo español and the Azawakh.
BY THOMAS LIEDTKE - GERMANY

Mosaic from the "House of Laberii", Oudna, Tunisia, late 3rd/early 4th century AD © M. Ayeb, G. Mermet

We see here a hunting scene with hounds The two sighthounds, Ederatus and
that are obviously running fast enough to Mustela, are of rather substantial build, not
reach and catch the fast game, namely too lightly built; the tails are without the
hare and fox. The scene shows us even curl at the end, as is still occasionally seen
more clearly that the hunt is fast, by the in North Africa today. The ears, however,
two riders in full gallop, the two hounds are relatively small and appear straight, in
pursuing a hare and a fox in the open no way what is now considered a typical

field. We call such hounds "sighthounds" ear for the Sloughi and rather similar to the
and the definition also comes from Roman pre-1937 Sloughi ear as described by the
times, namely from Arrian, but he standard then.
certainly means the Vertragus, which we
will come back to later. Sometimes you still see such a "banana ear"
in Sloughis. But in movement, different ear

The coat colours of the two dogs are sand types look straight!
and sand brindle, both with black mask.
Both colours can still be found in Tunisia’s
Sloughis today.