Page 25 - The Sloughi Review - Issue 9
P. 25
T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 2 5
Mohamed Yacoub emphasises that these In the mosaics, the kind of sighthound
hunting scenes are essentially based on shown above is mostly depicted, but there
direct observation in reality and thus form is a whole variety of dogs, obviously also
their own iconography. Hunting was the of different use.
leading sport among the leisure activities of
the time. The wealthy gentlemen preferred The ears of the ancestors of the Sloughis
hunting on horseback for hares or other are particularly striking. An even more
game. precise presentation of these dogs can be
found in a bronze from Volubilis (6), the
These "battles" required great physical and southernmost Roman settlement on the
mental exertion, so that they took place less African continent, located in present-day
as a pastime and more to practise the skills Morocco near Meknes. Volubilis was
necessary in war. We read the same thing in inhabited for some time after
Xenophon, who describes hunting as Islamisation; Idris I chose Volubilis as his
preparation for war (4). residence.
The mosaics are thus intended to show the A bronze dog was found there. The
fortitude and status in Roman-African archaeologist Louis Chatelain (7) points
society that the respective owners of land directly to the mosaics of Oudna and El
possessed. The economic status is also Jem in his description of the dog (8),
justified by the fact that Rome at the time which is very similar to the Sloughi. So we
obtained about 40% of its grain and olive oil see here quite certainly the three-
requirements from North Africa and Sicily. dimensional representation of such a
sighthound.
We find all this in the mosaic from Oudna.
Ederatus, "the faithful", and Mustela, "the As with the Sloughi today, we see the hip
weasel", pursue the same game as today's humps and a flat, broad head. The body
Sloughis. The gentlemen ride on the fast looks a little stocky, but there are also
Berber horses, as Arrian already describes such Sloughis today (see photo Tagiurie el
them. Arrian writes that the Barbary horses Sian).
are the fastest horses, faster than those of
the Persians, because they are able to catch
up with the Wild ass (5).
