Page 83 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 8 3

Oudna, Bardo Museum, Tunis. The pair of Sloughi-type sighthounds pursue the game,
Ederatus the hare and Mustela the fox, followed by the riders, the handler still holding
the leads. © M. Ayeb, G. Mermet

Oppian uses two terms in his poem for the “race” in ancient Greek used in the translation
above, one of which “ἔθνος”, “éthnos”, can be translated as “belonging to a people group”,
a definable social group. The second term in ancient Greek is “φῦλον”, “phylon”, which
also denotes the tribe, ethnic group. So “race” in the conventional sense means the region
or tribe of people where they come from. This therefore means a landrace that is adapted
to the conditions of an area, as explained in detail above.

To have an image in mind as an example, let's take the Rottweiler, a dog that drove cattle

to the free imperial city of Rottweil in south-western Germany, a supra-regional cattle
trading centre. This type of dog or race has existed since Roman times. In the late Middle
Ages, the dog originating from this region was given the name “Rottweiler” because it was
mainly used in this region with its specific tasks. The FCI standard of the Rottweiler has
only existed since 1st January 1955! So it is only since this date that there has been a

selected breed according to phenotypical characteristics, but the Rottweiler also has a
working test.

In contrast, the Leonberger was not created until the middle of the 19th century from
several types of dogs according to certain ideas of the Essig municipal council as a
breeding objective. The aim was to breed a dog that should resemble the heraldic animal
of the city of Leonberg, a lion. In other words, a new selected breed purely corresponding

to the phenotype.