Images

Maya vessel depicting several mythological scenes. This part of the vessel depicts a god with a spotted tail and ears. The dog is a companion of death, and like his own has a dark nature. Found in Guatemala, attributed...

Ceramic sculpture of a reclining dog. Associated with the Comala people. Colima, Mexico. c. 200 BCE-300 CE. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ceramic sculpture of a snarling dog. Associated with the Comala people. Colima, Mexico. c. 200 BCE-300 CE. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Painting of the dog-headed Aztec god Xolotl with the fire serpent Xiuhcoatl, from a facsimile of the pre-Hispanic Borgia Codex, 16th century. The British Museum, London.

Head of the Aztec god Xolotl. Collection of National Anthropological Museum, Mexico City.

Drawing of the Aztec god Xolotl, playing ball. From a facsimile of the pre-Hispanic Codex Fejérváry-Mayer. The British Museum, London.

Statue of a dog holding a cob of maize (corn) in its mouth, from Colima, Mexico, c. 100 BCE to 300 CE. National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City.

Earthenware effigy of a dog from Colima, Mexico, c. 100 BCE to 300 CE. Walters Art Museum, Balitmore.

Red slip effigy of a dog. Made in Colima, Mexico, 100 BCE-300 CE. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Battle of Bloody Brook, 1675, a 19th-century engraving by F.O.C. Darley (1822-1888).