Ashkelon dog cemetery

[5] Stager notes that as "only the eastern limits of the cemetery have been established, we can speculate that it was originally much larger, with dog burials probably numbering in the thousands."

[9] Rather than being a single breed, they appear to represent examples of a naturally occurring canid population adapted to the hot and semi-arid conditions of the region.

[3] Numerous dog burials with religious contexts have been found in the southern Levant, dating back as far as 3500 BC.

[10] The phenomenon of dog burials in the region appears to have reached a peak under the Persian rule (586–332 BC) and continued into the Hellenistic period, though the reasons for the growth and decline of the practice are unclear.

[11] Individual or small numbers of dog burials have been found throughout the region, though the Ashkelon cemetery is in a class of its own for its sheer size.

[9] For instance, the Babylonian goddess of health, Nintinugga or Gula, had the dog as her symbol and was described as "she who by the touch of her pure hand revives the dead.

[13] The Book of Deuteronomy may refer to this obliquely in a verse (23:18) which reads: "You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow."

Biblical scholars have interpreted "the wages of a dog" (Hebrew: מְחִ֣יר כֶּ֗לֶב məḥîr keleḇ) as a reference to male prostitution.

Stager speculates that a similar cult may have operated in the vicinity of the Temple in Jerusalem, whose attendants may have received fees for their services.

[3] Another explanation has been put forward by Anne Marie Smith, who argues that the dogs could have been bred for trade to supply dog-venerating cults in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, and were buried on the same site where they lived.