Peritas was the legendary dog that followed Alexander the Great on the long path to glory, fighting alongside his master, saving his life and dying in battle.
Alexander named his dog Peritas (Greek:Περίτας), after the fourth month in the ancient Macedonian calendar, Peritios, which corresponds to the period between January and February. A somewhat tame name for a fighting dog that defeated armed warriors, a lion and an elephant on the battlefield, as legend has it.
The dog’s breed is difficult to identify and remains unknown. Experts say it was most likely a Molossus of Epirus.
Regardless of the breed, the dog would have been large and powerful, bred specifically to accompany men into battle and fight with the same ferocity as those wielding swords and spears. The war dogs of that era were expected to be fearless, taking on any opponent, whether it be elephants, lions, or armed warriors.
According to Pliny, Peritas was given to Alexander by a king of Caucasus. Other sources claim that he was one of the many dogs given to Alexander as a tribute upon his arrival in the lands north of present-day India. The great commander came to love his four-legged friend so much that he couldn’t sleep without Peritas lying next to him.
The stories of dogs in historic moments are usually embellished with unbelievable feats, enormous acts of loyalty and a bit of tear-inducing drama. Peritas provides plenty of these: he was loved so much that he seemed to possess supernatural powers and deserve endless love, not only from his master, but from history readers as well.
Peritas in battle
The dog of Alexander the Great is said to have fought in many battles next to his beloved master.
In one account, Peritas is said to to have protected Alexander from a war elephant during the Persian Battle of Gaugamela by tearing at its lip until the elephant dropped to its knees, weakened by blood loss. In another account, though, Peritas only distracted the elephant with his attack thus giving his master the opportunity to escape from the threat.
There is also the account of Strabo, in which 150 dogs were given to Alexander by Sopythes of Punjab, a ruler famous for his Indian fighting dogs.
Another tale has Alexander finding himself in a tight spot while fighting the Malians in India. He was trapped by the Malian troops, with his warriors on the other side of the battle. Leonnnatus sent Peritas to go to Alexander’s aid.
The brave dog fought and tore his way through the enemy troops until he got to a gravely wounded Alexander’s side and held the Malians off until Alexander’s men were able to fight their way to him. But Peritas was mortally wounded with a javelin and is said to have crawled to Alexander and died after placing his head in his lap.
These stories of the loyal, gallant Peritas were not written as historical fact. Most likely they were told among the troops around a fire to inspire themselves to acts of bravery.
A city named after Alexander the Great’s dog
There is only one actual mention of Peritas as historical fact. Greek historian Plutarch is the only ancient authority to mention Peritas, but not as the dog that saved the life of Alexander by biting the lip of an elephant in the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE). Nor as the attacker of the Malians who allowed a wounded Alexander to be removed from the field (326 BCE).
In “The Life of Alexander,” Plutarch writes: “It is said, too, that when he lost a dog also, named Peritas, which had been reared by him and was loved by him, he founded a city and gave it the dog’s name.”
So there was a dog named Peritas that Alexander the Great loved dearly and named a city after. In the way Alexander honored his horse, Bucephalus, by naming a city in its honor, he similarly honored Peritas. The city was probably somewhere in modern day Pakistan, perhaps close to Bucephalus city, since both were spoils of the great general’s glorious war against King Porus at the Battle of Hydaspes.