The hyena hate sign likely inspired the dog-headed man monsters of medieval lore

Evidence

The hyena ( yena) is another anti-Semitic “hate sign” identified with the Jew, offering “one of the most straightforward allegories” of the Jew as the devil found in these texts. The hyena resembles the dog-headed man in its identification as a canine, and the hyena’s voice resembles a human. In the stories told about cynocephalie in battle against Christian soldiers, they are often described as whinnying, barking, and howling, as hyenas do. I would postulate that the hyena, a popular symbol of Jews, inspired the Jewish dog-headed men of medieval lore. The cynocephalus is an old monster, one long associated with evil. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 216

Categorization

  • QUESTION: If the hyena (a canine-voiced devourer) generated the dog-headed man, is there a parallel genesis chain behind the giant and demon figures the reader studies?
  • DEFINE: Clarifies the ‘hate sign’ mechanism by which bestiary animal allegories attached to religious others.