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Collection Israel Antiquities Authority

Extrabiblical evidence confirms the ancient Israelites’ attitude toward canines. The writer of a group of letters found at the ancient city of Lachish, and penned on potsherds on the eve of the Babylonian invasion in 589 B.C.E., repeatedly refers to himself, self-deprecatingly, as a dog. In the letter shown, the writer tells his superior, the commanding officer of the city, “I am nothing but a dog, why should you send me the letters from the king and the officials and ask me to read them?”