Dog Names from Roman Mythology

Dog names based on Roman mythology have been used since Roman mythology was still treated as truth. “Res rustica,” a work on agriculture that was written by Columella at some point between 30 and 70 AD, specifies several suitable names for dogs in ancient Rome, one of which is Lupa, the same as the she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. Names with connections to Roman Mythology have also been quite popular on television and in movies as well, both for characters and for canine actors. A dog by the name of Flora portrayed the dog of Flanders as far back as 1914, in the short film A Dog of Flanders, starring Marguerite Snow, Mr. Fischer, and Justus D. Barnes, and General Schaeffer’s Great Dane in I Dream of Jeannie had the name of Jupiter. Jupiter seems to be a rather popular name to give Great Danes in Hollywood. This moniker, shared with the supreme god of the Romans, as well as Mars, the name of his second in command, were given to the Great Danes belonging to General Cornwallis in the film The Patriot, a historical drama set at the time of the American Revolution. Another beloved pooch with a Roman-themed name is Disney’s Pluto, although Mickey Mouse’s happy-go-lucky pooch has a very different personality than his dark and foreboding namesake. 

Dogs in the entertainment world are not the only ones to be named after characters in Roman mythology, however, and the first of the search and rescue dogs to reach the devastating site of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, went by Apollo, a name that was likely inspired by the sun god of Rome. Arriving just 15 minutes after the collapse of the towers, Apollo, a German Shepherd, and his owner, Peter Davis worked up to 18 hours a day searching for survivors as well as casualties, risking life and limb in hazardous and toxic conditions; at one point during the search, flaming debris rained down on the dog, and he avoided being burnt only because he had fallen in a pool of water shortly beforehand.  On behalf of all of the dogs working at the twin towers, he went on to claim the PDSA Dickin Medal, alongside two guide dogs who had successfully guided their owners down to safety from over 70 stories up. While Apollo was best known for his rescue efforts after 9/11, that was not his only accomplishment and like his namesake, he was both legendary and enduring. Before the events of that day, Apollo had been working in the K9 division of the New York Police department since 1994 and was one of the first dogs to receive search and rescue training, as well as one of the first canines chosen for the Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1, and was responsible for a number of arrests that were made between 1994 and 2001. After 2001, Apollo continued to help people, even making a trip to the Dominican Republic to help with search and rescue efforts after a hurricane destroyed the area.