Macedonian Dog

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History of the Neapolitan Mastiff
(Mastino Napoletano)

The Neapolitan Mastiff belongs to a group of large heavy-bodied and heavy boned, short muzzled, wrinkle-browed, frightful-looking dogs that were used as fighters and protectors of family and property.

The Neapolitan Mastiff is a living relic that can be traced back to at least 5,000 years ago. To comprehend the Neapolitan Mastiff you must read the existent descriptions of Mastiff. You will then understand that this breed has not changed materially for the past 2000 - 5000 years, and the ancient instincts that run in his genes.
By viewing bits and pieces of sculptures, etchings, and writings scattered across the lands it is evident that the Neapolitan Mastiff of today has changed only slightly from the dog of ancient times.
After the domestication of livestock, dogs of heavy body and powerful grip were bred by farmers and used as guardians of their flock and various other functions. These dogs were kept pure in their breeding in contrast to other breeds that were mixed with the swift, lighter boned breeds.
In the lands that were conquered and re-conquered by different peoples we find the ancestors of the Neapolitan Mastiff. They were called by many names: Macedonian Dog, Assyrian Dog, Sumerian Molossians, Bandogs, Dogues, and the Roman Molossus. The names were different, but all were of the same basic type: heavy bodied, enormous heads, short muzzles, dewlaps, wrinkled foreheads, cropped ears, and heavy legs.

Of the many Mastiff type dogs now extinct some were saved such as the Old English Mastiff and Saint Bernard.
These dogs were most likely descendants of the Macedonian dogs, as they were called at the time of Alexander the Great around 350 BC, because his homeland was Macedonia. :smir:
Alexander probably obtained the ancestors of these dogs from the peoples he had encountered in his many conquests of the lands stretching from India toMacedonia. The dogs he brought back were called Indian Dogs or Assyrian Dogs, in accordance with the names of the peoples who inhabited these lands at the time. When Alexander died, and Macedonia and Eastern Europe fell to the Romans, the great war dogs were seized and propagated by the Romans.
During the first century BC, Julius Caesar met with dogs of huge structure and ferocity that he called “Pugnaces Brittaniae” during his campaign in the British Isles.
He was so taken with these enormous dogs that he took several back to Rome. In Rome these dogs were used as weapons of war and in the Coliseums where they fought other animals such as lions and bulls. Handlers and Mastiffs fought other handlers and Mastiffs...............................
http://www.bullmastiff-rescue.org.uk/Neapolitan-Mastiff-info.shtml

Термин «молосскаја группа собак» введён лишь в 20 веке. К сожаленију, поэтапно проследить всју историју происхожденија породы на сегоднјашниј день просто невозможно. Непосредственно предком кане корсо считаетсја один из локальных типов римских молоссов. Римскаја сторожеваја собака (molossus - молосс) упоминаетсја Вергилием, подробно описана римским автором Колумелла в книге «De re rustica»(l в. до н.э.). Веројатно, римскаја сторожеваја собака происходит от смешенија догообразных Этрурии с боевыми собаками персов, мидијцев, карфагенјан и собаками из Македонии, которых представил во времја своего триумфа победитель македонцев консул Павел Эминиј (168 г. до н.э.).
По памјатникам литературы и искусства можно судить о древности происхожденија кане корсо. Так слово «corso» употреблјает итальјанскиј писатель Теофило Фоленго (1491-1544 гг.), описываја схватки корсо с раненым медведем. В переводе стихотворенија Никколо Макиавелли (1469-1527 гг.) есть такие строки:​

«Видел хитрују, докучливују лису, не бывало ештё такој сети, в которују она попалась бы,- и собаку корсо, лајуштују на луну...».​

Позднее швејцарскиј естествоиспытатель Конрад Геснер (1516-1565 гг.) в своеј энциклопедии «Историја животных» описывает кане корсо так:​

«Достаточно сильнаја и моштнаја собака, чтобы сражатьсја с кабаном и управлјатьсја со стадами волов».​

Подвиги кане корсо на охоте воспевали в своих произведенијах и другие авторы: Тито Джованни Скандиано - «Поэма об охоте» (1556 г.), Эразм ди Вальвазон (1523-1595 гг.) в поэме «Охота» (1591г.), Джованни Верга - роман «Лень» (1881г.). В 1628 году кардинал Сципион Боргезе писал: «Корсо - это свирепые, јаростные бојцы» и использовал их длја охраны своих владениј. Итальјанскиј филолог Томмазео в своём словаре предлагает метафору: «Кане корсо - благородныј, отважныј человек». Увековеченные изображенија корсо можно увидеть на полотнах Филиппа Хаккерта, а также на гравјурах знаменитого Бартоломео Пинелли(1781-1835 гг.), державшего этих собак.​