Alexander the Great’s dog Peritas is often linked to dramatic battlefield tales: biting an elephant or rescuing Alexander after he was wounded. But the ancient passage that names Peritas tells a much shorter story. Plutarch says Alexander loved the dog and reports—using the words “It is said”—that he founded a city in its memory. A separate elephant story in Pliny concerns a dog whose name is not given in that passage.
What Plutarch says about Peritas
Plutarch is the ancient source in the cited evidence that names Alexander’s dog Peritas. In Life of Alexander 1.62.1, Bernadotte Perrin’s translation reads:
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“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.”
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The passage says Peritas had been raised by Alexander and was loved by him. It also reports that Alexander founded a city and named it after the dog. The opening “It is said” matters: Plutarch presents the city story as a report, not as an independently confirmed event. The passage does not describe Peritas fighting in a battle or saving Alexander.
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Read Plutarch, Life of Alexander 1.62.1, in Perrin’s translation.
Pliny’s elephant story is about a different, unnamed dog
Pliny the Elder gives an elephant episode in Natural History 8.61. He describes a large dog presented to Alexander by a king of Albania that attacks an elephant. In that passage, Pliny does not call the dog Peritas. The text therefore supports the existence of an ancient story about a dog associated with Alexander and an elephant, but it does not establish that the animal was Peritas.
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Read Pliny, Natural History 8.61, at the Perseus Digital Library.
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| Ancient text | Is the dog named? | What the passage reports | How the claim is framed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plutarch, Life of Alexander 1.62.1 | Yes: Peritas | Alexander raised and loved the dog; after losing it, he reportedly founded a city and gave it the dog’s name. | Begins “It is said,” signaling a reported tradition. |
| Pliny, Natural History 8.61 | No, not in this passage | A dog given to Alexander by a king of Albania attacks an elephant. | Describes the episode, but does not identify the dog as Peritas. |
What the popular battlefield versions add
Stories that Peritas bit an elephant at Gaugamela or rescued a wounded Alexander during the Mallian campaign go beyond the cited Plutarch passage. Modern accounts describe such details as embellishments or conflations; they should not be presented as established by Plutarch’s brief report. Nor does Pliny’s passage supply the missing identification: it tells of an elephant attack by a dog that is unnamed there.
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For discussion of how dogs and their stories appear in ancient Greek contexts, see World History Encyclopedia’s overview of dogs and collars in ancient Greece. For a modern account focused on the Peritas legends, see Dogs in History’s discussion of Peritas.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can responsibly be said
- Plutarch names Peritas and says Alexander had raised and loved the dog.
- Plutarch reports that Alexander founded a city named for Peritas, while marking the story as hearsay.
- Pliny tells a separate story about an elephant-fighting dog given to Alexander, but does not name it Peritas in the cited passage.
- The cited Peritas passage does not establish the Gaugamela elephant-biting or Mallian rescue stories.
The surviving account gives Peritas a name and a place in a story of remembrance, but little more. Later dramatic details may make the dog’s story memorable; they should not be confused with what Plutarch’s text actually says.
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