Also known as: Arles, Arlez, Aralezs (plural), Aralezner (plural), Jaralez

The Aralezner are an ancient race of dog-like beings, either spirits or minor gods with the powers of healing and resurrection in Armenian mythology. The Aralez is known for reviving fallen warriors and resurrecting the dead by licking their wounds clean. One minor article mentioned that the revived warriors spend the rest of their days “bereft of their spiritual aspects.” What that would seem to me, could mean that a resurrected warrior is living on borrowed time and possibly won’t get a second time for resurrection. When their time is up, they move to whatever fate the afterlife holds for them.

The Aralezner are believed to live in the sky or on Mount Massis, modern day Mount Ararat. The breed of dog known as the Armenian Gampr is said to be what the Aralezner look like. They are one of the oldest dog breeds found in Armenia, retaining many of their ancestral traits.

Armenian Historical Connections

Mushegh Mamikonyan – When the Sparapet Mushegh Mamikonyan died, his family placed his body in a tower. They had hoped that the Aralezner would come and lick him, bringing Mushegh back to life.

Ara the Beautiful – Ara is one of Armenia’s legendary patriarchs. In the legend surrounding Ara, he is a warrior whose handsomeness attracted many marriage proposals from Queen Semiramis. When Ara turned down Semiramis advances in favor of marrying Nvard, an angry, rejected Semiramis sent soldiers to go kill Ara and bring his body back to her. According to legend and story, Semiramis is to have prayed for Ara’s resurrection.

In Armenian legend, there are many versions of the story of Ara the Beautiful and Semiramis. One variation to this story has the Aralezner licking Ara’s wounds and resurrecting him. Another version has Ara accidentally killed during war and that his body was then placed up on the mountains for the gods to resurrect.

What all the different versions of the legend do agree on is that Ara was never resurrected and that Semiramis very likely took a man or another lover who looked like Ara the Beautiful and claimed that this was Ara returned to life by the gods or Aralezner.

Wound Licking

There could be some truth to this concept of wound licking and healing. First is that wound licking is an instinctive response in humans and many animals such as cats, dogs, primate and rodents to lick an injury.

What’s notable and for certain is that the salvia can aid in cleaning a wound, removing anything that is possibly contaminating it. Where dogs are concerned, their saliva does have antibiotic properties, particularly lysozyme, an enzyme that is known for breaking down the cell walls of certain harmful bacteria. Namely gram-positive bacteria. The enzyme is able to attach to the bacteria’s cell wall and weakening it so that it ruptures or breaks.

The next reasoning is that the act of licking stimulates the tissues and small blood vessels around the wound, increasing blood flow that brings white blood cells and platelets to speed up the healing process.

Historical, Modern And Mythical Connections

Many cultures have believed that a dog’s saliva has a healing power on people. There is a French saying that “Langue de chien, langue de médecin” or “A dog’s tongue is a doctor’s tongue.” There is too a Latin quote that appears in a thirteenth-century manuscript that goes: “Lingua canis dum lingit vulnus curat” or “A dog’s tongue, licking a wound, heals it.” In the Christian Bible, Luke 16:19-31, there is the story of Lazarus the Beggar whose sores are licked by dogs. However there is no miraculous healing mentioned.

In Ancient Greece, dogs at Aesculapius’ shrine were trained to lick patients. During the Medieval Ages, Saint Roch is said to have been cured of sores by his dog licking him. Even in the nineteenth century, it was believed in the Scottish Highlands that a dog licking wounds or sores would be an effective treatment.

More modernly is a report of dog saliva being used to speed up wound healing in the Lancet medical journal. And Fijian fisherman allow for dogs to lick their wounds to speed up the healing process.

Risks

There are risks involved with wound licking, such as doing too much of it. Plus there is the likeliness of causing the very same infections that are thought to be avoided.

While there are historical and mythical instances of wound licking having healed people, there are many modern day documented cases of infections from wound licking by an animal. Especially if a person’s immune system is already compromised or weakened.