Swifter than the Arrow explores a little-known aspect of life in Ancient Egypt, celebrating the Egyptians as the first known civilisation to have formed the special bond with the dog that persists today as the most remarkable and enduring of human-animal relationships. Five thousand years ago the Egyptians selected and bred hounds for the chase and as the loved companions of both the ruling classes and of less exalted folk. For more than twenty-five centuries they kept the breed true, a remarkable achievement to be counted alongside the development of stone architecture and the building of the pyramids, the invention of hieroglyphs, the creation of kingship and of the first nation-state in the world. Swifter than the Arrow also examines the evidence that hounds living today -- most notably modern breeds such as the so-called "Pharaoh Hound" -- are directly descended from the Egyptian hound. This unique book throws fresh light on our understanding of ancient Egypt while providing a completely fresh insight into the development of mankind’s remarkable bond with the domesticated dog.