280 On Animala depicted on Antique Monuments. 



which he gave in honour of the marriage of Caracalla, many 

 bisons were observed, as were also wild asses. It may easily 

 be recognised that it is of no small importance in relation to the 

 question which now engages us, to know exactly the precise 

 epoch in which such and such an animal was known, from which 

 country he was brought, and in what number. Very many are 

 the inquiries that are made on these points, their solution can 

 be given only by entering into such details as these ; but their 

 further prosecution may properly be excused. 



We shall here introduce another remark regarding one of the 

 Ruminantia, of which we have already spoken. We allude to 

 the sheep, and the fact before stated, that the ancients have sup- 

 plied but few representations of the ram and ewe, in compari- 

 son of those they have given of the goat, the kid, and the she- 

 goat. And this is the more astonishing, if we are to believe 

 Varro and some Greek philosophers, who maintain that the 

 sheep was the first animal man succeeded in domesticating. 

 From this opinion BufFon, and most of the modern naturalists, 

 dissent, and contend, on the contrary, that the dog was the first 

 animal he subdued ; and the immense number of representatives 

 of it on antiques seems rather to countenance this supposi- 

 tion. The comparative rarity of the sheep in the ancient sculp- 

 tures is the more remarkable, as, from the time of Varro, this 

 animal has been found in very many countries in its wild state. 

 Thus, in Phrygia and in Lycaonia, many wild sheep are found, 

 and it is the same of the goat in Samathracia. The details 

 which Varro has left us on this subject merit the greater confi- 

 dence, as his assertions have very recently been verified. Thus 

 he had informed us, that Thibet was the native region of the 

 onager or wild ass ; and, in fact, they are now found in the 

 Mountains of Taurus and the lower Kurdistan, in those moun- 

 tains which separate Persia from the Afghans. This animal 

 still exists there in its wild state, and hunting it is one of the 

 most common amusements of the Persian princes. It is also 

 known that oxen are found in their wild state in Mysia, Darda- 

 nia, and Thrace, and horses in certain parts of northern Spain. 

 The wild ass is figured not unfrequently on ancient monuments. 

 In proof of this we only quote the twenty-seventh plate of the 

 works of Micali, and the twenty-ninth of those of Caylus. 'J'o 



