THE GRECIAN HORSE 521 



THE GRECIAN HORSE 



The Greeks, like the Jews, no doubt derived their knowledge of the 

 horse from the Egyptians, but neither Egyptians nor Jews have handed 

 down to us any authentic information relative to the cultivation of 

 horses, a subject with which Grecian literature abounds. Consequently it 

 is from Greek authors that our primary knowledge of equine lore must be 

 obtained, although previous to this period the Babylonian, the Assyrian, 

 and the Egyptian empires flourished, and the ancient monuments dis- 

 covered in these countries prove that the horse had not been used for 

 agricultural or domestic purposes, but that his services had been confined 

 to the chase, to pageants, and to war. Traditions, poems, and myths 

 constitute among ancient nations part of their historical resources, and 

 Homer, Hesiod, and other authors have handed down to us most valuable 

 information relative to the manners, customs, and warlike pursuits of the 

 ancient Greeks. Homer describes the various labours of farming, ploughing 

 with oxen and mules, sowing, reaping, and treading out corn by oxen on 

 the threshing floor, and also describes the many various duties of the 

 herdsman, but we fail to discover that the horse had at this period been 

 employed for agricultural purposes. During the Trojan war cavalry did 

 not form a branch of Grecian military organization, but chariots and 

 horses were conveyed in the ships that sailed to Troy at the traditional 

 date of 1194 to 1184 B.C. The united Grecian princes, who undertook 

 this famous expedition under the command of Agamemnon, sailed, accord- 

 ing to Homer, with 1186 ships and 100,000 men, and the ships con- 

 veyed horses and chariots in which they fought in battle; but no mention 

 is made of cavalry horses, and consequently it may be inferred that at 

 this time they had not been devoted to this service. 



According to Greek legend Chiron the Thessalian, supposed to have 

 been an Egyptian, was the first person who mounted the horse; and 

 there is no doubt that the unfamiliar appearance of a man on horseback: 

 gave rise to the fable of the Centaurs, a race of beings half-man, half- 

 horse, said to have anciently inhabited Thessaly. From the famous war 

 said to have been carried on between the Lapithse and the Centaurs, 

 we may conclude that at a date as early as 960 B.C. the Thessalians used 

 cavalry in war. Chariots and horsemen were known to several nations 

 before this period — the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians had 

 made use of them, — but the Greeks claim that Erichthonius, who was lame, 

 was the first inventor of a carriage, which he built for his own personal 

 convenience, and of horse and chariot racing, which was first inaugurated 



