276 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



Corsica was noted in the sixth century A.D. for a very 

 diminutive breed of ponies, for Procopius 1 states that in that 

 island " just as human beings become dwarfs, so are there herds 

 of horses which are but little taller than sheep." 



The horses of Sicily to-day resemble closely those of Sardinia 

 both in colour, conformation, and character, being black, chestnut, 

 and bay, but rarely grey. As the Carthaginians from an early 

 period had factories in Sicily, and as there was a vast trade 

 between the Cyrenaica and the Greek cities of that island, it 

 seems highly probable that the famous horses of Sicily, which so 

 often carried off the prizes at the great games of Greece, were 

 largely of the Libyan stock. It is very noteworthy that of the 

 fourteen victories with horses and mules celebrated by Pindar, 

 twelve were carried off by animals from Sicily and Cyrene, two 

 only falling to Greeks of Greece proper Megacles of Athens 

 and Herodotus of Thebes. Syracuse, Agrigentum, and Camarina 

 were specially distinguished for their horses, and Pindar praises 

 Psaumis of Camarina " as a man most zealous in the breeding 

 of horses," and it would appear that he had actually entered 

 at the same time at Olympia a chariot, a mule-car, and a 

 race-horse. 



Agrigentum continued to be devoted to horses until its 

 destruction by the Carthaginians in 405 B.C., for when a citizen 

 named Exaenetus won the chariot-race at Olympia in 412 B.C., 

 he was met on his return and escorted into the city by three 

 hundred chariots each drawn by two white horses. The city 

 was likewise famous for the splendour of the monuments reared 

 over successful race-horses 2 . 



The coinage of the Sicilian cities amply proves their pride 

 in their horses. Victories in the great contests are frequently 

 commemorated in their types. Thus some Agrigentine coins 

 have a quadriga driven by winged Nike, suggested by such 

 a victory as that of Exaenetus, whilst in the earliest issue of 

 Syracuse (before 500 B.C.) the tetradrachms bear a four-horse 

 chariot, the didrachms a man riding one and leading a second 



1 De Bell. Gothico, n. 4, 24: evravda u>We/> &v6puiroi vavvoi yivovrcu, ottrw drj 

 rivuv y-rnruv aytXai dffl r&v 



2 Diod. Sic. xm. 82. 6. 



