Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 301 



reputation in Greece in classical times. Not only do Thessalian 

 horses figure in the lists of winners at Olympia, but the 

 Thessalian cavalry were by far the best in Greece. We have 

 just seen that Pindar speaks of the Thessalians as riders of 

 1 white horses/ and that Sophocles represents a chariot from 

 Thessaly as drawn by white horses. Probably soon after 

 Homeric days, the white horses of Thrace had made their 

 way into Thessaly, and they doubtless were improved by 

 superior blood from the south in later times, for not only was 

 Thessaly noted for white horses, but also for grey, a sure indi- 

 cation of crossing with Libyan blood, since Statius describes 

 the Thessalian mares of Admetus as white spotted with black, 

 i.e. 'flea-bitten grey 1 .' Moreover, the studs of Thessaly probably 

 exercised a most important influence on the horses of Macedonia 

 and the rest of the upper Balkan. No better illustration of the 

 horses of that region in the fifth century B.C. 

 can be given than the coins of Potidaea (B.C. 

 490 432) which show Poseidon Hippios (of 

 the Horse) mounted on horseback with his 

 trident levelled against some foe (Fig. 85). 

 The type 2 was doubtless suggested by the 

 image of Poseidon which stood in front of 

 the city, and we may reasonably believe that FlG 'p 8 ^' d Coin of 

 in the horse on which the god is seated the 

 artist has pourtrayed the best bred horse with which he was 

 acquainted. 



In Strabo's time 3 (A.D. 1) large numbers of good horses were 

 bred in Greece, especially in Peloponnesus. Arcadia was much 

 noted for its horses. It was then a mere solitude, as many 

 of its ancient cities had been destroyed by constant wars, 

 and the inhabitants of many others had been deported to 

 Megalopolis when that city was founded by Epaminondas to be 

 a bulwark against Spartan aggression. There were therefore 

 wide expanses of pastures given up to herds of mares. On 



1 Thebais, vi. 336 : noctemque diemque 



assimulant, maculis internigrantibus albae. 



2 Head, Hist. Numorum, p. 188 ; Herod, vm. 129. 



3 378. 



