314 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



Mauritanian horses are mentioned separately, in addition to the 

 well-known old breeds of Greece and Asia Minor. 



It is very significant that in his wide survey of the best 

 breeds of horses Oppian is silent respecting the Arabs, and from 

 this we are justified in inferring that down to the second 

 century A.D., even if the Arabs had by that date begun to breed 

 horses, their steeds were not yet recognized as of any special 

 merit. 



It will be noticed that the only Italian breed mentioned 

 is the Etruscan, from which we may infer that for practical 

 purposes it had by that date overshadowed the Apulian breeds. 

 We have seen that in Spain, Africa, and in Western and 

 Central Asia black horses are a regular result from the blending 

 of the African with the European-Asiatic horse, and it is 

 probable that the same holds true for Italy. Down to modern 

 times Tuscany, Ancona, and the region of Bologna have been 

 noted for fine breeds of black horses, all of which have been 

 much influenced by African blood derived from Lower Italy. 

 But as the horses of Tuscany were the best Italian breed known 

 to Oppian, it is not unreasonable to conclude that from these 

 horses are descended, in part at least, some of the fine black 

 horses of modern Tuscany. Horses of similar colour but heavier 

 build are found in Lombardy, but these are probably in good 

 part descended from heavy horses brought by the Teutonic 

 invaders of that region, of whose horses we shall soon speak. 

 These horses of Lombardy have been much influenced in later 

 centuries indirectly by Libyan blood through Turkish and 

 Hungarian horses and also by the admixture of heavier horses 

 from Upper Europe (p. 362). Stradanus pourtrays in his 

 Insuber (Fig. 90) a typical example of the Lombard horse 

 of the 16th century. 



Let us now return to Central and Upper Europe. We saw 

 that the horses on the north side of the Danube were remark- 

 able for their small size in the 5th century B.C., and that down 

 to the time of Caesar the Germans still possessed only their 

 primitive, unimproved, large-headed horses. But as the Gauls 

 beyond the Alps had shown the keenest desire to improve their 

 native breed by importing horses of superior blood at great cost 



