HARNESS IN HOMER'S DAY 13 



interest here because they serve to indicate to 

 some extent the style of harness and useless 

 trappings that must have been in vogue amongst 

 the wealthy in Homer's day : 



" So Hera, the goddess queen, daughter of 

 great Cronos, went her way to harness the gold- 

 frontleted steeds ; and Hebe quickly put to the 

 car the curved wheels of bronze, eight spoked, 

 upon their axletree of iron." 



Then: 



" Golden is their felloe, imperishable, and tires 

 of bronze are fitted thereover, a marvel to look 

 upon ; and the naves are of silver, to turn 

 about on either side. And the body of the car 

 is plaited tight with gold and silver straps, and 

 two rails run round about it. 



" And a silver pole stood out therefrom ; upon 

 the end she bound the fair golden yoke, and set 

 thereon the fair breast-straps of gold, and Hera 

 led beneath the yoke the horses, fleet of foot, and 

 hungered for strife and the battle-cry." 



It has been argued that about the time of 

 Homer gold and silver were deemed to be com- 

 paratively of small value, and that therefore the 

 trappings described were not so costly as one 

 naturally would conclude they must have been. 



Upon this point opinions are about equally 

 divided. 



Professor Ridgeway tells us that by comparing 

 the foregoing description with actual specimens 



