28 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



a two-horse chariot, and occasionally a wounded 

 foe being speared to death by a horseman, gal- 

 loping or stationary. These coins probably are 

 among the earliest of their kind ever struck. 



The most ancient of all representations of 

 Sicilian horses, however, which serve to prove 

 that the Sicilians were beyond doubt a horse- 

 loving race, is the quadriga on one of the metopes 

 of the archaic temple of Silenus, believed to have 

 been founded in 628 B.C. 



While upon the subject of sculpture, casual 

 reference must be made to the notorious Wooden 

 Horse of Troy, described fully in Homer and 

 alluded to centuries later by Virgil, the horse of 

 which the famous sculptor, Strongylon, made a 

 model in bronze towards probably the close of 

 the fifth century. 



The story of this horse hardly needs repetition, 

 but briefly it is to the effect that soon after 

 Hector's death Ulysses commanded Epeios to 

 construct a wooden horse of great size that osten- 

 sibly was to be used as an offering to the gods to 

 please them and thus ensure a safe voyage back 

 to Greece. 



Unsuspectful of treachery, the Trojans received 

 the great effigy and brought it into their city; 

 whereupon, in the dead of night, the Greek 

 soldiers hidden within it crept cautiously out, 

 pounced silently upon the Trojan guards and slew 

 them before they could defend themselves ; then 



