98 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



shoeing was practised in the ninth century. From the 

 ancient terms being much less frequently met with, it was 

 surmised that the old-fashioned solea had gone out of use, 

 and that the new armature, if it was adopted, must have a 

 particular designation of another kind to distinguish it. 

 In the 'Tactica' of the Eastern Emperor Leo VI. sur- 

 named the Philosopher (a.d. 886 — 911), there is a list of 

 everything necessary for the equipment of a cavalry 

 soldier, and amongst other articles are included ' lunar or 

 crescent-shaped iron shoes and their nails.'' 



In the ' Tactica' of the Emperor Constantine Porphy- 

 rogenitus, son of the former, the same passage also occurs,^ 

 and in a book by this monarch on court ceremonies,^ iron 

 horse-shoes are mentioned on two occasions : first, when 

 in speaking of the horses to be provided for the imperial 

 stables, he directs that they are to be furnished with every- 

 thing requisite, and to have a-sTirjvaia — selenaia ; and, 

 secondly, where it is ordered that a certain weight of iron 

 is to be issued from the imperial magazines for the purpose 

 of making these iron shoes, and other articles of horse 

 necessaries. 



These are, so far as is known, the first instances that 

 occur in history of horse-shoes, with their nails ; and it is 

 somewhat remarkable, that about this period they are also 

 noticed in the writings of Italian, French, English, and 



' Tactica Imperatoris Leonis, vol. v. cap. 4, p. 51. Leyden, 1612. 

 ' irediKXa aEXrfvaia aidrjpd fierd napflwy — Ferra laiiatico cum clavis 

 eorum.' 



' ' Calceos lunatos ferreos cum ipsis corphiis, id est, clavis.' Maffei, 

 who translated an edition of this work, attributed it to Constantine, son 

 of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus. 



3 De Ceremoniis Aulae Byzantinae. Leipzig, 1754. 



