THE ANCESTRY OF DOMESTICATED CATTLE. 
219 
turage was poor; thus sheep and goats were more numerous than 
cattle. Yet there were white cattle in Thessaly, hornless cattle in 
Borysthenes, and a large breed of cattle, improved by Pyrrhus about 
300 B. C., in Epirus. Pyrrhus selected breeding stock according to 
strict rules, and no heifers were allowed to breed until they were 4 
years of age. Some of his cows gave 1| amphorean (40 liters) of 
milk per day. Cheese, and probably butter, was made by the ancient 
Greeks. Arrian says that Alexander the Great imported 2,000 or 
more head of cattle from India (probably they were zebus). 
Country life in Greece was dependent to a great degree upon social 
and political conditions. Constant risk of invasion compelled the 
people to live in or near the city walls. The rural arts were practiced 
by slaves and peasants, yet the science of agriculture was known to 
the educated, for Columella says that 50 agricultural treatises in 
Greek had been lost before his time. 
ITALY. 
Though the Indo-Germans led a pastoral life and knew the cereals 
only in a wild state at the time of the migration, the Greco-Italians 
were grain cultivators. We infer, then, that agriculture was adopted 
after leaving their original home and before settling in Italy and 
Greece. Italy was a land much better adapted for cattle raising 
than Greece. The Greeks referred to Italy as the land of cattle. 
Perhaps the word " Italy " was derived from the Greek word mean- 
ing " bull," although some philologists ascribe the origin of the word 
to " Italus," a mythical king in southern Italy who persuaded his 
people to turn from herding to tilling the soil. From the Roman 
laws we may infer tliat wealth first consisted of cattle and the usu- 
fruct of the soil (Mommsen). 
Among the Romans the draft ox was considered invaluable, and 
to kill one was as serious a crime as to kill a man. White bulls were 
often offered as a sacrifice to the gods. Each Roman province had 
its own breed of cattle. In general, the different breeds, especially 
those of Lucania, Umbria, and Sabinia, were large and of the brachy- 
cephalus type, when it appears for the first time. In Campania and 
Siguria the cattle were smaller and of the longifrons type. Latium 
possessed a close-built, good working breed. The Apenine cattle 
were hardy but less comely. The smaller breeds in the vallej^s of 
northern Italy yielded a good flow of milk, which in the spring was 
considered a good medicine. Many Romans went to the herds of 
Switzerland for the cure of tuberculosis. 
From Columella's description of the points of bulls, cows, and 
draft oxen, we may conclude that considerable attention was paid to 
selection of breeding animals. That cattle were bred in large numbers 
we know from the Punic Wars, when Hannibal captured 2,000 oxen 
