THE ANCESTRY OF DOMESTICATED CATTLE. 
215 
Bos primigenius and Bos pHscus (the Pleistocene bison) are also 
found fossil together in western Asia as well as in Europe. The 
bison was wild in Mesopotamia up to Assyrian times. Some teeth 
of primigenius have been found in the bone breccia of Lebanon, 
which prove it to be coexistent •with man, and Dr. Schliemann found 
the remains of bones of primigenius at Troy. 
It has been suggested that the unicorn referred to in the Bible 
down to the time of David may have been Bos primigenius^ but 
another alternative is that the unicorn was a straight-horn antelope, 
which when seen in profile has the appearance of possessing only 
one horn. 
The other domesticated animals of western Asia are much the 
same as those of Egypt. The zebu was domesticated probably as 
early as 4000 B. C, and spread from Asia to Africa, so that from 
very ancient times the distribution was much the same as to-day. 
Aristotle, Pliny, and Oppian knew of the zebu in Syria, and it may 
have gradually changed into the steppe breed. (Troltsch, 1902; 
Keller, 1902.) 
THE CATTLE OF EGYPT. 
The Egyptians loved their animals, but cattle were the most prized 
of all. Instead of the lion or the eagle, the bull w^as the symbol of 
power and craftiness. The highest goddess was worshiped in the 
form of a cow. Laborers gave their oxen pet names and conversed 
with them as we do with dogs. Decked with bright cloths and pretty 
fringes, cattle were highly esteemed as presents. 
Between " ena," the common breed, and " neg," which was rare, we 
can see but little difference. Hartmann thought there were three 
breeds and made his division according to the shape of the horns — 
the lyre-form, the half-moon, and those in which the horns pointed 
away from each other. Diirst recognizes only the longhorned and 
the shorthorned, both of which came from Asia and were similar to 
the cattle of old Babylonia. Polled cattle and flap-homed cattle 
are there, but they are never represented as at work, so we may sup- 
pose them to be " fancy stock." The absence of horns may have been 
due to spontaneous variations from the other two breeds, but methods 
of preventing the growth of horns w^ere known to these ancient cattle 
"jockies" or "fanciers." Sometimes one horn of the bull was bent 
down by shaving off the horn on the side on which the concavity was 
desired. This process was accelerated by the application of hot 
irons. 
Diirst says that the humped cattle of Egypt are a variety of the 
shorthorned, but of a more recent date. They came from Syria, 
Nubia, and Somaliland, and may be the animal represented on monu- 
