Equines in Antiquity

Hey guys! So this account is for a school project where my job is to tell people about horses as depicted in art in the ancient world. If you have a particular piece you want me to look into, send me an ask!

[cwritesfiction]

I will not overcomplicate my plot

I will not overcomplicate my plot

I will not overcomplicate my plot

[jacqueswriteblrlibrary]

Due to unforeseeable events….

The plot is now overcomplicated.

[theprissythumbelina]

I have lost control of the plot

[unfocused-overwriter]

The plot

He destroyed his outline

Yes

YES

The plot is out

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Geometric terracotta krater. 108.3 cm tall. 72.4 cm in diameter. Dated to c. 750-735 BCE. Found in Attica. Currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, USA.

This krater was used as a grave marker in the Geometric period. The krater itself is decorated with a funerary scene. The largest band depicts a body laid out with family members and mourners on either side. Below is a procession of chariots and foot soldiers. The men all hold hourglass shields. The chariots are all pulled by teams of three horses. The geometric style is shown in the clear cut lines and geometric shapes of the men and the horses, also seen in this one, this one, and this one.

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Bronze horse figurine from the Geometric period. Dated to the 8th century BCE. Unclear provenance. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, USA in 1921.

Due to its size, it may have been a votive, like this one. Horses were common subjects for bronze metalwork and votives in the Geometric period, due to their association with wealth, heroes, and virility (Griffith 2006). The pierced based is also a Geometric characteristic.

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Bronze horse statue. Late 2nd-1st century BCE. 40.2 cm tall. Currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, USA.

This statue, when it first came to the Met in 1923, was first dated to the Early Classical era in the 5th century BCE. However, after reconsideration, and some uproar, it was dated to the Late Hellenistic Period. The provenance is unclear, listed as “said to have come from the sea near Mahdia,” a Tunisian coastal city. Due to the unclear provenance, it is unknown exactly what this statue would have been used for. It my have graced the top of a column in a sanctuary, a common practice in both Classical and Hellenistic times, or possibly a private home.

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Bronze horse statue (right). Dates to the transition period from the Geometric period to the Archaic period, roughly the late 8th century to early 7th century BCE. It currently resides in the Archaeological Museum at Olympia in Greece.

This bronze statue is unusual in that, unlike this one, or this one, it is very large. The bronze metalwork of the Geometric period was usually small, as can be seen on the left. This bronze horse reveals the period of transition to the larger Archaic style. At the moment, it stands at 45.5 cm high and 47 cm long, though it would be taller if the lower legs were still in tact. 

It was excavated in 1939 at Olympia. This was the site of the ancient Olympic games. This statue may have been meant as a commemoration of a victory at these Olympic games.

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Bronze handle of tripod decorated with a horse. Possible from the Argive workshop like this one. Dates to c. mid-8th century BCE. Provenance unknown. Currently in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

This handle dates to the Geometric period, a period ranging from the late 11th century BCE to the 8th century BCE and characterized by geometric shapes and clear cut lines. From the 9th century BCE onwards, it became common for large bronze tripods with ornate handles to be dedicated to major Panhellenic sanctuaries. The most famous tripod is probably the one used by the oracle at Delphi. According to Homer, tripods could also be granted as prizes for races. It was common for them to be decorated with horses due to their association with wealth, heroes, and virility (Griffith 2006).

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Bronze figurine of mare and foal from the Argive workshop. Dates to mid 8th century BCE. Provenance unknown. Currently in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

This bronze figurine was made during the Geometric period, a time characterized by clear cut lines and geometric shapes. It covers a span of time from the late 11th century to the 8th century BCE. Small bronze metalwork figures were especially common. As the period progressed, different regions became known for their own styles. This piece comes form the Argive workshop in the Peloponnese.

Art in this period was often influenced by Homer. Horses were favored by gods and heroes and came to be known as symbols of social and political power. Only the wealthy had the money for good horses. Therefore, they were common subjects of bronze metalwork and often left as votives for the gods. This figurine depicts and mare and her foal, symbolizing both wealth and motherhood.

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A bronze statue of a young boy and a horse known as the Artemision Jockey. It was found in the sea of Cape Artemision in north Euboea. It dates to the Hellenistic Period, c. 140 BCE. It currently resides in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

This statue was retrieved in pieces from the sea in 1928 and 1937. The young jockey would have been holding reigns in his left hand and a whip in his right, but neither survived.

The Hellenistic Period was characterized by very expressive subjects, and this holds true for both the boy and the horse. The boy’s mouth is open and his brows are furrowed. He may be scared of getting taken off with by a horse much bigger than him. The horse is in the middle of leaping forwards, muscles straining, ears pinned back, nostrils flaring, and mouth open. All of these are signs of distress.

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Clay figurine of three people in a chariot pulled by two horses. Cypro-Archaic period. c. 600 BCE. Currently in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

This figurine, similar to this one, is in the Free-field style. It often depicts humans, birds, fish, and animals. The horses are often painted with linear lines on their bodies. Here, the paint has mostly worn off. If you look closely at the horses’ mouths, you can see where the bit, the metal part of the bridle that goes in the horse’s mouth, would have went. The heads of the three men and the two horses, were cast in mold. This figurine may have been used as a toy.

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Figure of Astarte, enthroned on horseback. Medium: clay. Cypro-Archaic I Period. Dates 750-600 BCE. Currently at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

The clay figurine depicts the Phoenician goddess of fertility, Astarte. On her head is a tiara decorated with flowers. The figurine is in Free-field style, which centered on humans, birds, animals, and fish. Horses where often depicted with linear lines on their bodies, as can be seen of this horse here. This might be depicting a ceremony where the cult statue of the goddess was processed through the streets on horseback.

Although Astarte was initially a Phoenician goddess, she was adopted by the Cypriots. Due to the proximity and similarities, the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar/Inanna was also adopted. Ishtar, Astarte, and Aphrodite were often synthesized together, especially on Cyprus, due to its location. This may be one of the reasons why Aphrodite’s birth place is on Cyprus.

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Attic red figure pelike. Attributed to the Akragas painter. Currently in the National Archaeological Mueseum in Athens, Greece. Its provenance is unknown. It dates to c. 440 BCE.

The red figure vase depicts the Amazons, mythical warrior women, fighting a Greek man. In myths, only the strongest of heroes could defeat the Amazons. The most famous example being when Herakles killed the Amazon queen Hippolyte for her belt during one of his labors. The Greek hero here does not seem to have a specific identity. He could perhaps represent a general heroic archetype.

Here the Amazons are dressed in Persian style. This is because of two main reasons. One being that the Greeks viewed the Amazons as living at the very edges of their world, and therefore as foreign and outside Greek customs. The second reason is that, at the time this pelike was made, the Greeks held strong animosity towards the Persians due to the Greco-Persian Wars. By dressing the Amazons in Persian garb, they were associated with the enemy.

The Amazons were known for their amazing fighting abilities, especially their talents as archers and equestrians. Both are depicted here, as one Amazon is riding as horse with a quiver of arrows hanging by her thigh.

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Parthenon West Frieze, Block W XIII. Pentelic Marble. Artists Unknown. Currently residing in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece.

This panel depicts three people and a horse. The person on the right is a servant, while the one on the left is a youth. The man in the middle seems to be in the midst of some sort of speech or command and he is holding a riding crop in his left hand.

The horse, with a beautiful wavy mane, leans down to scratch their nose on their right foreleg- a very common action of horses! Unlike other panels that depict an action scene, this is a very calm depiction of an everyday moment in a horse’s life.

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Parthenon West Frieze, Block W VIII. Currently in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece.

Unlike this panel, pictured here is not a man confidently riding forwards, but attempting to calm a loose horse. The man himself is not on the horse. Some have attributed this panel to Pheidias, the famous sculptor, himself, due to the sheer detail and anatomical accuracy of the horse, though there is no official consensus. The identity of the man is unknown, just that he is a cavalry commander, as hipparchos. Some have suggested that he is Theseus, the mythical man who brought together the Attic tribes to form Athens and established the Panathenaic festival, which the Parthenon Frieze depicts.

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These are pot sherds- not shards!- from an Attic black figure amphora, a type of vase. The most notable shapes we can make out are of horses. On one, the neck and lower jaw is in tact, on the other, the top of the head can be seen. Both are wearing bridles and have styled manes. According to Mark Griffith in “Horsepower and Donkey Work: Equids and the Ancient Greek Imagination,” caring for a horse’s coat and mane was a way to show class, wealth. and virility (Griffith 2006).

The artist and maker of this pot is unknown. But it dates to the 6th century BCE, Athens, Greece. The medium is terracotta and the interior is undecorated. The provenance is mostly unknown, but it was donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1981 by Werner Nussberger.

You can view it on the Getty Website here!

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Mosaic of Alexander the Great battling Darius III, made c. 120-100 BCE, 5.82x3.13 m, currently residing in the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples, Naples, Italy. A copy resides in Pompeii.

This mosaic of Alexander the Great in battle against the Persian king Darius III was found in 1831 during the excavation of Pompeii in the the House of the Faun. It is thought to depict the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, but could also depict the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, as Alexander the Great and Darius III clashed against each other both times. Here we can see Alexander on the left riding Bucephalus, a man in the center attempting to keep control of a horse, and on the right horses joining the Persians in fleeing.

Bucephalus, whose name Βοῦς-κεφαλή means “ox-head,” was from Thessalian stock and described as having a black coat with a white star. When the breeder offered him to Alexander’s father, Phillip II, he refused to buy him on account that he seemed untamable. Alexander offered to try, and promised to pay for the horse himself if he failed. He successfully tamed Bucephalus once he figured out that Bucephalus was spooking at his own shadow. Alexander simply turned him away from the sun. For the rest of his career Alexander rode Bucephalus, who died in 326 BCE from battle wounds. In his honor, Alexander founded the city of Bucephala, possibly modern day Jhelum, Pakistan.

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Horses and riders on Parthenon frieze, West end, designed by Phideas, 447-432 BCE, now in the British Museum, London, England.

Here we see two horses from the Parthenon frieze, carved in relief from the marble. The whole frieze depicts the Panathenaic procession, an important part of the Panathenaic festival celebrating Athena’s birth, and contains over 150 horses. The riders are believed to be soldiers from the Battle of Marathon, where the Athenians were victorious over the Persians. The men here are depicted in the style of heroic nudity and as idealized young men.

In Ancient Greece horses were not used for hard labor- that was relegated to the donkeys and mules. Horses were considered noble and were only used, mostly by the elite, for important occasions such as war and ceremonies. There were many horse-breeding hotspots in Greece, of which Athens was not one. Most Athenian horses were bought from other city-states, but Athens bought so many they became known for their horses.

One breed that has been suggested for the Parthenon horses is the Skyros pony- though this is not confirmed. This breed comes from the island of Skyros and stands between 9.1-11 hands high.