Horseback riding and Cavalry in Mycenaean Greece

The Bronze Age burial habit of heroes thrown in the pyre or inhumed with horses and dogs, first reported by Homer (Iliad 23.171-74) and later by Herodotus (6.103) and Pausanias (6.10.8), was followed in the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods in Greece. This has provided a plethora of opportunities to analyse horse cremains and inhumations from archaeological digs that date from 1993 to 2008. Paleopathologies observed in cremated or inhumed horses from the Mycenaean (Dendra, Nemea) to the Hellenistic periods (Akanthos, Lagyna, Pieria, Polykastro, Sindos, Therme and Vergina) are presented in this review paper that summarizes our studies and publications during the last sixteen years. These concern--but are not limited--to various types of sacrificial or accidental death; bone and/or tooth abnormalities; nutrition; and if detectable, the military use of Equus caballus and the role they played in the ancient Hellenic world. Introduction

Of Horses And Men - Developments in Greek Cavalry Training and Warfare (550 - 350 BC) with a Focus on Athens and Xenophon, 2012

Xenophon analysed cavalry practises of several city states when he saw that the Athenians lost their battles against specifically the Boeotians who grew stronger with their hamippoi formations, cavalry intermingled with infantry. He therefore put recommendations forward to the city of Athens to improve their cavalry. He wanted them to adopt the Boeotian tactics which required them to improve their horsemanship on the level that they would be able to 'collect' their horses on the battlefield so they would be able to control them in even very slow paces but also be able to accelerate really fast. He describes several exercises and formations to practise this. He hoped that by doing so the Athenians would be able to gain back their hegemony as a counter weight to the rise of Thebes. This thesis offers an overview of cavalry tactics, cavalry training and a history of military horsemanship, which is the technology of cavalry warfare.

The Horse in Ancient Greek Art, eds. P. Schertz & N. Stribling, 2017

2006

Curriculum Vitae This will put my dissertation in the fields of both military and hippological science. These sciences will be connected by the research question which is 'Is there an explanation from the perspective of horsemanship why the Athenian cavalry seems not to be able to dominate the battlefield, especially in Xenophon's time?' This question first occurred to me, when I noticed, while studying Xenophon, that in contrast to the apparently highly effective cavalry of the Athenian Empire, the cavalry of the 4 th century apparently was not very effective. Xenophon even seems to complain about the state of the Athenian cavalry and so it appeared to me that he did not only want to put forward his own expertise in his works, but he had another, more hidden, motivation for writing these treatises On Horsemanship and Cavalry Commander. 1.2. Literary sources To answer this question I have made extensive use of many sources available. The list of publications on horses, warfare and horsetraining in general is endless. I will discuss only the ones that are relevant to my research. The books that are currently available on the subject deal in the main with the array of weaponry, the composition of the cavalry, tactics and description of battles or concentrate on social and economical issues. A number of scholars have completed research on the Greek cavalry. 2 2 J.K. Anderson wrote a book on Xenophon and horsemanship (J.K. Anderson, Ancient Greek Horsemanship, University of California Press 1961). But this mainly deals with horsemanship in general and not in a military context. In another book he sets forth Greek cavalry theory and practice in the age of Xenophon, in which he discusses weapon training, tactical training and battles (

Veterinaria ir Zootechnik, 2008

Five horses and two dogs buried in a human cemetery of the 4 th -7 th c. BCE were unearthed in 2003-5, during a rescue archaeology project at Sindos, southwest of the city of Thessalonike. One of the five horses was juxtaposed to a human and a dog burial and was an adult mare dating to the 5 th c. BCE. Extensive lower leg pathology suggested use as a pack or cart horse. The presence of an old, compound fracture of mc-3 in her left foot that had sufficiently healed, as shown by macroscopic and X-ray evaluation, indicates that management of fractures was practiced as early as, or earlier than the 5 th c. BCE. The animal survived the compound fracture for more than 3-4 years, although the fractured metacarpal shows a considerable post-treatment angle coupled with osteomyelitis. It is postulated that the lame mare may have carried her loving owner's cart to the grave, then sacrificed in situ and laid next to him. This archaic burial habit first mentioned by Homer in the 8 th c. BCE (Iliad 171-74) has been substantiated by several man-andhorse burials found in northern Greece. In one of such burials a young stallion was found in proximity to a young man at the archaic cemetery of Polykastro. The stallion's exceptional height, lower leg pathology and a dentition retaining 50% of its deciduous teeth is as rare as the case of fracture treatment of the Sindos mare. More analyses of human and horse remains are necessary in this cemetery including archaeo-DNA genetic profiles, so as to provide data on morbidity and dietary patterns of the Dorian people and horses in the Northern Greek region. We would also gain information on neonate, infant, sub-adult and adult mortality and the percentage of men to women burials in this cemetery. Such ratios would relate to the equine find and mark the importance of horse burials with humans in NW Macedonia during the Late Iron and Archaic Ages.

BEYOND CYPRUS: INVESTIGATING CYPRIOT CONNECTIVITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM THE LATE BRONZE AGE TO THE END OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

Attic pottery was exported throughout the Mediterranean from the beginning of the 6th century until the end of the 4th century BC, and also reached Cyprus. Attic wares soon dominated pottery imports in Cyprus and have been found all over the island, primarily in graves, but also in sanctuaries and domestic deposits both in the hinterland and in the coastal region. e popularity of Attic pottery was based not only on the high quality of its clay but also on its iconography. is allowed purchasers and owners to use the vessels in di erent ways, at funeral rites, religious festivals, as votive gi s to the gods and during feasts. is paper presents equestrian scenes associated with sporting activities illustrated on Attic black-gured vases housed in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia. Hippic agons, very popular in the Greek world, constituted an essential part of local as well as of Panhellenic festivals. Such scenes are depicted in numerous works of art, including on pottery. is study discusses the resonance of equestrian imagery beyond the Mediterranean and explores how the iconography connects Athens and Cyprus.

The authors analyze a group of engravings from Rock 3 of Mana (Philippi Greece), which may represent a horse hunting scene. These carvings are located in an area of strong Thracian influence and they are considered by some researchers to have been made by the Hedones, a Thracian tribe that occupied the plaines of Philippi during the second half of the first millennium BC. Still on Thracian area, the paintings from the tomb of Alexandrovo (Bulgaria), dated from the 4th century BC, constitute an interesting parallel to the hunting scene from Rock 3 of Mana, besides some Assyrian reliefs from Nineveh, dated from the 7th century BC, displayed in the British Museum, in London. Key-words: horse hunting, rock art, Mana, Philippi.

Heavy cavalry formation, introduced by the Sarmatian tribes during the first centuries C.E., can be rightfully considered their most ingenious invention, which subsequently had a great influence on the formation of medieval knighthood (Cardini 1981; Russian translation Cardini 1987). This cavalry was later named "cataphracts" (from the Greek kataphraktos, mailed). The term is borrowed from classical tradition and, in general, it reflects the fact that that the issues of Sarmatians' defensive armament are studied more extensively than others in modern literature. In the present article, less-studied elements of Sarmatian military techniques and tactics are explored: the way of using the main weapon of the cataphracts—a lance [contus] and their horse-riding posture in a battle. We have used the two most informative groups of sources—written sources and drawings. The chronological framework for the article is the first and second centuries.