Greece Horses in ancient Greece
Horses were an integral part of life in ancient Greece; they played an active part in the warfare, in transportation, and in the games that were such an important and regular feature of Greek society. The Athenian enthusiasm for the horse is expressed in numerous ways in the Agora. Here the Athenian cavalry trained, not far from the hipparcheion, the headquarters of their commanding officers. Here, too, some of the popular equestrian events of the Panathenaic games were held, and the Panathenaic procession, with its large contingent of cavalry horsemen, passed on its way to the Acropolis. Many civic buildings and temples were adorned with paintings and sculptures of horsemen and battle scenes showing cavalry. In the Agora, statues of honor of generals or statesmen on horseback and commemorative monuments of victories in the equestrian events of the games were installed, and vases and small objects decorated with images of horses were sold in the market at all times. As with many other aspects of Athenian life, the Agora is an excellent place to develop and illustrate an image of horses and horsemanship in ancient times.
The horse is a newcomer to Greece, probably introduced at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. C. The first impression made by the horsemen must have been vivid, and perhaps gave rise to the legend of the centaurs. These half-man, half-horse creatures figure prominently in both mythology and Greek art. Theseus, the national hero of Athens, participated in a great battle between the Greeks and the centaurs which became a favorite subject of Athenian artists in both painting and vase sculpture. Theseus also managed to repel the Amazons, fierce warriors who used to fight on horseback. They are believed to have come from the steppes north of the Black Sea, where the horse is now believed to have been first domesticated, in the years around 4000 BC. Like centaurs, Amazons were a popular recurring theme in Greek art during the Archaic and Classical periods.
Other mythical beasts also had equine affinities. The most famous, of course, was the winged horse Pegasus, which came from Corinth but was also popular with Athenian artists. Another flying equine was the hippalektryon, a cross between a horse and a rooster.
Two deities with special interest in Athens, Athena and her uncle Poseidon, served together as protectors of horses and patrons of horsemanship and equestrian activities. As such, they shared a cult on Kolonos Hippios (Horse Hill), which was located outside the city walls, not far from the Academy. Here stood an altar of Poseidon Hippios and Athena Hippia. The patron god of horses and earthquakes, Poseidon was the brother of Zeus and god of the sea. He was worshiped in the latter aspect at the southern tip of Attica, at Cape Sounion, where he had a fine marble temple of the Doric order. In Athens itself, he shared a temple on the Acropolis with Athena, and was depicted on the west pediment of the Parthenon. According to some traditions, he was also the father of Theseus. His equine interests are the subject of a chorus in Aristophanes’ The Knights: Fearsome Poseidon, king of horsemen, you who love brazen clash and the vicinity of warring steeds. Delighted to see where the purple-nosed trireme glides to the long swing of the oars… but especially where the bright young men race by in their chariots.
Athena, patron goddess of all Athens, is credited with the invention of the bridle and the use of chariots:
She also revealed chariot racing and warhorses and on this earth before all men the adopted son of the goddess [Erichthonios] he yoked a fully equipped chariot with the help of the goddess and revealed to everyone the complete art of horsemanship. (Aristeides, Panathenaikos 43)
Remains of royal horses have been found in a rich Late Bronze Age tholos tomb in Attica, at Marathon; here two animals were carefully buried facing each other in the entrance hall (dromos) in the years around 1400 BC.
The Homeric epics, which reflect this heroic age, especially the Iliad, are full of horses and horsemanship. Horses are used to pull the war chariots that carry the heroes onto the battlefield, and there are several descriptive passages of harness and yokes.