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Full text of "Equids And Wheeled Vehicles In The Ancient Worl...
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Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in
the Ancient World
Essays in Memory of Mary A. Littauer
Edited by
Peter Raulwing,
Katheryn M. Linduff
and Joost H. Crouwel
BAR INTERNATIONAL SERIES 2923 2019
PUBLISHING
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in
the Ancient World
Essays in Memory of Mary A. Littauer
Edited by
Peter Raulwing,
Katheryn M. Linduff
and Joost H. Crouwel
BAR INTERNATIONAL SERIES 2923 2019
PUBLISHING
Published in 2019 by
BAR Publishing, Oxford
BAR International Series 2923
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
© The editors and contributors severally 2019
COVER IMAGE Assyrian chariot. Detail of stone relief of Ashurnasirpal
II, Nimrud (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fi g. 53).
The Authors’ moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced,
stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or
transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the
Publisher.
ISBN 9781407316437 paperback
ISBN 9781407355375 e-format
DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407316437
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
BAR
PUBLISHING
BAR titles are available from:
BAR Publishing
122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, ox2 7BP, UK
EMAIL info@barpublishing.com
PHONE +44 (0)1865 310431
FAX +44 (0)1865 316916
www.barpublishing.com
Dedicated to the memory of our mentor and friend,
whose sage contributions continue to guide scholars
Mary Aiken Littauer
1912-2005
Mary Aiken Littauer in her library. O Anya Littauer, Princeton.
iii
Contents
lupi —————————————————————————————— vii
Part I. Introduction
-
. Mary Aiken Littauer and Our Study of Ancient Horse-Drawn Vehicles .................... eere eee eee esee ee nennen enne 3
Joost H. Crouwel
2. Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (9217 2005)... ——— —————— — 5
Peter Raulwing
Part II. Equines and Wheeled Vehicles in the Near East
3. Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East—an Update....................... eee 29
Joost H. Crouwel
4. Some Notes on Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles in the Archaic Texts from Uruk....... 49
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
5. Equids in Mesopotamia—A Short Ride through Selected Textual Sources .......................... cerent 71
Joachim Marzahn
6. Harnessing the Chariot Horse RR — M — 85
Gail Brownrigg
7. That Strange Equid from Susa RR Á— —— — 97
Trudy S. Kawami
8. The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research: A New Methodology Combining Ancient DNA and Trace
Element Analysis Tested on Israeli Equines from ca. 900-1200 BCE ..................... eee ee eee eene eene nennen nennen nenne 107
Gila Kahila Bar—Gal, Lia Hadas, Hadas Motro, Amit Reem, Reuven Amitai, Ronnie Ellenblum,
Michael Haahr Friis, Kurt Villads Jensen and Kaare Lund Rasmussen
Part III. The Horse's Arrival in North Africa and Arabia
9. Northern Africa: Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the Sahel and its Impact on Adjacent Regions.. 123
Pita Kelekna
10. Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan ........zusuussussonsnssonsnnssnnsnonsnnsnonssnnsnnsssnsnnssnnsnnennnnnn 137
Denise Doxey
11. Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use as Revealed in the Ancient Rock Art of the Syro-Arabian Desert ...... 149
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Part IV. The Horse in Ancient Asia
12. The Heavenly Horses Visualized in Han China (220 BCE-220 CE) ................... eee eeeee eres seen nenne eren tenen tn ntn ne tnnnn 171
Katheryn M. Linduff
13. Emperor Tang Taizong’s Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art .................. eee eee esee eee eene natn 181
Xiuqin Zhou
jn c ——— ———ÁÓ———————MÁ——Ó— 197
Preface
The essays presented in this volume are the outcome
of a symposium in memory of Mary Aiken Littauer, la
grande dame de l'hippologie ancienne. The symposium
was held in June 1-3, 2010 at the International Museum
of the Horse (IMH) in Lexington, Kentucky, in the heart
of American horse country. It was Sandra Olsen (KU
Biodiversity Institute, The University of Kansas), who
was the driving force, organising the symposium, as well
as doing initial editing of the papers for publication. She
deserves the fullest credit for her efforts.
The symposium coincided with an exhibition at the IMH
called A Gift from the Desert: the Art, Culture and History
of the Arabian Horse, organised by the museum's director,
Bill Cooke, with Cynthia Culbertson and Sandra Olsen
acting as the exhibition curators. The IMH is the largest
and most comprehensive museum in the world dedicated to
exploring the history of horses and their impact on human
civilisation. It is no coincidence that Mary Littauer's
extensive library on the subject of horses, harnessing,
chariots and other wheeled vehicles was donated by her
family to this museum, where it is open to all. We thank
Bill Cooke and his staff for their hospitality when we were
in Lexington and also for helping to make the symposium
a success.
The wide range of topics, which includes discussions of
horses and wheeled vehicles from Near East, Egypt and
Nubia, Arabia, and China, allows for comparisons that
have not previously been possible in a single volume.
The volume also introduces the reader to a broad range
of approaches, grounded in disciplines such as philology,
archaeology, archaeozoology and art history, DNA
research and experimental archaeology.
Summarising past research as well as presenting much
new information, together the essays are of interest to
specialists and laypersons alike. The breadth and diversity
of topics and areas represented honours the formative
role that Mary Littauer has played for the research of the
contributors.
One essay on the well-known tablets from Uruk showing
ideograms of (wheeled) sledges has been added to the set
of papers from the symposium (see Krispijn, Burmeister
and Raulwing) to shed light on a topic of special interest
to Mary Littauer.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to Adriana Maguifia-
Ugarte for masterfully creating the print-ready version
of the chapters in this volume, the peer-reviewers for
their constructive feedback, the editors of the BAR series
vii
for accepting the articles for publication, Birgit Thaller,
Dr Jane Burkowski and Chris Myers for their thoughtful
guidance through the final stages of this edition, and the
BAR production team for the excellent final layout.
Last but not least, we would like to thank Anya and
Andrew Littauer (Princeton) for kindly making the picture
of Mary Littauer available to us for this edition.
Peter Raulwing, Katheryn M. Linduff and
Joost H. Crouwel
Part I
Introduction
Mary Aiken Littauer and Our Study of Ancient Horse-Drawn
Vehicles
Joost H. Crouwel
Mary Aiken was born in 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
USA, to a wealthy family. They later moved to New York.
An only child, she had a sheltered upbringing. Her only
formal schooling was four years of high school, but she
received private tutoring in French and German and later
also learned Russian, Latin and ancient Greek. From early
on Mary loved reading but also enjoyed horse riding and
the outdoor life. As a young woman she joined the Frontier
Nursing Service, providing care in rural Kentucky—on
horseback.
Mary was 23 years old when she married Vladimir Littauer
whom she had met while taking lessons at the prestigious
Boots and Saddles Riding School in Manhattan. After
fighting in the First World War and the Russian Civil
War, he came to the United States, eventually founding
this riding school together with two other emigré cavalry
officers. When I later met him, he was still being addressed
as Captain Littauer.
After renting several properties in New Jersey horse
country and Jericho, Long Island, they eventually bought
and settled down at “Hillside Farm” where they lived long
lives. He died in 1996, aged 97, she in 2005, aged 93.
Horses and books were important to both of them. Both
rode, he taught riding and wrote books and articles on
riding techniques. Mary became fascinated by horse-
drawn vehicles of antiquity and became a self-educated
expert in this field.
In 1968, at the mature age of 56, Mary published her
first scholarly paper “The function of the yoke saddle
in ancient harnessing", which appeared in the widely
read British journal Antiquity. I read this article and was
struck by its unusual, common-sense approach and her
ideas on “how things actually worked". At that time I was
in Oxford, where I was writing my doctoral dissertation
on early chariots in Greece. I had gone there after
finishing my university studies in Classical Archaeology
at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
It was in Oxford in the spring of 1969 that she and I
were introduced to each other. This meeting marked
the beginning of our close collaboration on ancient
chariots, other vehicles, riding and horse equipment,
which lasted for over 30 years. Together we wrote two
books: Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals in the
Ancient Near East (1979) and Chariots and Related
Equipment from the Tomb of Tut ankhamün (1985). We
also published many articles, a selection of which was
prepared by Peter Raulwing for another book: Selected
Writings on Chariots and Other Early Vehicles, Riding
and Harness (2002). Our last joint paper was published
in 2001—Mary was then 89.
How did two people of such different ages and
backgrounds, and living so widely apart, collaborate in
the days before the computer? By means of phone calls,
airmail letters, texts composed on typewriters, and with
copies made with the help of carbon paper. I also stayed
each year for some weeks at Hillside Farm, where we
walked the lovely grounds and made the utmost of limited
time. As to the writing, one of us usually submitted an idea
for a subject and drafted a text which was then exposed to
the critical eyes of the other. We would send the text back
and forth until we were both sufficiently satisfied. Mary
always insisted on accurate, clear English, having Roget 5
Thesaurus and other tools at the ready.
Let me now quote from one of Mary's numerous letters to
me, dated April 4 1992, after I sent her a draft paper. The
text speaks for itself:
“I feel we must be absolutely frank with each other,
hence I shall tell you the reasons why I am reluctant to
go into this paper. I am a slow worker, we have other
work to finish, there are the Tut ankhamün chariots
to get into, and there are three or four other subjects
(one of them being the evolution of the wheel) that
I am eager to tackle. It probably sounds like a lazy
man's excuse, but my best work is not done when I
am hard pressed. The ideas and phrases do not come
unless I can brood on things, and have a little feeling
of space around me. This being the case, I feel I have
to be selective and work on those subjects that seem
most worthwhile to me. These fall primarily in two
categories: correctives to misconceptions, and breaking
new ground. I am not young, I have just so much
energy, I am not a professional scholar, and I see my
function as interpretive—that of a person with some
practical experience of the objects discussed. I would
like to concentrate on subjects that have either been
misinterpreted or the significance of which has been
overlooked."
Joost H. Crouwel
Mary was always generous in sharing information, and she
encouraged not just me but other aspiring young scholars.
Several of them—not so young anymore—attended the
Kentucky Horse Park symposium: Gail Brownrigg, Trudy
Kawami, Katheryn Linduff, Sandra Olsen and Peter
Raulwing. Each of us, in our various ways, have continued
to work in Mary's field.
During her life, Mary steadfastly refused all honours. I
wonder what she would have thought of this symposium
dedicated to her memory.
Acknowledgements
With many thanks to Andrew Littauer, Mary's son.
2
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912-2005)
Peter Raulwing
This article is a tribute to Mary Littauer whom I had the privilige to know and to work with over
a decade. Having visited Mary at Hillside near Syosset on Long Island many times between
1995 and 2005 I have learned more about horses and chariots than anytime before and after. The
following reflections on Mary Littauer’s and Joost Crouwel’s studies on Egyptian chariots cannot
be more than humble token for her generosity and sharing of her vast knowledge.
Introduction
The symposium held at the /nternational Museum of
the Horse in the Kentucky Horse Park in June 2010,
dedicated to the memory of Mary Aiken Littauer, offered
an opportunity for scholars and scientists from various
disciplines to commemorate her academic achievements
and wide range of studies on early vehicles, chariots,
horses, riding, and harnesses; many of them published
with her longtime colleague and friend Joost H. Crouwel.!
Fast Rewind
New York, summer 1980. In its August 18 issue, The New
Yorker published an article on Mary Littauer entitled *The
Early Horse," resulting from a visit by Eugene Kinkead
(1906—1992) at her estate at Hillside Farm in Oyster Bay,
near Syosset, on Long Island, New York. Kinkead, one
of the most prominent journalists in the US, with a 58—
year career as columnist and editor with the New Yorker
magazine (Minichiello and White 1997: 361), provides a
rare glimpse into the scholarly world of research on horse
domestication, and equestrian and chariot-related studies
at the time; a world that might have appeared for many
readers as somewhat exotic, for some maybe even eccentric,
but undoubtedly passionate and certainly authoritative.
The article in The New Yorker vividly describes Mary
Littauer's study on the second floor of her home, as well as
various canines belonging her household—a reminiscence
that brings back memories to all of us who had the
privilege to be her friend or colleague, visiting or doing
research at Hillside Farm. The article also mentions J.H.
Crouwel's and her examination of Egyptian chariots; later
published as Chariots and Related Equipment from the
Tomb of Tut ankhamün (1985), the second epoch-making
monograph after their handbook Wheeled Vehicles and
' See the bibliography in Littauer and Crouwel 2002: xxvii-xlvi (to
which Littauer and Crouwel 2001 must be added).
Ridden Animals in the Ancient Near East (1979). These
are, without exaggeration, two masterly publications.?
“The Talk of the Town”
It is not the purpose of the following pages to re-examine
the reprint of the article by Eugene Kinkead in The New
Yorker, with annotations to correct each statement and
comment of Mary Littauer to accommodate the current
state of research in each academic field. “The Talk of the
Town” section is rather chosen for this volume to provide
some of Mary Littauer’s own words, to enjoy, and to bring
back memories to those who remember her as one of the
most renowned scholars in the field, who generously shared
her wealth of knowledge with all who were interested and
serious about the topic.?
The Early Horse*
*We would like to offer a few facts about man's early
association with the horse. They come from Mrs.
Mary Aiken Littauer, of Syosset, Long Island. "She
knows more about ancient horses and their trappings
than anyone else I know,” Dr. Mary Moore, a Hunter
College professor of ancient art, told us a while back.
At the time, we were engaged in conversation with
Dr. Moore in the Metropolitan Museum's Department
of Greek and Roman Art over some abstruse point
connected with hippic figures on classical Attic vases?
The information about Mrs. Littauer we filed away for
use at a later moment, which is this one.
? In selection: Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Ap-Thomas 1981; Decker
1981; Häusler 1985; Huot 1981; Kawami 1981; Klengel-Brandt 1981;
Moorey 1980; North 194; Róllig 1981; Zaccagnini 1982. Littauer and
Crouwel 1985: Decker 1988; Eaton-Krauss 1990; Nibbi 1990; Reeves
1990b.
3 The following footnotes aim to provide some basic information to
the reader not completely familiar with the material discussed by Mrs.
Littauer.
4 The New Yorker, 18 August 1980: 24-27 = Kinkead 1980.
> See Moore 1971.
Peter Raulwing
The other day, then, we called on Mrs. Littauer at her
estate on the North Shore, where she lives with her
husband, Vladimir who was a professional cavalry
officer in the army of Czar Nicholas IL? and with four
large, lively, and engaging dogs. Mrs. Littauer's interest
in horses dates from childhood ownership ofa cow pony
in Nevada,‘ where she went with her family each summer
during the twenties. The interest was understandably
strengthened by the background of her husband—he is
the author of eight books on techniques of riding and
training horses—who, moreover, encouraged her study
in the field of her choice: the horse in ancient times.
French and German, supplied by her education under
a tutor? and at a private secondary school, have been
augmented, with her husband's aid, by some Russian,
and this linguistic facility enables her to cope with
most of the contents of a number of learned periodicals
to which she subscribes. She is also in contact with a
network of archeozoologists and allied scholars, here
and abroad (including some in Eastern Europe), who
keep one another informed of relevant discoveries and
research. All these sources of information cause Mrs.
Littauer to feel that few developments in her field have
escaped her since she started her studies, some twenty
years ago.
Our talk took place in Mrs. Littauer's study, whose
furniture, including a four-poster bed, was in large
part covered with illustrations and printed material
about the early horse, the periodicals bearing such titles
as Antiquity and The Proceedings of the Prehistoric
Society. "In marked contrast to the situation that
prevailed when I began," said Mrs. Littauer, an
amiable, urbane woman with a crisp delivery, “we feel
we can now pinpoint the place where the domestication
of the horse first occurred. This was in the Ukraine,
south of Kiev, near the lower Dnieper River, in a small
settlement of pastoralists named Dereivka. It belongs
to the Sredni Stog culture, a term that translates—
charmingly, I think—into Middle Haystack. The name
comes from another settlement, where the culture
was first discovered. Over sixty per cent of the faunal
remains at Dereivka are of the horse. The evidence
is that the herds were kept as meat animals. I might
add in passing that the horse was the last animal to be
domesticated, the dog, the sheep or goat, cattle, and
the pig having preceded it by millennia. The date of
the finds at Dereivka 1s the second half of the fourth
millennium B.C. That is fifty-five hundred years ago."'?
Mrs. Littauer continued, “Ancestors of these horses
evolved from prototypes that originated long before,
in the western regions of our own country. In time,
° Captain Vladimir Stanislavovitch Littauer (1892-1989). See http://
www.nytimes.com/1989/09/02/obituaries/vladimir-s-littauer-riding-
instructor-96.html?pagewanted=1.
7 See Littauer 1965.
8 Martin 2005; Brownrigg 2006a; 2006b.
? See below.
10 Later published by Telegin 1986.
they spread over most of the Northern Hemisphere—
eventually, for some as yet unknown reason,
disappearing completely from North America. Skeletal
evidence shows that the Dereivka animals were
domesticated. Measurements of the face, jaw, and
braincase of a seven- or eight-year-old stallion found
there are much closer to those of the horse of today than
to those of a wild horse of that time. Also, remains of
primitive bits have been found—cheekpieces of the
toggle variety, typical of this early gear. Rope or gut
passed through holes in the cheekpieces and lay on
what is called the bars—the convenient space between
the incisors and molars on the horse's lower jaw. This
arrangement would provide guidance and enable a man
to ride and control the horse more easily. We believe
that such riding occurred at Dereivka. Sometimes an
even simpler system than this was employed by the
American Indians when the horse was re-introduced
here. Riding bareback, they controlled their mounts
by using merely a rawhide thong, leg pressure, and
body weight. Imitation of the horse's domestication at
Dereivka spread, of course, to surrounding areas, in the
well-known ripple effect. With this development, the
horse became the partner of man.”
Writing started just before 3000 B.C., in Mesopotamia.
A few centuries later, Mrs. Littauer told us, the horse
was mentioned in the cuneiform characters.'? The horse,
she believes, was brought there in trade from the north,
following several hundred years of domestication. All
horse traction up to Roman times, Mrs. Littauer said,
was by paired teams under yoke, standing on either side
of the draft pole, in imitation of the system used for
oxen pulling a plow—an agrarian advance that began
in Mesopotamia in the fifth millennium B.C., the rigid
pole allowing the plowshare to run straight.
At this point, we were interrupted by four noisy and
jubilant dogs—an Airedale, a Scottish deerhound, a
German shepherd, and a mutt—which bounded into
the study, Mrs. Littauer immediately scolded them and
ejected them, and went on to say that horseback riding
in Mesopotamia was first recorded on a small cylinder
seal from the Akkadian dynasty of Babylonia, toward
the end of the third millennium B.C.” It showed a man
perched on the rear of the horse's back—in distinct
contrast to the seat of today's jockeys, at the base of the
neck. *The ignorance existing only a few decades ago
concerning the range of the early horse at that period
is well illustrated by this story,” Mrs. Littauer said. “A
mold for a plaque which was made in Babylonia about
! See now Olsen 2006. Radio-carbon dating later showed the stallion's
skull to be of Iron Age date, and thus intrusive in the Dereivka complex
(see also Häusler 1994: 232: “Das Ganze macht eher den Eindruck einer
Abfallgrube bzw. einer gestórten Fundsituation"). The other horses at this
site are no longer considered to have been ridden.
? On equids mentioned in cuneiform tablets Zarins 1976; 1978; 1986;
2014. On the horse in the ancient Near East furthermore Weszeli 2004;
van den Hout 2004; von den Driesch and Raulwing 2004.
P Drews 2004: 28 fig. 3.2.
1900 B.C. and is now in the British Museum portrays a
small horse with flowing mane, full tail, and small ears,
carrying a rider. The authority who first described it,
in 1930, said it showed a boy riding a large greyhound.
It was thought at the time that there were no horses then
in Babylonia."
A two-wheeled chariot inscribed on a small scarab
of the sixteenth century B.C. provides the first
representation of the horse in Egypt." The engraving
shows a pharaoh of the post-Hyksos period standing
in the horse-drawn vehicle. Evidence of riders in this
area comes approximately two centuries later, and they
are shown with bow and arrows—probably acting as
battlefield messengers during the conflict at Kadesh
in the early thirteenth century B.C.' The likenesses
are engraved in low relief on Egyptian temple walls.
Dating from about the same time are other low reliefs
of riders and also some of fugitive charioteers, who are
apparently escaping from battle. Because charioteers
wore tight, ankle-length tunics of mail, they could not
sit astride a horse; they are shown riding with both legs
on one side of the animal, again far to the rear. The first
depiction of riders using the normal md back seat of the
equestrian of today shows up much later-in the eighth
century B.C., in Assyrian palace reliefs representing the
mounted troops of Sargon II, the Assyrian king. The
troops are seated on pads, the forerunners of saddles.'’
In ancient Greece, which, according to Mrs. Littauer,
was not good horse country, because it was arid, steep,
and rocky, the earliest evidence of the animal is once
again associated with chariots, the proof being crudely
cut into stone stelae of Grave Circle AI at Mycenae,
from the middle of the sixteenth century B.C.? A badly
damaged little terra—cotta figurine of a mounted man,
also from Mycenae, and made in the thirteenth century
DC is, Mrs. Littauer thinks, the first known depiction
of a Greek equestrian.*! He was riding, as was normal
for the period, well to the back of his mount.
More than twenty articles on the early horse and its
accoutrements bear Mrs. Littauer's name.? Last year,
she collaborated on a book, “Wheeled Vehicles and
Ridden Animals in the Ancient Near East,"? with
J. H. Crouwel, a faculty member of the University
of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The two are at
present doing research for another volume, tentatively
^ Littauer and Crouwel 1979a: fig. 37; Drews 2004: 33 fig. 3.6 (with
further examples).
5 Crouwel 1981: fig. 134; Hofmann 1989: fig. 001.
1€ Crouwel 1981: fig. 111; Guidotti 2002a: 107 f.: fig.1 (top, center). See
also Raulwing and Clutton-Brock 2008: 10, fig. 3.2.
17 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: figs. 76-78.
18 The information regarding the stone stelae of Grave Circle A has been
corrected from the original text.
' Crouwel 1981: pls. 35-39.
The date has been corrected from the original text.
2! Crouwel 1981: pl. 42.
? See the bibliography in Littauer and Crouwel 2002: xxxvii-xlvi.
? Lauer and Crouwel 1979a.
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
scheduled for publication next year and to be entitled
"The Chariots," for the Oxford University Press
Tut'ankhamün Tomb Series.” The six chariots found
in Tutankhamen's tomb represent almost all the extant
examples from ancient Egypt. (Only two other complete
Egyptian chariots? and one Egyptian chariot body
are known.) The vehicles are in relatively excellent
condition. Mrs. Littauer has examined them in the
Egyptian Museum, in Cairo,” and has read the material
on them left by Howard Carter, the professional
archeologist with Lord Carnarvon's expedition, which
uncovered the tomb. Carter's copious notes, scale
drawings, and photographs of the tomb contents fill an
entire room of the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford.?*
An interesting point, Mrs. Littauer observed, is the
unique and very complex construction of the chariot
wheels.?? Wood was heat-bent into chevron form, and
each of the spokes—there were six—was composed of
two half spokes glued back-to-back lengthwise. The
hub was formed by the heads of the chevrons, which
had been cut out in slightly concave shapes. The whole
was held together by glue and by rawhide, which was
put on wet and shrank in drying to form a very tight
binding material. The wheel received added strength
from a rawhide tire, also put on when wet. “Mechanical
engineers have told me that this construction allows
formation of a light, safe, durable wheel with a
minimum number of spokes,'?? Mrs. Lauer said. “Mr.
Crouwel and I hope to find out if this 1s so."
Fast Forward
New York, fall 2010. The New Yorkers and visitors of the
city are in no way unfamiliar with chariots. In addition
to the original Egyptian wheel in the Brooklyn Museum
published by Mary Littauer and Joost Crouwel,*! Amarna
period wall reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum?" and
Brooklyn Museum,” as well as many representations
?' Lauer and Crouwel 1985.
?5 See section 3.
76 The chariot body of Thutmose IV (Littauer and Crouwel 1985: pl.
LXVII).
” [n spring 1973.
"7 Filed in the Archive of the Griffith Institute which is part of the Faculty
of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford (http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/
gri/carter/HomePage.html); see Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 1.
> Lauer and Crouwel 1979b.
3° Spruytte 1977; 1983; Hofmann 1989: 333-39; Rovetta 2002; Rovetta
et al. 2000a; 2000b; 2000c; Sandor 2004a; 2004b; 2013; Herold 2004;
20062; 2006b.
>! Lauer and Crouwel 1979b.
32 See e.g. the gifts from Norbert Schimmel to the Metropolitan Museum
of Fine Art: “Horses Harnessed to a Chariot", ca. 1353-1336 BCE,
Limestone, paint, 22.9 cm x 52.1 cm (acc. no. 1985.328.18); “Chariots
with Court Ladies", same period and material, 23.5 cm x 54.7 cm (acc. no.
1985.328.18); *Heads of Two Horses and a Charioteer", same period and
material, 22.2 cm x 26.7 cm (acc. no. 1985.328.20); “Galloping Horses”,
same period and material, 23.2 cm x 49.5 cm (acc. no. 1985.328.17). See
Cooney 1965.
5 See, e.g., "Soldiers in Chariot", c. 1352-1336 BCE: Limestone with
modern paint, 53.5 x 22.8 x 3.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of New
Hermes Foundation (acc. no. 60.28), “A Span of Two Horses Pulling a
Chariot", same period: Gypsum plaster, painted, 22 x 35.1 cm. Brooklyn
Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund (acc. no. 54.186), currently not
on display, and the famous six-spoked chariot wheel dated into the first
Peter Raulwing
Figure 1a. Detail of Neo-Hittite (or Syro—Hittite) style relief
framed by two lions over the left entrance to The Cass
Gilbert on 130 West 30th Street in Manhattan, a landmark
building designed by the eminent American architect,
completed in the late 1920s. Cass Gilbert (1859-1934)
is probably best known as the architect of United States
Supreme Court building in Washington. Copyright Chang
W. Lee/New York Times.
of chariots on Mycenaean and Greek vases," we might
also mention the splendid Etruscan chariot from the 2nd
quarter of the 6th century BCE in the new Greek and
Roman Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, restored
by Adriana Emiliozzi.? Not commonly known are two
stylized replicas of Neo-Hittite reliefs depicting the king
in his chariot hunting a stag, framed by two lions, above
the two entrances of the building at 130 West 30th Street,
in Manhattan* (Figures la-1b). The relief at the right
front of the building shows the same hunting scene facing
to the left.
However, it was, by all means, a small sensation that
Chariot A4 from the tomb of Tut'ankhamün (KV 62)?
was part of the exhibition “Tutankhamun and the Golden
Age of the Pharaohs” in the Discovery Times Square
Exposition in the fall of 2010; one of the very rare
occasions that one of the six chariots from KV 62 has ever
left Egypt.” Having traveled to Cairo with Joost Crouwel
millennium, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund (acc. no. 37.1700E), currently
not on display. See also endnote 32 above.
34 Moore 1971; Crouwel 1981; Crouwel 1992.
$ Vogel 2007; Emiliozzi 2011; Crouwel 2012: pl. 8.
* Dunlap 2011.
7 See next section.
Many media reported about this exhibition. See, e.g., Kennedy 2010
and Lorenzi 2010.
? Chariot Al was part of the exhibition Ramses Le Grand in Paris in
1976. I owe this information to the kindness of Dr. Nadia Lokma. Jean
Spruytte examined Chariot A1 in Paris (Spruytte 1999: fn. 7) as Gail
Brownrigg generously reminded me. Interestingly enough, replicas of
objects from the tomb of Tut'ankhamün were manufactured already for
the British Empire Exhibition opened by King George V and Queen Mary
at Wembley on St George's Day, 23 April 1924. Among those objects
exhibited in the “Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amun" at the British Empire
Exhibition was a replica of one of the chariots made by the Aumonier
Studios in London based on published photographs and drawings of the
objects. The Egyptologist Arthur Weigall (1880-1934), who replaced
Howard Carter as Chief Inspector at Luxor in 1905, functioned as an
advisor for the “Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amun” replica exhibited at Wembley.
Carter, on the other hand, was convinced that the photographic material
w w
38
Figure 1b. The original scene of The Cass Gilbert goes
back to an orthostat acquired by the Louvre in 1891 in
Harput (Elâzığ) in eastern Anatolia. Limestone, 43 x 78 cm,
AM 255 Louvre, Département des Antiquités Orientales,
Paris (http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/hunting-
scene-chariot). The drawing shown above represents a
detail of the original Neo—Hittite orthostat published
by Littauer/Crouwel 19792, Fig. 57 (drawing by Jaap
Morel). The orthostat shows king Maritis, likely the
ruler of Malatya, in his chariot hunting a stag with his
chariot driver, accompanied by his hunting dog. A similar
orthostat (now in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum,
Ankara (acc. no. 12245); formerly in the Ancient Oriental
Museum, Istanbul (acc. no. 7704) = Hawkins 1999 [/1, p.
318-320; Hawkins 1999, I/3, Pl. 155), displaying a lion
hunt, found in Arslantepe in 1894, seems to illustrate
an original provenance of the orthostat illustrated here
from Arslantepe. Both illustrations shown here omit
a Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscription above the hunting
scene which reads: “These shootings (are) of Maritis,
Suwarimi's son ... (?)". The inscriptions date the orthostat
most probably into the early 11th or 10th century BCE
(= Hawkins 1999, [/1, p. 321 f.; Hawkins 1999, 1/3, Pl. 156
(museum photograph and drawing).
to examine Tut'ankhamün's chariots and equipment in the
Egyptian Museum for their book Chariots and Related
Equipment from the Tomb of Tut‘ankhamün, published in
1985, Mary Littauer would have certainly been one of the
first to revisit and simply enjoy the ‘pit stop’ the chariot
they designated A4 made, virtually in her front yard; as
she would have enjoyed the Cairo Conference on chariots
used by Weigall and “Messrs William Aumonier and Sons” belonged
to the property Lord Carnarvon’s excavation, and therefore “issued a
writ against the [British Empire] Exhibition organizers on the ground
of breach of copyrights”. However, Carter later withdrew the writ after
Aumonier and Weigall declared in the Daily Express on 22 April 1924
that they had not used photographs published by the The Times in London
which had an exclusive contract with Lord Carnarvon (James 1992: 307—
09 and fn. 3; Hankey 2001: 287 f.). Despite replicas of Egyptian chariots
from the New Kingdom in Hollywood movies, Egyptian chariots were
built for scholarly purposes, among others, by Jean Spruytte (1987: 37 pl.
9; 43: pl. 2) and Robert Hurford for a documentary (see also http://www.
chariotmaker.com). The “Projekt Streitwagennachbau” of the Roemer—
und Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim was initiated by Arne Eggebrecht
(1935-2004), Edgar B. Pusch, Rolf Schulte, and others in the early
1980s. Anja Herold, who was part of the team, published the results in
2006 ("Projekt Streitwagennachbau": See Herold in: Petschel and von
Falck 2004: fig. 89; Herold 2006a: 375—86 including plates 14-23 and
2006b with illustrations 6-15b). This chariot is currently not on display
in Hildesheim.
so splendidly edited by André J. Veldmeijer and Salima
Ikram (2013).
Tut ankhamün's Chariots
Since the 19" century*’, different aspects of New Kingdom
Egyptian horses and chariots have been studied in
numerous scholarly publications.? Until Howard Car-
ter's and Lord Carnarvon's (Figures 2a-2b) opening of
the antechamber of Tut'ankhamün's tomb (KV 62), on
November, 26—27, 1922, and the sensational discovery of
six original chariots? (including related equipment), all
studies had to rely mainlyon depictions of horse-drawn
vehicles on wall reliefs in temples and tombs.^ The
two previously discovered and preserved chariots—the
so-called ‘Florence Chariot’, named after the National
Archaeological Museum of Florence where it is on display
since the 1830s* and the vehicle from the tomb of Yuya
and Thuyu*°—raised several problems regarding their
technological and, especially, functional interpretation.
The ‘Florence Chariot’ was found at Thebes in 1829 during
the joint Franco- Tuscan expedition under Jean-François
Champollion (1790—1832), the decipherer of the Egyptian
hieroglyphs, and Ippolito Rosellini (1790—1832), the
founding father of Italian Egyptology.^' Being the earliest
chariot discovered at the beginning of modern scholarly
* Containing the studies of Abbas 2013; Brock 2013; Calvert 2013;
Crouwel 2013; Genz 2013; Gókce, Isik and Degirmenciogu 2013;
Herslund 2013; Kópp-Junk 2013; Manassa 2013; Prell 2013; Raccidi
2013; Sabbahy 2013; Sacco 2013; Sandor 2013; Sasada 2013 and
Veldmeijer, Ikram and Skinner 2013.
41-17" and 18th century studies on wheeled vehicles, such as those of
the classicist Johannes Scheffer (1621-1679), or Schefferus as he was
known: De re vehiculari veterum [...] (1671) and the Dominician Gabriel
Fabricy (1725-1800), “de l'ordre des. FF. Précheurs Docteur Théologien
de Casanate, de l'Académie des Arcades": Recherches sur l'époque de
l'équitation et de l'usage des chars équestres chez les anciens (1764)
as well as the Góttingen orientalist and Old Testament scholar Johann
David Michaelis (1717-1791): Etwas von der ältesten Geschichte der
Pferde und Pferdezucht in Palästina und den benachbarten Ländern,
sonderlich Aegypten und Arabien (1776) which was translated by
Alexander Smith: A Dissertation on the Most Ancient History of Horses
and Horse-Breeding, in Palestine and the Neighbouring Countries,
especially Egypt and Arabia (1814) and the Bavarian Royal Inspector
of Carriage Building Johann Christian Ginzrot (1764-1731), Die Wagen
und Fahrwerke der Griechen und Rómer (1817) naturally completely
focused on Greek and Roman authors and mainly the Old Testament
when referring to or interpreting “Egyptian” sources.
42 Hofmann 1989; Littauer and Crouwel 1985; Decker 1984; 1986;
Rommelaere 1991; Decker and Herb 1994, I: 209-63 and pls. 97-119;
169—85; Herold 1999; 2004; 2006a; 2006b; with further bibliography.
See also Feldman and Sauvage 2010.
*5 Littauer and Crouwel 1985; A1-A4 were deposited in the
Antechamber, A5—A6 in the Treasury (see Lauer and Crouwel 1985:
pl. L in situ: AS — pl. LII [top and bottom] and pl. LIII [right]; A6 — pl.
LII [top and bottom] and pl. LIII [left]).
# See Hofmann, 1989, “Katalog” (with pls. 1-115), Rommelaere
1991, “Catalogue” (with pls. 1-113; Planche 1—8) and Decker and Herb
1994, I, “Dokumentation I: Ausgewáhlte Szenen zum Wagenfahren und
Pferdetraining" (pp. 209-63 with pls. XCVII-CXXIX and CLXIX-
CLXXXV). On warfare see Shaw 1991, Spalinger 1995, Gnirs 1999,
Morkot 2003, Partridge 2003, McDermott 2005 in general; Darnell and
Manassa 2007 on "Tut ankhamün's Armies”.
55 Littauer and Crouwel 1979, 85%. See e.g. Mótefindt 1917, 212
“Florentiner Wagen (wie wir ihn der Kürze wegen nennen wollen)".
4 The rendering of both names varies in scholarly studies.
47 See Siliotti 1998, chapter “Jean Francois Champollion, Ippolito
Rosellini and the Franco-Tuscan expedition", and Betró 2011 with
further bibliography.
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
Figure 2a. George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
(1866-1923), excavator, collector and financial patron of
the Tut'ankhamün excavation at Carter’s house in Thebes
West. Copyright Griffith Institute, Oxford.
Figure 2b. Howard Carter (1874-1937) in 1924 painted
by his brother William (1863-1939). Copyright Griffith
Institute, Oxford.
research in the 19th century, the ‘Florence Chariot’ has
its own unique history and reception. Mary Littauer and
Joost Crouwel published a full technical description of
the ‘Florence Chariot’.** This description is based on a
“Rapport sur le CHAR DE FLORENCE” by Jean Spruytte
(1919-2007)—colleague and friend of Mary Littauer—
sent to Mrs. Littauer in 1981 after examining the chariot
48 See also Dittmann 1934; Botti 1951; Spruytte 1989; Del Francia
2002b.
Peter Raulwing
Figure 3a. The so-called ‘Florence Chariot.’ Museo
Archeologico di Firence. The yoke saddles are hanging
upside-down, the object leaning on the chariot frame is
a bow found together with this chariot which—among
other arguments—had led the excavator Ippolito Rosellini
to the conclusion that this vehicle was booty from a
*Scythian country" north of Egypt (Raulwing 1993, 75
ff.). See Guidotti 2010, 47: *[...] the so-called ‘Scythian
war chariot’, one of the most prestigious at the Egyptian
Museum in Florence. [...] Rosellini believed that the chariot
was a foreign produce because it was made from trees
that don't grow in Egypt, but later it was considered an
Egyptian produce, datable to the XVIII dynasty, thanks
to the comparisons with the chariots from Tutankhamon's
equipment".
in the Archaeological Museum in Florence.? Indicated by
its two four-spoked wheels, the ‘Florence Chariot’ is the
oldest of the eight (almost) fully preserved light horse—
drawn vehicles from the New Kingdom. It has survived
the ravages of over 3000 years due to optimal climatic
conditions and burial practices in Egypt. The ‘Florence
Chariot’ represents the basic form of the Egyptian chariot
in the early Eighteenth Dynasty: two spoked wheels
attached to a non-revolving axle located at the rear end of
a D-shaped floor frame underneath two axle blocks (wide
enough to carry a charioteer and a chariot driver), a pole,
and two yoke saddles for a pair of horses (Figures 3a—3b).
However, the archaeological context of the ‘Florence
Chariot’, found during Rosellini’s excavations in 1828—
1829, is not entirely clear,? partly because Rosellini was
not present when his workmen discovered the vehicle in a
tomb in Thebes/West Bank, and partly because the chariot
as badly damaged and several parts of it were incorrectly
assembled after it was shipped to Florence! The tomb
?? Littauer and Crouwel 1985, Acknowledgements; on Jean Spruytte
see the appreciation by Gail Brownrigg (http://antiquity.ac.uk/tributes/
spruytte.html).
? Del Francia 2002a.
5! Del Francia 2002b, 21 ff.; see also Herold 2006a, US: 2006b, 19!5
who uses the phrase “‘kaputtrestauriert’”, and Spruytte 1989, especially
fig. 4. Pier Robert Del Francia (2002a) also documented the way of this
unique chariot into the Egyptian Museum of Florence in 1830 and its
conservation since. On the technological differences of the »Florence
Figure 3b. Correct reconstruction of the railing of the
‘Florence Chariot’. After Herold 2006a, 263.
was probably not built for royalty, but rather for a private
individual, such as an officer in the Egyptian chariot troops.
The chariot of Yuya and Thuyu, the parents-in-law of
Amenophis’ III (KV 46) is smaller in most dimensions
than the ‘Florence Chariot’ (Decker and Herb 1994, I,
203), and its rear is partially closed’ (Figures 4a—4b).
Due to its dimensions and proportions, the chariot of Yuya
and Thuyu was interpreted as a chariot model. However,
it seems more likely that this chariot actually might have
been used by a juvenile or an elderly person.”
Figure 4a. The chariot from the tomb of Yuya and Thuyu
(KV 46) discovered in February 1905 by James Edward
Quibell (1867-1935) during the excavation conducted by
the American businessman and lawyer Theodore M. Davis
(1837-1915). Quibell 1908, Pl. LI = Littauer/Crouwel 1985,
PL LXVIII bottom. (Yadin 1963, 190 f. illustrates a color
plate of *a model of the chariot in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, patterned on the original in the Cairo Museum").
Chariot« compared to those from the tomb of Tut ankhamün see Del
Francia 2002b, table on p. 36
"7 Thebes/West, Biban el-Muluk No. 58 [Decker and Herb 1994, I, H 3
and H 12].
* Herold 2006: 260—65 with further bibliography.
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
Figure 4b. Drawing of the tomb of Yuya and Thuyu. The placement of the chariot is to the left. After Herold 2006, Fig. 24 b,
p. 260 after Quibell 1908, IV with a legend that is not illustrated here, p. 65-67 sub o. 5188 on the chariot with dimensions
and Pl. LI-LVI.
Figure 5a. Yoke saddle finials classified as Type c from
Pi-Ramesse (the modern Qantir), Ramses' capital in the
eastern Delta built in the first quarter of the 13th century
BCE. Detail from Herold 20062, Pl. 5 c.
Figure 5b. Yoke saddle finials from KV 58 (left and right of
the vessel). In the publication of the French Egyptologist
George Daressy (1864—1938) these yoke saddle finials are
labeled as material belonging to alabaster vases. After
Daressy 1912, PL XC and p. 108 sub No. 38 ff. (corrected
in Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. LXXIV, shown here, and
Herold 20062, 259 ff. with discussion). KV 58 is also
known as the *Chariot Tomb", because gold foils, most
probably used as part of harness decoration (Littauer/
Crouwel 1985, Pl. XLV, HH = G13 on p. 38; Decker/Herb
1994, 208 sub H 12 and E 7 with Pl. LXXI) were found
bearing the names of Tut ankhamün and Ay, successor of
Tut ankhamün at the end of the 14th century BCE (http://
www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse tomb 872.
html). Nicholas Reeves proposed that the deposits from this
tomb were placed here from WV 23, the tomb of Ay (http://
www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse tomb 837.
html) (Reeves 1981 ff.)
11
Figure 5c. Yoke saddles with yoke saddle finials from the
tomb of Tut‘ankhamin. Copyright Griffith Institute, Oxford
(= Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. XXXIV and XXXV right).
To the corpus of preserved Egyptian chariots we can,
fortunately, add other parts of chariots and their equipment
such as blinkers, bridle bosses, and bridle parts, yoke
saddles, leather harness, parts of a whip, a part of a wheel,
linch pins, a nave with parts of spokes still attached, etc 2
and—most prominent—the chariot body from the tomb of
5% Reeves 181 ff; Lauer and Crouwel 1985; Herold 2006: 1 ff.
Peter Raulwing
d
il
N
Ñ
DI
CS
CH
57
Figure 6. Drawing of the decoration on the left and right side of chariot body of Tuthmosis IV (KV 43, CG 46097) discovered
in 1903 by Howard Carter during the excavation of Theodore M. Davis. The scenes show pharaoh smiting his Syrian enemies
with bow and arrow and his mace. After Carter/Newberry 1904, plates IX and X (= Hofmann 1979, Plates 002a und 002b; see
also Yadin 1963 pp. 192 f. and Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. LXVII).
Tuthmosis IV* as well as the above mentioned six—spoked
chariot wheel from the first millennium BCE published
by Mary Littauer and Joost Crouwel.° In addition, yoke
saddle finials (Figures 5a and 5b), although prima vista
less spectacular or attractive, are invaluable for chariotry
research in so far as they serve as a Leitfossil, since they
were exclusively used for chariots.’
Due to a combination of ancient Egyptian burial practices
and optimal climate conditions preserving organic
materials, we owe most of our technical understanding of
how New Kingdom chariots were built, how their parts
were assembled, which materials were used, how and in
which proportions they were manufactured, etc., almost
entirely to those six chariots given to Tut ankhamün
for his afterlife. Wolfgang Decker, who has studied
the preserved Egyptian chariots, has pointed out that
the cultural-historical and technological value of
Tut'ankhamün's chariots can hardly be overestimated,
because these findings are, so far, unparalleled in anti-
55
From the Tomb of Thutmose IV. See Appendix.
Littauer and Crouwel 1979b.
Reeves 1981 ff. Littauer and Crouwel 1985; Herold 2006.
"The [state] chariots particularly intrigued [James Henry Breasted
(1865-1935) who was invited with his son Charles by Lord Carnarvon
and Howard Carter to study the Tomb of Tut ankhamün], for although
they were totally covered with gold leaf and plate, hammered into
reliefs of the most accomplished style, and were encrusted with a host of
semiprecious stones an inlays, the wheels bore distinct trace of use. They
had certainly been driven ‘over the rough streets of Thebes’ and were
therefore not just ornamental pieces prepared for the king's afterlife,
something hollow and lifeless.” Quoted after Hoving 1978: 121 f.; see
also Abt 2011: 303-17.
56
57
m
8
12
quity.^? Mary Littauer and Joost Crouwel elaborated this
argument even further:
The six, actual, full-sized chariots of Tut‘ankhamiin are
of singular importance, not only to the history of chariotry
in general, but to the understanding of Late Bronze-Age
warfare, and to an intelligent interpretation of what is
seen in representations (Figure 6). After documenting and
photographing all objects in the tomb of Tut'ankhamün
(Figures 7a-7b), as well as plotting their exact location
on a floor plan (Figures 8a—8b), the objects were carefully
padded and secured before they could be safely transported
out of the tomb. Howard Carter was directly involved in
every aspect of this delicate work. The normal, strictly
profile character ofthe latter makes it impossible for them to
render many proportions and details accurately. The tomb
of Tut'ankhamün is unique in the ancient orient in offering
the possibility of comparing six almost complete vehicles
of this period, not only with one another, but with chariot
evidence of all categories—actual, representational, and
textual—both from Egypt and from other lands.
The technological features of the six chariots from the
tomb of Tut ankhamün (Figures 9a—9b) are similar in so
far as they all follow the same construction principles of
a D-shaped light, spoke—wheeled chariot drawn by a pair
"7 Decker and Herb 1994, I, 204 sub H 6: “Dieser aus unterschiedlichen
Typen bestehende Wagenpark, dessen einzelne Fahrzeuge sámtlich zerlegt
und dann teils hinter dem Eingang des Vorraums (H 6-8, 10), teils in der
sog. Schatzkammer (H 9, 11) deponiert worden waren, kann in seiner
Bedeutung für die Agyptologie, aber auch für die allgemeine Technik—
und Sportgeschichte kaum überschätzt werden, da vergleichbare Funde
aus anderen antiken Kulturen nicht vorliegen."
6 Lauer and Crouwel 1985: 96.
Figure 7a. Carter and his friend Arthur Callender (1876—
1936), a retired British architect and engineer who was
responsible for the successful dismantling of the shrine and
many other objects, remove one of the two chariot bodies
from the tomb (photographer not known, TAA ii.4.37).
Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.
THE TOMB OF
TUTANKHAMEN
IN THE VALLEY OF
THE KINGS eirca 1353-B-C Kei
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
Figure 7b. The archaeologist Arthur C. Mace (1874-1928),
and the chemist Alfred Lucas (1867-1945), seated,
examining the beautifully decorated chariot body of A2
in front of the field laboratory set up in the nearby tomb
of Seti II (1203-1197 BCE). Copyright Griffith Institute,
University of Oxford (7 Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. XV)
(7 Burton photograph: p0517, http://www.griffith.ox.ac.
uk/gri/carter/120-p0517.html). It is quite amazing, as Anja
Herold—one of the foremost experts on Egyptian chariots—
pointed out (20062, 377942), that with the rediscovery of
bentwood technique by the German-Austrian cabinet
maker Michael Thonet (1796—1871) there is a fascinating
juxtaposition in this particular picture resembling Thonet's
production model *Chair no. 14" (*Konsumstuhl Nr. 14" or
*Kaffeehausstuhl Nr. 14") from 1859 and the chariot body
of A2 dated in the late 14th century BCE over 3000 years
earlier (Herold 2006b, 6). See also Raulwing 1993, 76 f.;
Killen 2000; Herold 20062, 379.
Figure 8a. Isometric drawing of the tomb of Tut ankhamün with Antechamber, Annexe right behind, Burial Chamber to the
north and Treasury to the East (KV 62) by H. Parkinson from 1978. Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. (After
Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. I; see also James 2000, 51-54 and Reeves 1990a, 50; 70; 78; 80).
Peter Raulwing
x
ecu
Anicchamher” S
rasenby dle Fiat iii
entrance
Figure 8b. Scale plan of the Antechamber by the American draftsman Lindsey F. Hall (1883-1969) and the American
archaeologist and architect Walter Hauser (1893-1959), members of the Tut'ankhamün excavation and known for their
meticulous drawings, showing the placements of all objects in situ. (Carter MSS. i.G.11). Copyright Griffith Institute,
University of Oxford (= Hoving 1978, p. 17 of the plates; see also Reeves 1990, 80 and James 2000, 51 ff.) (See http://www.
griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/Acartmap.html and http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/gif-files/Carter i G 11.jpg).
Figure 9b. Chariot material deposited in the Treasury in
situ. Close-up of dismantled Chariots 45 and A6 in the
; : ; northwest corner along the north wall. Copyright Griffith
along the east and south walls. Copyright Griffith Institute, Institute, University of Oxford (= Littauer/Crouwel 1985,
Figure 9a. General view towards the south wall of the
Antechamber showing the dismantled chariots in situ
University of Oxford (= Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. II; see
also Carter/Mace 1923, Pl. XX) (= Burton photograph
p0012, http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/143-p0012.
html).
PI. LII) (= Burton photograph p1090a. http://www.griffith.
ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/332-p1090a.html). The meticulous
photographs produced by Harry Burton (1879-1940) of the
Metropolitan Museum in situ not only provide a glimpse
61 : : : into the overwhelming richness of the tomb (see also the
of horses under a yoke." However, they differ in various < plendid edition by Allen 2006 and the article by Johnson
details—meticulously elaborated and documented by 1997), they also illustrate how difficult it was to identify
Mary Littauer and Joost Crouwel—so the assumption can and allocate all chariot pieces to individual vehicles. As
be substantiated that these chariots had been individually ` Thomas Hoving describes: The chariots were removed from
designed and crafted; most probably for different purposes. the tomb “in pieces: a wheel, then another, then the chassis
and the [...] poles and at last the bodies themselves. Their
"P ee LU . removal had been the most difficult work of all. [Arthur
Carter distinguished two "state chariots" (numbered in Mace] has confided to Carter that the vehicles might prove
Littauer/Crouwel 1985 as A1 and A2) because of their to be so dilapidated that he was not at all certain they could
extraordinary decoration—inscriptions and precious ever be restored. For weeks he had thought that it would not
materials such as gold and inlay—which were most likely be worth even a try and wanted at first simply to remove
: . : the gold reliefs and mount them in frames. But after months
used in parades or for ceremonial purposes (p. 99; Table 1) of backbreaking labor with [Alfred Lucas], he succeeded
in a complete restoration. Today they are among the most
*! Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 4 f.; 2002: 7. See also endnote 31. impressive objects" in Egyptian Museums (Hoving 1978, 185).
14
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
Table 1. Concordance of the numbering system of the chariots from the Tomb of Tut ankhamün (KV 62) used by the
Egyptian Museum Cairo, Littauer/Crouwel 1985 and Decker/Herb 1994, I, 200—208
Chariots from the tomb of Antechambers Treasury
Tut‘ankhamin (KV 62)
Egyptian Museum Cairo, Obj. No. ! |122 120 121 161 332 333
Journal d'Entrée du Musée du Caire JE 61990 JE 61989 JE 61991 JE 61993 JE 61994 JE 61992
Littauer/Crouwel 1985 Al A2 A3 A4 A5 A6
Decker/Herb 1994 H7 H6 H8 H 10 H 11 H9
Room U 8, Case 104 99 100 — — 115
Howard Carter's description state chariot [state chariot |OP°"» heavy jop e heavy light, smaller light, smaller
chariot chariot chariot chariot
Assumed purpose after Littauer/ parade ie parade m d eR: bon hunti
4 ceremonia ceremonia parade chariot on unting unting
Crouwel 1985, 99 f. ike isé campaign
' Carter assigned numbers 1 to 620 to the over 5000 objects found in the tomb. Nos. 14 to 170 were from the Antechamber, nos. 261 to 336 from the
Treasury.
? Chariot A4 was displayed in case 114 in the Egyptian Museum Cairo. As Robert Hurford and Gail Brownrigg kindly informed me, Chariot A4 is now
in the Luxor Museum.
3 Chariot A5 is on display in the National Military Museum on the Cairo citadel (Herold 2006, 115). Information on Chariot A4 and A5 have been kindly
confirmed by Dr. Nadia Lokma.
* See Carter/Mace 1923, 60: “The four chariots discovered in the Antechamber (there are others in the Store-room of the Burial Chamber not yet
touched) can be divided into two categories: State chariots and curricles. Of these, the latter were more open, of lighter construction probably for hunting
or exercising purposes." See also Plates XVIII-XX, XXXVII-XLVI.
Ex Libris
J. Heyworth-Dunne
D. Lit. (London)
NO 4471
Figure 10a. One of the early Egyptian publications in Arabic
and English printed immediately after the discovery of the
tomb of Tut/ankhamün is a 19-leaves booklet by Saleh Lutfi
titled Views of the tomb of King Tut-Ankh-Amen at Thebes.
Discovered by Mr. Howard Carter on behalf of Lord Carnavon
from the Sketches of Hamza Abdalla Carr [Hamzah ‘Abd
Ullah Kar] dated “12-1-23.” This illustration shows the
copy in the collection of the Cecil H. Green Library at
Stanford University from James Heyworth-Dunne (d.
1974), a former senior reader in Arabic at the School of
Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of
London from 1928-1948, and later a member of the staff at
the Middle East Institute Washington, D.C., whose papers
are archived in the Hoover Institution.
15
Al nm s wëll oo opti le Wies ke clas zf
A jumble of chariots piled up, they show
beautiful decoration in beaten gold, inlaid
stones and paint
Figure 10b. The booklet contains stylized colored sketches
and line drawings of objects found in the Antechamber,
among them parts of the dismantled chariot bodies of AI-
A4 (see Figure 9a). The English caption reads: “A jumble of
chariots piled up, they show beautiful decoration in beaten
gold, inlaid stones and paint."
(Figures 10a-10b). Although A3 is less elaborate, it still
might have been intended for parade purposes, A4 for
traveling or campaigning, A5 and A6 for hunting as Littauer
and Crouwel propose in their concluding remarks (p. 100).
Peter Raulwing
Of the six chariots filed in Howard Carter's excavation
notes,? only five vehicles (A1, A2, A3, A4, and A6) were
on display in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo in 1973 when
Mary Littauer and Joost Crouwel studied the chariots and
related equipment from the tomb of Tut ankhamün for
their book, published in the Tut ankhamün Tomb Series
edited by the Griffith Institute at Oxford University in 1985
(Figures 11a-11c). When trying to locate the missing sixth
vehicle, documented by Carter, Mary Littauer and Joost
Crouwel identified warped pieces of wood from chariot
parts in the Antechamber, stored in the magazine of the
Egyptian Museum, as parts of Chariot A5.9 Chariots A5
and A6 had been completely dismantled—most probably
because it was decided to store them in the Treasury.
Therefore, they must have been transported through the
Antechamber and the Burial Chamber.‘ Chariot A5 was
later restored by Nadia Lokma of the Egyptian Museum at
Cairo, one of the world's foremost experts on conservation
of Egyptian artefacts; a laborious work which took her
several years to preserve, to reshape and to assemble the
over 200, partly twisted fragments. This Herculean task
led Mike Murphy to title an article in the London Times
on Nadia Lokma's successful restoration efforts “For
eight years shall ye labour to restore the king's bespoke
vehicle .^
Sixty-three years after the unexpected discovery of half a
dozen chariots in the tomb of Tut ankhamün by Howard
Carter and Lord Carnarvon, together with other studies on
Egyptian chariots, harness and related equipment® Mary
Littauer and Joost Crouwel published their marvelous
book and “reference work of lasting importance”,° which
would be complemented with the publication of Chariot
A5 by Nadia Lokma (Figure 12).
Addendum
I would like to finish my hommage to Mary Littauer with
a brief note on her German tutor in the early 1930's—also
mentioned in The New Yorker article—when she still lived
at Upper East Side on Madison Avenue and 72nd St. in New
York, before moving with her husband Vladimir Littauer
€ Accessible under http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4tutchar.html; see
also the “Essay on Tutankhamun’s chariots, TAA 1.3.8.10—17, based on
Howard Carter's notes, probably edited by [Mrs. Jane Waley (who passed
away at the age of 83 in 2008) in 1946-1947; Mrs. Waley catalogued
the finds from tomb of Tut'ankhamün]": compare TAA 1.3.8.10, page 1:
"Six chariots were found in the Tomb of Tut'ankhamün. Two were highly
decorated and appear hardly to have been used before they were placed
in the tomb. In the Antechamber with these decorated chariots were two
others, of heavier make and plainer construction and decoration. There
were two more in the ‘Treasury,’ slightly smaller and lighter; these were
found in a broken and incomplete condition."
& Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 53: "[...] chariot A5 remained dismantled
in the Tut. magazine, where the authors were able to inspect the parts"
which are described on pp. 53—55. See also Decker and Herb 1994, I: 208
sub H 11.
% Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 98.
® Lokma 1986. See also Murphy 2007. Dr. Lokma visited Mary Littauer
in the early 1990s (M.A. Littauer, pers. comm.).
% See the bibliography of the authors in Littauer and Crouwel 2002,
xxxvii-xlvi.
6" Reeves 1990b: 236.
16
Figure 11a. Chariot AI from the tomb of Tut ankhamün,
Egyptian Museum Cairo. Copyright Griffith Institute,
University of Oxford (= Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. V) (=
Burton photograph p0540a, http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/
carter/122-p0540a.html).
Figure 11b. Chariot 42 from the tomb of Tut ankhamün,
Egyptian Museum Cairo. Copyright Griffith Institute,
University of Oxford (7 Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. XVI
bottom) (7 Burton photograph p0532a, http://www.griffith.
ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/120-p0532a.html).
Figure 11c. Chariot 44 from the tomb of Tut'ankhamün,
Egyptian Museum Cairo. Copyright Griffith Institute,
University of Oxford (7 Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pl. XXX
top) (= Burton photograph p0532b, http://www.griffith.
ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/120-p0532b.html). This chariot went to
the Discovery Times Square Exposition in 2010.
LNB ae
+ Fa Wh let ee)
ROTEN RENE
ey ır
e Al bee Aen — 11
+ Suel et Se Sable bk JIL 10
mein
ee Ly
d^ BI LA: 1A
` CaaS za) au uu att M
€ WWI Y
, Sall lat, or
+ tha LI att t
+ (eel gow Gy ze Jul) SVE a
2 SIL gla ois 3
eoe Jeu ‚ur
al Kr A
EFE Feb hhii stell — 3
Figure 12. Detail form a drawing of parts of the dismantled
Chariot 45 (KV62) from Nadia Lokma’s unpublished thesis
(1986). After a Xerox sent to M.A. Littauer reproduced
here with kind permission by Dr. Nadia Lokma, Egyptian
Museum, Cairo. See also Littauer/Crouwel 1985, Pls. LIV
and LV; Herold 2006a, 378, Fig.32) and Carter No. 332.
Handlist description: Chariot. Note for Chariots 332 & 333.
*Sketch of body to show (approximately) the details of the
leather covering that were upon the bodies of the Chariots
Nos. 332 & 333 [see Table 1]. From the few fragments that
remain of this leather covering show that it was highly
coloured & decorated. The sheet gold & bark decoration
upon the parts of the upper frame work, suggest that the
above was the form the leather took" (http://www.griffith.
ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/332-c333-02.html).
to Long Island in early 1940s. One of Mary Littauer's two
tutors was Frida Hahn, a German student of the eminent
German-American anthropologist at Columbia, Franz
Boas (1858-1942).5 Many years ago, Mary Littauer
mentioned to me that she had lost contact to Frida Hahn
since the 1930s, and that she was wondering if it would
be possible to find out which scholarly career Hahn had
pursued, and if she, after all, might still be alive. A first
start was, naturally, a verification of studies published
under Hahn's maiden name, taking into consideration a
change of her name as the result of a possible marriage. At
the time, my initial research on Frida Hahn, of whom Mary
Littauer always spoke with a certain fondness, ebbed away
due to lack of accessible and reliable sources. However,
in the course of writing this hommage, I came across a
few, partly sad pieces of biographical information on Frida
Hahn, which I would like to share here.
Frida Hahn studied Native American languages at
Columbia since the late 1920s, and specialized—like her
55 M.A. Littauer, personal communication.
17
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
mentor—in Ponca,? a Dhegihan branch of the Siouan-
language group, formerly spoken across an area from
South Dakota and Nebraska to Kansas, parts of Iowa and
western parts of Missouri in the early 1930s. Hahn mainly
worked with the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
where the Ponca were relocated by the US government in
the late 19th century under great stresses and the loss of
many members of their tribe.” As Jürgen Langenkámper,
news editor of the Mindener Tageblatt in Franz Boas’
hometown Minden (some 50 miles west of Hanover in
Germany) found out in his meticulous research,"
*Frida K. Hahn was [...b]orn in 1903 near Hamburg,
she came to Columbia at the end of the 1920s. She
followed her husband Dietrich Husemann whom
she had met in New York, to China. In fall 1937 the
couple fled from Nanking shortly before the massacre
by Japanese troops and settled in Berlin (s. Frida K.
Hahn-Husemann to FB, APS, February 10, 1938).”
In the 1940s Katrin Husemann as she preferred now
to be called, wrote a dissertation about Liberia? under
[the Austrian anthropologist Richard Thurnwald
(1869-1954) and German anthropologist and scholar
in African studies, Diedrich Westermann (1875-1956)
in Berlin]. Her husband was killed at the end of the
war in Berlin. She fled to her family with her newborn
daughter, worked as a librarian” and died in 1985 near
Hamburg [...].””°
For Mary Littauer, as with any other students, learning a
new language, unsurprisingly, included studying grammar
and vocabulary. German has, one almost might concede,
more exceptions than rules and vocabulary with nouns
belonging to either one of three genders which are
syntactically applied to four cases in singular and plural.
However, harvesting her efforts at an advanced stage, Mary
© See Boas 1907 and Bulletin American Council of Learned Societies
21-25 (1934-36) Index which lists Frida Hahn for pp. 242 and 455.
” A type-written “Extensive manuscript grammar of Ponca” is
preserved which is attributed to Hahn. See and Park and Rankin
2001: 100 and Eschenbach 2005: 223 sub "Anonymous" with further
bibliography). The correspondence between Boas and Hahn is kept
in the inventory of Franz Boas papers at the American Philosophical
Society (http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docld=ead/Mss.B.B61.
inventory06-ead.xml).
"7 I owe a great depth of gratitude to Jürgen Langenkämper for
kindly sharing the sparse unpublished information on Frida Hahn
from his research and manuscripts which I am allowed to quote here.
Langenkämper 2015: fn. 22. See also Langenkámper 2011.
7? FB = Franz Boas. http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docld=ead/
Mss.B.B61 inventory06-ead.xml.
3 Husemann 1949 on the republic of Liberia and her relations to the live
of indigenous people (Die Republik Liberia und ihre Beziehungen zum
Eingeborenenleben). See also Stoecker 2008: 117. J. Langenkämper’s
research will also shed more light on the years after World War IL.
™ On Thurnwald and Westermann see Stoecker 2008: Index p. 358 f. s.v.
with multiple entries.
75 See also Buchhandel in Hamburg: 64 listing “Dr. Katrin Husemann
Hamburg 24, Quellenweg 17" under the members of the Northern
German Publisher and Bookdealer Organization ("Die Mitglieder des
Norddeutschen Verleger- und Buchhàndler- Verbandes").
75 Langenkämper, submitted in sub-chapter “The fate of Boas’ Protégés:
Günter Wagner and Frida Hahn" notes that former Boas students had
difficulties finding positions as anthropologists after World War II. Since
Franz Boas died in 1942, he was not able to help his former students in
the new era abroad.
Peter Raulwing
Littauer was also rewarded by enjoying German poetry;
among others poems and lyrics by Heinrich Heine (1797—
1856) such as “Auf dem Brocken" from his Harzreise
made in 1824, as she liked to recite. It also enabled Mary
Littauer to refresh her acquired German language skills
in the late 1950s and early 1960s at a time when she
became interested in the history of horses and chariots.
While already fluent in French since her childhood,
which enabled her to translate Jean Spuytte's book on
Early Harness Systems (1983), she quickly realized that a
scholarly study of horses and chariots requires being able
(at least) to read German. Of all studies available to her,
she chose the monumental book ofthe Austrian-Hungarian
prehistorian Franz Hanéar (1893-1968) on the horse in
prehistoric and early historic times published under the
German title Das Pferd in prähistorischer und früher
historischer Zeit (1956). Hanéar’s German style was much
elaborated involving lengthy syntactical constructions, the
creation of new compounds and sub-clauses which often
expanded over half a page. Immediately, one 1s reminded
of Mark Twain's characterization of “The Awful German
Language" in his book A Tramp Abroad (1880), here
p. 254:
"There are ten parts of speech, and they are all
troublesome. An average sentence, in a German
newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it
occupies a quarter of a column; it contains all the ten
parts of speech—not in regular order, but mixed; it
is built mainly of compound words constructed by
the writer on the spot, and not to be found in any
dictionary—six or seven words compacted into one,
without joint or seam—that is, without hyphens; it
treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects, each
inclosed in a parenthesis of its own, with here and
there extra parentheses which re-inclose three or
four of the minor parentheses, making pens within
pens: finally, all the parentheses and re-parentheses
are massed together between a couple of king-
parentheses, one of which is placed in the first line
of the majestic sentence and the other in the middle
of the last line of it—after which comes the VERB, and
you find out for the first time what the man has been
talking about; and after the verb—merely by way of
ornament, as far as I can make out—the writer shovels
in ‘haben sind gewesen gehabt haben geworden sein,’
or words to that effect, and the monument is finished.
I suppose that this closing hurrah is in the nature of
the flourish to a man’s signature—not necessary, but
pretty. German books are easy enough to read when
you hold them before the looking—glass or stand on
your head—so as to reverse the construction—but I
think that to learn to read and understand a German
newspaper is a thing which must always remain an
impossibility to a foreigner.”
And Hanéar, whom Twain would have certainly
incorporated in addition to a German newspaper writer
of the Kaiserreich in 1870s, exceeded it all. However,
as the hand-written comments and marginalia made by
18
pencil in Mary's copy of Hanéar’s monograph show,” she
even mastered Hanéar’s complex German syntax—across
all 651 pages, and many more German, French and even
Russian studies to follow which have helped to lay the
foundation of more successful work to come.
Acknowledgements
My paper “A Brief History of Chariotry Research" given on June
Ist, 2010 at the “Mary Aiken Littauer Symposium" in Lexington
(Kentucky) on the occasion of the exhibition A Gift from the
Desert (Olsen and Culbertson 2010) has grown into a larger
study. I would like to thank Bill Cooke (former Director of the
International Museum of the Horse) and his staff, as well Sandra
Olsen (at the time ofthe conference Curator of Anthropology, The
Carnegie Museum of Natural History) for their kind invitation
and warm hospitality during the symposium; the latter would not
have been possible without the inspiring participants with whom
I had the honor to spend four unforgettable days in Lexington.
Joost Crouwel and Gail Brownrigg provided valuable feedback
and corrections, for which I owe them a depth of gratitude. Joost
Crouwel kindly granted permission to reproduce figure 1b,
the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, figures 2a, 2b, 4a,
5c, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 11a-11c, the Museo Archeologico di
Firence (Stefano Casciu and Maria Cristina Guidotti) figure 3a,
Anja Herold figure 3b and 5a, Nadia Lokma, Egyptian Museum
at Cairo, generously granted permission to publish the drawing
of Chariot A5 from her thesis (figure 12a). André J. Veldmeijer
kindly sent me a PDF of his excellent proceedings on the
Egyptian chariots (Veldmeijer and Ikram 2013).
Abbreviations
KV
Ramses le Grand [Exhibition catalogue] Ramses le
Grand Paris: Galeries Nationales du
Grand Palais, 1976.
TutAnkhAmun http://www. griffith.
ox.ac.uk/gri/Ataa.html.
Valley of the Kings
TAA
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Appendix
Florence Chariot
The so-called Florence Chariot (from an unknown
private tomb, Thebes/West). Found in 1828/29. 4 spokes.
Wooden frame construction. Today on display in the
Museo Egizio di Firenze (acc. no. 2678). Parts replaced
with modern wood and other material; certain parts
wrongly assembled.
Descriptions and illustrations of the Florence Chariot
can be traced back to 1830s. Already in 1830, Rosellini
organized an exhibition of the artefacts shipped to
Florence from the Franco-Tuscan Expedition in the
Accademia di Arti e Mestieri in S. Caterina at the
Piazza San Marco (Guidotti 2010, 45). In addition to the
following bibliography of commonly quoted studies, I
only list here as an example: First, two publications by
the Prussian army officer, explorer and archaeologist who
excavated in Saqqara and Hermopolis, Johann Heinrich
Karl Freiherr von Minutoli (1772-1846). And second, by
the eminent German physiologist, natural philosopher
and painter Carl Gustav Carus (1789-1869), one of the
most prominent intellectuals of the 19th century Germany
in the tradition of the Romance period: von Minutoli
1831 (see also Baer 1832 and the review of von Minutoli
in Góttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen. 10. Stück. Den 19.
Januar 1832. Berlin und Stettin, 89-96, here p. 92), von
Minutoli 1938, Carus 1848: 211 f. (with a hand-drawn,
but partly inaccurate illustration). The Griffith Institute
at the Oxford University holds an early illustration of
the Florence Chariot by the British antiquarian, traveler
and amateur artist George Alexander Hoskins (1802-
1863) from 1832-33. [http://www.griffithinstituteprints.
com/image/670965/george-alexander-hoskins-ancient-
egyptian-chariot].
Selected Bibliography
Rosellini 1836, 263—71 (and vol. II, pl. CXXID; Schäfer
1931: pl. VIL, 1; Dittmann 1934; Botti 1951; Littauer and
Crouwel 1985: 105-108 and pls. LXXII-LXIII; Decker,
1986, 38-42 (ill. p. 38£); Spruytte 1989 (with various
illustrations); Raulwing 1993: 75—79 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1985, 68£; 105-108. pl. LXXII); Decker and
Herb 1994, I, 200 f. H 1 and pl. LXXXIVf.; Partridge
1996, 113, fig. 93. Del Francia 2002b, ills. pp. 26—34;
McDermott 2004: 133, fig. 85; Decker 2006: fig. 29;
Herold 2006a, 259-65 with further bibliography; Index p.
369 s.v. “Florenz”, “Streitwagen in”.
Chariot from the tomb of Yuya and Thuyu
Chariot from the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu. Thebes/West
= Biban el-Muluk, No. 46). Discovered by Theodore M.
Davis (1837-1915) in 1905. 6 spokes. Decorated chariot
body, partly closed at the read. On display in Cairo,
Egyptian Museum, U 13, Case H. CG 51188.
Hommage to Mary Aiken Littauer (1912—2005)
Selected Bibliography
Carter & Newberry in Davies 1907, 35f., frontispiece a.
pl. XXXII; Quibell 1908, 65-67; pl. 51 = Littauer and
Crouwel 1985, 67; pl. LXVIII-LXX; Decker and Herb
1994, I, 200 f. H 5 and pl. LXXXVII; Partridge 1996,
117, figs. 100 (side view), 101 (floor of the body from
above), 102 (rear view), 103 (dismantled chariot body)
— Partridge 2002, 71, fig. 111 (side view) and 112 (rear
view), p. 27, fig. 30 (detail of chariot body, part of the pole
and axle from the front left side). See also Herold 2006,
259-65, and http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/tut-scans/
TAA 13 8 15.jpg
Chariots from the tomb of Tut ankhamün (KV 62)
Antechamber
Chariot Al. Gold-decorated chariot body with
inscriptions. 6 spokes. Chariots A1 and A2 were called
"state chariots" by Carter (Carter and Mace 1922-33, II:
54 ff.). Thebes/West = Biban el-Muluk, No. 62, Obj. No.
122, JE 61990, Exhib. nos. [Descr. Sommaire] 97; 100;
101; 104. On display in Cairo, Egyptian Museum, room U
8, case 104. There has been some confusion which of the
two "state chariots” in the Antechamber is “the first" and
which is “the second”. According to James 2000: 274 f.,
A 2 must be identified with Carter's “first state chariot".
Selected Bibliography
Carter and Mace 1922-33, II: 54-63; pls. 17b; 21a; c;
38a; b, 39a; b (above), 41a (above); Littauer and Crouwel
1985: 9-17 and pl. VII-XIV; Decker 1986: 42-46 (colour,
p. 43); Reeves 1990a: 170; Decker and Herb 1994, I: 205,
sub H 7 and pl. XCI-XCII; Partridge 1996: 225, fig. 108 f.
(after Harry Burton).
Chariot A2. Gold-decorated chariot body. 6 spokes.
Thebes/West — Biban el-Muluk, No. 62, Obj. No. 120, JE
61989, Exhib. nos. [Descr. Sommaire] 98; 99; 102; 103.
On display in Cairo, Egyptian Museum, room U 8, case 99.
Selected Bibliography
Carter and Mace 1922-33, II: 54-63, pls. 17a; 18-20; 21b;
37a; b; 39a; b (below), 40,]; 41a (below). Ramses le Grand:
pl. LI a—m (details in color photographs); p. 242 (part of
the left side of A2); b/w photographs of further details
and related equipment on pp. 244—63; p. 256 "Schéma «
en éclaté » montrant la structure du char"; Littauer and
Crouwel 1985: 18-23 and pl. XV—XXV; Decker and
Herb 1994, I: 203-205, sub H 6 and pl. LXXXVIII-XC;
Partridge 1996: 225, fig. 108 f. (after Harry Burton); p.
129, fig. 113 (pair of wheels); James 2000: 274 f. (colour);
Decker and Thuillier 2004: 52, pl. VI (color); Decker
2006, fig. 30 (color).
Chariot A3. Wooden frame construction. 6 spokes.
Thebes/West — Biban el-Muluk, No. 62, Obj. No. 121, JE
Peter Raulwing
61991, Exhib. nos. [Descr. Sommaire] 1325. On display in
Cairo, Egyptian Museum, room U 8, case 100.
Selected Bibliography
Carter and Mace 1922-33, II: 54-63; Decker 1984: pls.
1, 3, 4; Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 23-26; pls. XXVI-
XXVIII, XXIX (drawings); Decker and Herb 1994, I:
205f., sub H 8 and pl. XCIII-XCIV.
Chariot A4. Wooden frame construction with gold
application. 6 spokes. Thebes/West — Biban el-Muluk,
No. 62, Obj. No. 161, JE 61993, Exhib. nos. [Descr
Sommaire] 1324. It was on display in Cairo, Egyptian
Museum, room U 8, case 114, and is now shown in the
Luxor Museum (kindly confirmed by Dr. Nadia Lokma,
personal communication).
Selected Bibliography
Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 26f.; pl. XXX-XXXIL
Reeves 1990a: 172; Decker and Herb 1994, I: 207 f., sub
H 10 and pl. XCIV-XCVI; Decker and Thuillier 2004:
32, fig. 15 (left wheel). Decker 2006: fig. 31 and fig. 32
(left wheel, nave and parts of the axle and chariot body;
color). _ http://news.discovery.com/history/zooms/king-
tut-chariot.html; ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/
arts/design/O3chariot.html?scp-1&sq-King Tut's Chariot
Arrives in Times Square&st-cse
Treasury
Chariot A5. Wooden frame construction with gold
application. 6 spokes. Thebes/West — Biban el-Muluk,
No. 62, Obj. No. 332, JE 61994, Exhib. nos. [Descr
Sommaire] 3231. (Decker and Herb 1994, I: 208 sub
H 11). Restoration by Nadia Lokma (1986). It took Dr.
Lokma eight years to preserve, reshape and assemble the
over 200, partly twisted fragments (Murphy 2007). On
display in the Military Museum on the Citadel (kindly
confirmed by Dr. Nadia Lokma, personal communication).
Selected Bibliography
Carter and Mace 1922-33, III: 34; 95; Littauer and
Crouwel 1985: 53-55; pl. XXX-XXXII; Lokma 1986
(unpublished); Decker and Herb 1994, I: 207f., sub H 10
and pls. XCIV-XCVI.
Chariot A6. Wooden frame construction with gold applica-
tion. 6 spokes. Thebes/West — Biban el-Muluk, No. 62,
Obj. No. 333, JE 61992, Exhib. nos. [Descr. Sommaire]
1701. It was on display in Cairo, Egyptian Museum, room
U 8, case 115 and has been moved to its final resting
place at the Grand Egyptian Museum in spring of 2018
(https://www.independent.ie/world-news/egypt-moves-
last-chariot-of-king-tut-to-new-museum-36876776.html).
Gail Brownrigg kindly shared this information.
26
Selected Bibliography
Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 55-57; pl. LVII; Decker and
Herb 1994, I: 206f., sub H 11 and pl. XCVI.
Chariot Body of Thutmose IV
Chariot Body of Thutmose IV. Thebes/West = Biban el-
Muluk, No. 35 (KV 43): CG 46097, Exh. No. 3000. On
display in Cairo, Egyptian Museum, room U 12, case P.
Selected Bibliography
Carter and Newberry 1904, 24-33, pls. 9-12; figs. 1-20;
Littauer and Crouwel 1985, 67, No. 2 and pl. LXVII;
Decker and Herb 1994, I., 201 £, sub H 4. Decoration:
Hofmann 1989, pl. 002a; 002b; Rommelaere 1991, 176
f., cat. No. 40; Partridge 1996, 114, fig. 94 (front), fig. 95
(rear view), fig. 96 (detail of the decoration), fig. 97 and
fig. 98: Howard Carter's drawing of the exterior decoration
(left side — Partridge 2002, 69, fig. 108 [see also p. 70,
fig. 109 and p. 219, fig. 285]). Detail (photograph) of the
decoration: Partridge 2002, p. 68, fig. 107.
Part II
Equines and Wheeled Vehicles in the Near East
3
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the
Ancient Near East—an Update
Joost H. Crouwel
This paper presents a brief overview of the history and development of wheeled vehicles in the
Near East—from their first appearance in the later fourth millennium to the earlier first millennium
B.C. The text, which is largely based on many years of collaboration with Mary Littauer,
concentrates on the construction of the various vehicles—two-wheeled carts and chariots and
four-wheeled wagons—the ways in which their draught animals were harnessed and controlled,
and the use to which the equipages were put.
The first evidence for the use of wheeled vehicles in the
Near East comes from southern Iraq and dates to the Late
Uruk period (ca. 3400-3100 B.C.).' The evidence consists
of simple pictographic signs on inscribed clay tablets,
mostly from the site of Uruk.? One tablet with similar
pictographs, probably comes from Tell Uqair, not far from
Baghdad, and dates to the Jamdat Nasr period of ca. 3100—
3000 B.C. The signs appear to represent sledges with
runners curving upwards at one end, raised over what may
either be two (captive) rollers or four solid disk wheels
(Figure 1, left). Wheels are more likely than rollers.*
These vehicles, which may be called ‘sledge cars,’ carry
roofed structures, exactly like the sledges represented
by other, more numerous pictographs of the Late Uruk
period from Uruk (Figure 1, right) and a few other sites?
The interpretation of the ideograms as (wheeled) sledges
is supported by linguists such as Falkenstein (1936:
56), Steinkeller (1990: 22) and Burmeister, Krispijn and
Raulwing (in this volume). The roofed structures may
well be covered litters intended to carry important seated
persons. This is suggested by contemporary representations
on a small stone plaque, without provenance, but bought
in Baghdad (Figure 2), and on impressions of a cylinder
seal from excavations at Arslantepe in southeastern
Turkey (Figure 3), both in the Late Uruk style, as well
as on an unprovenanced contemporary cylinder seal cut
in the Jamdat Nasr style.‘ Two of these documents show
wheelless sledges involved in threshing, which may well
' For what follows: Burmeister, Krispijn and Raulwing (in this volume);
see already Burmeister 2011: 211-14.
? Falkenstein 1939: 56 and signs 743-44; Green and Nissen 1986, 220,
sign 248; Englund 1994: 131 and 1998: 69, fig. 22; Steinkeller 1999: 22,
note 33; Burmeister 2011: 211—14 with note 9.
? Falkenstein 1936, 56, sign 745; Green 1986; Burmeister 2011: 214
and note 9: fig. 1: 2.
^ Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 12-13; Sherratt 2003: 242 f.; Burmeister
2011: 213 £; but cf. Nagel and Strommenger 1994; Jacobs 2005: 435.
? Falkenstein 1936, signs 741—42, Green and Nissen 1986, 220, sign
247; Steinkeller 1990: 22; Englund 1994: 131 and 1998: 69, fig. 22.
€ Littauer and Crouwel 1990 = 2002: 329-35.
29
have been of a ceremonial nature in view of the royal or
priestly figures (or perhaps statues of them?) seated inside
the roofed litters with legs and carrying poles (for threshing
sledges in third millennium cuneiform texts: Steinkeller
1990). Here it may be noted that threshing sledges, with
flints attached underneath, are still used in parts of the the
Near East today." Also of note is the fact that remains of
an actual ceremonial sledge, without flints but with paired
bovid draught, were found among the funerary assemblage
of *queen' Pu-abi in the Royal Cemetery of Ur in southern
Iraq and which dates to Early Dynastic III, ca. 2600—2350
BCE.’
AL As £9 & R
Figure 1. ‘Sledge cars’ and sledges. Pictographs on clay
tablets, mostly from Uruk (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979:
fig. 1).
Figure 2. Sledge. Stone plaque. London, British Museum
128858 (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 2).
7 D. Potts (2001) compared the ancient depictions to recent sherpherd
huts set on runners in Bulgaria, thus casting doubt on the ‘ceremonial
threshing’ interpretation.
* Littauer and Crouwel 1990: 18, pl. IIIA = 2002: 333, pl. 152.
Joost H. Crouwel
Figure 3. Sledge. Cylinder seal impression from Arslantepe
(after Littauer and Crouwel 1990: fig. 1).
In the representations, the sledges appear to be pulled by
single bovids, harnessed between ropes fastened to the
runners, and presumably running to the animal's horns.
(Shafts are less likely than ropes, the harnessing of a
single animal between shafts not being otherwise attested
for another 3,000 years.) In contrast, bovids and equids
pulling (wheeled) vehicles from the third millennium
onwards were harnessed in pairs, under a yoke attached
to a central pole which transmitted the pull. The animals
pulling the early sledges and ‘sledge cars’ were controlled
by a single line to a nose ring, the traditional manner of
controlling bovids and the one also employed for equids in
the third millennium BCE.’
Figured, textual, and also material evidence for both four—
and two-wheeled vehicles becomes quite plentiful during
the Early Dynastic II and III periods (ca. 2750—2350
BCE) in Iraq and other parts of the Near East.'? For recent
additions to vehicle representations on cylinder seals
or seal impressions: Matthews 1981: 152 no. 11: fig. 2;
Jans 1993; Martin and Matthews 1993: 60f. no. 71: fig.
2: 81; Dohmann-Pfälzer 2000: fig. 29; Oates 2003: 117,
figs. 9.1-9.2; Zarins 2014: 138, figs. 70a—c). In many
instances, the wheels were tripartite disks made of planks.
There was a central plank with a nave through which the
axle passes, being lentoid in shape or straight-sided where
the flanking planks joined it. Ancient and modern disk
wheels alike are not made of cross-sections of tree trunk,
° A wall painting from public Building IV of the Late Uruk period (ca.
3374 BCE, according to a series of calibrated radio—carbon dates; see
Sherratt 2004: 418) at Arslantepe in south-eastern Turkey was described
by the excavator as showing "two figures of stylized bulls facing one
another [...] which seem to be pulling what appears to be a monumental
cart driven by a coachman [...] On the ‘bulls’ horns are attached reins
which end in a ring held by the coachman" (Frangipane 1997: 64).
Unfortunately, this description cannot be verified with the help of the one
published photograph (Frangipane 2004: fig. 15). While the use of the
word ‘cart’ suggests a (two—)wheeled vehicle, the comparison made by
Frangipane (2004: 64 f.) between this scene and those on the Late Uruk
seal impressions from the same site would point to a sledge. However
this may be, the wall painting from Arslantepe may well provide the
earliest illustration of paired (bovid) traction (so Sherratt 2003: 243, and
2004: 418). Knowledge of disk-wheeled vehicles in the Near East in
the later fourth millennium BC may perhaps be inferred from two small
perforated disks, one from Arslantepe, the other from Gebel Aruda in
Syria (Fragipane and Palmieri 1983: 407: fig. 64;4; Bakker et al. 1999:
782: fig. 4; Burmeister 2011: 214 f.: fig. 3: 1-2). Made of terracotta and
limestone respectively, these objects have been interpreted as model
wheels.
10 For the various types of vehicle: Littauer and Crouwel 1979: chapter
5; Nagel 1966: 1—10; 1984/1985; 1986; 1992a; Messerschmidt 1992;
Bollweg 1999; Nagel and Strommenger 2001; Eder and Nagel 2006:
46-51.
30
but are of wood cut lengthwise of the grain, in order to
avoid the weakness of the pithy heartwood. The tripartite
construction permitted the use of timber of smaller girth
than a single plank which, even if cut lengthwise, would
be limited in diameter to something under the maximum
girth of the trunk. It seems likely that the first experiments
in making disk wheels were with the single plank, hence,
in an area of small timber, the results would be strictly
limited in size.'! The tripartite disk is a fairly sophisticated
solution to this problem, and implies that the single-piece
disk wheel must have been in use long enough for greater
size to be desired. The three sections of the wheel were
held together by external bonding slats.
The disk wheels have striking parallels in actual finds from
different parts of Europe. Recent calibrated radio-carbon
dates assign some of these surviving wheels to as early
as the middle of the fourth millennium BCE Prior to the
calibrations, a commonly held view was that the (disk)
wheel—and the animal-drawn wheeled vehicle—were
first developed in the proto-urban centres in southern
Iraq, largely on the basis of the evidence of the Uruk
pictographs (see above). From there, knowledge and use of
the wheel would have spread to other parts of the ancient
world. This is currently subject to debate." Suffice it to
say, here, that a *monocentric' rather than a ‘polycentric’
origin of the (disk) wheel and vehicles with such wheels
still seems more likely. Whatever the role of parts of the
Near East and Europe, this form of transport could only
have originated—or been adapted—in societies with an
adequate level of technology, suitable trees, terrain, and
domestic animals."
Returning to the the development of wheeled vehicles in
the Near East, remains of actual tripartite disk wheels from
tombs at Ur and Kish in southern Iraq, and from Susa in
Elam in southwest Iran, yielded diameters of 0.50—0.83
m. and evidence that they revolved on fixed axles, with
linch pins to prevent them from slipping off. It is not clear
whether the naves were raised parts of the central wheel
plank or separately made and inserted tubular elements.
The latter would have considerably helped to keep the
wheel perpendicalular to the axle and prevent it from
wobbling. On the other hand, there is material and figured
evidence (from the Near East, but not from Europe) for a
tyre, made of rawhide, wood or metal, that was sometimes
pierced by metal hobnails (Figures 4—5, 12). This outer
element ofthe wheel would have played an important role,
not only in protecting the tread, but in consolidating the
three wheel planks. Hobnails, when present, added depth
to the protection and also increased the traction in certain
types of terrain.
1 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 18-19; Piggott 1983: 17-21, 24-26; also
Spruytte 1983: pl. 33.
? See specially Burmeister 2004, 2011 and 2017; Maran 2004a and b;
Sherratt 2003: 242 f.; also 2004; also Bakker 2004; Schlichtherle 2004;
Jacobs 2005: 430-34; Drenth and Bakker 2005-2006: 6f., 29-37; Kohl
2007: 85; Bulliet 2016, chapters. 3-4.
P5 Burmeister 2004: 23.
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
Figure 4. Wheel from Susa (after Littauer and Crouwel
1979: fig. 5).
UE e
1)
N
de
Wi
Figure 5. *Straddle car.’ Copper model from Tel Agrab.
Bagdad, Iraq Museum 31389 (after Littauer and Crouwel
1979: fig. 7).
Bovids—in teams of two—appear to have been the draught
animals used in funerary and other ritual, as sanctified by
tradition. Oxen, castrated males that are slow but strong,
docile, and steady, would also have been employed in
transporting agricultural or other material too heavy and/
or bulky for human porters or pack animals to carry. (The
use of pack animals, presumably asses, is first documented
in the Near East by terracotta figurines of the fourth and
third millennia BCE).'*
^ See Moore 2001: 345; Oates 2003: 115; Benecke 2004: 458-60, for
the ass in the Near East and elsewhere.
31
At the same time, livelier and faster teams were now
composed of (usually) four equids, either asses or hybrids
of ass and hemione or ass and horse. In contrast to what
has often been claimed, the native hemione itself appears
never to have been fully domesticated and used only in
cross-breeding.?
All draught was by the pole-and-yoke system. The single,
central draught pole would have originated with paired
bovids under yoke, on either side of the plough beam that
helped to keep the share straight.'° Domestic cattle had
long been known in Iraq and other parts of the Near East,
as well as in parts of Europe." The plough beam must
have been converted into a pole of four— or two—wheeled
vehicles when the time came.'* The bovids were harnessed
under a yoke either attached to their horns, or laid on their
necks in front of the withers which pushed against the
neck yoke to produce the tractive power. A very simple
yoke may have been used, with rods or straps to keep it in
position. When equids first began to be used in draught,
they were harnessed by the same system, which is less
suitable for equine anatomy than for bovine. Equids have
longer, slenderer necks and low withers. This would have
reduced the pushing power of the withers and permit the
yoke, unless it was held firmly forward, to ride back over
the lower withers, bruising and chafing them, especially in
fast going. It has often been assumed that the strap that went
across the equid’s neck in order to hold the yoke forward
would rise against the animal’s trachea, thereby impairing
its breathing and greatly reducing tractive power. (Modern
equid shaft-and-breastcollar harness permits the pressure
to be taken by the shoulders or breast, the most suitable
areas.) However, experiments have shown that the ancient
method cannot have been quite as inefficient as it has often
been made out to be, or modifications would have taken
place sooner.”
The harnessing of the teams of four equids is well
illustrated by a copper model of a type of two—wheeled
vehicle known as the ‘straddle car’ (see below) from Tell
Agrab in Iraq (Figure 5). Here, only the two inner animals
carry a yoke, slightly shaped to fit their necks and attached
on top of the pole near its end, while the other animals are
more loosely attached outriggers. All four animals wear
thick (padded?) neck straps, those of the inner animals
being fastened directly to the yoke, those of the outer ones
being attached to the yoke on one side only and with a little
play. Thus, the outriggers would have provided very little
pulling power since they were not under yoke. Equids are
herd animals and, as such, are not only more willing to
go in company than alone, but also competitive at speed.
5 Postgate 1986; Zarins 1986: 180-89 and 2014: chapter II; von den
Driesch 1993; Oates 2003: 115, 117; but cf. Bollweg and Nagel 1992;
Strommenger and Bollweg 1996; Nagel, Bollweg and Strommenger
1999.
16 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 9f.; Sherratt 2004: 416-19.
'7 Benecke 2004: 455-57.
18 See the Uruk IV pictograph for plough: Falkenstein 1936, sign 214;
Green and Nissen 1986, sign 33; also Moorey 1994: 2 f.
? Spruytte 1983.
Joost H. Crouwel
The outer animals, feeling less yoke pressure on their
necks than the inner ones, may well have been inclined
to set a faster pace, which would then stimulate the yoked
animals, and help to increase the speed. They could also
serve as reserve animals, while at the same time adding an
element of display to the equipage.
As evidenced on the Tell Agrab model and elsewhere,
the equids were controlled by single lines to nose rings,
a circumstance that also points to original bovid draught.
The lines passed through a double terret which, in the case
of the Tell Agrab model, is positioned on the yoke (Figure
5), but is shown in two-dimensional representations as
placed farther back, on the pole (Figures 8, 12); the latter
position is also indicated by the shape of the bases of actual
metal terrets found at various sites. A well-known, costly
example is the terret crowned by an equid figure that was
associated with Pu-abi’s sledge in the Royal Cemetery at
Ur (Figure 6). The nose rings of the outer animals were
each connected by a line only to the yoke, so that when
the driver pulled on the lines of the central animals and
these slowed the equipage, the yoke itself would check
the outer ones. This method of control was limited to
braking. Directional control, if attempted, must have been
by voice, goad, or whip, or a combination thereof—as
oxen may still be directed. Goads and whips are indeed
shown with equine harness teams (Figure 12). Although
a nose ring does not require a headstall of leather straps
or rope to hold it, the combination is repeatedly shown
with equids. The headstall includes a basket muzzle and/
or a tight-fitting noseband so placed as to press on the
sensitive tissue below the equids’ nasal bones (Figure 8).
Such arrangements may well have been to discourage the
draught teams (in the most explicit renderings shown as
four ungelded males) from bickering among themselves,
and to protect the grooms when harnessing them.
The four-wheelers seen in two- and three-dimensional
figured documents differ markedly from those ofthe earlier
pictographs. Many representations show a single type
which may be called ‘battle car’ since—during the Early
Dynastic III period—it is depicted primarily in military
contexts. The ‘battle car’ was narrow, with room for a
complement of two—a driver and a passenger standing
behind him. The fairly high front breastwork of bent wood
is topped by an open rail by which the driver may steady
himself in the springless vehicle. The sides are low and
panelled. Sometimes a seat for the driver is shown.
The draught pole may be of two types: one is straight,
rising obliquely from the level of the vehicle floor to the
yoke area; the other type is high and arching. Since the
poles of four-wheelers have no supportive functions,
unlike those of two-wheelers, they need not be attached
rigidly. Indeed, a rigid attachment to the vehicle would be
disadvantageous in anything but completely level terrain.
Several metal models, most of them unprovenanced but
including some from a cemetery near Abamor in south—
eastern Turkey and dating to the later third or early second
millennium BCE, testify to the presence of a vertically
32
Figure 6. Silver and electrum terret from Ur. London,
British Museum 121438 (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979:
fig. 10).
Figure 7. ‘Battle car.’ Copper/bronze model. New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art 66.15 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 15).
articulating pole which would have reduced the strain on
draught team, pole and wagon (Figure 7).? There is no
evidence to suggest that the poles of the third—millennium
‘battle cars’, like those of wagons in the much later Hallstatt
period in Europe, had any horizontal movement through
being combined with an undercarriage and a swiveling
front axle. This means that the ‘battle cars’ could turn only
in wide arcs.
2 Littauer and Crouwel 1973 2002: 336-79; Nagel 1984-85;
Kulakoglu 2003 (model no. 1 stands out in having an arched tilt).
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
Figure 8. ‘Battle cars.’ Detail of the ‘Standard of Ur’. London, British Museum 121201 (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979:
fig. 3).
In Early Dynastic representations, this type of vehicle is
often depicted with a sheath of throwing spears attached
to the front edge of the breastwork, suggesting a use in
warfare or hunting. Several times, the 'battle car' is
shown in an explicitly military context, the most graphic
illustration of this being a scene on the so-called Standard
of Ur (Figure 8). It shows a row of four wagons, manned
by helmeted drivers and warriors; the latter steadying
themselves on the shoulders of the drivers in front and
carrying a throwing spear or axe. The vehicles are moving
at varying speed across a battlefield, symbolised by the
stripped and bleeding human bodies of enemies prostrate
beneath the draught teams. The position of the bodies need
not be read literally since, if at all possible, equids avoid
stepping on bodies for fear of injuring their own limbs.
We have here, in fact, the earliest appearance of the motif
of ‘the enemy beneath the team’s hooves’ that is to return
early in the next millennium and later with another type
of vehicle, the two-wheeled chariot. Wherever the motif
appears, it must be taken as merely symbolic of victory.
Although the appearance of the ‘battle car’ in warfare may
originally have had as daunting a psychological effect on
third millennium foot soldiers, as had that of the tank on
those in the First World War, this often drawn comparison
is fallacious. It is most unlikely that the wagons, costly to
make and maintain, and with their poor manoeuvrability,
were used in head-on charges against each other or against
unbroken infantry lines. In contrast, tanks could do that,
while also being able to negotiate many kinds of terrain
that are inaccessible to draught animals and wheels,
and offering protection to both motive power and crew.
However, the ancient ‘battle cars’ could have functioned as
mobile arsenals and firing platforms from which javelins
could have been thrown in warfare or hunting. Indeed,
modern experiments have shown that an expert javelin
thrower can throw 30 javelins a minute over a distance
of up to 60 meters from a reconstruction of such a wagon
moving at a speed of 10-12 miles an hour?! The ‘battle
cars’ may also have been used as a prestigious means of
?! Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 33, based on unpublished information
from D. Noble. Nobel’s full-scale (very heavy) reconstruction of a ‘battle
car’, as depicted on the ‘Standard of Ur’, was recently exhibited at the
International Museum of the Horse in the Kentucky Horse Park (Olsen
and Culbertson 2010: no. 2).
33
transport for kings and important officers to and from the
field of battle. The axe seen in one warrior’s hand on the
‘Standard of Ur’ and his position at the rear of the vehicle,
convenient for mounting and dismounting, also suggests
fighting on the ground.
After the Early Dynastic period there is no longer evidence
for the use of these four-wheeled vehicles in warfare.
Indeed, the various disadvantages noted above may have
led to their abandonment for this purpose. A use in cult
may be suggested by representations on cylinder seals of
the Akkadian period (ca. 2350—2100 BCE) showing *battle
cars’ driven by deities and pulled by winged monsters.
Cult use may also be implied by the group of metal
models mentioned above, which show bovid-drawn four-
wheelers with a high front breastwork clearly deriving
from that of the traditional ‘battle car’ (Figure 7).
A civil use can be assumed for the wagons represented
by various terracotta models which show no features
typical of the ‘battle car.” Among them, four—wheelers
with arched tilts figure promimently (Figure 9). These
vehicles were presumably bovid-drawn, like the actual
wagons, with and without tilts, from Transcaucasia and the
Caspian steppe and were of similar as well as later date.?
Of special interest is also the four-wheeler represented in
detail by a terracotta model from Tulul el-Khattab near
Baghdad, with its floor of bent wood and osier or reed,
held together by bindings (Figure 10).?
As to the two-wheeled vehicles of the third millennium
BCE, one type, the so-called platform car, appears to be
a two-wheeled version of the ‘battle car,’ including the
typical high, bent-wood front breastwork. This is most
clearly seen in terracotta models, such as one from Kish
(Figure 11). Other such models, mostly dating to the later
third millennium like those from Ashur, show no side
breastwork but a seat for the single occupant (Figure 12).
The second type of two—wheeler is the so-called straddle
car, in which the standing or seated occupant straddled the
end of the straight or arching draught pole, with his feet
? Littauer and Crouwel 1974, 2002: 380-402; Strommenger 1990;
Moorey 2001: 345-47. But cf. Ozgen 1986 (three ‘battle car'-like
models).
3 Postgate 1992: fig. 10: 1.
Joost H. Crouwel
Figure 9. Tilt wagon. Terracotta model from Hammam.
Oxford, Ahsmolean Museum 1913.183 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1974: fig. 1).
Figure 10. Wagon. Terracotta model from Tulul el-Khattab.
Baghdad, Iraq Museum 87213 (after Postgate 1992: fig.
10: 1).
placed on the axle or a bracket, much as a later rider would
place his feet in the stirrups of a saddle (Figures 5, 13). The
saddle seat may be shown with a high cantle behind and a
leopard skin to increase the rider's comfort. There appear
to have been variations on these two basic types. As two—
wheelers, both must have been more manoeuvrable than
the four-wheeler, but only the light ‘straddle car’ would
have been suitable at speed, since the rider could make use
of the spring in his hips, knees and ankles to absorb the
jolts. The ‘straddle car’ sometimes also carries javelins,
but is never shown in an explicitly military setting. The
necessity for the driver to control the team of four equids
and to use weapons at the same time would have limited
its usefulness in battle. Such a vehicle could, however,
34
Figure 11. ‘Platform car.’ Terracotta model, from Kish.
Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History FM 229170
(after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 9).
Figure 12. ‘Platform car.’ Terracotta model from Ashur
(after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 20).
Figure 13. ‘Straddle car.’ Detail of stone plaque from Ur.
Philadelphia, University Museum CBS 17086 (after Littauer
and Crouwel 1979: fig. 8).
have been driven at speed in prepared hunts, where game
would be chased across its arranged path over appropriate
terrain and, perhaps, even in a confined area, as happened
later with Egyptian and Assyrian chariots. The ‘straddle
car’ may also have served as a fast courier’s transport.
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
All in all, various types of wheeled vehicles were used for
a variety of purposes in Early Dynastic times. According to
textual sources, some were sacred vehicles to be employed
in processions, while others figure among grave goods.”
The latter use is confirmed by the discovery of vehicles,
along with their draught teams, in the Royal Cemetery
at Ur and other richly furnished tombs at Kish and Susa,
where they must also have functioned as status symbols.??
In the Near East by the later third millennium BCE, fast,
single-person, equid—drawn two-wheelers with solid
wheels had been in use for centuries. It is at this time and
including the early second millennium that we can observe
a progressive series of modifications in the construction of
the body and wheels of these vehicles and in the methods
by which the draught teams were controlled (for what
follows: Littauer and Crouwel 1979, chapters 6 and 7).
These modifications resulted in the establishment in the
Near East—in the eighteenth to seventeenth centuries at the
latest—of the chariot, i.e. a light vehicle with two spoked
wheels, usually drawn by horses which were controlled by
bitted bridles, and carrying one or more standing riders.
The horse is documented sparingly in the Near East in the
later third millennium BCE, among the faunal remains?
and in cuneiform texts. The latter refer to the horse either as
a breeder to get hybrids, or as a mount or draught animal.’
Although his superior speed, strength, and handsomeness
made him desirable, the horse could not be made efficient
use of until suitably harnessed and bridled.
In the later third millennium, (indirect) evidence for the
use of a bridle bit—an element for control of the equid
by mouth, composed of a mouthpiece and cheekpieces,
and essential for driving at speed—becomes available (for
what follows: Littauer and Crouwel 2001; Brownrigg with
Dietz 2004). It consists of wear, possibly left by metal
bridle bits, on the teeth of five asses buried in a temple
at Tell Brak in Syria, belonging to the Akkadian period
and dated ca. 2200 BCE.” Bit wear has also been reported
in connection with the remains of a ‘probable mule or
possible horse’ from Malyan in Elam and attributed to the
Kaftari phase (ca. 2200-1800 BCE). Other, again indirect
indications of an early use of (metal) bits in the Near East,
may be yielded by terracotta figurines. An explicitly male
caballine figurine (viz. the falling mane) from a context
dated ca. 2300-2100 BCE at Tell Es-Sweyhat in Syria has
a transverse hole through its muzzle (Figure 14), as has a
broken-off equine head of Akkadian date from Tell Taya
in northern Iraq (Figure 15) and a roughly contemporary
head from Selenkahiyeh in Syria. The holes would have
2% Civil 1968; Zarins 1986: 180-88. For textual evidence for wheeled
vehicles in general: Salonen 1951; Zarins 2014: chapter III.
25 Zarins 1986: 165-80, including burials of (paired) equids without
traces of vehicles at various sites.
% Becker 1994: 156-170; Oates 2003: 117, 119 f; Benecke 2004:
460-62; Vila 2006: 117—20; Zarins 2014: 83-87.
27 Postgate 1986; Zarins 2014: chapter III; also J. Marzahn in this
edition.
?* Clutton-Brock and Davies 1993: 214 f.; Clutton-Brock 2001; but cf.
Clutton-Brock 2003.
35
Figure 14. Stallion. Terracotta figurine from Tell Es—
Sweyhat (after Holland 1993—94: fig. 11).
Figure 15. Bridled equid. Incomplete terracotta figurine
from Tell Taya (after Littauer and Crouwel 2001: fig. 3).
been for paired reins belonging to a (bitted?) bridle, and
not a nose ring. In addition, the Tell Taya head preserves
part of the headstall, made of straps or rope and designed
to hold a controlling bit or noseband in place. Complete
headstalls, but no pierced muzzles, can be seen on several
equid figurines from Selenkahiyeh and other sites.
Whoever thought of eliminating the nose ring and
attaching a rein to either side ofthe low noseband, already
seen in figured documents of the earlier third millennium,
was on the way to achieving the graded braking effect
and, at least partial, directional control impossible with a
single nose ring. One of the drawbacks of the noseband
type of control is its weak lateral effect. It would be
natural to place a metal reinforcement in the areas where
the reins were attached. If these two reinforced sections
were joined by a bar mouthpiece through the mouth (in
Joost H. Crouwel
this area, equids’ teeth are conveniently missing), their
lateral effectiveness would be further increased. A pair
of reins attached to either side of the bit would give the
driver not only braking power, but directional control,
thereby greatly increasing the manoeuvrability, hence the
usefulness of the vehicle, something particularly desired
in battle. The presence of a bit would also eliminate the
tendency of the entire headstall to skew around when one
rein was pulled strongly.? Interestingly, the osteological
evidence from Tell Brak raises the possibility that in
the Near East bit control was initially not exclusively
associated with horse-drawn chariots, as has often been
assumed.
There are also indications of developments in wheel
construction.” Actual metal tyres, made in segments
and held on by clamps, have been found in different
parts of the Near East, as well as in Turkmenistan and
possibly Afghanistan (Figure 16)?! Such tyres, studded
with hobnails, belong to the 'straddle car' depicted on
a fragmentary stone stela of Ur III date from Telloh in
southern Iraq (Figure 17). While such clamped tyres would
have been an improvement on the plain metal hoop ones
that are sometimes apparently illustrated in Early Dynastic
times and which would have easily worked loose, the
amount of metal required still made them costly as well as
adding considerably to the weight of the wheels.
The so-called cross-bar wheel represents an attempt to
lighten the disk wheel (for what follows: Littauer and
Crouwel 1977 = 2002: 272-88). It is first seen, with a
crudely rendered two-wheeled vehicle, on a cylinder seal
from level IIIb at Tepe Hissar in northern Iran and usually
dated to ca. 2250-2000 BCE (Figure 18). In this type of
wheel, the central plank of the wheel, through which the
axle passes, is narrowed to a diametral bar; the flanking
planks of the tripartite wheel are eliminated, and the
former bonding slats are turned into sturdy transverse bars
between the diametral bar and the felloe. This cross—bar
wheel is also illustrated in the second millennium BCE
and later. Fixed on a revolving axle, it has remained in
use with simple carts in various parts of the world. A more
important innovation was the much lighter, spoked wheel
which is first attested early in the second millennium BCE
(see below).
The traditional four—wheeled ‘battle car’ and two—wheeled
‘straddle’ and ‘platform cars’ continue to be depicted in
figured documents of the earlier second millennium BCE
? Littauer 1969 = Littauer and Crouwel 2002: 487—504; Littauer and
Crouwel 2001: 335.
3° For what follows: Littauer and Crouwel 1989 = 2002: 261-71; Teufer
1999: 73, 75, and 2012, 291; Crouwel 2012.
?! [n situ remains of actual wagons with such tyres were quite recently
found in the ‘Royal Cemetery’ of ca. 2100-1800 BCE at Gonur-depe
in south-eastern Turkmenistan (Sarianidi 2006: 252 £. with figs. 72 and
99; Kohl 2007: 195-99, 209, 244 with figs. 5.9-11; Crouwel 2012: 92 f.;
Teufer 2012: 291, fig. 15). This and other sites of the so-called Bactrian—
Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) were clearly in contact with
Iran and other parts of the Near East. I am grateful to T. Kawami for
further information.
36
Figure 16. Bronze tyre in segments, from Susa. Teheran,
Iran Bastan Museum (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979:
fig. 1).
Figure 17. *Straddle car.’ Fragments of stone relief from
Telloh. Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum 2904 (after
Littauer and Crouwel 1979: figs. 18a—b).
Figure 18. Two—wheeler with ‘cross—bar’ wheel. Cylinder
seal from Tepe Hissar. Teheran, Iran Bastan Museum (after
Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 21).
(for what follows: Littauer and Crouwel 1979: chapter 7).
Vehicles deriving from the ‘battle car’ appear on cylinder
seals and impressions thereof from the time of the Old
Assyrian trade colony at Kültepe (Kärum Kanes, level II)
in central Turkey, often dated to the later 20th and earlier
nineteenth century BCE. The vehicles, with a seated
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
Figure 19. ‘Battle car’ with spoked wheels. Cylinder seal.
New York, Morgan Collection 893 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 25).
Figure 20. Proto—chariot. Detail of cylinder seal impression.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 66.245.17b (after
Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 29).
driver behind the characteristic high front breastwork, are
drawn by a team of four equids. The wheels are of the
cross-bar or new spoked types (Figure 19). On other seal
impressions spoked wheels are shown with a new form
of two-wheeled vehicle, like the four-wheelers shown in
a peaceful, parade setting (Figure 20). This two—wheeler
is light, with only a hip-high railing to protect the single,
standing occupant who is clearly a deity. There is no
seat anymore. Instead, the rail probably extended along
the front and sides but leaving the back open for quick
(dis)mounting. This interpretation is supported by the
evidence of a terracotta model, possibly of slightly later
date, from Uruk in southern Iraq (Figure 21). As on the
four-wheelers, the old nose ring is still in evidence, but
the team now consists of only two equids. Like the four
draught animals illustrated with the traditional *battle
cars‘, the equids are too schematically rendered to permit
37
Figure 21. Proto—chariot. Front screen of fragmentary
terracotta vehicle model from Uruk. Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum 11576 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: t).
Figure 22. Copper/bronze model spoked wheel from
Acemhóyük (after Littauer and Crouwel 1986, pl. 23: fig. 2).
more precise identification. This spoke-wheeled vehicle
and those shown in Anatolian glyptics may be called
proto-chariots, as they still lack yoke saddles and bridle
bits with reins attached to either side. At the same time, the
two-wheeled vehicles represent an important step towards
the true chariot.
The earliest three-dimensional evidence for spoked
wheels consists of the copper/bronze four-spoked wheels
(0.17—0.177 m. in diameter) belonging to a large model
or trolley from the so-called Burnt Palace at Acemhóyük
in central Turkey, usually dated to the first half of the
eighteenth century BCE (Figure 22).? Rather than four
spokes inserted into a separately made barrel nave, these
? Littauer and Crouwel 1986 = 2002: 289-95.
Joost H. Crouwel
wheels may suggest the sophisticated nave-and-spoke
construction materially documented in the second half of
the second millennium (see below).
Syrian cylinder seals of the 18th and 17th centuries BCE
illustrate spoke-wheeled two-wheelers with a variety of
body forms and drawn by teams of two equids.? Some
of the vehicles appear to be traditional high-fronted
‘platform cars’ or modifications thereof, in which the
seat is removed, thereby permitting rapid access from
the rear (Figure 23). Others may be called chariots, with
either a light, open siding of bent rails or a variety of
closed, box-like superstructures of equal height at front
and sides (Figures 24—25). The traditional high, arching
pole is usually reduced to a lower, more gently curving
one (Figures 23—25). Some of the chariots seem to have
the breastwork brace and/or pole support dropping from
the top of the siding to the pole a short distance in front
that is explicitly attested in the later second millennium
BCE (Figure 24). Most vehicles still carry only a single
occupant, but one chariot explicitly has a two-man crew,
depicted standing one close behind the other, but in reality
probably actually standing abreast, as did the crews on
many later chariots shown in this convention (Figure 24).
This implies a wider floor and a lengthened axle, which
would provide a wider wheelbase and increase lateral
stability on rapid turns.
The draught animals may well be exclusively horses,
which are now amply documented in osteological and
textual sources, the latter often referring to their use with
vehicles.
Syrian seals may show rods with curved ends over the yoke
area (Figures 24—25). These rods may be interpreted as the
(exaggeratedly long) *handles' of so-called yoke saddles
that are well documented in the later second millennium
BCE (see below). These wooden Y-shaped objects, one
to each animal and with their *handle' attached to the
yoke, were a means of adapting the yoke better to horses'
anatomy: by transferring the pull from the neck to the
shoulders they increased the animals’ pulling power and
stamina.
Some of the Syrian seals depicting two—wheelers with
teams of two equids still show single lines to nose rings.
The others indicate two pairs of lines running to the
heads of the animals, suggesting the use of a bridle with
or without a bit (Figures 23-25). As we have seen, there
Is indirect evidence for the use of bridle bits by the later
third millennium BCE. Now we have direct testimony ofa
copper/bronze bit, dated toca. 1700/1650—1550 BC (Middle
Bronze Age IIT) from Haror in the northern Negev.? This
bit was actually found in the mouth of an equid, identified
as an approximately four years-old ass, that was buried
in a cultic context (Figure 26). The Haror bit belongs to a
? Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 68-70; Moorey 1986; Nagel 1992: 72-74.
3 Littauer 1968 = Littauer and Crouwel 2002: 479-86.
55 Littauer and Crouwel 2001; Bar-Oz et al. 2013.
38
Figure 23. ‘Platform car’. Detail of cylinder seal (after
Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 36).
Figure 24. Chariot. Detail of cylinder seal. Yale, Babylonian
Collection (Newell Collection no. 343; after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 33).
Figure 25. Chariot. Detail of cylinder seal. Oxford,
Ashmolean Museum 1920.25 (after Littauer and Crouwel
1979: fig. 35).
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
Figure 26. Copper/bronze bridle bit from Tel Haror (after
Littauer and Crouwel 2001: fig. 1).
well-known type with circular cheekpieces, often studded
on the inner faces, and a single bar mouthpiece. Most, if
not all of these cast-metal bits, which are known not only
from different parts of the Near East, but also from Egypt
and mainland Greece, date within the second half of the
second millennium BCE (see below). They are driving
bits, with the emphasis on enforcing directional control
from a vehicle—something further improved by studs on
the inside of the cheekpieces. Mention may be made here
of a horse skeleton from the Egyptian fortress at Buhen
in Nubia, possibly dating to some time in the seventeenth
century.” It has been proposed that the wear on one tooth
was caused by a metal bit."
One Syrian seal (Figure 23) provides the first evidence for
the use ofthe bow from a vehicle, here in a hunting setting.
The driver is using his bow, a quiver hanging at his back,
while at the same time controlling his team by reins tied
around his hips (for what follows: Littauer and Crouwel
1979: 63). This is a theme that is to become popular in the
Near East, and particularly in Egypt, in the later second
millennium—a royal or high-ranking personnage alone in
his chariot, attacking the enemy or game, usually using
the bow, the reins tied around his hips. This ostentatious
feat was indeed accomplished by much later Etruscan
and Roman racing charioteers. While it might have been
practical with the hunting chariot in prepared hunts where
game was driven across the raised hunter's chosen path, it
would have been both too dangerous and too uncontrolled
for a head of state to have taken such a risk under the
uncertainty of battle conditions.
The use of a bow from a wheeled vehicle is implicit in
some other Syrian seals where the single driver carries
a quiver or bowcase on his back (Figure 25). The use
of the bow in warfare would be most effective when the
archer did not need to concern himself with driving, but
had a charioteer. This is precisely the practice illustrated
in many battle scenes of the later second and earlier first
millennium BCE. Appropriate conditions may already
have existed by the earlier second millennium, with the
chariot presumably wide enough to permit a second person
abreast of the driver and the new low front breastwork not
36 An early date for the Buhen horse receives some support from the
recent find of a horse skeleton in a palace of ca. 1640-1530 BCE at Tell
el-Dab'a in the Nile delta (Bietak and Fórstner-Müller 2009: 98-100
with fig. 8).
37 Clutton-Brock 1974: 238-39; but cf. Payne 1995: 238f.; Raulwing
and Clutton—Brock 2009.
39
interfering with the use of the bow. Improved stability and
manoeuvrability, thanks to a wide wheel base and control
by bitted bridle, would also have increased the suitability
of the vehicle for warfare.
Several of the Syrian seals show the vehicles, with one
or two occupants, accompanied by a file of marching
unarmed attendants, and sometimes a prone human figure
‘beneath the team’s hooves’.** The latter is a symbol of
military victory, already encountered with the four-
wheeled ‘battle cars’ depicted on the ‘Standard of Ur’ and
also illustrated with chariots in the later second and earlier
first millennium BCE.
Firmer evidence for a role of chariots in warfare at this time
is found in cuneiform texts of the Hittite Old Kingdom,
which refer to chariotry forming part of the armies of the
Hittites and their Anatolian and Levantine enemies. Only
in one case—a passage in the Annals of king Hattusilis I
(ca.1650-1600 BCE)—are 80 vehicles more specifically
reported as being used in surrounding the besieged city of
Ursum, somewhere in southeastern Turkey.”
In the Near East, the earliest archaeological sources for
the light, spoke-wheeled, horse-drawn chariot come
from central Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The first texts refer
to the new type of vehicle and its team of horses among
the Amorites, Hurrians, and Hittites, the latter speaking an
Indo-European language. Despite repeated claims, there
is no compelling evidence for a special or unique role
of Indo—European or other linguistic groups in the early
development of the chariot in the Near East.”
In this account, it is argued that the chariot ofthe Near East
is the outcome of a long evolution in the area itself. This
stands in contrast to the long-held theory that the vehicle
and its draught animals were introduced from the Eurasian
steppes, probably by Indo-European-speaking people.“
The idea of a northern origin for the chariot has recently
been revived, chiefly on the basis of calibrated radio—
carbon dates of ca. 2000-1800 BCE for tombs containing
remains of spoke—wheeled two-wheelers at Sintashta and
other sites in northern Khazakstan, just east of the Urals.?
In most cases, all that remained of the actual two—wheelers
were the impressions left in the soil by the lower parts of
ten- or twelve-spoked wheels. Horse remains and discoid
bone cheekpieces of soft-mouthed bridle bits found with
them, show that these early vehicles were horse-drawn
38 Lauer and Crouwel 1979: 63; Moorey 1986: 205 f.
3 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 64-65; Houwink ten Cate 1984: 57-60;
Moorey 1986: 198, 204—05; Beal 1992: 143-44, 147-48, 279-82.
4 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 69-71; Moorey 1989; extensive
discussion and bibliography in Raulwing 2000, and also 2005; Raulwing
and Burmeister 2012; Teufer 2012.
^! Nagel 1987: 170-175; 1992: 67-81; Jacobs 2005: 434-37; Eder and
Nagel 2006; Anthony 2005; 2007: chapters 15-17 (cf. the highly critical
review by Izbitser 2012).
? Gening et al. 1992; Anthony 1995: 561 f.; Anthony and Vinogradov
1995; Epimachov and Korjakova 2004; Kuznetsov 2006; Anthony 2007:
chapter 15; Kohl 2007: 151-53; Kupriyanova, Epimakhov, Berseneva
and Bersenev 2017.
Joost H. Crouwel
Figure 27. Drawing of the so-called Florence chariot from Thebes, 18th Dynasty (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 42).
(for what follows: Littauer and Crouwel 1996b — 2002:
45—52). The steppes have yielded burials of ox-drawn
wagons with four disk wheels, going back to the third
and late fourth millennium BCE, but no early tradition of
fast transport by two—wheeler.? No doubt, ridden horses
were used for this purpose from early on. It has been
calculated that most of the buried two—wheelers from
northern Khazakstan had narrow wheel bases of 1.20 m
and short naves, of 0.20 m. at most. These dimensions
would render the vehicles impractical at speed and limit
their manoeuvrability, and hence they cannot yet be called
true chariots.^ Instead, it may be suggested that it was the
prestige value of the locally developed Near Eastern two-
wheelers that inspired imitations on the steppes.
The true chariot ofthe Near East was perfected by about the
middle of the second millennium BCE, as the culmination
of successive developments over a period of nearly 2000
years. Details of construction and dimensions come
from New Kingdom Egypt, where the chariot had been
introduced from the Levant at some time during the Second
Intermediate period (ca. 1650-1550 BCE). Large numbers
of Egyptian and Asiatic chariots are illustrated in detail in
painting and low relief in tombs and on temple walls, and
(all or parts of) eight actual chariots have survived, six of
them from the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun.* The actual
chariots are constructed entirely of heat-bent wood and
rawhide (Figure 27). Their D-shaped floors (about 1.00
m. wide by 0.50 m. deep) have a flooring of interwoven
thongs, which not only help to keep the bent-wood
frame in tension, but also provided some springiness.
The approximately hip-high siding, in profile shown as
rounded or rectangular, extends around the front and sides,
leaving the rear open for rapid mounting or dismounting.
The siding is solid or fenestrated. Parade and royal chariots
might have gilded and decorated sidings.
55 [zbitser 1993; several contributions to Rad und Wagen; Kohl 2007: 84
£, 115, 119 f.
^ [t is unlikely that these vehicles were used on the steppe by warrior—
drivers hurling javelins or firing arrows, as has been suggested (Anthony
2007: 399 f., 403, 462; Anthony and Dorcas 2011: 155 f.).
55 For what follows: Littauer and Crouwel 1979: chapter 8; 1985;
Spruytte 1983: 23-52; Sandor 2004a and 2004b; Herold 2004 and 2006;
Crouwel 2013.
40
Figure 28. Fragmentary chariot wheel from tomb of
Amenophis III, Thebes. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
1923.663 (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 46).
The light, fast vehicle was given stability by a rear axle
and a wide wheel base (1.51—1.80 m.). The wheels are
0.90—0.97 m. in diameter and revolve freely on fixed
axles, their naves (0.325-0.440 m. in length) elongated
to reduce wobbling (Figures 27-28). The interiors of the
naves were protected by a leather lining, which would also
have reduced the noise produced by wood revolving on
wood. Traces of a lubricant were present on the axle of one
of the chariots. There are examples of both four— and six—
spoked wheels, the latter being more common. All have
composite spokes, made from single rods, semi-elliptical
in section and heat-bent in the middle to form V’s (at an
angle of 60 degrees for a six-spoked wheel and of 90
degrees for a four-spoked one). The ‘legs’ of one V were
glued back to back to the ‘legs’ of the adjacent V's, each
whole spoke being fully elliptical in section. The rounded
angles of the V's nestle in bays ofthe nave. The outer ends
of the composite spokes are inserted into the felloe which
is composed of two lengths of bent wood, overlapping at
the ends. Glue and rawhide, applied wet and shrunk as it
dried, tightened and consolidated the construction of naves
and felloes. In most cases, there is evidence to show that
shrunk-on rawhide was also used for tyres, which not only
protected the running surface of the wheel, but helped to
consolidate its parts.
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
This construction, based on tension and without metal parts
that could be jolted loose, required great skill to make, and
was vulnerable to dampness. Elm, tamarisk, and birch bark
(which has waterproofing properties) have been identified
in the construction of various parts, and particularly the
wheels, of the actual chariots found in Egypt. The fact that
neither elm nor birch are native to Egypt suggests that the
type of chariot and wheel used by the Egyptians originated
in the Near East, in parts of which these timbers are
indigenous. Indeed, elm wood has been attested on a six—
spoked wheel, 0.86 m. in diameter and made according to
the same technique of nave-and-spoke construction, from
a burnt building dated to the early twelfth century BCE at
Lidar Höyük in southeastern Turkey (Figure 29).* It may
be noted that elm is a hard timber that was also preferred
by later wheelwrights, particularly for naves. In the Near
East this technique of wheel-making may be traced back
to the eighteenth century BCE, 1f we can judge from the
four-spoked metal wheels belonging to a large model or
trolley from central Turkey (see above).
The single, long draft pole (2.46—2.60 m.) of the extant
chariots from Egypt runs all the way under the floor and
helped to support it. This pole, with its end fitted into a
socket under the rear floor bar and lashed to the front ofthe
floor frame, rises in front of the chariot in an S-curve to the
yoke. A pair of rods, or thongs, drops diagonally from the
front railing to the draught pole, restricting the tendency
of the floor frame and pole to pull apart in rough going
and bracing the front of the chariot. Lashings and a pin
secure the top of the pole near its far end to the two—horse
yoke. Two thongs (so-called yoke braces) run out from
the pole to each arm of the yoke in order to keep the latter
at right angles to the pole and to distribute tractive stress.
The yoke is adapted to equine conformation by means of
a Y-shaped yoke saddle attached to each yoke ‘arm’. (As
seen above, yoke saddles, one to each animal, are possibly
already documented in the earlier second millennium.)
The ‘legs’ of these wooden objects, secured at either end
by a crescentic strap across the front of the neck, would
have lain along the shoulders of the horse, taking the pull
in a manner similar to that of the much later horse collar.
There is now evidence for a backing element, i.e. a strap
running under the belly which would have prevented the
team from breaking out of its harness and transmitted the
backward movement to the pole.
The horses used were distinctly small by present-day
standards. Their size calculated from the yoke height of
extant Egyptian chariots, i.e. ca. 1.35 m. at the withers,
agrees quite well with skeletal information from various
places in Egypt and the Near East: ranging from 1.34-1.38
to 1.40-1.45 m., thereby falling within the modern classes
of ‘large pony’ or ‘small horse.’
The two horses under yoke and—padded—yoke saddles
were controlled by a bridle, composed of reins, a bit, and
4° Lauer, Crouwel and Hauptmann 1991 = 2002: 314-26.
41
Figure 29. Remains of chariot wheel from Lidar Höyük
(after Littauer, Crouwel and Hauptmann 1991: fig. 3).
Figure 30. Copper/bronze bridle bit from Tell el Ajjul.
Jerusalem, Rockefeller Museum 37.3271 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 48).
Figure 31. Copper/bronze bridle bit from Tell el Amarna.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1933.1209 (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 49).
a headstall. The metal bits, with their single-bar or jointed
mouthpieces and wheel-shaped or long rectangular
cheekpieces, were often studded on their inner faces,
exactly as on the Haror example of the earlier second
millennium (Figures 30-31).” Because the ends of the
(often long) solid or jointed mouthpiece were inserted in
the cheekpieces, a pull on one rein would press the studs
on the opposite side against the horse's lips, thus providing
for extra directional control, something particularly
welcome in warfare.
Most chariots represented in Egypt and the Near East
appear to agree closely with the various extant ones from
Egypt (Figures 32-35). The vehicles are usually shown
with crews of no more than two men standing side by
47 For the types of bit used: Potratz 1966: 103-16; Littauer and Crouwel
1979: 87-88; 2001.
Joost H. Crouwel
Figure 32. Egyptian chariot. Detail of stone relief of
Ramesses III from Medinet Habu (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 44).
Figure 33. Syrian chariot. Detail of wall painting from tomb
of Rekhmire, Thebes (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig.
43).
side. The chariots of the Hittites and their allies depicted
on Egptian temple reliefs commemorating the battle at
Kadesh in Syria (1275 BCE) are exceptional in having a
large enough floor space to permit a third man to stand
behind the other two (Figure 34).
From the Near East the use of the chariot had spread to
Egypt;** and other parts of the ancient world, including
Greece.” The question then is why was this piece of
equipment so widely adopted, and why did it remain in
use for so long, in the Near East even until the later first
48 Shaw 2001; Herold 2004: 123-26; Raulwing and Clutton-Brock
2009: 59—78.
® Crouwel 1991; 2004b; 2005. For the opposing, long-held view that
chariots were introduced in Greece from the north by Indo-European
warriors: a.o. Nagel 1987: 174—77; Messerschmidt 1988; Lichardus and
Vladár 1996; Penner 1998; Eder and Nagel 2006: 44f; cf. Kristiansen
2004: 448-52, and 2005. R. Drews (1988: chapter 8) argued for Indo-
European conquerors coming from eastern Anatolia.
42
Figure 34. Chariot of the Hittites or their allies. Detail of
stone relief of Ramesses II, Abydos (after Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: fig. 45).
220000 ce“
Figure 35. Assyrian chariot. Detail of stone relief of
Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (after Littauer and Crouwel 1979:
fig. 53).
millennium BCE? The answer to this question has mainly
to do with the vehicle’s military possibilities and its prestige
value. In warfare, horse-drawn chariots combined speed
with manoeuvrability, provided the terrain of operation
was level and open. At the same time, both the chariot
and their teams of horses could be lavishly decorated, thus
catering to the desire of conspicuous display of kings and
an elite class. They could also be used in hunting (with
beaters) and for ceremonial purposes. On the other hand,
chariots were far too light and small for goods transport,
which was served by boats, pack animals or ox— or mule—
drawn carts or wagons.
Chariots were costly to make and maintain, and the draught
teams had to be especially trained and to be matched in
height. In warfare at this time, chariotry and infantry
were both important, though chariotry alone was probably
not always the deciding factor?! There is ample figured
and textual documentation from the Near East and Egypt
5 Piggott 1992: 45-48. Cf. the famous Kikkuli treatise from the Hittite
capital Bogazkóy for training chariot horses: Raulwing and Meyer 2004;
Raulwing 2005.
>! Yadin 1963: 4 f., 86-90; Kendall 1975; Lauer and Crouwel 1979:
90-95; Schulman 1979; Beal 1992: 141—84; Richter 2004; Vita 2008;
Feldman and Sauvage 2010; Crouwel 2013, 85-88.
Wheeled Vehicles and their Draught Animals in the Ancient Near East
that—under the right circumstances—chariots, often in
large numbers, performed a variety of military functions,
primarily as a mobile firing platforms for archers standing
beside their drivers and to play a fast flanking and pursuing
role, and with bowcases and quivers of arrows or javelins
attached outside the chariot body providing reserve arms
(Figures 32-33). The three-man chariots of the Hittites
and their allies at Kadesh, depicted in Egyptian temple
reliefs, carry a driver, shield bearer, and spearman (quivers
are absent), and must have served essentially as a means of
transport (Figure 34).
The chariots, however, were not only limited in their field
of operation, but, despite the use of armour on their bodies,
their harness teams, as well as their crews, remained
extremely vulnerable.? The wounding of one horse, or its
laming from an obstacle-strewn battlefield, could bring
the entire equipage to a standstill, thereby eliminating
most of its effectiveness and making the elevated crew
an easy target. Like the third millennium four-wheeled
*battle cars' and other ancient military vehicles, they were
not launched in head-on charges against well-prepared
enemy lines.” The only exception are the scythed chariots
of the later first millennium BCE, but even these were
strictly limited to level and open terrain for their field of
operation.
Chariots survived the upheavals that struck most of the
Near East in the late second millennium. When they are
illustrated again, on Assyrian reliefs of the ninth century
BCE, they are still lightly built, with rear axles, six—
spoked wheels, and the pole-and-yoke hitch (Figure 35).
Of the three or four draft horses, only two are under yoke,
the others outriggers. In military settings, the chariots still
function as mobile firing platforms for archers. Their use
in prepared hunts and as prestige means of transport for
kings and their entourage also continues (Littauer and
Crouwel 1979, chapter 9).
This paper concludes with a few words on experiments
that were conducted in the winter of 2002 with full-scale
reconstructions ofninth-century Assyrian military chariots.
The trials, in which I was involved, took place near Harran
in south-eastern Turkey, as part of the preparations for a
British television documentary (in the series *Inventing
the Past: Machines Time Forgot', 2003). The experiments
suggested that Assyrian and other chariots did not, as had
previously been thought, run along the enemy front line
to soften it up with volleys of arrows.“ Rather, columns
of chariots would have approached the enemy line, at
full speed and, at different places, simultaneously, firing,
before making a sharp turn and getting away quickly
"7 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 92; 1996a: 298-99 = 2002: 68-69;
Schulman 1979: 114-44.
5 Drews 1988, chapters 5 and 7; 1993: 10-14, assumed just such a role
of chariots in the armies of the Near East, Egypt and Greece in the second
half of the second millennium BCE, eventually to be superseded by that
of infantry; but cf. Littauer and Crouwel 1996a — 2002: 66—74; Archer
2010: 63-66.
5 Lauer and Crouwel 1979: 128-30; Spruytte 1993.
43
enough so as not to offer easy targets to enemy archers.
This manoeuvre would be repeated again and again, until
the enemy was sufficiently softened up for the infantry to
come up and finish him off (Crouwel 2013: 87 f.).*
There is, however, a major problem with these tactics:
how to visualise both armies launching their chariotry at
the same time in battle? Would there not be chaos and loss
of many precious chariots, draught teams and crews?
Acknowledgements
Much of this text goes back to a chapter—in German—in Rad
und Wagen (Crouwel 2004), which is likewise largely based on
my many years of collaboration with Mary Littauer. Most of
the illustrations are by Dr J. Morel. For glossaries of technical
terms to do with vehicles and the harnessing and control of
their draught animals see Littauer and Crouwel 1979: chapter 2,
and 2000, xv—xx. The absolute chronology used in this chapter
is taken from van de Mieroop 2007. I wish to thank Th.J.K.
Krispijn S. Burmeister and P. Raulwing for contributing the study
following this paper, which has been specifically written after
our discussion on the tablets from Uruk, and for their expertise
and help, G. Skyte-Bradshaw for checking the English text, and
A. Dekker and J. Eerbeek for assistance with the preparation of
text and illustrations.
Abbreviation
Rad und Wagen Rad und Wagen. Der Ursprung einer
Innovation. Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa,
edited by M. Fansa and S. Burmeister. Beiheft der
Archáologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland
40. Von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 2004.
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4
Some Notes on Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled
Vehicles in the Archaic Texts from Uruk
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
Pictographic signs preserved on the so-called *Archaic Texts" from Uruk have drawn the
attention of scholars since their first publication by Adam Falkenstein (1936). One set of
signs is showing a sledge-like vehicle with various house-like constructions, another set
is almost identical with the exception of depicting two round impressions underneath those
sledge-like vehicles. This interpretation has been accepted by all scholars in the field. The
listing and classification of these two sets of pictographic signs in connection with the number
2N,, ( € €), used in Uruk over 5000 years ago, however, could be misunderstood in the
way that the two signs depicting various sledge-like vehicles with houses, but no wheeled—
vehicles as the interpretation of wheels must be ruled out due to use of the number 2N,,. As
our study shows, the two round impressions for the number ZN,, must be distinguished from
the two round impressions right underneath the sledge signs as they depict two different
types of markings. In addition, this article analyses written evidence for wheeled vehicles
and their parts from the *Archaic Texts" from Uruk. We come to the conclusion that the set
of sledge-like vehicles depict, as Falkenstein proposed, a type of wheeled vehicle depicting
the wheels exactly at the place underneath the runners where they would be expected in a
pictographic sign for Wagon. In the context of this edition in memory of Mary Littauer, it is
our goal to review the Mesopotamian pictograms and their contribution to the discussion of
early wheeled transport.
Introduction
For students of ancient wheeled transport! the
pictographic signs preserved on the so-called “Archaic
Texts"? from Uruk in southern Mesopotamia have
drawn much attention since their first publication in
1936? by Adam Falkenstein, one of the most renowned
sumerologists of his time. Before the calibration of
radiocarbon analysis overturned Old World chronology,
these tablets had been regarded as the oldest evidence for
the use of wagons and were seen as crowning witnesses
for the origin of this innovation in the early city states
of Mesopotamia.^ They still provide evidence for the
earliest use of wagons, but now have counterparts in
other regions of the ancient world of similar early date.?
The focus of this chapter is on a group of six tablets
(Figures 1-7) showing vehicles interpreted as wheeled
' For a concise overview see the contribution of Joost Crouwel on
wheeled vehicles in this edition. See also Littauer and Crouwel 1979;
Fansa and Burmeister 2004.
? See Introduction in ATU 5: 11-14; Englund 1998: 32 ff.
? Falkenstein, Archaische Texte aus Uruk (1936); see ATU 1 in our
bibliography.
* See e. g. Childe 1951: 178; Sherratt 1981: 263.
5 Burmeister 2011.
49
vehicles; five of the tablets were found in Uruk. Three
of the Uruk tablets are kept in the Vorderasiatisches
Museum in Berlin, two tablets in the Iraq Museum in
Baghdad. The sixth tablet surfaced in the art trade and
is thought to be from Tell Uqair.
The origin of the seminal innovation of wheeled vehicles
is still in debate. Between the Atlantic (North Sea) and the
Persian Gulf, the Alps and Central Asia wagons suddenly
seem to emerge without any distinctive origin and spread.
It is therefore necessary to scrutinise the evidence again.
In the context of this edition in memory of Mary Littauer,
it is our aim to review the Mesopotamian pictograms and
evaluate how they contribute to the discussion of early
wheeled transport (Figure 8).
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
Catalogue of sledge-like vehicles with two round impressions marking wheels
1. Uruk W 9656,ag
CLAY TABLET:
SIGN:
INSCRIPTION:
TRANSLITERATION:
PROVENIENCE:
URUK EXCAVATION DIARY:
DATE:
MUSEUM:
CDLI:
PUBLICATION:
Figure 1. Uruk Tablet W 9656,ag; scale 1:1 and 4:1 (O Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin—Vorderasiatisches Museum, Photos: Olaf M. Tefimer).
2. Uruk W 9656,h1
CLAY TABLET:
SIGN:
INSCRIPTION:
TRANSLITERATION:
PROVENIENCE:
URUK EXCAVATION DIARY:
DATE:
MUSEUM:
CDLI:
PUBLICATION:
Figure 2. Uruk Tablet W 9656,h1; scale 1:1 and 4:1 (O Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin—Vorderasiatisches Museum, Foto: Olaf M. Temer).
38 x 29 x 16 mm (museum catalogue) / 39 x 31 x 18 mm (cdli)
ATU 743; ZATU 248
Obverse only; administrative text
IN,;; GURUS +2N,, UTUL'? SEG, DAa
14?
Uruk; excavation no. W 9656,ag; findspot Qa XVL2
"unter der Abgleichung der Schicht III, 1,5 m über der Hóhe des Kalksteinsockels//
t.a.q. [terminus ante quem] IIIc”
Uruk Period IV
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, VAT 14672
P001449
ATU 1: 58; ATU 5: pl. 090
89 x 61 x 19 mm
ATU 744; ZATU 248
Obverse and reverse; lexical text, Archaic Lü A (witness)
1(N,,); | GURUS + 2N,, (obverse; in this view rotated 90° clockwise 3rd line, 2nd
column)
Uruk; excavation no. W 9656,h1; findspot Qa XVL2
“unter der Abgleichung der Schicht III, 1,5 m über der Hóhe des Kalksteinsockels//
t.a.q. [terminus ante quem] IIIc”
Uruk Period IV
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, VAT 15003
P000006
ATU 1: 340; ATU 3: pl. 023; Vaiman 1974: 25, fig. 9 (vs. line 3) [which is a schematic
representation of the pictogram]
50
3. Uruk W 9579,bk
CLAY TABLET:
SIGN:
INSCRIPTION:
TRANSLITERATION:
PROVENIENCE:
URUK EXCAVATION DIARY:
DATE:
MUSEUM:
CDLI:
PUBLICATION:
Figure 3. Uruk Tablet W 9579,bk; scale 1:1 and 4:1 (© Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin—Vorderasiatisches Museum, Foto: Olaf M. Tefimer).
4. Uruk W 19568,a
CLAY TABLET:
SIGN:
INSCRIPTION:
TRANSLITERATION:
PROVENIENCE:
URUK EXCAVATION DIARY:
DATE:
MUSEUM:
CDLI:
PUBLICATION:
Figure 4. Uruk Tablet W 19568,a; scale 1:1 and 4:1 (© DAI, Orient—Abteilung,
Uruk-Archiv).
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
41 x 30 x 14 mm (museum catalogue) / 43 x 31 x 16 mm (cdli)
ATU 744; ZATU 248
Obverse and reverse; administrative text
IN, ; DU BA GURUS,+ 2N,, MUS, (obverse)
Uruk; excavation no. W 9579,bk; findspot Qa XVL2
“unter der Abgleichung der Schicht III, 1,5 m über der Höhe des Kalksteinsockels//
t.a.q. HIc”
Uruk Period IV
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, VAT 14821
P001308
ATU 1: 218; ATU 5: pl. 069
62 x 45 x 28 mm
ATU 744; ZATU 248
Obverse and reverse; administrative text
6N., 2N, X GURUŠ, X2N,X
Uruk; excavation no. W 19568,a; findspot Nc XVL2
*] m nórdlich der S-Grenze in der Mitte, Füllschutt in Hóhe des neubabylonischen
Hauses"
Uruk Period IV
National Museum of Iraq, IM — [no inventory number tracable]
P003216
unpublished
b.
Ex
ÁN / \ "E [X og
© © \ J \ J
N / \ d
51
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
5. Uruk W 19584,d
CLAY TABLET:
SIGN:
INSCRIPTION:
TRANSLITERATION:
PROVENIENCE:
URUK EXCAVATION DIARY:
DATE:
MUSEUM:
CDLI:
PUBLICATION:
48 x 36 x 23 mm
ATU 743; ZATU 248
Obverse and reverse; administrative text
2N, TUG,, GURUS + 2N,, ERIM, (obverse)
Uruk; excavation no. W 19584,d; findspot Ne XVL2
“Stidseite Mitte, im archaischen Füllschutt, etwa 4 m vor der Mauer aus gebrannten
Ziegeln"
Uruk Period IV
National Museum of Iraq, IM 064852
P003252
unpublished
Figure 5. Uruk Tablet W 19584,d scale 1:1 and 4:1 (© DAL, Orient-Abteilung, Uruk-Archiv).
6. Tell Uqair
CLAY TABLET:
SIGN:
INSCRIPTION:
TRANSLITERATION:
PROVENIENCE:
URUK EXCAVATION DIARY:
DATE:
MUSEUM:
CDLI:
PUBLICATION:
52 x 62 x 19 mm (museum catalogue) / 57 x 64 x 20 (cdli)
ATU 745; ZATU 248
obverse and reverse; administrative text
GURUS + 2N,, (obverse; in this view rotated 90? clockwise 3rd line, 3rd column)
Tell Uqair; antiquity market, acquired 1903
“Stidseite Mitte, im archaischen Füllschutt, etwa 4 m vor der Mauer aus gebrannten
Ziegeln"
Gemdet Nasr Period/Uruk III
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin, VAT 5308
P005431
ATU 1: 639; MSVO 4: 23, pl. 16; Burmeister 2011: 212, fig. 2
Figure 6. Tell Uqair Tablet; left: scale 1:1 and 4:1 (O Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Vorderasiatisches Museum, Foto: Olaf M.
Teßmer).
52
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
Figure 7. Photographic details all of sledge-like vehicles shown in Figures 1—6 with two round impressions marking wheels.
(Figures 1c, 2c, 3, 4c, 5c, 6c).
Black Sea
Mediterranean
Sea
Figure 8. Map of Archaic settlements in Mesopotamia.
The Archaic Texts$ can be divided into so-called
“Administrative Texts" and “Lexical Lists”.® They derive
from the so-called *Late Uruk" Period and date to the
second half of the 4^ millennium BCE.? Two phases of
* Fora general overview see Radner and Robson 2011.
7 Published by R. K. Englund as Archaic Administrative Texts from
Uruk. The Early Campaigns (1994); see ATU 5 in our bibliography.
* Published by R. K. Englund and H. J. Nissen, Die lexikalischen Listen
der archaischen Texte aus Uruk (1993); see ATU 3 in our bibliography
and the latest study by N. Veldhuis, History of the Cuneiform Lexical
Tradition (2014).
° Hans Nissen has given a framework for the relative chronology of
the earliest script (ZATU: 21-51). Dietrich Sürenhagen (1999) has
refined this chronology, distinguishing the archaeological strata Uruk V,
IVc, IVb, IVa, IIc, Mb, IIIa. The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
(CDLI): http://cdli.ucla.edu distinguishes only Uruk V, IV, and III.
53
Tell Uqair m :
N ^9 Abu Salabih UN) >
Fara (Suruppak) € e Tell Telloh (Girsu) ma
Warka (Uruk).& f -
=
Tell el-Muqayyar (Ur) S. |
Persian
Gulf
200 km
the Archaic Texts can be distinguished: Uruk IVa and
Uruk III, named after the archaeological strata established
during the excavation of Uruk, the Erech mentioned in the
Bible.'? However, the stratigraphically established layers
10 The archaeological reports are published in the series Vorläufiger
Bericht über die von dem Deutschen Archäologischen Institut aus
Mitteln der Deutschen | Forschungsgemeinschaft | unternommenen
Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka: 1 (1930)-5 (1934), Vorläufiger Bericht
über die von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka
unternommenen Ausgrabungen: 6 (1935)-11 (1940)—single volumes
are part of Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften / Philosophisch-
Historische Klasse: Abhandlungen der Preußischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse [Deutsche Akademie
der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse.
Abhandlungen; 1929, no. 7; 1930, no. 4; 1932, no. 2, 6; 1933, no. 5;
1935, no. 2, 4; 1936, no. 13; 1937, no. 11; 1939, no. 2; 1940, no. 3]—and
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
do not automatically date the texts, because the tablets
4- 1801, 29-347 Ra..
were found as part of the debris used to level the ground 20-361 12, 9-095.
before construction of a new building phase started. In T 1-531 12, 5-54
addition to the much-discussed absolute and relative Be
chronological dates, scholars are still debating the name den Zei i 4401-38112, Te
and linguistic classification of the language in which the Ke
Archaic Texts are written. SHTI
A particular group of signs has been interpreted as an
depicting sledges with runners curving upwards at one
end.” On the six tablets illustrated and catalogued above
underneath the runners two round impressions are placed
which may either represent two (captive) rollers or four
solid disk wheels." In case of the latter, we would have to
speak of wagons. These pictograms have been interpreted
as GURUS, (sledge) and as GURUS, (wagon). However,
this reading of the pictograms has been questioned based
on philological'* and archaeological? grounds.
Ae 974 484902,
It is our purpose to re-examine the “wagon” pictograms and
the lines of argument brought forward since Falkenstein's
publication in 1936. In the second part of this chapter Theo
Krispijn presents a philological and linguistic analysis of
the signs PU,/GIGIR (ZATU 430), GURUS (ZATU 247,
248) and MAR (ZATU 252). Although it is not possible
to solve all problems here, we offer a conclusion, hoping
that it will serve as a starting point for a new debate of this
: . : : F : 11-30914, L 1:431,
most fascinating material, in which Mary Littauer would 2
have certainly engaged.
History of Research
A. Falkenstein: Archaische Texte aus Uruk (1936): The
Signs ATU 741-745
In his publication Archaische Texte aus Uruk (1936)—
abbreviated in scholarly studies as ATU'—Falkenstein
analyzed all cuneiform signs availableto him" and provided
a list of signs as well as their variations identifiable by
individual numbers (Figure 9). The pictograms discussed
in this article follow Falkenstein’s numbers ATU 741, 742,
743, 744, and 745.
Figure 9. Signs ATU 741-745. From A. Falkenstein,
Archaische Texte aus Uruk (1936), p. 167 f. [Listed under
ATU in our bibliography].
Table 1. Summary of group ATU 741-742
According to Falkenstein, the signs ATU 741 and 742
AT Directi H -lik 2R
(Table 1) represent two groups based on five types.'® E ie ee urnes (1o
Construction |wheels)
A facing right pointed roof double line
Vorläufiger Bericht über die von dem Deutschen Archäologischen Institut
und der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft aus Mitteln der Deutschen
Forschungsgemeinschaft unternommenen Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka: 741 f f . . .
12/13 (1953/55 [1956])-31/32 (1973/74 [1983]) and as Ausgrabungen in As facing right pointed roof single line
Uruk-Warka. Endberichte (Deutsches Archáologisches Institut, Orient-
Abteilung (1987 ff.). For the topic of this study, see Eichmann 1989;
2007 and Sürenhagen 1993; 1999. 741 mE
! Discussed by Rubio (1999; 2005) and Whittaker (1998 ff.). See also No facing right round roof single line
Englund 1998: 73 ff.
12 See next chapter for more details. 741
B Burmeister 2011: 213 f. ; : ; : :
4 ZATU 247; 248; Englund 2009. facing right pointed roof single line
5 Nagel/Strommenger 1994: 207.
€ See abbreviations at the end of this appendix.
M
>
N
facing left pointed roof single line
7 ATU 5: 11-14.
* The ideograms illustrated are flipped 90 degrees clockwise,
respectively counterclockwise.
54
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
Table 2. Summary of group ATU 743—745
ATU Direction House-like Construction Wheels Runners
SÉ facing right pointed roof four (2 round markings) single line
743 ee
facing left pointed roof four (2 round markings) single line
744 ee
TAA pointed roof with a hatched house or : : TE
oe Lë facing right baldachin Ike construction four (2 round markings) single line
' A close look at the photographs shows a slightly different line drawing than depicted by Falkenstein. The runners are not visible. Here, Falkenstein’s
overview is too schematic and not accurate.
These signs depict, as most scholars since Falkenstein's
publication (1936) agree, sledges with schematic house-
or baldachin-like constructions shown in side view resting
on runners.
Falkenstein’s group “ATU 743-745" (Table 2) shows
house or baldachin-like constructions with pointed roofs.
In contrast to group ATU 741-742, beneath the runners
are two round impressions. Since their first publication in
1936 during the peak of the Uruk campaigns in southern
Mesopotamia these marks have been interpreted as
depictions of wheels, as they are in positions where wheels
would be expected at real wagons. For Falkenstein there
was no doubt in his comments in ATU (1936: 56) that these
signs represent sledges and sledges on wheels, which he
called *Wagen"? (wagon, four-wheeler), as did others.?!
? Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 13 (“[...] simple pictographic signs on
inscribed clay tablets found in Uruk level IVa [...] which may be called
“sledge cars’”).
? Falkenstein, ATU: 56: “Auch den Wagen finden wir schon in
Schicht IV, und zwar den vierrädrigen (Nr. 743-45). Durch seine
enge Verwandtschaft mit dem ‘Schlitten’ (Nr. 741-42) wird es sehr
wahrscheinlich, daß der Wagen in Babylonien daraus entstanden ist.
Dieses letztere Zeichen hat sich vielleicht bis in die spate Schrift gehalten
(Zeichen KAL), die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist aber verloren gegangen.
Auch das Zeichen für den Wagen ist aufgegeben worden, dafür tritt das
Bild eines Wagenrades und zwar eines Vollrades ein. Eine genauere
Vorstellung von der Form des Wagens zur Zeit der Schicht IV würde
uns eine Siegelabrollung auf einer Tontafel geben kónnen; leider ist sie
unvollstándig erhalten. Man erkennt nur den Wagenlenker, der vier Zügel
hält, und den Kopf der Zugtiere"!." Fn. 5: “Zur Deutung des Zeichens
Nr. 741 als Schlitten s. schon E. Herzfeld, AMI 6 (1934), 203; dort (S.
223) die Abbildung eines Steatittäfelchens, das genau die Zeichenform
des Schlittens auf den archaischen Tafeln wiedergibt [Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: Fig. 2; 1990: Fig. 3; Burmeister 2011: Fig. 2 ]. Herzfelds
Deutung des Aufbaus über den Schlittenkufen als Thron mit Sonnendach
ist unsicher. Ich móchte darin den gewóhnlichen Wagenkasten erkennen.
Zu vergleichen ist noch der Schlitten der Subad (L. Woolley, Royal
Cemetery, Taf. 122-25)." Fn. 6: "Zur Bedeutung von mar-marru s. B.
Landsberger, ZA NF 3, 93 und F. Thureau-Dangin, RA 24, 147 f.” Fn. 7:
“S. 4. Vorbericht, S. 29 und Taf. 14c-f; 5. Vorbericht, Taf. 28c. Die Tafel
stammt aus dem großen Depot im Planquadrat Qa XVI 2.”
?! Kramer 1963: 102; Piggott 1978: 33 f.; 1983: 38, Fig. 8 (^A, sledge
symbols; B, sledge-on-wheels vehicle symbols"); Sherratt 1981: 264,
Fig. 10.1 (“[...] pictographic script including the sign for ‘cart’ [...]”);
1983: 99; 1997: 160, Fig. 6.1; Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 13, Fig. 1;
Drenth and Bakker 2005-06: 11 f. (with illustration); Schmandt-Besserat
1992: 5 (*Adam Falkenstein, the German scholar who studied the texts,
noted that when writing began in Mesopotamia, truly pictorial signs were
rare exceptions. The signs for ‘plow,’ ‘chariot,’ ‘sledge,’ or ‘wild boar’
were not only few but of uncommon use, represented by a single in one
tablet alone”); Parpola 2008: 10, Fig. 2.
55
A photograph of ATU 745, illustrated first in Burmeister
2011: 212, Fig. 1(2), shows that the hatches in Falkenstein’s
sign list should be modified showing two vertical lines on
the left side of the house-like construction.”
M. W. Green and H. J. Nissen: Zeichenliste der
Archaischen Texte aus Uruk (1987): The Signs ZATU
247 and 248
In their sign list Zeichenliste der Archaischen Texte aus
Uruk (ZATU) H. J. Nissen and M. W. Green have listed
Falkenstein's group ATU 741-742 (sledges) and ATU 743-
745 (wheeled vehicles) under ZATU 247 and ZATU 248
(Figure 10). ZATU 248 is here transliterated as GURUS +
TAR, a reading that was rejected by p. Steinkeller.?
R. Englund, editor of ATU vol. 5 (4rchaic Administrative
Texts from Uruk. The Early Campaigns; 1994: 131),
transliterated the two round impressions underneath the
runners in ATU 743-745 / ZATU 248 as (GURUS +)
2N,, and (GURUS,+) 2N,, The transliteration of the
two round impressions underneath the sledge as 2N , is,
however, misleading. 2N,, stands for the numerical sign
N,, occurring twice next to each other. The classification
as numerical sign deviates from a reading as wheel
representations (Figures 11-14). Englund argues for a
reading of GURUS as sledge, though leaves open how to
interpret the two impressions transliterated as 2N ,?
The Numerical Sign 2N,, in connection with ZATU
248: GURUS +2N and GURUS, +2N ,
The Archaic Texts consist of ca. 1200 different signs, of
which 60 have been identified as numerical signs? (Figure
15). N, represents the fourteenth sign (N = number) in this
list established by sumerologists.
? The two vertical lines are also missing in MSVO 4: 23 (Pl. 16, Fig.
29).
3 Steinkeller 1990: 22 fn. 33: “Against Green [ZATU] p. 220, no. 248
the ‘wheels’ show no relation to the sign TAR.” See also Krebernik
1994: col. 383 (“Die Analyse als AB, + TAR stimmt nicht zu den
unter TAR angeführten Formen; in LATU, S. 180 richtig als AB,+
2N,, wiedergegeben. Auch unter 248 und 320 wird 2N,, als TAR
transliteriert”).
4 See also Englund 2009: 8 f. fn. 19.
55 Archaic Bookkeeping: 25-27.
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
HIE TM gal gurus (39 var. of 94] gizgal); Vocab: guru£-ki (V
1); Unident: laj-gu,-gurus- "x" (U 36).
GISGAL.
I 231, 371; UET II 308; LAK 648.
Ns €
N b) Ns X
N 32 Ny -0;
Ns ES N ©
No E No M
N; be s Ns bd
N UO Nog x
N EE Nog =
No = Ns DES
N = Nos X
Np = Na} Pe?
Nu f Nos rx
N, e Nos: ra
Ns; © Noo Ea
Nis -9— N3oa E
v. [si ~e
N 8 E.
No (e) No
Ns (e) Ns Jeo
Nu p> No 90 >
Ns E w 9
E NE Na 28
dh 1 No IE
o, EE v E
Ny C Ny 8
Na Se Nss Es
Na y Ns @
No TT N; —
N. m Ns |
Na = Ns e
x; @ No W
Figure 15. The numerical signs of the proto-Sumerian (“archaic”) texts from Uruk together with their corresponding
transcriptions. N , is the third sign from the bottom in the left row. (Archaic Bookkeeping: Fig. 27, p. 26 = ATU 5: Fig. 11,
p. 20).
rollers. However, rollers would, practically, offer no real
advantage. At least three rollers are needed, which would
have to be put in front of the sledge, and then picked up
from behind after the sledge fully rolled over it. At least
two persons would then have to carry a roller back to the
front of the sledge so the sledge could roll over the next
beam. Each new roller would have to be placed in position
between the draught team and the front of the runners.
This would have to be done by skilled persons who could
handle the pole in the rear in reach of the animals’ hoofs
and pass the roller through underneath the pole shaft while
the vehicle was moving (Figure 17).
Significant labor and skills had to be invested to move
a sledge forward. A divine procession or parade, as the
58
sledge ride often has been viewed, would have probably
lost its solemnity with all of these side—activities which
might have been more disturbing than practical as we
can doubt that rollers would provide any technological
advantage. For these reasons it is very likely that the two
impressions underneath the runners represent solid disk
wheels rather than rollers.
The Pictograms as Images of Vehicles
Aclose look at the pictograms themselves clearly show that
Falkenstein’s pictographic drawings are very schematic
and do not represent the actual signs on the tablets. First
of all, it can be said that all the wagon pictograms are
unique in their formal composition. Solely the two round
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
Figure 16. Tablet from Uruk showing a sledge pictogram
and two round impressions above (O Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin—Vorderasiatisches Museum, Foto: Olaf M. Tefimer).
impressions are of identical make; all have a diameter of
about 3 mm. The impressions are very shallow, only on
tablet in Figure 4 (IM - [our No. 4 above]) they seem to
be slightly deeper. Would these impressions, in fact, depict
wheels, the wheelbase (1.e., the distance between the two
axles) would be different at each wagon. As the overall
composition of the pictograms looks in most cases very
inaccurate, this should not be interpreted as depicting a
technological detail.
The superstructure has the form of a hut, which is a sign
of its own (ATU 740). It is composed by four straight
incisions forming a square and on top with two inclined
incisions forming a pointed roof. Only on one tablet on
Figure 6 (VAT 5308), the “hut” shows an interior structure
with vertical and horizontal lines. These might represent
constructive features of the superstructure. On tablets in
Figure 2 (VAT 15003) and Figure 5 (IM 064852) the “hut”
is in its details not clearly recognizable. As the composition
cannot be deduced, we are not able to assign it to a specific
form. These divergent shapes can be due to damages on
the tablets or to swift and inaccurate, non conventional
writing. À very swift making can also be seen on tablet in
Figure 1 (VAT 14672); this in contrast to tablet in Figure
3 (VAT 14821) and tablet in Figure 5, where the incisions
and lines are remarkably accurate.
The common interpretation of these signs as sledges
on wheels is certainly influenced by the curved line
underneath the superstructure looking like runners in side
view. A “hut” and a curved line below define the signs for
“sledges” ATU 741 and ATU 742, alternatively ZATU 247.
Examining Falkenstein's sign list, it is only the pictogram
59
Figure 17. Stone plaque, Iraq. Unknown provenience. Late
Uruk period. London, British Museum 12885. The red dots
indicate rollers to illustrate challenges and obstacles when
using rollers instead of wheels (after Burmeister 2011: Fig. 2
modified after Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 2 — Littauer
and Crouwel 1990:Fig. 3. Drawing by Jaap Morel).
on tablet in Figure 3 that correlates with his table—and
ATU 743 on tablet in Figure 6, which is in several aspects
outstanding. The two pieces now kept in the National
Museum of Iraq (Baghdad) do not fit in this scheme either,
as the “runners” here are composed of a double line. The
pictograms on tablet in Figure 1 and tablet in Figure 2 again
show no resemblance. Below the superstructure on tablet
in Figure 1 there is the rudiment of a straight line pointing
to the right. The tablet is damaged here, so that the course
and shape of this line cannot be identified. The same holds
true for the pictogram on tablet in Figure 2. Here the sign
is inserted in such a narrow box that anything protruding
to the sides is omitted. This sign is composed only of the
“hut” and the two “wheels”. As already mentioned, the
pictogram on tablet 6 is exceptional in so far as it is the
only tablet using this sign and not originating from Uruk.
The “hut” shows a divergent composition and the line
between the superstructure and round impressions does
not resemble anything like runners. The “hut” is hovering
above this line which has a horizontal course and behind
the “wheels” bends sharply in an almost 90° angle upright.
In technological terms this is a front shield common in
many wagon models and pictures of the 3 millennium
BCE in Mesopotamia. The upright bend of the “runner” on
tablet in Figure 5 also evoke doubts on the interpretation as
sledge runners. The double line might depict the platform
with a front shield.
Overall it can be resumed that there was no canonical
concept for this particular sign. It can be reduced to a
“hut” and two “wheels”. The analogy to the sledge signs is
obvious, though problematic as it cannot be confirmed in
all cases and is contradicted in the tablet from Tell Uqair.
When thinking of wagons the "runners" prefigure our
interpretation as sledges on wheels. This is a technological
concept which is problematic as it imposes the idea that
the wagon is a technical derivate of the sledge and not a
vehicle in its own right. In summary, it can be concluded
with much plausibility that the pictograms ATU 743—745/
ZATU 248 depict wagons with four wheels.
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
Dating of the Archaic Text Tablets in Uruk
The chronological position of these wagon pictograms is
crucial for discussing the contribution ofthe Mesopotamian
early city-states to the invention and spread of wheeled
vehicles. To estimate how these tablets as early evidence of
wagons are chronologically related to other early evidence
in Europe and Asia, we need more secure and established
grounds for their dating.
As an aggravating starting point, which is often overlooked,
we have to realise that none of the thousands of cuneiform
tablets and fragments from the Late Uruk Period (ca.
3500-3100 BCE) were found in situ. The tablets and
fragments were part of debris used to level the ground for
new building constructions.” Therefore, all tablets were
displaced from their original locations after falling out of
use (for whatever reason).? Three out of four cuneiform
tablets from Uruk were found in Archaic levels of the
northeast corner of the so-called “Red Temple"? (Figure
18).The Uruk excavation reports and excavation diaries
(kept in Berlin) do not provide sufficient information on a
finer stratification of the tablets within their find context, ^
which would sustain in their chronological assessment. A
relative-chronological allocation of the tablets earlier than
Uruk III Period (ca. 3100-2900 BCE)* would—at best—
lead us to the Late Uruk period; strictly speaking toward
the end of Uruk IV, because the tablets were incorporated
in the leveled construction phase at the end of the Uruk
IV period.
In his study on the relative chronology of Uruk Dietrich
Siirenhagen (1999) came to the conclusion that it is indeed
possible to differentiate specific stratigraphic layers for
certain findings with cuneiform tablets. For the area of the
“Red Temple”, as Stirenhagen concluded, 87 cuneiform
tablets can be identified with certainty, 73 tablets with
a very high probability, and 634 tablets under certain
caveats as part of the debris of the Uruk IVc phase—
which marks the earliest building activities in the Uruk
IV period." However, the three wagon pictograms (VAT
14672 [our No. 1 above], VAT 14821 [No. 3], VAT 15003
[No. 2]) were found in the north-east corner of the “Red
Temple" for which debris of the Uruk IVc phase could not
be confirmed.**
From another point of view Sürenhagen argues for a
chronological setting of these tablets already in early Uruk
Eichmann 1989; 2007; Sürenhagen 1999.
Sürenhagen 1999: 107 ff.; 115.
Eichmann 2007: 54—57.
ATU 5: 16.
ATU 2: 33.
Sürenhagen 1999: 108 ("Insgesamt kónnen also 87 Tafeln und
Tafelfragmente mit Gewißheit, 73 mit an Sicherheit grenzender
Wahrscheinlichkeit und 634 unter gewissem Vorbehalt als Teil des
IVc-zeitlichen Füllschuttes im Bereich des Roten Tempels bezeichnet
werden”).
38 Sürenhagen 1999: 277-280: “Liste 4. Uruk. Numerische, numerisch-
piktographische und piktographische Tontafeln (Duktus ‘IV’) mit den
termini ante quos IVb und IIIc aus dem Bereich südöstlich der Umammu-
Ziqqurrat"; here p. 279 no. 50.
37
60
IV phases.” As the semi-pictographical script developed
before Uruk III, the first evidence of pictographical signs
like the wagon have to be sought in earlier layers. He
stated that the pictographic script system was already fully
developed at the beginning of Uruk IVb and has to be
traced back to Uruk IVe.”
However, the development of the script does not provide
any further chronological information about wagon
pictograms due to the lack of specific stratigraphic data
regarding their find context. Still, it is striking that the
published tablets with sledges and wagons (GURUS, and
GURUS, = ZATU 247 and 248; ATU 5: 131) were found
mainly in the north-east corner of the “Red Temple”.
The mentioned three wagon pictograms (VAT 14672,
VAT 14821, VAT 15003) from this area belong to a
group of tablets that also contained the majority of sledge
pictograms. The combination of pictograms with sledges
and wheeled vehicles as a group in the debris could
indicate that they might have originated from the same
location. One tablet showing a sledge pictogram“! belongs
to a group which can be dated before the Uruk IVb phase;
a second tablet? to the Uruk IVc phase. If sledge and
wagon pictograms can be connected semantically—which
is indicated by the similar concept and variations of the
signs—it might be possible to date the wagon pictograms
into the Uruk IVc phase as well, although the stratigraphic
evidence does not support this conclusion with certainty.
The architectural compound called the “Red Temple"
itself does not offer further information on the character
of the finds as its function is far from being understood.
The name implying religious or spiritual activities is
misleading since the function has yet to be determined.
As Ricardo Eichmann pointed out, the Uruk excavators
Julius Jordan and Ernst Heinrich, have coined the name of
this building because of a “prune—red” wall plaster and its
location near a ziqqurrat.** Although the term “temple” is
misleading, as the excavators were fully aware, the name
was kept in the Uruk excavation reports and diaries for
reasons of consistency and practicality as part of the Uruk
architectural terminology in the preliminary excavation
reports.
In summary, pictograms with wagons are documented in
the context of the Uruk IVa phase, but could already have
been developed in Uruk IVb or even in Uruk IVc.
Trying to assess absolute-chronological data is as
problematic as reconstructing relative chronological
information. Absolute dates for the tablets derive from
a small number of "C samples from Uruk IV layers.
Three samples taken from charred beams of the ceiling
39
Sürenhagen 1999: 117 sub “d Schriftzeugnisse".
Sürenhagen 1999.
! VAT 15124; ATU: Text no. 431; Sürenhagen 1999: “Liste 4. Uruk”,
p. 277 no. 13.
#2 VAT 15114; ATU: Text no. 531; Sürenhagen 1999: “Liste 4. Uruk”,
p. 278 no. 20.
# Eichmann 2007: 54 with fn.s 221 and 222.
40
D
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
E Me | Na | Nb Nc | Nd | Ne Oa Ob Oc Od | Oe Pa Pb | Pc | Pd | Pe Qa
Stampflehm
Building .^
Riemchen
O Building
¢
R Great I
A^ | | :
E Géi éi E Build
he E tone Cone
WS Temple |
4
Ei
KE
Ka
M
VA,
V.
Building with
Four Halls
Limestone
Building
«AX r
^" Mosaic Court
Figure 18. Plan of the Eanna excavations, levels Uruk V-III. The excavation squares shown here—for example, Pe XVI,3—
measured 20 x 20 m. Numbers in the plan represent archaic Tablets found in the early Uruk campaigns. After ATU 5: Fig. 2,
p.13.
construction of "Building C" range with their median
between 3565 and 3428 cal BCE.^ With refined methods
new dates were recently achieved from the same
samples. These dates are slightly younger: 3370-3310
cal BCE (26). Building C was located ca. 160 m west of
the “Red Temple" 25 The building was erected following
larger leveling activities in the temple area? and marks
the beginning of the Uruk IVa phase. Due to the leveling
of all buildings in stratum IVa in the Eanna area at the
end of this phase “Building C" was also demolished. The
stratigraphic position of “Building C" in the architectural
context of Uruk IVa and the construction of five—or six
partial—stratigraphic layers document continuous usage
Boehmer et al. 1993: 67; Wright and Rupley 2001: 92.
Van Ess 2013.
Eichmann 2007: chapter 6.6.6.1, pp. 236-49.
Eichmann 1989: 79 ff.
AR E
Ss 5
61
throughout phase Uruk IVa. In his analysis of Uruk
architecture R. Eichmann has meticulously documented
and evaluated the stratigraphy and its problems. An overall
interpretation of relative chronological layers is restricted
by the fact that the architectural phases of “Building C”
cannot be synchronised with other buildings of that phase,
making it impossible to clearly distinguish between the
phases Uruk IVb and IVc.? In addition, the postulated
separation of layers between the Uruk IV and Uruk III
periods is based on challenging assumptions, so that an
allocation of “Building C" into the Uruk III period cannot
be excluded.”
48 Sürenhagen 1999: 79 ff.
® Eichmann 1989: 115.
5 Eichmann 1989: 175.
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
The "C samples of building C derive from pinewood
(Pinus spec.), which was probably imported from the
upper area ofthe Euphrates river; different species of wood
are already mentioned in cuneiform tablets in the lexical
lists.°' The timber was taken from trees not older than 80
years.? The absolute chronological date only provides a
terminus post quem, meaning that the “dated” “Building
C" was erected sometime after the calibrated '^C date of
3370-3310 cal. BCE.
Therefore, the calibrated '*C dates are deceptive since we do
not have any reliable evidence regarding the chronological
relationship of the '*C data and the cuneiform tablets with
wagon pictograms. This also holds true for several "C
dates of cedar and juniper branches from the Anu Ziggurat,
level C. They range between 3517 and 3358 cal. BCE (26)
and give a rough date for Uruk IV.?
In summary, because only a few "C dates for a larger area
of the city of Uruk are available, the absolute chronology
of the Uruk period, which could furnish further detailed
information, has not been fully established yet. Wright
and Rupley (2001) date the beginning of the Late Uruk
phase IVc in Mesopotamia not before 3400 BCE, and—
based on the only data available at that time (from Godin
Tepe)—its end in south-west Iran around 3100 BCE.”
However, doubts have been voiced regarding this absolute
chronological interpretation, because comparison among
the artifact inventories indicate that the dates for Godin
Tepe should be 200-300 years older.^ Several new "^C
dates place the transition between Uruk IV and III around
3300 BCE.* However, since the number of reliable ^C—
dates is still low, the statistical foundation of any absolute
chronological scheme for Late Uruk period is weak. Still,
we gain some evidence for dating the wagon pictograms:
On the basis of the relative and absolute-chronological
data, we can assume that the pictograms with wheeled
vehicles mark the beginning of the script in the ancient
Near East and that depicted wagons already belonged
to the cultural inventory of the Late Uruk phase IVc, in
absolute terms by the beginning of the second half of the
4 millennium BCE.
This conclusion might find support in a small number
of objects that have been mostly neglected so far in the
synopses of evidence of wheeled vehicles in Mesopotamia.”
The excavator of Ur Leonard Woolley noted in a short
message several finds of wheel models in a Uruk period
stratum. One of these wheels is painted in “Ubaid III”-
>! See next section.
? Van Ess 2013.
9 Van Ess 2013.
* Wright and Rupley 2001: 121.
> Petrie 2014
56 Van Ess 2013: 363; Görsdorf and Kohl 2014; Deckers et al. 2015:
420, fig. 14. Deckers et al. let their phase Early Middle Euphrates (EME)
1 start around 3270. EME 1 is a transition phase after the decline of the
“Uruk world system" at the end of late Uruk period; see Sconzo 2015: 90
ff.; Finkbeiner et al. 2015: 431 f.
5 Piggott 1979; Bakker et al. 1999; Crouwel 2004; Burmeister 2011.
u
technique.°® Ubaid III in Woolley’s terminology has to be
paralleled with Uruk period.” Though it is far from clear
that these objects were model wheels, the simultaneous
occurrence of wagon depictions and these small wheel-
like discs might strengthen this assumption.
The Lexical Evidence
One problem regarding the logographic signs indicating
wheeled vehicles occurs in the so-called “Lexical Lists”
among the documents of the Uruk IV and Uruk III periods
in southern Mesopotamia. These are polysemic, which
indicates they can have multiple meanings. The sign AN,
for example, can signify god, divine being, or a special type
of bronze, and it can be used phonetically at the beginning
of the sign GA,,xAN (=am,), which is pronounced /ama/.
The documents from the Late Uruk period mostly
comprise administrative texts and are still difficult to read.
The lexical texts, however, are mostly understandable,
because the signs and combinations of signs in these texts
often occur in a clear context of semantic groups within
the ‘lexical series’. Lexical texts are already found among
the earliest cuneiform documents. These lexical texts
contain mostly thematically grouped words and signs.
Together with the exercise texts, they form the earliest
traces of school activities in Uruk. From the many lexical
tablets and fragments lexical series can be reconstructed.
R. Englund and H. J. Nissen have reconstructed the early
lexical series of the Uruk IV, III and Ur I periods (published
as Die lexikalischen Listen der archaischen Texte aus
Uruk (1993) [= ATU 3]). The editors named most series
after their main subject, e. g. ‘Wood’ for a lexical list of
wooden objects.” The order of entries of most of these
series became more or less fixed in the Uruk III period
after a process of standardization. Lexical texts from the
Uruk IV period with more or less the same content as the
standardised series are called ‘forerunners’ (precursors) of
those series. Versions of the series from later periods with
better-known shapes of signs or alternative entries help
us considerably in reading and understanding the signs
from the Uruk period. The latest versions of this lexical
repertoire come from the early Old Babylonian period
(ca. 1800 BCE). A new lexical repertoire was developed
mainly in the city of Nippur after that period.“
There are three cuneiform signs suggesting the idea of
wheeled vehicles: PU,/GIGIR, GURUS and MAR. The
signs from this period are often cited according to the
mentioned sign list compiled by M. W. Green and H. J.
Nissen Zeichenliste der Archaischen Texte aus Uruk (1987
"7 Woolley 1955, 28.
5 Oates 1960: 41.
6 The indication Professions Lu A originate from another type. The
indication Professions is clear, but Lu A or Professions Lu A derived from
the later list of professions, that start with the Sumerian word Ju “man”
(incipit). Since there are several Early Dynastic lists of professions, they
are distinguished by the letters A, B, and C etc.
6! For a recent introduction to the lexical lists see Veldhuis 2014. See
also Englund 1998 for the texts from Uruk.
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
Table 3. PU,/GIGIR “vehicle” in the series ‘Wood’
Lexical Uruk Versions
Series
Early
Dynastic
Versions
Old-
Babylonian
Versions
Translation
Wood 62 |GIS-tenü E, —
W 20044,45 00306 GIS-tend E,,
W 20327,2 00510 GIS-tenü E,,
W 24008,10 00302 NIMGIR
— “wooden cabin (?)” |
Wood 63 |GIS PU/GIGIR —
W 20044,45 00307 GIS PU,/GIGIR
W 20327,2 00511 GIS PU,/GIGIR
W24008,10 00303 GIS PU, X,
— “wooden wagon”
Wood 64 |GIS GIGIR GUB,, =
W 20044,45 00308 GUB,, (?)GIS PU,/GIGIR
W 24008,10 00304 GIS PU/GIGIR [ ]
m “wooden wagon with side boards (?)”
Wood65 |[GIS?] GURUS, KU. —
W 24008,10 00305 GURUS, KU, ?[ ]
— *sacred/silver (wooden) sledge" (?)
Wood 66 |X KIGIS —
— “wooden ..."
Wood 67 |GIS APIN, KI, =
W20044,45 GIS APIN, KI,
— type of wooden seeding plough
W20044,46+ UR, U,
W 20327,2 GIS APIN, KI,
! Terms related to chariots are highlighted in bold.
2? W 20044,45. ATU 3: 23; 49; W 20327,2. ATU 3: 55. Published in Du Ry 1969: 37; ATU 2: Fig. 33; ATU 3: 23, Fig. 7 (line drawing); Damerow/
Englund/Nissen 1988: 81; Nissen 1986: 327; W 20274,154. ATU 3: 55; W 24008,9. ATU 3: 63.
[= ZATU]). In the following section the occurrences of
these signs in the lexical series, occasionally referring to
the administrative texts, will be discussed.
PU/GIGIR (ZATU 430)
ORO
e) (s
The signs PU, and GIGIR (ZATU 430) are not separable
in the texts from the Uruk period. Only the determinative
sign GIS “wooden”— usually inserted by the scribe in
front of the following sign or group of signs to provide
information to the reader ofthe tablet indicating the nature/
classification of the following sign(s)—distinguishes PU,
“well, pit" from GIS PU, = (GIS) GIGIR “two-wheeler”,
Akkadian narkabtu "chariot". The sign PUJGIGIR is
either a pictogram of a solid wheel with an axle—from the
viewpoint of the observer seen from the side and, perhaps,
63
emphasizing its rotating effect—or a pictogram of a
hole in the ground; seen from the top down. The earliest
attestations of PU,/GIGIR are from the Uruk III period
(3100-2900 BCE).
P. Steinkeller has extensively discussed the paleography of
PU, and GIGIR in connection with the signs TIL, BAD and
similar signs and comes to the following conclusion: In
texts from Fara (the ancient Suruppak) and Abu Salabih?
(ca. 2500 BCE), the two signs are differentiated into
GIGIR (LAK 770) “wagon, cart”, a pictogram of a bolt
through the axle, and PU,/TUL, (LAK 771) a pictogram
of a hole in the ground.
LAK 770
LAK 771
® The ancient name is uncertain. Presumably it was called GIS NAM,
after its first entry. For the texts from Fara and Abu Salabih, see the
instructive overview of Krebernik 1998.
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
Table 4. PU/GIGIR *two-wheeler" in the Lexical Series ‘Metal’
Lexical Uruk Versions Early Dynastic Old-Babylonian Translation
Series Versions Versions
. " Së “hand chisel” (NAGAR =
Metal 36 |NAGAR, TAK, ED: bulug,.8u.gur Kis: [ ] bulug,)'
Metal 36 SE AK, N,, =3 horizontal — — another type of “hand chisel”
Metal 37 |AN NAGAR, TAK, ED: bulug,.šu.gur.an (kl “bronze (?) hand chisel”
9 e - another type of “bronze (?)
Metal 37. | AN NAGAR, TAK, N-O hand chisel"
Metal 38 |NAGAR, BUR, nee "d (H: Kis: bulug,.bara,""* |“chisel for stone vessels"
d
ER ze 9 :
Metal39 |AN NAGAR, BUR ED: bulug, buran Kas: bulug , bara,. bronze ( 7) chisel for stone
a an vessels
TU Ken e 9 :
Metal41 |AN NAGAR, PU, ED: bulug, gigiran Kis: bulug „gigir. bronze) chisel for wheels
an or carts
W 15895,be 00101[]
W 20266,12 00203 AN NAGAR, [ ]
W 20266,41 00203 NAGAR, X
W 21208,3+ 00303 AN NAGAR, PU,
W23997,2 00208 [ ] PU, NAGAR,
W 24018,5 00205 NAGAR, AN PU,
Metal A7 |TAK, MAR, /(X MAR.) ED: mar.su Kis: uë Su "c “spade”
Ebla: mar äu
Metal 43 |AN TAK, MAR, ED: mar.&u.an Kis: ug Su and "bronze (?) spade"
Ebla: mar gu. an
Metal 44 |BAR UŠ, ED: bar.uš Kis: bar.us "d "type of stick/goad"
Metal45 |AN BAR US, ED: bar.us.an Kis: bar.u8.an"" “type of bronze (?), stick/goad”
! NAGAR is differentiated into the sign NAGAR and the sign BULUG in the Ur III period (Civil 1965: 128).
Later in Presargonic Girsu, the sign PU,/TUL, was
differentiated into two signs: PU, and TUL,. These sign
were registered together with GIGIR under Rosengarten
1967 (Ros.) No. 259.
NIGIN, x U= PU;
Ros. No. 259A
The inscribed sign U in PU, (Ros. No. 259A) is in fact
the Sumerian logogram buru, “hole”, the BAD in GIGIR
(Ros. No. 259B/C) is the pictogram for an axle with a bolt,
and the sign TIL in TUL, (Ros. No. 259D) is the logogram
idim “spring, underground water". TUL, is also used for
hab, “stinking” in Presargonic Sumerian.”
® According to Krebernik (1998: 276 fn. 464) the sign IDIM must be
distinguished from TIL in the ED IIIa period and identified with LAK
4. In the Ur III and Old-Babylonian period IDIMis distinguished as well
(M. Civil in Steinkeller 1981: 21), but not in the intermediate periods.
** See Bauer 1989-1990: 78.
64
The Uruk sign PU,/GIGIR occurs twice in a context of
vehicles in the series *Wood' (Table 3).9 Unfortunately the
later tradition of the series *Wood' is confused, so that we
cannot correct the readings of the Uruk version from those
later versions.
PU/GIGIR is attested in the chapter NAGAR (later
bulug,) “chisel” in the series ‘Metal’. Among different
types of chisels there is one “chisel for the wheel or cart”
(Table 4).
55 Lá A: ATU 3: 69-86; 153-154; Officials: ATU 3: 86-89; Animals:
ATU 3: 89-93; Fish: ATU 3: 93-98; Birds: ATU 3: 98-100; Swine [was:
Dog]: ATU 3: 100-103; Wood: ATU 3: 103-112; 154-159; Tribute: ATU
3: 112-120; Plants: ATU 3: 120-122; Vessels: ATU 3: 123-34; 159-160;
Metal: ATU: 3: 134-141; 159—160; Grain: ATU 3: 142-145; 160; Cities:
ATU 3: 145-150; Geography: ATU 3- 150-151; 160-162; Vocabulary:
ATU 3: 162-164; Practice: ATU 3: 164-165; Unidentified: ATU 3: 165-
176.
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
GURUS (ATU 741—742 / ZATU 247 and ATU 743-745 /
ZATU 248)
GURUS, (ZATU 247)
GURUS, (ZATU 248)
The pictogram GURUS clearly depicts a type of sledge
or upper part of a wheeled vehicle, sometimes supplied
with two circular impressions, resembling the number
sign N,, indicating wheels.“ We must therefore take into
consideration that “sledge” and “sledge on wheels" could
be meanings for these signs.
GURUS occurs in a clear context of vehicles (see the
series ‘Wood’ 65 in Table 3). The earliest attestations of
ATU 741—742 / ZATU 247, as well as ATU 743-745 /
ZATU 248, are from the Uruk IV-period. ZATU 248 is
found only in Uruk IV.
Recently, R. Englund has given his thoughts about
GURUS, in a footnote to his article “The Smell of the
Cage".*' On the basis of his thoughts, the attempt will be
made to try to reconstruct the history of the signs GURUS
and KAL in the Uruk and ED IIIa period.
The development of GURUS, (ZATU 247) is difficult to
trace, since later parallels for Uruk period lexical entries
with GURUS, are lacking. However, the opposite is also
the case, precursors for the sign GURUS (LAK 709A)
are not found in Uruk lexical texts. The only entry that is
completely preserved (Lú A 39, Table 5), only contains
gal.gi$gal and not the later version of the Uruk variant
GAL,.GURUS.. The two other lexical entries: GURUS, KI
“place of the sledge (?)" (Vocabulary 1 I 2) and GURUS,
LA, GU, X “... oxen yoked to the sledge” (Unidentified
36,24 II 4), have no later parallels.* The last entry confirms
that GURUS, is a vehicle drawn by animals. Therefore, we
must conclude that there 1s no direct proof that GURUS,
is the precursor of ED IIIa GURUS from the lexical lists.
M. Krebernik has demonstrated that the sign LAK 709A
GURUS/LAMA/KAL has to be distinguished from LAK
709B KALAG/RIB. LAK 709A GURUS is the equivalent
of later Surus, “male adult worker, manpower".? In the
Sargonic period LAK 709A and LAK 709A converge
into one sign.” Because we are not sure what the Uruk
precursor of LAK 709A is (Tables 6—7), Englund (2009)
has made it plausible that KUR, and SAL (e. g. MS 3035 =
P006268; W 20274,2 and W 23999,1) are the equivalents
of later Urdu “slave” and geme, "slave-girl" and GURUS,
6 See also Burmeister 2011, 211—214; Steinkeller 1990.
67 Englund 2009, 8 f. fn. 19.
55 Vocabulary 1 (ATU 3: 162; Pl. 81); Unidentified 36,24 (ATU 3: 168;
Pl. 89).
9 Cf. Krebernik 1986: 162 and fn. 4; 1998: 277 and fn. 471.
7? Gelb 1961: 229 No. 173.
65
Table 5. Parallel entries of archaic lexical series with
GURUS. in the Uruk and ED IIIa period
Uruk (ATU 3) Early Dynastic IIIa/b
(Pettinato 1982)
LüA39 |GAL, GISGAL gal.gisgal
(var W21418,1: GAL.
GURUS ) GISGAL
GURUŠ, GIŠGAL
LúA1l18 |GAL,[ ] gal. ĝuruš
gurus
Wood 65 GURUS, KU,..[GIS] no parallels available
Table 6. Parallel entries of archaic lexical series with SuruS
(LAK 709A) in the Uruk and ED IIa period
Uruk (Englund |Early Dynastic IIla/b
1993) (Pettinato 1982)
LUA 118 GAL, [ ] |gal.gurus
gurus
Officials / Word List |no parallels Sunt
E91 available 8
Officials / Word List |. Re
E 92 idem a§. gurus
Officials / Word List |. "—
E 93 idem gur,.gur,.gurus
Be / Word List idem &urus.an.dul,.ak
and SAL (e. g. MSVO 1,1; ATU 5: Pl. 66 W 9579,ac)
the equivalents for gurus “male adult worker" and geme,
"female adult worker" in the administrative texts of the
Uruk period.” Therefore it is probable, that GURUS, was
already pronounced /Zurus/.
The question of how the pictogram of a sledge, likely
pronounced /gurus/, can be used for “male adult worker"
is intriguing. Some think that GURUS “sledge” is a
Pre-Sumerian word”, but in our opinion a Sumerian
etymology is not excluded: GURUS = /gurus/ = *gur/gir
"wheel"? + us, “to lean on” = “something that rests on
wheels” = sledge on wheels. The problem with this last
etymology is that later Sumerian distinguishes /8/ from /g/,
but we do not know whether this distinction applies in the
earlier periods.“ The later Sumerian word for “wheel” is
71 Cf. Englund 2009: 8-9 fn. 19; 12-15.
7? Cf. Englund 1998: 81.
gigir “two-wheeler” might be a reduplicated form of the (Pre-)
Sumerian word *gir/gur “hoop, wheel"; cf. Sumerian gur, “hoop” and
Akkadian kakkaru < karkaru “disk, round loaf of bread”.
™ The Old-Babylonian Syllabary ProtoEa (ca. + 1750 BCE) with very
few exceptions uses the sign GA, for /8a/ :: GA for /ga/, MI for /ge/
and /8i/ :: GI/GI, for /ge/ and /gil, and MU for /Su/ :: GU/GU, for /
gul. For the rendering of the Sumerian /$/ sound in Presargonic Lagaš
and in Ebla, see Krispijn 2012: 199; 213. The situation before Ebla is
difficult to establish, since phonetic indicators are rare. The only phonetic
indicator from earlier periods containing the phoneme /8/ which we know
is GIS KUSU KI = &KUSU* = /ĝišša/ a part of the city of Umma, that
is rendered phonetically ĝiš-ša3 in Pre-Sargonic PN's from Umma. See
73
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
Table 7. Parallel entries of archaic lexical series with KAL (LAK 709B) in the Uruk and ED IIIa period
Uruk! Fara/Abu Salabih2 Ebla3 Ur III4/Old-Babylonian
ZATU 281A LAK 709B ELLes 348 = kal
=KAL, = kal
Tribute 12 1 (N) KAL, AB, 1 ab,-KAL ab,-ga-ri-a,
Tribute 40 1 (N) KAL, AB, 1 ab,-KAL ab,-ga-g[u.]-e8
ab,-ga-ri (?)-a
Fish 36 PAD, ku, pad. kalk° Ebla: pad“
KAL,
KAL,,
Swine 41 KAL,, SUBUR no parallels available
Vocabulary 8-213 NIMGIR KAL,, no parallels available
Vocabulary 8-214 SE +NAM, KAL,, no parallels available
Unidentified 62 II 1 [ ] KAL,, no parallels available
! Cf. ATU 3; Steinkeller 1990: 22 fn. 32.
? Cf. Pettinato 1981; Biggs 1974.
? Cf. Pettinato 1981.
* Metal: cf. Iraq 31, 3-7. Tribute List score edition: Gelb 2010: 215-228; Civil 2013.
*In contrast with Englund (2009: 8 fn. 12) Civil (2013: 31) has another explanation of Tribute List 12// 40 AB, KAL (ZATU 281A/LAK 709B): not
“cow of the sledge” (KAL = guru8), but “suckling cow " (KAL = /sub/), which is corroborated by the explanatory phonetic spelling of these lines in the
Old-Babylonian versions (Civil 2013: 26-27) containing the word ga “milk”, gu,
umbin “claw, wheel". The supposed precursor of UMBIN
in the Uruk period, UMBIN,, with question mark under
ZATU 581 in ATU 2, is only attested to in administrative
texts in Uruk (Englund 1994) and therefore identified with
later UMBIN (LAK 289; Ros. no. 62). The context of the
occurrences of UMBIN,, does not indicate the meaning
“wheel” in this period.”
Since GURUS, (ZATU 248) is the earliest confirmation
(Uruk IV period) of a wheeled vehicle, the occurrence
needs special attention. Piotr Steinkeller (1995) states that
the 2N,, is part of the sign; two circular impressions with
the back of the stylus is not the sign TAR (ZATU), but the
pictogram of rollers or wheels.”
The only attestation in lexical texts, in a ‘forerunner’ of
the series Professions Lü A, W 9656,h III 10 is listed
in a context of the professions "gardener" and "prayer
priest"." It must indicate a profession linked with the
depicted vehicle. A possible parallel from *Professions Lü
A’ might be GAL, GISGAL “man of the pedestal" with
the variant GAL, GURUS, “man of the sledge” (Lú A 39).
GISGAL usually indicates a pedestal for divine statues.
Frayne 2008: 357-359. Steinkeller (1995: 694-695) lists GAR in the
sign combination GA,+GAR = galga among phonetic indicators of the
Uruk Period. But it is not clear in which part of /Salga/ GAR functions
phonetically: GAR could equally well be a gloss on the first part = /gar/
or /&al/ as on the second part — /ga/.
7 There are some occurrences of UMBIN in a context of animals, e.g.
ATU 5: PL. 055, W 9335,s and ATU 5: PI. 066, W 9579,ai and ATU 5: Pl.
109, W 9656,fv. This sign might be the precursor of the sausage-shaped
container of fat of sheep and pigs as UMBIN in the late presargonic
‘early’ Isin text IM 11053/156 XVI 4 (Steinkeller and Postgate 1992: 29).
7$ The same circular impression indicates the number 10 and is coded as
Aber Sign 14 = N,, (ZATU 337).
“gardener” W 9656, h III 9 NIMa // GAL, NIM /NI, Professions Lú A
23 Uruk II and “prayer priest" W 9656,h mii SITA, °y GAL, GURUŠ,
Professions Lú A 14 Uruk III.
66
“to eat, to feed” and ri “to bring into”.
Since GURUŠ, “sledge” is a variant of GIŠGAL in one
lexical fragment, it can be interpreted as movable pedestal
for a divine statue. This might be supported by the entry
[GIŠ?] GURUŠ, KU,, “wooden sacred sledge” (Series
‘Wood’ 65), although an interpretation KU, “silver” i.e.,
“with silver or golden fittings” cannot not be excluded.”
MAR, and MAR, (ZATU 252)
un
The last sign that might indicate a wheeled vehicle is
D'MAR "7 MAR is a pictogram of a shovel, which is
the primary meaning of the sign. The earliest attestations
for a type of vehicle, indicating a four-wheeled transport
vehicle, come from Early Dynastic (IIb) Girsu (ca. 2450
BCE). Since the Ur III period (2100—2000 BCE) the longer
form ®“mar—gid,—da “drawn mar" comes up. Since MAR,
occurs in the context of metal objects, it seems likely that it
indicates a metal shovel, presumably made of copper, so
we could think of a shovel with a predominant metallic part
(the shovel with a wooden stick). MAR, is combined with
APIN, “plough, leader of the plough team" in the lexical
series “La A 74 and elsewhere with SE, “grain”, which
could indicate a “shovel” or “winnow”! As far as we
7* See Krispijn forthcoming: 263 f.
ATU: 592-593; 56 fn. 5: “In dem Zeichen MAR (Nr. 592-593) sehe
ich das Abbild eines Spatens, nicht das eines Wagens [so A. Deimel, SL
307, I und E. Herzfeld, AMI 6 (1934), 202]".
* TAK, MAR “hand shovel” ‘Metal’ 42 and AN TAK, MAR “bronze
hand shovel” ‘Metal’ 43.
851 "Wood (?) W 24012,2 III 2, Geography 3 II 6, Unid. 68 r I 3 (ATU 3).
Pictograms Interpreted as Sledees and Wheeled Vehicles from Uruk
know there are no clear attestations of ®®MAR as “vehicle”
either in the Uruk lexical texts or in the administrative
texts. The later form ®'mar-gid,-da “drawn mar". can
help us to understand the development of the term 5MAR
as vehicle. It is very likely that the four-wheeled vehicle
&MAR originated from a transporting device drawn by
oxen resembling a shovel, and it cannot be excluded that
this device was already used in the Uruk period.
Conclusion
The German sumerologist Adam Falkenstein distinguished
two sets ofpictograms onArchaic Texts—mainly from Uruk
in southern Mesopotamia—which, on one hand, depict
sledges with variations of house-like constructions and,
on the other hand, sledges with house-like constructions
showing two round impressions beneath the runners (ATU
1: 56). These two circular impressions beneath the runners
have been identified by Falkenstein as representations
of solid-disc wheels. Over the following decades most
scholars have followed Falkenstein's interpretation. In the
1980s members of the Berlin Uruk project, such as R. K.
Englund, H. J. Nissen and M. W. Green, transliterated the
two round impressions beneath a sledge as the numeric
sign 2N,, (€ e). Furthermore, it was concluded that the
meaning of the sign GURUS was reduced exclusively to
"worker, slave, etc.". Following this reading the depiction
of wheeled vehicles on the Archaic Texts must be
excluded. However, an analysis of all available material
raises questions about that interpretation, first summarised
by S. Burmeister (2011: 211—215), provides the following
evidence: The two circular impressions beneath a sledge
are exactly where we would expect them to be, if they
indicate wheels as part of pictographic representations of
wheeled vehicles. The two round impressions beneath the
runners seem to be flatter when compared to the numerical
sign 2N, It has also been observed that the numerical signs
are usually not directly in close vicinity to the object they
count. p. Steinkeller (1995) concluded that 2N,, is not the
number, but part of the ideogram, and that the two circular
impressions are not the sign TAR (as listed in ZATU under
sign 248), but have to be interpreted as an ideogram of
rollers or wheels. GURUS occurs in a clearly defined
context of vehicles (see the series ‘Wood’ 65 in Table 1).
GURUS “sledge” has been interpreted as a Pre-Sumerian
word. However, a Sumerian etymology is not excluded:
GURUS = /gurus/ = *gur/gir “wheel” + us2 “to lean on” =
“something that rests on wheels” = sledge on wheels. The
problem with this last etymology is that later Sumerian
distinguishes /g/ from /g/, but we do not know whether
this distinction applies to the earlier periods. In summary,
it is most likely that the two impressions beneath a sledge
pictogram represent wheels; it is not very likely that they
have to be read as the numerical sign ZN,,. Falkenstein’s
original observation still has the most plausibility. The
small number of early cuneiform tablets with wagon
€ The form gid2-da is a participle form of the gid2 “to draw”. Less
likely is, that gid2-da comes from gid2 “long”, because a form mar-gid2
is more likely then.
67
depictions provide evidence that the Mesopotamian
city states in the 4^ millennium BCE belonged to those
societies that used wheeled vehicles from the earliest time.
Acknowledgements
The first six sections have been written by Stefan Burmeister
and Peter Raulwing; section “The Lexical Evidence" by Theo
Krispijn, the conclusions and the references cited by all three
authors. We would like to thank Joost Crouwel for his valuable
comments and discussion, Barbara Hellwing (Sydney), Paola
Sconzo and Katleen Deckers (both Tübingen) for kindly
discussing the radiocarbon chronology and providing us with
helpful literature. Further, we would like to thank Markus Hilgert,
Olaf TeBmer, and Alrun Gutow from the Vorderasiatisches
Museum Berlin, and Margarete van Ess and Irmgard Wagner
from the German Archaeological Institute, Orient Department,
for kindly providing us with photos of the tablets shown here
as illustration and with information on the objects. Last but
not least, we thank Robert Englund for discussing the topic of
GURUS with us and kindly granting us permission to use his
data from The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (http://cdli.
ucla.edu) for our article.
Abbreviations?
Archaic Bookkeeping H. J. Nissen, p. Damerow and
R. Englund, Archaic Bookkeeping. Early
Writing and Techniques of the Economic
Administration in the Ancient Near East.
University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
[Translation of Frühe Schrift und Techniken
der Wirtschaftsverwaltung im alten Vorderen
Orient. Informationsspeicherung und
—verarbeitung vor 5000 Jahren. Franzbecker,
Bad Salzdetfurth, 1990 by Paul Larsen;
exhibition catalogue].
A. Falkenstein, Archaische Texte aus
Uruk. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen
Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 2.
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Berlin
and Harrassowitz, Leipzig, 1936.**
See ZATU
R. K. Englund and H. J. Nissen, Die
lexikalischen Listen der | archaischen
Texte aus Uruk. Archaische Texte aus
Uruk 3 Ausgrabungen der Deutschen
Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk—Warka 13.
Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1993.
ATU [1]
ATU 2
ATU 3
9 See http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/abbreviations_for_assyriology.
"H J. Nissen reflecting on the series ATU in ZATU, preface: “Als
Zeichen der Wertschatzung dieser früheren Arbeit und um die Kontinuitat
sichtbar werden zu lassen, habe ich mich entschlossen, in die neue
Reihe ‘Archaische Texte aus Uruk’ den genannten Band Falkensteins
mit demselben Titel als Band 1 einzubeziehen. Die Reihe der
Veróffentlichungen der Ergebnisse unserer Arbeit beginnt daher mit Band
2. Band 3 wird die Lexikalischen Listen behandeln, Band 4 wird einen
vollständigen, kommentierten Katalog aller Archaischen Texte aus Uruk
enthalten, und von Band 5 an werden die Texte in Kopie veróffentlicht".
In this appendix we use ATU and ZATU + a number exclusively to refer
to cuneiform signs. When the authors are quoted, they are referenced as
Falkenstein, ATU 1: followed by a page number or other references other
than cuneiform signs. Steinkeller 1990: 19 fn.* uses ZAT for ZATU and
ZATU (1995-1996: 211). ATU 3 is also abbreviated as LATU (Krebernik
1994: 381).
Stefan Burmeister, Theo J. H. Krispijn and Peter Raulwing
ATU 5 R. K. Englund, Archaic Administrative Texts
from Uruk. The Early Campaigns. Archaische
Texte aus Uruk 5 Ausgrabungen der
Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-
Warka 15. Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1994.
ED
LAK
Early Dynastic.
A. Deimel, Die Inschriften von Fara 1.
Liste der archaischen Keilschriftzeichen.
Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-
Gesellschaft in Fara und Abu Hatab 1
Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der
Deutschen Orientgesellschaft 40. Hinrichs,
Leipzig, 1922. [Reprint Zeller, Osnabrück,
1970].
MSVO4 R.K. Englund, Proto-Cuneiform Texts from
Diverse Collections. Materialien zu den
frühen Schriftzeugnissen des Vorderen Orients
4. Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1996.
PI S. Langdon, Pictographic Inscriptions from
Jemdet Nasr. The Herbert Weld Collection in
the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford University
Press et al., London et al., 1928.
UET Ur Excavations. Texts. Joint Expedition of
the British Museum and of the Museum of the
University of Pennsylvania to Mesopotamia.
London: Printed by Order of the Trustees of
the two Museums, 1928 ff. [Vol. II. Archaic
Texts, by E. Burrows, 1935].
M. W. Green and H. J. Nissen, Zeichenliste der
Archaischen Texte aus Uruk. Archaische Texte
aus Uruk 2 = Ausgrabungen der Deutschen
Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk—Warka 11.
Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1987.
ZATU
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1-4 July 2002, edited by W. H. van Soldt, 409-429.
Uitgaven van het Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije
Oosten te Leiden 102.
Whittaker, G. 2008. The case for Euphratic. Bulletin of the
Georgian National Academy of Sciences 2/3: 156—168.
Woolley, L. 1955. Ur Excavations, vol. IV. The Early
Periods. British Museum Press, London and University
of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.
Wright, H. T. and E. S. A. Rupley 2001. Calibrated
radiocarbon age determinations of Uruk-related
assemblies. In: Uruk Mesopotamia & its Neighbors.
Cross—Cultural Interactions in the Era of State
Formation, edited by M. S. Rothmann, 85—122. School
of American Research Advanced Seminar Series.
School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM.
5
Equids in Mesopotamia—A Short Ride through
Selected Textual Sources!
Joachim Marzahn
In this paper I am going to examine some of the cuneiform tablets in the ancient Near East—
especially those from Mesopotamia and present some thoughts by re-examining the world of
textual sources covering a period of three thousand years from the 4th to the 1st millennium BCE.
My synopsis not only includes a view of the earliest written documents, but also different text
genres. This review will, although condensed, provide an overview including all equids, not just
horses.
When I received an invitation to give a talk at the
Lexington Conference in Honor of Mary Littauer, initially
I felt very honored, and this is the right opportunity to
express my gratitude to the organizers, especially to
Sandra Olsen. However, my second thought was: What is
left to say about horses in the ancient Near East? Much
has been written about the subject, and I do not want to
repeat what is already widely known. To name only a
few—Mary Littauer, Nicholas Postgate, Juris Zarins and
others’—have contributed so much to our knowledge
that it became a challenge to me to find new information;
and, as the following overview hopefully shows, I hope I
did.
I want to restrict myself to my field of expertise, the
cuneiform tablets in the ancient Near East—especially
those from Mesopotamia—and present some thoughts
by re-examining the world of textual sources covering
a period of three thousand years from the 4" to the 1*
millennium BCE (Figure 1). My synopsis not only
includes a view of the earliest written documents, but also
different text genres. One the one hand, all this review will
be somewhat condensed; on the other hand it will also
include all equids, not just horses.
At the very beginning of writing in the ancient Near
East we already find a variety of notations of equids.
The above-mentioned variety concerns donkeys, the
animals particularly used in the local economy. The
so-called Archaic Texts from Uruk—written arguably
in Sumerian, an isolated language that was spoken in
southern Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq)—show not
only a broad use of related cuneiform signs denoting these
animals, but we also find at least five different notations
that can be identified with the later phonetic value of
! This contribution was given as a lecture at the the Symposium “Equids
in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and Arabia", June 1—3, 2010, Kentucky
Horse Park, Lexington. It has been revised and supplemented with
bibliography and references to be printed in this edition.
? Littauer/Crouwel 1979; Postgate 1986; Zarins 1976; 1986; 2014; von
den Driesch/Raulwing 2004.
71
ANSE “donkey” (Figure 2). The examples shown here
have been connected to stratgraphic levels IV to II in Uruk
excavated since 1928/29 by German archaeologists and
Figure 1. Top: Archaic cuneiform tablet with the image of
an equid (obverse), Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, VAT
17600. From Uruk, ca. 3350-3200 BCE. © Vorderasiatisches
Museum. Bottom: Drawing of the tablet, from: http://cdli.
ucla.edu, P001946. O CDLI.
Joachim Marzahn
Figure 2. Top: Archaic cuneiform tablet with the image of
an equid (obverse), Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, VAT
16763. From Uruk, ca. 3350-3200 BCE, © Vorderasiatisches
Museum. Middle: Drawing of the tablet, from: http://
cdli.ucla.edu, P001993. © CDLI. Bottom: Detail image. ©
Vorderasiatisches Museum.
72
Yi s
J
(
Figure 3. Document about the employment of donkeys
as draft animals for ploughing (obverse), Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum, VAT 12433. From Shuruppag
(Fara), ca. 2600 BCE. © Vorderasiatisches Museum.
Figure 4. Detail from reverse of VAT 12433. showing the
ANSE-sign (left). © Vorderasiatisches Museum.
architects (see the contribution of Burmeister, Krispijn and
Raulwing in this volume).
In later texts—mainly administrative sources which were
at that time undoubtedly written in Sumerian—equids
became more frequently mentioned. Among the references
in cuneiform texts, donkeys are distinguished as species
and subspecies such as the well-known donkey, mule and
the hybrid of donkey and onager. Most of these terms were
also used to designate gender, age and other characteristics
(Figures 3-5). The texts do not mention their usage for
warfare, yet we know this was the case from inscriptions
on the famous Standard of Ur (see Olsen/Culbertson 2010:
94).
Moreover, even among personal names the donkey appears
as an element, but this evidence is rare and derives from the
Equids in Mesopotamia
Figure 5. Administrative notice about the feeding of donkeys
(obverse). Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, VAT 4693.
From Girsu (Telloh), ca. 2440 BCE. © Vorderasiatisches
Museum.
latest Sumerian period at the end of 3"! millennium called
Ur III, named after the Third Dynasty of Ur in southern
Mesopotamia. In one text we find:
ee ap
ur—‘anSe—du, —ur,—re
“Hero of the along going young donkey:?
In this case ANSE is marked with a so—called determinative
sign “” to be read as a god’s name DINGIR.ANSE = “God
Donkey”.
Of more interest might be the enormous number of notices
in poems and songs in Sumerian literature. Here we find—
for instance—a quote about donkeys in the narrative that
reports a struggle between Gilgamesh the hero of Uruk and
the ruler of Kish and a forerunner of the later Babylonian
epic (Figure 6).
Regarding a dispute of the donkey with the elder’s
assembly we read:
“In the convened assembly, his city’s able-bodied men
answered Gilgamesh: ‘Standing on duty and sitting
in attendance, escorting the king’s son, and forever
grasping the donkey’s reins—who has that much
breath?", as the saying goes. Gilgamesh answered:
“You old men should not submit to the house of Kish!
Should we young men not smite it with weapons?”
In genres of Sumerian literature connected with real life
activities about agricultural matters mention the equids of
the land. They appear, for instance, in a so-called didactic
poem, known as the Instructions of Suruppag—a wise old
man—in which he gives advices to his son regarding the
? Schneider 1931, pl. 36 = text 88, 4:16 = line 386
* Cited after the poem «Gilgamesh and Aga»: translation — Electronic
Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) = http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.
uk/; translation, lines 9-14.
73
Figure 6. Terracotta plaque with the depiction of a
scene from the poem “Gilgamesh and Huwawa". Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum, VA 7246. Purchase, ca. 18th—
17th century BCE. O Olaf M. Tefimer, Vorderasiatisches
Museum Berlin.
right way to live as a farmer. The old man also includes
remarks about onagers and donkeys:
*[...] you should not buy an Onager: it lasts only until
the end of the day. [...]
You should not have sex with your slave girl: she will
chew you up.
You should not buy a donkey at the time of harvest. A
donkey which eats [...] will [...] with another donkey.
[ed
A vicious donkey hangs its neck; however, a vicious
man [...], my son’”
In addition, the horse is known in Sumerian literature. In a
self-praising poem of King Sulgi of Ur of the twentyfirst
century BCE the king designates himself as:
“Tam a mule, most suitable for the road. I am a horse,
whose tail waves on the highway. I am a donkey of
Sakkan, who loves running.”
In texts providing information about domestic life,
horses appear side by side with donkeys since at least
the twentyfirst century BCE. Even so, we do not know to
what extent they found a distinguished place in Sumerian
literature. In cuneiform texts, horses are scarcely
mentioned and even letters only deal with horses like the
one of Aba-indasa, “overseer of the elite troops, the one
? See «Instructions of Shuruppag", ETCSL; http://orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-
bin/etesl.cgi?text=t.5.6.1# lines 48-49 and 216-219.
€ [na praise poem of king Sulgi (Sulgi A), ETCSL; http://orinst.ox.ac.
uk/egi-bin/etesl.cgi?text=t.2.4.2.01# lines 16-18. Sulgi A contains
several equid terms: 1.) line 16: anse-gír-nun-na (which was translated
as “donkey hybrid"), 2.) line 17: ANSE.KUR.RA (all agree that the
meaning is “horse”), 3.) line 18: dür-“Sakan (which was traslated
as “male donkey") and 4.) line 72: an&e-edin-na (almost all agree to
translate these terms as *Halbesel, Onager"). Also, Sulgi B and D contain
terms for equids.
Joachim Marzahn
who, thanks to the prayers for his king", to king Sulgi from
the turn of the 2™ millennium:
*Say to my lord, and repeat to my kid of the mountains,
with beautiful horns; to my horse ofthe mountains, with
an eagle's claws; my date-palm, growing on untouched
ground and with fresh dates hanging from it: this is
what the captain of pledged troops, Aba-indasa—[...]
your servant, says.”
In legal documents, so-called names for a year
(“Jahresnamen”) are often used to designate important
events during a king's reign. These documents enable us to
date cuneiform texts by further analyzing the ‘year names’
compared to historical events from other cuneiform
sources. From the turn of the 3" to the 2" millennium ‘year
names' also deal with affairs alluding to draft animals.
Although they are not directly mentioned in the texts, we
can clearly deduce information about draft animals such
as equids as follows: * Year name' no. 15 of Ur-Namma of
Ur: *The year that the chariot of Ninlil was made."*
But let us look at another interesting text genre, the proverbs
of Sumer. Here predominantly donkeys are referenced,
but in some cases also horses are mentioned. Compared to
documents from other text genres, the proverbs of Sumer
may be taken as a marker for the actual beginning of the
expansion of the horse in Mesopotamia.
Donkeys in Sumerian Texts
“You should drive them like pack—asses into a death—
stricken city.”
“For a donkey there is no stench. For a donkey there is
no washing with soap.”
“One does not marry a three-year-old wife, as a donkey
does.”
“The donkey, after he had thrown off his packs, said:
‘Now I can forget the burdens of former days!’””
*He who rents a donkey for a whole year kindles a fire
in the moonlight.”
Horses in Sumerian Texts
“Like a horse you paw the ground where you drink.”
7 Letter from Aba-indasa to Sulgi about his neglect http://etcsl.orinst.
ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.3.1.21# lines 1-8.
* Ur-Namma year name o. = mu *?gigir “nin—lil, ba-dim,—ma “The year
that the chariot of Ninlil was made”, see http://cdli.ucla.edu/wiki/doku.
php/ur-namma.
? Sumerian Proverbs collection 14 Segment B 1 No 15 (http://etcsl.orinst.
ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text-t.6.1.142); collection 2 Segment A No
139, No 81(http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.6.1.02#)
collection 5 Segment B No. 39 (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etesl.
cgi?text=t.6.1.05#).
74
“The horse, after throwing off his rider, said: “Were
my load to be like this forever, how weak I would
become!””'®
We turn now to the Akkadian literature which incorporates
all texts written in Akkadian—a Semitic language—
focusing on texts from Babylonia as well as from
Assyria. Overall, texts mentioning of horses become more
common. Starting with older Babylonian evidence in early
the second millennium BCE we should first examine the
famous Codex Hammurapi, named after the 6" king of the
Old Babylonian Dynasty." The Codex Hammurapi deals—
among wide range of various types of legal matters—also
with donkeys in six paragraphs. Two of them are quoted
here:
Ҥ 8 If any one steal cattle or sheep, or a donkey, or a
pig or a goat, if it belongs to a god or to the court, the
thief shall pay thirtyfold; if they belonged to a freed
man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has
nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.”
Ҥ 224 If a veterinary surgeon performs a serious
operation on a donkey or an ox, and cure it, the owner
shall pay the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a fee.”
A donkey is also mentioned in an Akkadian literary
composition and tells us about a wise man named Atra-
Hasis, the builder of the first ark to survive the deluge.
The mighty flood sent by the gods to devastate mankind—
because of the noise they made. This comment compared
the power and strength of a wild donkey:
“The sky turned dark, so no one could see anyone else.
The flood roared toward them like a bull and, like a
wild donkey, the winds screamed overhead. There was
no sun and darkness hid the land.”
In the Old Babylonian period Sumerian literature was still
cultivated, but Akkadian literature particularly flourished
at that time. Even in private documents traces of horses
can be found, whereas in official documents the donkey
still takes the center stage. Again, in a letter we read (VAT
6088; Figure 7):
“To Ahuni speak, as follows said Belanum. Šamaš and
Marduk may save your life! Took 1 Gur barley as feed
for the horses in order that they can scoff it. They shall
not stay hungry.”'*
In the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE, horses
gain attention. This is due to relations with New Kingdom
Egypt and to the development of a new type of weapon—
10 Sumerian Proverbs collection 5 Segment B No. 37 and 38 (http://etcsl.
orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text-t.6. 1.057).
1 Roth 1987; van de Mierop 2004.
12 My translation.
Translated from German by the author. See also Lambert/Millard/
Civil 1999,
^ Translated by the author.
13
Equids in Mesopotamia
Figure 7. Private letter from Old Babylonian times
mentioning the feeding of horses (obverse), Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum, VAT 6088. Purchase, ca.
18th-17th century BCE. O Vorderasiatisches Museum.
the chariot, a light, fast vehicle mainly used combat that
had two spoked wheels and was drawn by a pair of horses
harnessed with metal cheekpieces. Much has been written
about horses and chariots, and I only refer to the famous
correspondence from El-Amarna at the Nile River—about
300 kilometers south of Cairo—which contains hundreds
of cuneiform letters exchanged between the kings of the
predominant powers in the eastern Mediterranean. These
texts partly deal with or at least mention horses (Figure
8).15
To the same period belong the Hittite and Assyrian
equestrian texts of which examples were shown as
part of the exhibition “A Gift from the Desert: The Art,
History and Culture of the Arabian Horse” in Lexington
(Kentucky) in 2010. Also, many studies about those horse
training texts have published, so I will leave them aside
bere Ip Instead let us have a look at the numerous political
conflicts between Mesopotamia and their neighbors as well
as the wars and combat between Assyria and Babylon."
The Assyrian Tukulti-Ninurta Epic from end of thirteenth
century"? describes multiple attempts of this ruler to subdue
? Moran 1992.
* Raulwing 2006; Probst 2010, preface by P. Raulwing and J. Marzahn.
? Hamblin 2006.
* Machinist 1978.
75
Figure 8. Letter of the Babylonian king Burnaburiash to the
Egyptian pharaoh negotiating a dynastic marriage and gifts,
among them also horses. Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum,
VAT 152. Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. 14th century BCE. O Olaf
M. Teßmer, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Figure 9. Socle of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I
(1244-1207 BCE) from the temple of the goddess Ishtar in
Ashur, Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, VA 8146. © Olaf
M. Teßmer, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
the Kassite Babylonians. In his fight against Kastilias of
Babylon the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta is accused of
having “mounted his chariot and harangued the hordes”
of Babylon (Figure 9). However, Tukulti-Ninurta prompts
Joachim Marzahn
e s ac di
i Ernie
Ee?
Figure 10. Clay prism with dedicatory inscription of the Assyrian king Tiglath—Pileser I (1115-1076 BCE) with reports of
his military campaigns mentioning chariotry, from Ashur, Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, VA 8255. O Olaf M. Tefimer,
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Kastilia$ to attack the Assyrians, because he thinks he is
sufficiently armed in order to win the battle:
“My army is camped not many leagues from you, and
as for you, all your chariotry is in readiness and your
army is massed. Attack me, then, like a brave man, fight
the battle that you strive so hard to attain.”
One of the most famous examples of Assyrian royal text
documents is the octagonal clay prism of Tiglath—Pileser
I (1114-1076 BCE) in the Vorderasiatisches Museum,
Berlin (Figure 10). This is the first known annalistic report
that includes the ruler’s military campaigns early in his
reign. The text was composed to serve as a deposit under
the foundations of a temple in Ashur, in northern Iraq at
the left bank of the Tigris. The King’s reports read:
“T took my warriors trained for successful combat with
thirty of my chariots escorting my aggressive shock
troops. I marched to the land Išdiš [...]. Riding in my
chariot when the way was smooth and going by foot
when the way was rough, I passed through the rough
terrain of mighty mountains. In mount Aruma, a
difficult area which was impassable for my chariots, I
abandoned my chariotry. Taking the lead of my warriors
I slithered victoriously with the aggressiveness of a
viper over the perilous mountain ledges.'??
In these texts we witness of the mentioning of the chariot
in full action as a weapon in Neo-Assyrian times.
However, it is at this point where I quote a statement of
Mary Littauer on the depictions of the later battle scenes
on Assyrian palace reliefs. She concluded: “Unfortunately,
neither the Assyrian reliefs nor textual accounts of military
campaigns are sufficiently explicit for us to deduce the
tactics use in actual battles.””' Perhaps a little more light
can be shed on this topic by evaluating some texts from
Nuzi in northern Iraq near Kirkuk from the same period.
One of the Nuzi archives allows us to meet a man who
was the “head of 50 chariots, each 10 chariots followed by
20 riders and 200 infantrymen. Thus, the lord of this was
a head of about 1000 warriors.” And in another text, “One
of the officers in these archive is mentioned as one of the
fifteen officers of the right flank."? (Ninel Jankowska).
If this information reflects historical reality and we
extrapolate, we would have two flanks of a military unit
with one officer with 50 chariots and a crew of 100 men
together with 100 cavalrymen and 200 infantrymen.
Altogether on one flank alone: 18,000 men with 3000 horses
in this example staggered in rows of chariotry, cavalry and
infantry one after another. I am a not a mathematician,
but the accounting appears to be erroneous. Whatever
the historical reality, it seems that we have here a certain
? After Foster 1993:211ff.
20 Kirk Grayson 1991:16, lines II 64-77.
?! Littauer/Crouwel 1979:137; see also Mayer 1995.
2 Jankowska 1981:197—198.
TI
Equids in Mesopotamia
battle order in Nuzi and probably that same order can be
conferred on the Assyrian army.”
Another fascinating element where archaeology and
philology meet comes from Nimrud, Assyrian residence
Kalbu in northern Mesopotamia in ninth century BCE.
Here, the excavator Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894)
discovered extraordinarily wide doorways and suggested
that they belonged to parts of the building where chariots
were restored or repaired. Thus, this may be an example of
a building that was specifically adjusted to the requirements
of chariotry. A direct link to this architectural practice is
documented in a later inscription of King Esarhaddon
(681—661 BCE), a prism that contains the description of
his arsenal in Niniveh (Prism Inscription Niniveh, Episode
21):
“At that time the royal storehouse of Niniveh, [...]
in order to store the material of the battle camps and
to house the horses, mules, combat chariots, arms,
equipments for the battle, booty of the enemies etc.
which Ashur, the king of the gods, has let have a share
my majesty, the place where horses were trained to
gallop and chariots were driven, this place has become
too tight.”
All these pieces of information are enriched through
knowledge of the so-called administrative Horse Texts
from Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud in northern Iraq during
the reign of King Sargon II (722-705 BCE) where a
number of reports were found. They deal mostly with
ongoing and outgoing groups of horses of the so-called
&kal masarti = the Review Palace of Nimrud. This palace
was erected for "organizing the campaign, and checking
the horses, mules, chariots, militáry equipment and enemy
plunder,"^ as King Esarhaddon pointed out. The time of
the muster is described by him as follows (Instructions of
Esarhaddon):
*May I [...]. take stock there during the month of
the New Years Festival, the first month, of all steeds
(“Rosser”), mules, donkeys and camels, of the harness
and battle gear of all of my troops and of the booty
taken from the enemy.”
Of special interest in these reports is the indication of
colors of horses already going back to earlier times.”
However, they become more frequent now. In these cases,
we can determine black and red with certainty. Other
expressions are not clear, but the coat of one horse seems
to be decribed with distinct colored spots or markings.”
23
Kendall 1975:75 with a table.
Ibid.
5 See Balkan 1954:26-2; Kendall 1975:288 for Nuzi.
?* Colored horses are definitively mentioned in a letter from the time
of Sargon IL, with a report about the arrival of a foreign prince who is
bringing tribute in form of horses: "[...]16 red horses, 13 e/irginu-horses,
14 black horses, 1 harsaju-horse, 1 tuanu-horse, 6 female mules, 5 male
mules, altogether 51 horses (sic!) of the crown-prince of Andia." For
the full text see Lanfranchi/Parpola 1987:No. 171. These horses reappear
abbreviated in a report ofthe so-called Calah horse-list: “[...] ditto, black
24
m
Joachim Marzahn
Also of importance in this case are the scribes, because
for the first time they are not only mentioned, but are
distinguished as stable-scribes and chariotry-scribes.?
Sometimes they dealt with no less than hundreds of horses
or cavalrymen and charioteers. In addition, we learn much
about the origin of military goods as, for example, ND
2672 and ND 2727 show (Figure 11):
*] horse 1 mare, total in Guzana, 1 mare 1—year old foal
in Nisibin .... total 28 horses from Askelon......, yearly
tribute and linen cloth, decorated harness clothes, fish,
roasted emmer ..." (ND 2672)
*50 riding horses in Ahsana, 184 horses across the river,
20 riding horses in the town of Halman, 100 horses at
the depot?, Total 404 horses"
“60 horses, 30 mules, iSkaru tax(?) 20 horses namurtu
payment (honorary gift)" (ND 2727)
Despite the fact that the sums in the lasttext were obviously
wrong, all these notations provide an important overview
about the income and administration of the equestrian
sources of Assyria: tributes, gifts, taxes and duties of
certain cities or provinces with one exception—amazingly
enough—the actual breeding of horses.?* Perhaps this was
a fact that lay beyond the Assyrian accountancy, which
was interested in results only (Figure 12).
Another group from Ashur are protocols for mustering
of horses, datable to the time of Sargon II under which
two documents are extraordinary, because they contain
the names of Aramaean charioteers as well as names of
Arrapchaeans and Chaldeans (Figure 13).??
With this evidence we can compare some Aramaic dockets
dealing with loans of barley which contain the same names
of charioteers.” From this textual evidence we can deduce
that in addition to all cuneiform documents we would have
to expect also texts in Aramaic. However, those records
were mostly written on perishable materials and are
therefore lost today.
Before returning to Royal texts we should have a look
on legal documents about the purchase of land, houses or
slaves. In these documents sometimes mention of a special
penalty appears and suggests that horses could be used to
pay a penalty. A fragment of a contract about the purchase
of land of 14 ha (c. 150,000 square feet) of surface (!) by a
recruitment officer of the army, the notes say:
(ones), 2 ditto, red (ones), 1 horse", and mentions ibid. before: e/irginu-
coloured (sign IR), harsäju-coloured (sign HA), but also “speckled’ (sign
GUN,)?, see e.g. ePSD (electronic Philadelphia Sumerian Dictionary)
sub GUN,. See for this text: Dalley/Postgate 1984:No. 116. See also
Figure 11. See also Younger 2014.
7 Parker 1961:23ff.
?* Postgate 1974.
2 Schroeder 1925:31-38; 131-132.
3° Lidzbarski 1921:15-20; cf. Donner/Röllig 1962-64:No. 234-236.
78
ND2672
[rey r$—« |
ATE AAT oe rey
TEM HE sd Xm
AAMT Aë A AN
AS 4— def
A«qu
obv
eee :
T he ANY HET
zë
IS
edge
rev
20
25
TEA St MC
TERUK A8 H
AME &—« EX. E AY
yi ay po
Yes
ND2727
rev m Lë
= < Afen TAY x
n [o Tas
S ` «ND ET Mp a GE PETAT
ES: Lied EXT pe ;
AN SE Mey
SH yw ASAT Yee |
Figure 11. Autographs of the texts ND 2672 and ND 2727;
from Iraq 23 (1961) Pls. XXII and XXIV.
“Whoever in future at any time, breaks the contract and
seeks a lawsuit or litigation against Sümu-le&ir, shall
[...] tie two white horses to the feet of ASSur and shall
bring four harbakkannu-horses to the feet of Nergal.””!
3! Kwasman/Parpola 1991:No 20, Rev 2.
"P
Em. A =
PER
"EC m PEF
Equids in Mesopotamia
Figure 12. Protocols of the muster of horses from Ashur, Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, 8th century BCE. Left: VAT
10473. Right: VAT 8878. O Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Figure 13. Aramaic dockets from Ashur with names of charioteers; Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, 8th cent. BCE, VAT
7496, 7497, 7499. © Olaf M. TeBmer, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Political documents, royal inscriptions—mostly written
on obelisks, reliefs and sculptures but also on numerous
tablets, cones and cylinders—represent what we may call
an official version of the hitherto quoted texts. These texts
record limited mention of horses or numeration. In the
annals of king Sargon II the Assyrian king describes year
by year—among other things—his concern about horses
and related matters. Thus, he notes for instance, for the
8th year of his reign from the campaign against Musasir in
Urartu in eastern Anatolia:
“Concerning Urzana of Musasir, who has broken his
oath, ASSur, my lord, encouraged me, that I went against
the hardly accessible mountains with not more than my
single combat wagon and 1000 men of my cavalry full
of bloodlust and of my foot-troops, experienced in
79
combat, walking in difficult terrain and riding on horses
when the way was smooth."
Compare the Tiglath—Pileser Prisma:
“Scarcely Urzana of Musasir heard this he flew
away like a bird and disappeared in unapproachable
mountains."?
It seems obvious that we can take this as a clear evidence
for the domination of the cavalry at that time.
* The prism inscription of Sargon II, 8th year, translated from German
after: Fuchs 1994:321.
Joachim Marzahn
In the previous paragraphs we discussed a number of
examples mentioning troops and their teams of horses.
However, at the same time it should be pointed out that
even the Assyrian king had to be educated and trained
to exercise all of his military duties by being physically
present and leading the campaigns against his enemies.
Not all kings, but at least the last important Assyrian ruler,
Ashurbanipal, reported in his so-called autobiography:
“I, ASSurbanipal, laid hold upon the wisdom of Nabû,
penetrated to all the intricacies of the art and writing,
as practised by all kinds of craftsmen, learned how to
shoot with the bow, to ride horses and chariots, to hold
the reins"?
Several Assyrian literary sources mirror the hitherto
described facts. A scribal text containing one of the earliest
examples of philosophical poetry in the ancient Near
East, called the “Dialogue of Pessimism”—a satirical
composition—describes the conversation of a master and
his servant (Figure 14). Whenever the master suggests
a course of action, the servants supports it by providing
further arguments for support. However, each time the
master changes his opinion, his servant offers him equally
good reasons for the second option. Some of the stanzas
begin with “Servant, listen to me. Yes, master, yes.” And
at the end the story finds its surprising turn:
“Quickly, get me the chariot and hitch it up for me so I
can drive to the palace.
Drive, master, drive, it will bring you where you want
to go, the others will be outclassed, the prince will pay
attention to you.
No, servant, I will certainly not drive to the palace.
Do not drive, master, do not drive. The prince will send
you on a journey that you do not know.'?*
Along with the texts discussed above our attention may be
turned to the last great period of Mesopotamian history,
the time of the Chaldean kings such as Nebuchadnezzar
II (634—562 BCE). However, since the rather few sources
dealing with horses from this period are—more or less—
quite similar to those we discussed in the context of the
Assyrian textual evidence, I will leave this aside here. But
I do not want to end without an attempt to demonstrate
the sense of humor in the ancient Near East preserved
in a scholarly text, called “The Jester”, that unfolds the
routine of this man by being satirical about professions.
And herewith we will close the topic with the equid
with which we started at the beginning of this paper: the
donkey.
“Jester, what can you do?"
“T can sing laments (against a lament singer-priest)
3 Cited after the German version in Streck 1916:5, lines 31-34.
34 After Foster 1993:815ff.
Figure 14. Clay tablet with the *Dialogue of Pessimism",
Ashur, 2nd half 1st millennium BCE, Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum, VAT 9933. O Olaf M. Tefimer,
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
I can squeeze out apple juice and brew beer.”
“Jester, what can you do?"
“Of the whole exorcist’s craft, nothing is beyond me.”
“Jester, how do you exorcise?”
“Here is how: I take over the haunted house, I set up
the holy water.
[...] I skin a donkey and stuff it with straw.
I tie a bundle of reeds, set it on fire, and toss it inside.
I spare the boundaries of the house and its surroundings,
but the haunt of the house, the serpent, the scorpion are
not spared.”
Excursus: The Kikkuli Text
Among the cuneiform tablets found in the ancient Near
East and adjacent regions, the Hittite instructions for the
training of chariot horses form a special literary genre
(Figure 15). From them as well as from Middle—Assyrian
instructions on horse training from Ashur% we have
35 My translation.
3% Ebeling 1951.
Equids in Mesopotamia
Figure 15. Tablet IV of the so-called Hittite Kikkuli-Text. HattuSa, 13th century BCE, Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum,
VAT 6693. © Vorderasiatisches Museum.
relatively rare first-hand information on certain aspects
of training concepts for chariot horses in the second half
of the 2nd millennium. It also includes how such training
manuals were composed, structured and archived by the
Hittite and Middle Assyrian scribes."
The so-called Kikkuli Text is written on clay tablets in the
Hittite language using Hittite cuneiform signs. Certain
words are borrowed from other languages. The Kikkuli
Text became famous mainly for two reasons: It is the oldest
surviving horse training text of its kind, and it contains a
handful of technical terms used by Kikkuli, such as his
professional title, which can be linguistically classified as
belonging to Old Indic.** The Kikkuli Text is named after
its author who introduces himself in the first line of Tablet
I of his training instructions as the "horse trainer from the
land of Mittani”, a powerful empire in northern Syria and
southwest Anatolia for a certain period in the second half
of the 2nd millennium BCE.
It was found in the first campaign in 1906-07 in Bogazkóy
in central Anatolia,? which is the Turkish name of the
modern village where the ancient capital of the Hittite
kings, named HattuSa, was discovered.
37 Marzahn 1996; 2007; van den Hout 2002.
38 Raulwing 2004, Table 1.
"7 Raulwing & Meyer 2004, Fig. 2; Raulwing 2006.
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6
Harnessing the Chariot Horse
Gail Brownrigg
Iconographic evidence and archaeological finds show how chariot harness in the Near East and
the eastern Mediterranean was developed and embellished over two millennia. Experimental
reconstructions have shown how it functioned and confirm that, far from being inefficient as has
often been claimed, it was well adapted for its purpose and for changing needs.
Early Harnessing and Control
Early harnessing was by means of a yoke for cattle—still
used in many parts of the world today—either attached to
their horns or placed on their necks in front of the withers.
At its centre point was secured the beam of an ard for
making furrows to plant seed and perhaps for irrigation.
Wheeled vehicles were drawn in the same way, by pairs
of oxen under a yoke, the draught pole also performing
the functions of steering and braking. Yokes continued to
be used for all animal traction until the time of the Roman
Empire in the West and the Han dynasty in the East.
The earliest images of harnessed equids date from the
third millennium BCE in the Near East. Four donkeys or
donkey/onager hybrids are yoked abreast, drawing two-
or four-wheeled vehicles with disc wheels (see Crouwel,
this volume, Figures 5, 8). They wear collars or fringed
neck straps fastened to a yoke which lies on the necks of
the central pair, and are controlled by lines to nose rings
through the septum, like those still used for leading bulls
(Figure 1). Tight nosebands or muzzles may be intended to
stop them biting, as they are often stallions. Guiding them
would have been difficult, but control by voice commands
and a tug on the lines would have been adequate for
prestige vehicles designed to carry kings, priests, warriors,
or images of a deity in stately procession, accompanied by
footmen and grooms. The lumbering “battle wagons” with
their fixed axles—which would in any case preclude sharp
turns—could not have been manoeuvred with precision.
Horses and Chariots
By the beginning of the second millennium BCE, horses
make their appearance, harnessed in pairs to light, spoke-
wheeled vehicles which the standing passengers entered
from behind—the two-wheeled chariot. The four reins
visible on cylinder seals indicate the use of bits (Figure 2).
It was the invention of the bit that enabled fast horses—
more agile and more sensitive than donkeys—to be
controlled from the vehicle. A bit is not needed for riding.
85
Figure 1. A team of four equids controlled by nose rings.
Inlay fragment from Nippur, Mesopotamia, 3rd millennium
BCE. The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 6N—169.
Author’s drawing from Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 6,
by permission of J. Crouwel.
A halter with a single rein, or a strap around the neck, can
be used to guide or stop one’s mount; the rider’s weight,
pressure from his heels and a short stick all give signals to
turn or go faster. The Bedouin still ride their feisty Arab
mares with just a braided rope on a tasselled halter. But for
driving from behind, though reins can be attached either
side of a noseband, steering is not easy because the pull
is backwards with no lateral pressure, and the noseband
tends to swivel. It is likely that the bit was invented for
driving to control direction, especially at speed.' A pair of
lively horses harnessed to a light, manoeuvrable vehicle
needed both brakes and power steering.
This preoccupation with lateral control is reflected in the
frequent use of spikes on the early cheekpieces. A bronze
bit dated to about the sixteenth century BCE from Tel
Haror in the northern Negev’ is similar to one found at
Tell el Ajjul, ancient Gaza (top of Figure 3). Both have
rigid mouthpieces over 20 cm. long (as compared with
modern bits ranging from 10 to 15 cm.), which run through
circular cheekpieces studded on the inside. The long canon
gave leverage, while the prongs would encourage the
' Lauer 1969: 489; Dietz 1992; Brownrigg 2004.
? Lauer and Crouwel 2001.
Gail Brownrigg
horse to turn his head: a special bit with a long “run-out”
mouthpiece is still sometimes used on the trotting track
for a stiff-necked horse that will not yield to its driver's
signal to turn?
Another type of bronze bit with jointed canons, known
from both the Aegean and the Near East, also carried studs
on the inner face of long, rectangular cheekpieces, which
may also have been used in combination with a strap
across the nose^ (bottom of Figure 3).
Figure 2. A divine driver in a *platform car". Detail of
a Syrian seal impression, 18th c. BCE. British Museum,
London, 16815a. After Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Fig.
31.6, by permission of J. Crouwel.
Figure 3. Top: Bronze bit with spiked cheekpieces from Tell
el Ajjul (ancient Gaza), Levant. ca. 15th c. BCE. L. 25 cm.
Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem, 37.3271. After Littauer
and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 48. Bottom: Bronze bit from Tell
el Amarna, Egypt, 14th c. BCE. L. 20 cm. Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford, 1933.1209. After Littauer and Crouwel
1979: Fig. 49, by permission of J. Crouwel.
? Littauer 1969: pls. 203, 206.
* Lauer 1969.
86
Egypt
Both types of bit have been found in Egypt, where the
beautifully executed reliefs and paintings show in detail
the bridles and harnesses which were in use throughout
the Near East during the second millennium BCE (Figure
4). Divided cheek straps support a bit or a low, reinforced
noseband. Decorative discs or bosses and sometimes
blinkers are depicted (Figure 5). A yoke with recurved
ends rests on the necks of a pair of horses, held in place by
a broad neck strap. Another long strap, which hangs under
the belly, behind the elbows, would prevent the yoke from
2AN Zi
LAD
Figure 4. Rameses II's chariot at Abu Simbel, Egypt, 13th c.
BCE. After Bonomi 1853: Fig.108. Work published over 75
years ago.
Figure 5. Top: Blinker decorated with gold on gesso.
Bottom: bridle bosses. All from the tomb of Tut ankhamün,
Thebes, Egypt, 14th c. BCE. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. After
Littauer and Crouwel 1985: Pl. LX, by permission of J.
Crouwel. Scale in cm.
sliding forward when slowing down and would act as a
backing element. The teams drawing royal chariots were
gorgeously caparisoned. Howard Carter described how
splendid Tut ankhamün's chariots must have looked:
*From various paintings of the king in his chariot, we
know that the horses were decked with sumptuous
housings, neck coverings, and that a crest of ostrich
feathers was fastened to the headstall and bridle....
Their effect when in motion under Egyptian skies
must have been one of dazzling splendour, with their
jewelled trappings flashing back the light, the horses’
plumes waving, in a pageant of brightness, colour,
gleam and richness"?
Finds from the tomb of Tut ankhamün testify to the use
of sheet gold, silver, faience, obsidian, and coloured glass
on various parts of the harness, as well as on the chariots
themselves. The yoke saddles, shaped to fit over the
horses’ necks, bore calcite finials, as did the yokes. One
pair was carved with the head of Bes, covered with gesso,
gilded, and inlaid with glass, faience, and calcite (Figure
9). The ends of the harness straps passing through the hole
that formed his mouth would have resembled a tongue.
Matching bridle bosses repeated the Bes-head motif on the
chariot to which they must have belonged.‘
Blinkers decorated with the wedjat-eye motif or gilded
scales on a wooden base were found in pairs, which could
perhaps indicate that they were only used on the outside
of each team (Figure 5). Bridle plumes have not survived,
but the remains of an embroidered linen housing’ confirm
that the horses’ blankets, like those on the painted lid
of a wooden chest now in the Cairo Museum, were as
colourful as Joseph’s coat.
As well as for parade and for personal transport by
royalty and the nobility, during the first half of the second
millennium BCE the chariot was used as a mobile firing
platform for archers in hunting and warfare. Each would
be accompanied by a charioteer, leaving both hands free to
manipulate his weapon and allowing him to turn and take
aim. As a symbol of his might, the pharaoh is sometimes
depicted with the reins tied around his waist as if he alone
is responsible for conquering his enemies.
The Function of the Harness
For over half a century, historians and archaeologists
believed that early harness tended to choke the horses—
and this widely-held view can still be found in modern
publications.
Commandant Richard Lefebvre des Noéttes (1856-1936)
gathered a large body of iconographical evidence for two
Carter 1972: 116 f.
Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 28, 33.
Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 88, pl. LXII.
Rommelaere 1991: pl. 8.
oN 0 u
Harnessing the Chariot Horse
Figure 6. “Ancient harnessing” experiment in 1910. After
Lefebvre des Noéttes 1931: p.163 (detail). Work published
over 75 years ago.
well-illustrated books.? He made a reproduction of what
he called “antique” harness (Figure 6) and concluded that
because this system put pressure on the windpipe, efficient
equine traction only became possible after the invention of
the horse collar in the early Middle Ages. His theory had
a wide impact and was accepted by scholars and writers
in the fields of archaeology, ancient history, and medieval
studies alike.
It was not until 1977 that Jean Spruytte, a retired French
army officer and riding teacher, and an eminently
practical man, showed by his extensive experiments with
reconstructed chariots and harness that Lefebvre des
Noéttes had confused two different harness systems: the
neck yoke documented in the Near East, Central Asia, and
China, and the dorsal yoke developed in Iron Age Greece!’
(Figures 7, 17).
Figure 7. Harnessing system with neck yoke and yoke
saddle. After Spruytte 1983: p.14, by permission of A.
Spruytte.
? Lefebvre des Noéttes 1924; 1931.
10 Spruytte 1977; 1983.
Gail Brownrigg
Figure 8. Yoke and harness on a chariot brought as tribute
by Levantines. Detail from a wall painting in the tomb of
Rekhmire, Thebes, Egypt, 15th c. BCE. After Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: Fig. 43 (detail), by permission of J. Crouwel.
In the ancient Near East, traction was by means of “yoke
saddles” in the shape of an inverted “Y,” which enabled
a harnessing system originally designed for cattle to be
adapted to equine anatomy (Figures 8, 9). Lashed to the
yoke, which rested on the stallions’ strong necks, the yoke
saddle sat firmly in the slight natural dip just ahead of
the horse's withers. Its legs lay in front of the scapula on
either side, transferring the draught to the upper part of the
shoulders (Figures 7, 10). They were held in position by
neck straps joining the lower ends of the fork across the
muscular base of the horses’ necks—not the throat—and
which also served to prevent the team from moving out
from under the yoke. The remains of two such bands made
of coarse, folded linen from the tomb of Tut ankhamün
show that these not only widened towards the front, as
is usually depicted, but were of crescent shape matched
by appliqués of gold foil found in the Antechamber. The
curved design would fit the neck's contour and allow them
to lie somewhat lower than straight ones.!! Saddle pads
with a rectangular or rounded profile protected the neck
from bruising and chafing.
The position of the axle at the rear meant that some of the
weight of the occupants was carried by the draught pole,
holding the yoke down and thus helping to keep it in place.
Spruytte found that this amounted to some 9.5 kg per
animal with two people in the vehicle. A long strap from
the front ofthe pole, passing under the animals' bellies and
attached to the outside leg of each yoke saddle, served for
braking and reversing.
It was at the same time as Jean Spruytte was working
on his experiments with Egyptian, Greek, and Saharan
chariots and harnesses that Mary Littauer published a
paper in Antiquity explaining the use of yoke saddles like
! Littauer and Crouwel 1985: 88, 102, pls. LX, XLVII.
88
Figure 9. Yoke saddle with calcite finial from one of
Tut ankhamün's chariots, Thebes, Egypt, 14th c. BCE.
Height 30 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo, One of a pair,
object nos. 158 and 167. After Littauer 1968: Fig. 1, by
permission of J. Crouwel.
AN /E
a 4
C C`
Figure 10. Position of yoke and yoke saddles on the horses’
necks. After Brownrigg 2004: Abb. 6 (author’s drawing
from Spruytte 1982).
those found in Tut‘ankhamūn’s tomb, in Central Asia, and
in Chinese burials. Through her knowledge of horses
and a careful study of the iconographical evidence and
archaeological finds, she had arrived at exactly the same
conclusions about their function and purpose as Spruytte
reached by practical experiments.
Another unusual item found in Tut ankhamün's tomb
has helped to shed light on what appeared on some
12 Littauer 1968.
Figure 11. Check rowel from the tomb of Tut ankhamün,
Obj. no. 620 (120). L. 27 cm., dia. of rowel (with spikes) 8
cm. After Littauer and Crouwel 1985, Fig. 18.
wall paintings and documents from the Amarna period
(fourteenth century BCE) onwards to be an auxiliary
rein with an attachment in its centre. This consists of a
revolving disc with small bronze spikes mounted on a
rigid element fitted between the yoke and the horse's
bridle, which would prick the animal if it turned its head
inwards towards its companion (Figures 4, 11). It has been
proposed that it discouraged bickering between stallions?
or helped them to move off in step. H By ensuring that both
horses kept their necks bent slightly outwards, it may have
helped to keep them close together under the yoke, and
thus prevent the yoke saddle from slipping off sideways;
nor could they swing their quarters out in the absence of
traces. In initial experiments with inexperienced horses
I found that if they moved apart, the yoke saddles could
easily be pulled out of place. Tightening the outside rein
has the same effect of turning the horses' heads out and
making them bend their bodies inwards, bringing them
closer to the pole, but this takes skill and experience and
with two reins held in each hand would not have been easy
to achieve. This may have been the purpose of the discs.
Greece
Yoke saddles were a standard element of chariot harness
in Egypt, the Near East, and the eastern Mediterranean by
the mid second millennium BCE (Figure 12). They were
in use in the Aegean during the Bronze Age. In Knossos,
the fourteenth century Linear-B ideograms picture them
(Figure 13), while a mural clearly shows the upturned ends
terminating in a knob, fastened by a quick-release knot
in a similar position to the holes for the breast strap and
backing element at the lower end of the Egyptian saddle
(Figurel4). The formula do-we-jo i-qo-e-qu ‘wooden
horse-follower(s)’ in the Linear-B tablets may refer to
the yoke saddle.'‘ The reins, however, run directly to the
driver's hands instead of passing through loops or terrets
near the horses' shoulders as they do further east (Figure
15).
? Littauer 1974: 523-24.
* Spruytte 1977: 47—52, 1983: 46—51.
5 Crouwel 1981: 98 f.
€ Crouwel 1981: 94 fn. 20.
89
Harnessing the Chariot Horse
Figure 12. Detail from an ivory gaming box from Enkomi,
Cyprus, British tomb 58. British Museum, London,
97/4-1/996. After Crouwel 1981: Pl. 132, by permission of
J. Crouwel.
Figure 13. Ideogram *240, Linear B tablet Sc 238, from
Knossos, Crete, 14th c. BCE. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
After Crouwel 1981: Pl. 24, by permission of J. Crouwel.
Figure 14. Wall painting from the palace at Knossos, Crete,
14th c. BCE. 1) Rein; 2) Yoke saddle; 3) Upturned terminal
on leg of yoke saddle; 4) Finial of yoke saddle; 5) Neckstrap;
6) Backing element. Archaeological Museum, Heraklion,
Crete. After Crouwel 1981: Pl. 108, by permission of
J. Crouwel.
By the eighth century BCE, however, a different type
of harness can be recognised in mainland Greece. The
sharp upward curve of the pole visible in Geometric vase
painting (Figure 16), combined with the central position
of the axle, was associated with a dorsal yoke resting
on the horses’ backs instead of on their necks, and held
in place by a surcingle." Traction was by a breast band
17 Crouwel 1981: 99; 1992: 39; Spruytte 1977: 53 ff.
Gail Brownrigg
Figure 15. Detail of a vase painting (amphoroid krater),
probably from Maroni, Cyprus. Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, 74.51.964. After Crouwel 1981: Pl. 77
(detail), by permission of J. Crouwel.
D
Figure 16. Greek chariot with central axle and dorsal yoke.
Detail of an Attic Geometric krater, 8th c BCE. Nicholson
Museum, Sydney, Australia, 46.41. After Crouwel 1981: PL
144a, by permission of J. Crouwel.
lying across their shoulders and chests, lower than the
throat strap envisaged by Lefebvre des Noéttes (Figure
17). From the seventh century BCE onwards, the light
“high-front” chariot—usually shown with a central axle
and chiefly used on the racetrack—became the standard
type, drawn by two or four horses (Figure 18). In a team of
four, so often represented in great detail on black- and red-
figure vases, the outside horses had a long strap around
the shoulders and breast with a single inside trace back to
the vehicle. When depicting the war chariot of gods and
heroes, the classical painter took for his model the racing
quadriga of his own time.
Spruytte pointed out that the low breast band used with
a dorsal yoke corresponds with the modern breast collar
which is in common use today, while the neck yoke and
90
Figure 17. Dorsal yoke with shortened breast strap. After
Spruytte 1983: p.14, by permission of A. Spruytte.
Figure 18. Detail of Attic black-figure neck amphora by the
Piraeus Painter, from Piraeus, Greece, ca. 600—590 BCE.
National Museum, Athens, 353. After Crouwel 1992: Pl. 9:1,
by permission of J. Crouwel.
yoke saddles represent a form of shoulder traction, the
forerunner of modern collar harness!’ (Figure 19).
I can find no evidence of a dorsal yoke anywhere other
than mainland Greece. Images from the Eastern Greek
settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor and the
offshore islands show neck yokes like those that continued
to be used throughout the Near East.'?
Material from the rest of Europe does not allow conclusions
to be drawn about details of harnessing other than the fact
that the yoke lies on the animals’ necks. From Central Asia
to China, neck yokes with yoke saddles are evidenced by
archaeological finds and by iconography until the Han
period (second century BCE—second century CE), when
the invention of shafts changed vehicle design, together
with the introduction of a new harnessing system using a
breastcollar.
18 Spruytte 1983: 13, 124.
19 Crouwel 1991: 71.
Figure 19. Modern harnessing: full collar (above) and breast
collar (below). After Spruytte 1983: p. 16, by permission of
A. Spruytte.
Assyria
Early Assyrian harness included yoke saddles? (Figure
20). Bas-reliefs from the royal palaces and the bronze
reliefs on the great gates of Shalmaneser from Balawat,
now in the British Museum, show that from the time of
Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE), a third horse—and
sometimes a fourth on royal chariots—was added for extra
pulling power, for display, or perhaps as a spare in case of
injury (Figure 21). Since there is no evidence of a trace in
the Greek manner, outriggers may have been attached to
the yoke or to the adjacent horse?!
As in Egypt, chariots and harness were lavishly decorated.
Wall paintings at Til Barsip had retained their bright
colours when they were discovered in 1930, but, apart from
fragments now in the Louvre and the Aleppo Museum,
have now disintegrated on exposure to the air. Though the
pigments have been lost from the stone reliefs that once
decorated the palace walls, they too would once have been
painted. Layard was greatly impressed by the sculptures
2 Littauer 1968: 482.
?! Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 116.
91
Harnessing the Chariot Horse
Figure 20. Yoke of an Assyrian chariot being transported on
a boat. Detail of a relief of Ashurnasirpal II, N.W. palace,
Nimrud, Iraq. British Museum, London, 118908. After
Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 54 (detail), by permission
of J. Crouwel.
Figure 21. Assyrian warriors in battle. Detail of a relief of
Ashurnasirpal II (885-859 BCE) from Nimrud, Iraq. After
Layard 1849 vol. II: opp. p.269.
of Ashurnasirpal II that he found during his excavations of
1845/7 at Nineveh:?
“The harness and trappings ofthe horses were extremely
rich and elegant. Plumes waved over their heads, or
fanciful crests rose gracefully to an arch above the
ears, and descended in front to the nostrils. To these
ornaments were sometimes appended long ribands or
streamers, which floated on the wind. Large tassels of
wool or silk, dyed many colours, fell on the forehead,
and were attached to many parts of the harness. The
bridle generally consisted of a headstall, a strap divided
into three parts connected with the bit, and straps over
the forehead, under the cheeks, and behind the ears. All
these details were elaborately ornamented. In the earlier
sculptures we find the figures of winged bulls, and other
symbolical devices, on parts of the head-furniture; in
the latter, rosettes are more commonly introduced,
frequently producing a very pleasing appearance.
It is probable that the bits, as well as many ornaments
of the bridle and trappings, were of gold and other
precious materials.....
"7 Layard 1849, vol. 2: 272-74.
Gail Brownrigg
Around the necks of the horses were hung tassels,
rosettes, and engraved beads. Three straps, richly
embroidered, passing under the forepart of the belly,
kept the harness and chariot-pole in their places. A
breast band, adorned with tassels, was also supported
by these straps. To the yoke was suspended a very
elegant ornament, formed by the head of an animal, and
a circle, in which was sometimes introduced a winged
bull, a star, or some other sacred device. It fell on the
shoulder of the animal, and to it were attached three
clusters of tassels.
Embroidered clothes, or trappings, were frequently
thrown over the backs of the chariot horses, and almost
covered the body, from the ears to the tail. They were
kept in their place by straps passing round the breast,
the rump, and the belly.
The chariot horses of the later Assyrian period differed
entirely in their trappings and harness from those
of the earlier times. High plumes, generally three in
number, and rising one above the other, waved over
their heads. Frequently, an arched crest, and clusters of
tassels, were placed between their ears. Similar tassels
fell over their foreheads, and hung around their necks.
The harness attached to the yoke, was more profusely
ornamented with rosettes and fringes, than that of the
earlier Assyrian chariots; but the ornaments showed
less variety and taste.
The manes were either allowed to fall loosely on the
neck, were plaited, or were cut short and stood erect.
In the earlier sculptures, the tails of the horses were
simply bound in the centre with ribands; in the later,
the end was plaited, as is now the fashion in Persia and
Turkey, and tied up in a bunch.
Each horse appears to have been guided by two reins,
and the charioteer held three in each hand when driving
three horses. He also carried a whip, which, like the
Egyptians, consisted of a simple thong, attached to a
loop at the end of a short handle. In the later Assyrian
sculptures this thong was frequently divided into two or
three lashes, the handle of the whip terminating in the
head of a bull or lion."
Bas-reliefs of the ninth and early eighth century BCE
show bits with rectangular cheekpieces, probably studded
on the inside for directional control (Figure 21). During
the next century, the influence of horse-riders from the
north,? the increasing use of cavalry, and reduced need
for precision steering for the less manoeuvrable four-
horse chariots, brought changes in their design. Two short
straps supported jointed bits with rod-shaped or curved
cheekpieces of bronze, horn, or antler tines which passed
through the ends of the mouthpiece (Figure 22). Rarely,
under Sennacherib (704—681 BCE), decorative plaques
in the form of a horse (Figure 23a) reflect the elaborate
designs of earlier bits with long, straight mouthpieces from
3 Dietz 1998: 14 f., 182.
Figure 22. Assyrian bridle with bit cheekpieces made from
antler tines. Detail of a relief in the palace of Ashurbanipal
(668—630 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq. British Museum, London
124875. After Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 71, by
permission of J. Crouwel.
Figure 23a. Assyrian chariot horse wearing a bit with
cheekpieces in the form of a horse. Detail of a relief in
the palace of Sennacherib (704—681 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq.
British Museum. London, 124783. After Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: Fig. 72, by permission of J. Crouwel.
Figure 23b. Cheekpiece from Luristan (Iran) in the form
of a horse. British Museum, London 1359-72. Author's
drawing.
o Oo o 000 0
Figure 24. Top: Shield-shaped blinker from Room S.W. 37,
Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud, Iraq. Iraq Museum, Baghdad,
65201. L. 8 cm. (restored design). Adapted from Orchard
1967: Pl. I.1. Bottom: Spade-shaped blinker from Room
S.W.37, Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud, Iraq. L. 13.3.cm.
(restored design). Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Adapted from
Orchard 1967: Pl. XXIII:118.
Luristan in western Iran? (Figure 23b). Though actual
examples of such cheekpieces have been found at Nimrud,
Samos, and Rhodes, they are not typical: perhaps they had
been taken as booty and formed part of the king's treasury,
like the blinkers described by Homer when Menelaus is
wounded and his blood flows
*... as when some woman of Meonia or Caria
stains white ivory with purple dye, making a
cheekpiece
for a horse which, though many horsemen yearn to
bear it,
lies in a storeroom as a king's treasure,
alike an ornament for the team and its driver's glory."
(Iliad IV, 140 f£).
A collection of blinkers, carved from ivory and gypsum in
North Syrian and Phoenician style, which must have been
acquired during campaigns in North Syria and the Levant,
were excavated at Nimrud” (Figure 24). Shown very small
on the reliefs where the browband joins the headpiece
(perhaps the artist did not want to cover the horse's eye),
blinkers are clearly depicted on a stone horse's head from
Zinjirli in southeastern Turkey (Figure 25). By the seventh
century BCE ornamental discs are worn at the browband
?* Potratz 1966: 133-83.
> Murray 1946: 163; quoted by Stephen Foltiny 1967: fn. 3.
?* Orchard 1967.
93
Harnessing the Chariot Horse
Figure 25. Stone horse head from Zinjirli, Turkey, Earlier
first millennium BCE. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin,
3004. After Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 64, by
permission of J. Crouwel.
juction, as on driving bridles today, though sometimes
there is an additional element which may be a vestigial
blinker. Frontlets of metal or carved ivory, visible on the
reliefs, have been found at Nimrud (Figure 26), in North
Syria and Urartu, and also in Greece at Miletus and on the
island of Samos.?’
The Assyrian Four-Horse Yoke
During the eighth century BCE, mounted cavalry, first
indicated in texts and on the reliefs of the previous
century, seems to play an increasingly important part
in the Assyrian army. Ridden horses can access places
where chariots would have difficulty: marshy land,
growing crops, woodland, or steep mountain slopes.
Battles between opposing chariot forces must have taken
place on appropriate terrain—open plains with room to
manoeuvre—almost by prearrangement. The mobility
and versatility of riders, whose role had originally been
principally as messengers, would enable them to take over
many of the functions of the earlier chariotry, including
reconnaissance, flanking manoeuvres, harrying enemy
troops, or pursuing fleeing soldiers. Larger horses, either
imported or the result of selective breeding, are depicted
on the Assyrian reliefs of the eighth and seventh centuries
BCE. Suitable for riding, they were also able to draw
bigger and heavier chariots, especially when harnessed
in teams of four. Though less easy to manoeuvre at
speed, these prestigious high-wheeled vehicles, now
77 Barnett 1964; Kantor 1962.
Gail Brownrigg
Figure 26. Ivory frontlet, 8th century BCE, from Room S.W.
37, Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud, Iraq. H. 16 cm. Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, 61.197.5. Author's drawing from
Orchard 1967: Pl. XXX:137.
able to carry one or two additional passengers wielding
shields or weapons, continued to be used as mobile firing
platforms both in warfare and for hunting, as well as for
ceremonial purposes. A new kind of yoke was developed to
accommodate four horses. Instead of yoke saddles, it had
bays shaped to fit over their necks in front of the withers
(Figure 27). Broad crescentic neckstraps kept the yoke in
place, tied with a quick-release knot, but the draught was
still taken principally at the top of the shoulder (Figure
28). Two or four horses were harnessed under a fitted
yoke in Assyria, while bas-reliefs celebrating campaigns
by Ashurbanipal (668-630 BCE) show similar pair yokes
in use with chariots and mule carts of the Elamites from
western Iran (Figure 29).
Cyprus
In Cyprus, terracotta models dated to the 7th and 6th
centuries BCE depict chariots drawn by two or four horses
with fitted yokes (Figure 30). The quadrigas as well as the
remains of a vehicle from Salamis” provide evidence for
?* Crouwel 1987; Karageorghis 1969.
94
Figure 27. Four-horse fitted yoke on a relief of Sennacherib
(704—681 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq. British Museum, London,
123339. After Littauer and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 61, by
permission of J. Crouwel.
Figure 28. Horses being harnessed to a chariot. Detail
from a relief of Ashurbanipal (668-630 BCE, Nineveh,
Iraq. British Museum, London, 124859. After Littauer and
Crouwel 1979: Fig. 62, by permission of J. Crouwel.
Figure 29. Captured chariot from Elam (western Iran).
Detail of a relief of Ashurbanipal (668-630 BCE), Nineveh,
Iraq. British Museum, London. Author’s drawing from
Potratz 1966: Pl. XXIV:54.
Figure 30. Terracotta model chariot from Ovgoros, Cyprus
7th c. BCE. Cyprus Museum, Nicosia. Author's drawing
from Littauer and Crouwel 1977: Pl. 97c.
two draught poles; the teams are sometimes harnessed
under two pair yokes, sometimes under one long one.
These models, which have close Phoenician affinities,
show that frontlets and blinkers continued to be used
elsewhere after they seem to have gone out of fashion
in Assyria. In the Salamis tombs, bronze blinkers and
frontlets were discovered in situ on the heads of horses
and donkeys that had been buried with the vehicles.??
Achaemenid Persia
By the sixth century BCE, the principal role of the chariot
in the Near East remained that of fast personal transport,
including hunting and ceremonial use. On the bas-reliefs
at Persopolis, they are shown in procession, the disc which
hung down over the horses' shoulders on the Assyrian
reliefs replaced by a tassel, but no blinkers, facepiece, or
protective blanket (Figure 31). Pairs of small horses are
sometimes shown drawing the high-wheeled vehicle at
gallop, though a more imposing team of four was generally
considered appropriate for royalty.
Chariot Racing
As a prestige vehicle, the quadriga continued in use until
the time of the Roman emperors, just as horse-drawn
carriages form an important part of state processions even
today, but the true descendant of the swift war machine
was the racing chariot, which provided excitement in the
circus until the end of the Byzantine Empire. The use of
shafts and single harness had been developed in northern
Europe around the second century CE for drawing utility
vehicles carrying both goods and passengers, taking
advantage of the strength and weight of the larger horse
breeds to pull heavier loads on better roads. Transport in
the arid Near East was dominated by the camel caravans
? Crouwel 1987; Karageorghis 1969.
95
Harnessing the Chariot Horse
Figure 31. Royal Achaemenid chariot, on the Apadana
stairway reliefs, Persepolis, Iran, 6th c. BCE. After Littauer
and Crouwel 1979: Fig. 80, by permission of J. Crouwel.
[d
JI
AT?
VS K
Figure 32. Racing quadriga on a marble funerary stele
from western Anatolia, Turkey. Roman period, ca. CE
200. Archaeology Museum. Istanbul. Author's drawing
from www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphoto.
asp?imageid=1216761.
to the extent that wheeled carriages virtually disappeared.
Wherever there was racing, however, fast and agile horses
were still yoked abreast, continuing a harnessing system
that had lasted for more than two millennia (Figure 32).
Acknowledgements
I have drawn so extensively from the seminal work by Mary
Littauer and Joost Crouwel, Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden
Animals in the Ancient Near East (1979), that I have refrained
from inserting individual references to it. This book, together
with discussions and correspondence with Mary herself, form
the foundation for this study of chariots and related equestrian
material in the Ancient Near East. I should like to thank Joost
Crouwel for his encouragement and for permission to reproduce
several illustrations from this and other publications.
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Préhistoire des Pays de la Méditerranée Occidentale
Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence.
Spruytte, J. 1983. Early Harness Systems. Experimental
Studies. Contribution to the History of the Horse
[Translation of Spruytte 1977 by M. A. Littauer]. Allen,
London.
y
That Strange Equid from Susa
Trudy S. Kawami
A small, unique shell image of a standing male equid was excavated at Susa in the Acropole/
Citadelle area in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Finding the place of its origin and
explaining the location of its discovery has been difficult because the Susa equid belongs to a
visually dynamic tradition of naturalistic, powerful, even numinous animal forms, rather than to
the controlled, stratified world of the mid—third millennium of its find-spot where animals were
not the central actors but were primarily modifiers of human activity. Seen in a new context, this
essay reasons that the Susa equid is not an outlier of the mid-third millennium context, but part
of the earlier Proto-Elamite animal world.
The Object
Between 1899 and 1902, a small (3 cm by 5.6 cm) shell
inlay depicting a standing male equid (now Louvre Sb
5631) (Figure 1) was uncovered in the Acropole/Citadelle
area (Figure 2) of Susa by G. Jéquier. The inlay shows the
animal in profile to the right, head extended horizontally
with mouth open as if neighing. It was described as
ivory, and illustrated by a small line drawing, but nothing
was published about its context.' It is possible that no
additional information was ever recorded. At that time, de
Morgan was excavating the Acropole with a spectacular
cut of regular parallel trenches based on abstract geometry
rather than the actual strata. The emphasis at the time was
bulk clearing of earth to retrieve works of art and inscribed
materials. Find spots, levels, or associated objects were
not recorded, and intrusive burials were not recognized
Even the beautifully painted archaic ceramics were given
for analysis to a specialist in Greek ceramics who never
Figure 1. Susa, Acropole area. Shell inlay, acc. no. Sb 5631.
Photo by Hervé Levand courtesy of Réunion des Musée
Nationaux/Art Resources, NY.
! Jéquier 1905: 26.
? Perrot and Ladiray 1989, Martinez-Seve 2004; Dahl 2005: 83-84;
Pavel 2011.
97
de Morgan
Trench
am
d
Figure 2. Plan of Susa with an indication of the location of
the equid inlay.
visited Susa? Two other small inlays are known from this
early excavation, but neither have equid imagery.^ The
inlay 1s uniformly considered to date to the second half
of the third millennium BCE No similar image has been
discovered at Susa since de Morgan's excavations; the
inlay is unique.
A Wider Archaeological Context
A look at the material world of western Asia in the third
quarter of the third millennium BCE provides a general
context for the Susa find. The use of pale shell, stone, or
bone inlays in composite panels (or mosaics) was a well-
documented feature oftomb, temple, and palace furnishings
3 Le Breton 1957: 80 f.
* Dolce 1978, vol. 2, S1 and S3; p. 57 and pls. XVII and XLVIII.
5 Amiet 1966: 194 f.; Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 11; Dolce 1978,
vol.2, 57 and 163, pl. XLVII, S2.
Trudy S. Kawami
Figure 3. “Standard” of Ur, detail of equids, probably onager hybrids, on so-called war side. Photo courtesy of the Trustees of
the British Museum.
in Mesopotamia and Syria during the Third Early Dynastic
period (ED III, ca. 2450 BCE). Excavations of the so-
called Royal Tombs at Ur in southern Mesopotamia
produced numerous examples, the best known of which
is the “Standard of Ur” (Figure 217 Other Mesopotamian
examples come from Kish, Khafaje? Tell Chuereh,!°
Nippur," and Tell al-Obaid,? while the Syrian sites of
Mari? and Ebla in modern Syria show the popularity of
this luxurious décor extended far to the west. The Susa
inlay is typical of Mesopotamian, rather than Iranian,
artistic practices, but its presence at Susa can be explained
by Mesopotamian influence. Susa was in the cultural,
political, and perhaps military sphere of Mesopotamia in
the mid-third millennium, though its population spoke
Elamite rather than Sumerian or Akkadian.'°
The Visual Tradition
Equid imagery is rare at Susa in the third millennium
BCE. The only other depiction is a large painted jar from
a funereal context, excavated between 1932 and 1939
from grave A 232 by R. de Mecquenem.'^ It shows two
equids with short up-standing manes and tufted tails.
They are not harnessed or led, and thus are not necessarily
domesticates. The decorative geometric patterns on their
bodies and the general abstracted decor of the pot stand in
sharp contrast to the naturalism of the shell inlay, making
direct comparison of both the style and the iconography
difficult. In contrast, contemporaneous Mesopotamian and
Syrian art has a rich inventory of equid images in both
mosaics and relief sculpture. Equids pulling war wagons
or straddle carts in combat scenes, or being led in parades
of booty, are a standard component of elite art. The best-
known examples occur on inlays like the Standard of Ur
€ Moorey 1994: 136-37; Dolce 1978.
7 Aruz 2002, no. 52, pp. 97-100; Zettler and Horne 1998: 44, fig. 36a,b;
Dolce 1978, pl. XXI.
* Aruz 2003, nos. 48-51, pp. 84-92; Dolce 1978: 20-34.
" Moorey 1994: 136; Dolce 1978: 57.
10 Dolce 1978: 53-55.
Dolce 1978: 37-45.
12 Aruz 2003, no. 46, pp. 87 f.; Dolce 1978: 156-62.
Aruz 2003: 96-100, 102-04, 156-62; Dolce 1978: 91-155.
Aruz 2003, nos. 112, 114 f., pp. 173-177.
5 Harper, Aruz and Tallon 1992: 81 f.
Louvre Sb 5885; Amiet 1966:109, 150-51.
= 5
a
a
98
(Figure 3) and other small scale reliefs," as well as works
from Kish,'® Khafaje'? and Mari,” while larger, though
now fragmentary, representations occur on monumental
reliefs like the Vulture Stele from Tellö,?' and in the round,
like the cast copper model from Tell Agrab.”
Wagons and Carts
Susa has yielded no images of harnessed equids, but the
remains of four-wheeled carts or wagons, and burial
furnishings in at least three tombs, indicate that prestige
wheeled vehicles formed part of the funeral panoply of
the elite there as well. These vehicles were not necessarily
equid-drawn, for a painted vessel shows a wagon pulled
by bovids.? The Susa vehicles, like those in Mesopotamia
and Syria, had pieced plank wheels with metal-reinforced
rims. Two types of rims were documented at Susa.
One type featured a rim edged with a narrow wooden
tyre studded with copper nails or rivets. This not only
reinforced the tread of the wheel against wear, but also
formed an almost ornamental edge. Examples in two
sizes were found in grave 280 in the Donjon area of Susa
(Figure 4).^ Numerous Mesopotamian representations of
this wheel type are known,” as well as actual wheels.?*
The second type of rim featured a segmented copper tyre
with long tabs, or lapets, secured through the sides of the
wheel with metal studs or pins. Two variants of this type
appear at Susa. One type, a four-part tyre, was excavated
from a late third millennium BCE tomb in the Ville Royale
area by R. de Mecquenem (1943: pl. X, 1) (Figure 5). The
other type, a six—part tyre (Figure 6), is known from a
tomb in the Donjon area? and from Tomb K east of the
17 Aruz 2003, no. 31, p. 72; Frankfort 1970: 74, fig. 76; Dolce 1978: pl.
XXI, no. U172.
18 Dolce 1978, pls. XV, K48 and K87.
? Frankfort 1970: 68, fig. 72.
Dolce 1978: pl. XXXI.
Aruz 2003: 190, fig. 52; Frankfort 1970.
Frankfort 1970: 54, fig. 51.
Amiet 1966: 46-147, no. 106; Le Breton 1957: 17, pl. XXVI.
de Mecquenem 1943:123, fig. 89: 1—2 and pl. X:2; Amiet 1966: 143,
no. 103; Littauer and Crouwel 1979, fig. 5.
> Lauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 7; Dolce 1978: pl. XXXVI, M462-
M463.
6 Lauer & and Crouwel 1979: p. 19 and fig. 5.
27 de Mecquenem 1943: 90, fig. 74:2 and 3.
Figure 4. Studded wooden wheel from Susa, Donjon
area, Tomb 280. 1939 de Mecquenem photo courtesy of
the Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, Université
Lumière Lyon. Lyon.
Figure 5. Tomb 89, Donjon area, Susa. (Ville Royale area?);
four-part copper tyre in situ and later reassembled. 1934 de
Mecquenem photos courtesy of the Maison de l'Orient et de
la Méditerranée, Université Lumiére Lyon.
99
That Strange Equid from Susa
Figure 6. Tomb 89, Donjon area, Susa. Six-part copper tire
(currently restored with spokes) Tehran, National Museum
of Iran. Photo courtesy of Aaron Cripps (cyclinghistory.
wordpress.com); visual editing by the author.
Figure 7. Tomb K, east of the Apadana, Susa. Six-part
copper tyre; Louvre Sb 6829. Left: 1922 de Mecquenem
photo courtesy of the Maison de l'Orient et de la
Méditerranée, Université Lumiére Lyon. Right: Photo by
Franck Raux courtesy of Réunion des Musée Nationaux/Art
Resources, NY.
Apadana (Louvre Sb 6829), where a single wheel and two
cast copper linchpins were found placed above the remains
of what was described as a sturdy "horse" "23 A second
example in Tehran (Figure 7)? has been erroneously
restored with spokes.
Wheels with segmented metal tyres have not been found,
so far, in Mesopotamia or Syria, though one late third
millennium BCE relief of unknown provenance may
depict such a wheel? Actual metal tyres are known in
the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)
culture of the late third to early second millennium BCE
in western Central Asia?! Tomb 3200 in the "Royal
Necropolis" at Gonur-depe in the Merv oasis of modern
Turkmenistan, contained among other furnishings, a
four-wheeled wagon with a six—part metal tyre on each
wheel (Figure 8). Tomb 3225 yielded another four—
wheeled wagon with six-part tyres (Figure 9), although
?* de Mecquenem 1922: 137 f. and fig. 14.
"7 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: fig. 19.
3° Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 39, fig. 18:a, b.
3! Kohl 2007: 196 f., 209.
Trudy S. Kawami
Figure 9. Gonur-depe, Tomb 3225; cart or wagon with 6—
part tire (after Kohl 2007: fig. 5.10, p. 197).
no two-wheeled “chariots,” or straddle cars, like that of
the Tell Agrab model have been discovered. In contrast to
Mesopotamian practice, representations of wheeled carts
or wagons are rare, as noted by, Kohl in a single example
of a wagon pulled by bovids,? or in combat scenes or
parades of booty. Excavated examples of equine imagery
include a copper terminal from Gonur (Figure 10), and a
? Kohl 2007: 213, fig. 5.18a.
100
IT
Figure 10. Copper(?) horse-head terminal from Gonur-
depe (after Sarianidi 2002, p. 237).
pin from Khardchakhalif in Tajikistan,? as well as skeletal
remains? and numerous unprovenanced items associated
with the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex
(BMAC) culture.” These equids are shown with long,
falling manes, small ears, and short heads with large eyes
and small muzzles; they do not resemble the Susa equid in
conformation.
3 Kohl 2007: 209, fig. 5.15.
* Kohl 2007: 208; Sarianidi 2002: 238.
55 Bothmer 1990: 43; Sarianidi 1986: 211.
The Mesopotamian and Central Asian finds establish
a general context for the Susa inlay in an elite culture
whose richly furnished tombs contained wheeled vehicles.
Both regions had artistic traditions of equid imagery, but
these traditions differed. The residences and tombs of
Mesopotamia held images of equid-drawn four-wheeled
vehicles in battle scenes, and some tombs contained actual
carts or wagons.” In Central Asia, the carts were also
part of the tomb furnishings, but no representations of the
vehicles, or of war scenes for that matter, are known.
Identification of the Species
Przewalski Horse (Equus przewalskii)
The general archaeological context in both Mesopotamia
and Central Asia is of little help in determining which
species of equid the Susa inlay depicts. Bouman and
Bouman (1994: 7) and Amiet (1966: 194 f., fig. 143) identify
it as Przewalski horse (Equus przewalskii), (Figure 11) as
did Ann Farkas, who considered it additional evidence of
the connections between lowland Susa and the steppes
of Central Asia,” connections that are now more clearly
understood. The Przewalski horse has a stocky body,
curving top line, short thick neck, an upstanding mane,
large head, short ear, and long, though sparse, tufted tail.’
In general, it resembles the Susa inlay. Przewalski horses
have 66 chromosomes; domestic horses have 64. They are
usually considered to be two different species, although
their hybrid offspring with 65 chromosomes are viable and
fertile.” The assumed range of the Przewalski horse was
the Eurasian steppes, although the species is now found
only in Mongolia." Neither region is like the hot, humid
lowlands of the Persian Gulf around Susa. In its behavior
the Przewalski horse resembles the zebra, as in general it
cannot easily be handled, haltered, nor mounted. When it
needs to be transported or treated, it has to be tranquilized.
That Strange Equid from Susa
In captivity, Przewalski horses are easily stressed, may
react aggressively, and do not reproduce readily. Given
the problems of handling and transporting the species in
the twentieth century," it seems unlikely that the Susa
representation is a naturalistic depiction of a Przewalski
horse driven or led far from its natural habitat.
Bouman and Bouman's (1994: 7) reference to an inlay
with a neighing Przewalski horse at Tall-e Malyan on the
Iranian plateau appears to be a confused reference to the
Susa inlay. The Malyan excavation report documents only
shell inlays in geometric patterns.”
Onager (Equus hemionus sp.)
Another West Asian equid species, the onager (Equus
hemionus sp.) (Figure 12), still has a huge range of
primarily dry open land from the Arabian Peninsula and
Mesopotamia through Iran and across the southern sections
of the Eurasian steppes to northwestern China. Onagers
have a lighter, more gracile build than Przewalski's horses
with a level topline and slender neck with dark upright
mane. Their large heads have long ears; the tails are short
and sparsely tufted. In temperament, the onager can be
more biddable than the Przewalski's horse, and individually
may be handled, trained, and used for traction. It can be
crossbred with the domestic horse (Equus caballus) or the
donkey (Equus asinus). The offspring of horse-onager
crosses are not fertile, but those with donkeys are.*
Onagers are documented in the archaeological remains
in Syria and Mesopotamia in the Early Dynastic period,
although difficulties in distinguishing onagers from asses
remain substantial." A center for crossbreeding onagers
and donkeys has been identified at Abu Salabikh.^ The
equids pulling the Mesopotamian and Syrian wagons in
the mosaics appear onager-like, with large heads, long
Figure 11. Przewalski's horse at the Smithsonian's facility,
The Wilds, Ohio. Photo by Jeff Kubina.
36 Littauer and Crouwel 1979: 18-19; Zettler and Horne 1998: 32, fig.
29; Woolley 1934: pls. 33a, b.
37 Ann Farkas, personal communication, 1974.
38 Groves 1974.
? Boyd and Houpt 1994.
40 Bouman and Bouman 1994; Groves 1994.
Figure 12. Persian onagers. Photo by Hamed Moshiri
courtesy of Plan4land.org.
41 Bouman and Bouman 1994; Levine 2003; Boyd and Houpt 1994: 226.
? Sumner 2003: 69-71, 83, 160—63, and fig. 39.
5 Clutton-Brock 1992: 88.
^ Vila 2006.
5^ Postgate 1992.
Trudy S. Kawami
Figure 13. Chased décor on a silver vessel from Maikop. Hermitage, St Petersburg. After M. I. Rostovetzeff, Iranians and
Greeks in South Russia. The Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1922., p. 23, fig. 2.
ears, upright manes, tufted tails, and a generally gracile
build. It is unlikely that these are true onagers, which are
not reliably biddable; they are most probably hybrids.^
Given the close connections between Susiana and
Mesopotamia and the broad natural range of the onager,
there is no problem hypothesizing it or hybrids based on
it at Susa. However, the conformation of the onager and
onager-hybrids^' does not resemble the Susa inlay.
Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus or Equus caballus ferus)
The closest parallel to the Susa equid appears on a silver
vessel (Figure 13) from Maikop to the northwest of
the Caucasus. Now dated securely to the mid-late 4th
millennium BCE—antedating the Susa, Mesopotamian,
Syrian, and Central Asian equid images by centuries—the
vase was one of many precious items excavated in 1897
from a kurgan, or burial mound, in the town of Maikop.*
The Maikop kurgan finds should not be confused with the
“Maikop Treasure” of later date. The Maikop vase shows
eight wild animals in two bands of four animals each.
The widest band around the sides of the vessel depicts
a confronted pair of horned bovids, followed by a male
equid and a large felid with a bird perched on its back.
The Maikop equid has a stocky body, a thick neck with
what appears to be an upright mane, a large head with a
small muzzle and ears, and a tufted tail very much like
the Susa inlay. This equid has been identified as a tarpan
(Equus ferus ferus or Equus caballus ferus) (Figures 14a
and 14b), the now-extinct hypothesized ancestor of the
domestic horse.*°
The exact appearance of the tarpan is unclear. An early 19th
century drawing, (Figure 14a) supposedly from nature,
still bears the stylistic stamp of its time, showing the young
animal with a thick curving neck, concave topline, and
substantial hindquarters, yet delicate elongated legs with
tiny hoofs and a small muzzle. The vague landscape—an
Clutton-Brock 1992: 43 f., 87-90.
Clutton-Brock 1992, p. 42, fig. 3.1, right.
Kohl 2007: 72-85; Aruz 2003: 290-96.
Leskov 2008.
For a discussion of the problems in nomenclature see The Extinction
Website http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/tarpan.htm.
102
s»
-
KK?
§
2477
Figure 14a. 1845 drawing of 5 month-old Tarpan colt (foal?)
by Borisov. After Clutton-Brock, p.30, fig. 2.2.
Figure 14b. Photograph of “The Tarpan of Kherson”
captured in 1866 and kept at the Moscow Zoo. Date of photo
unclear. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
English park or the Crimean steppes—suggests that the
image is at some remove from a naturalistic depiction. An
earlier eighteenth century drawing?! is similarly stylized.
The detailed descriptions provided by Heptner et al. (pp.
1037-1049) are based on earlier written sources and
not on the authors’ direct observation. The only known
photograph of a tarpan (Figure 14b) shows an equid that
>! Clutton-Brock 1992: 30, fig. 2.1.
could easily pass for a delicate, well-bred small horse,
not the stocky animal shown on the Maikop vase. Thus
some have questioned whether the so-called Kherson
tarpan is indeed a purebred tarpan and not a cross-bred
feral animal (The Extinction Website). The range of the
tarpan included the steppes of Eastern Europe and western
Central Asia as well as the steppe-forest zone of these
regions,? an area that encompassed the western Caucasus,
where the Maikop vase was found. In behavior, the tarpan
seems to have been more biddable than the Przewalski's
horse and less flighty than the onager. When crossbred
with domestic horses (E. caballus), its offspring were
fertile. The range and temperament of the tarpan, 1f that
is the species shown on the Maikop vase, present it as the
most likely candidate species for the Susa inlay. But the
lack of absolute identification for the now-extinct tarpan
precludes any certainty.
Domestic Horse (Equus caballus)
The Susa equid has also been called a true domestic horse
(Equus caballus) by Littauer and Crouwel (1979: 26),
Zarins (1976: 280 ff.; 2014: 131 £, 252), and Moorey
(1967: 107), though the sparse tufted tail and general
conformation argue against this. The Susa equid is not
shown as domesticated, but as a wild animal without
harness, halter, or evidence of handler. In the absence of
an immediate context for the inlay, it is difficult to pursue
this identification.
Some Observations and Speculations
Having surveyed the material culture of the period to
which the shell inlay has been attributed and looked at the
possible species that it may depict, we can make several
observations. The first is that while the inlay is similar
to objects from Mesopotamia and Syria, it is stylistically
distinct. The Mesopotamian and Syrian equids have angular
forms with straight lines, a lack of interior modeling, and
almond eyes with central dots. Neither does the inlay
depict any animal known in works from those regions.
Thus the Susa inlay was not imported from Mesopotamia
or Syria. Nor does it resemble anything made at or near
Susa, i.e. Old Elamite Susiana. Its very distinctiveness
is a salient characteristic. The second observation is that
the species shown is visually far closer to a Przewalski’s
horse or a tarpan, if that is indeed the equid shown on
the Maikop silver vase. The Susa inlay is clearly not an
onager or onager—hybrid. The third observation is that the
equid shown appears to be wild, not a domesticate. If the
piece is accepted as an import from a region other than
Mesopotamia or Syria, the identification of a Przewalski’s
horse or a tarpan is less problematic.
Consideration of another inlay fragment apparently
found, or at least published with, the equid inlay may
help further refine the possibilities. This second shell
"7 Groves 1974: 39-47; Boyd and Houpt 1994.
103
That Strange Equid from Susa
Figure 15. Left: Susa, shell inlay, no. 4899. Musee du Louvre,
Paris, acc. no. Sb 5630. Right: Partial reconstruction of Sb
5630 by the author. Photo by Raphaél Chipault © Musee du
Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource NY.
fragment, now Louvre Sb 5639 (Figure 15), shows an
herbivore, head in profile to the right with a frontal whorl
of hair at the top of the head where one might expect
horns or ears to be. (The identification of the animal as
a bovid by Dolce (1978: 57), will be considered below.)
The elegance of the engraving, the curving line around
the muzzle and the conventions of the eye: an arching
upper lid, flat lower lid and separate curved line beneath
the lower lid, indicate the two fragments, the equid and
the herbivore head, came from the same workshop, if not
the same hand. The style of these two “orphan” inlays
is quite unlike the Mesopotamian parallels. They have
more modeled, naturalistic forms, and, in the case of the
equid, realistic positions of the surviving legs and head.
The pronounced difference in style and subject matter
with the third inlay known from Susa, an awkwardly
schematic human figure in the Mesopotamian style,?
suggest that the equid and the herbivore were part of the
same assemblage.
The herbivore head has been called bovine, but close
observation of the stubby “horns” on either side of the
hair whorl shows that the smoothly recurving edge that
gives the impression of stubby horns is in fact merely the
worked edge of the shell. The engraved vertical lines that
rise on either side of the whorl do not resemble the natural
forms of bovine horns, and have finely hatched or fringed
edges suggestive of hairy or furry ears. The proper left
“horn” also has a single straight line running vertically
between the two “hairy” edges, another visual element
not found on cattle horns. If these lines are extended
along their apparent orientation, (Figure 15, right) one
sees instead a bovine head, the head of a donkey (Equus
asinus). The drooping lower lip, highly unusual in a bovid,
then becomes the pendulous lower lip of a donkey at rest,
perhaps explaining the presence of the horizontal lower
leg and hoof below the jaw. The whorl of hair between
5 Dolce 1978: 57, S1, and pl. XVII.
Trudy S. Kawami
the ears would then be the short stiff forelock typical of
the donkey especially in winter coat. Donkeys and donkey
images are well attested in early Iran, and there is no
difficulty with its presence at Susa.^*
If the identification of the head as that of a donkey is
correct, the object that once bore the two Susa inlays
showed a scene of wild equids, or at least equids not
under immediate human control, rendered in a style
not known at Susa, nor in Mesopotamia or Syria in
the latter half of the third millennium BCE. Given the
lack of close stylistic and iconographic parallels plus
the chaotic character of the original Susa excavations,
there is no reason to assume a mid-third millennium
BCE date for the Susa inlay. Indeed the excavations
that produced the two animal inlays also produced a
large number of Proto-Elamite tablets (ca. 3200-2800
BCE), suggesting that levels far earlier than the mid to
late third millennium BCE had been reached by the early
trenches.” The similarity of the Susa “horse” to the equid
on the well-dated Maikop vase further supports a late 4th
millennium date. One contemporaneous Proto—Elamite
tablet, Louvre Sb 6320, bears pictographs of several
types of equids. Some have large heads, thin necks and
sparse upstanding manes, while others have small heads
and thicker, heavier necks.^
It is also in this period, the latter portion of the fourth
millennium, that some of the most astonishingly
naturalistic animal images in Near Eastern art were
produced. Most relevant to our discussion is the silver
gazelle, an archaeological orphan now in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, NY.” Its technical sophistication and
realistic style stymied attempts to date it for decades and
provoked chronologies as late as the Achaemenid period
until its artistic commonality with Iranian works like the
Guennol lioness, the Metropolitan Museum's silver bull,
and other works dating to the latter part of the fourth
millennium was noted.** The Susa equid, (Figure 1) and
its probable companion piece (Figure 15), belong to this
visually dynamic tradition of naturalistic, powerful, even
numinous animal forms, rather than to the controlled,
stratified world of the mid-third millennium where
animals are not the central actors but mere modifiers of
human activity. Seen in this new context, the Susa equid
is no longer an outlier of the mid-third millennium, but
part of the earlier Proto-Elamite animal world.
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8
The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research: A New
Methodology Combining Ancient DNA and Trace Element
Analysis Tested on Israeli Equines from ca. 900—1200 BCE
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal*, Lia Hadas*, Hadas Momo, Amit Reem, Reuven Amitai,
Ronnie Ellenblum, Michael Haahr Friis, Kurt Villads Jensen and Kaare Lund
Rasmussen
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
In medieval times, equines were of great importance in transportation, agriculture, and war. In the
archaeological assemblages, they are rare due to the way in which their corpses were normally
disposed. Therefore, traditionally, equines have played only a very minor role in archaeological
reconstructions of medieval events. We present a new methodology in the study of equine remains
that encompasses the combined use of ancient DNA and trace element analysis. The genetic data
yield information pertinent to the origin of equines. The trace element composition gives, analogous
to human bones, dietary information, which in the case of equines is related to the geographical/
geological locations of pastures. This methodology has been applied to a set of equine remains from
Israel, amongst them two unique equine assemblages Vadum Iacob (October 1178—August 1179
BCE) and the Armenian monastery in Jaffa (Muslim period; ninth-tenth century BCE). We believe
that the equines, horses and mules, originated from three different sources.
Introduction
Historical sources testify to the importance of equines,
i.e. horses (Equus caballus), donkeys, (Equus asinus) and
their hybrid, the mule, in medieval Europe, the Middle
East, and Asia for transportation, warfare, agriculture,
economy, and status symbols (Bennett 2001; Clutton—
Brock 1992; Hyland 1999; Kelekna 2009). Improvements
in horse equipment enabled the utilization of horsepower
more effectively and raised the importance of equines in
the European economy. Furthermore, the establishment of
empires and other political developments of the Middle
Ages reinforced the horse's status, as most of these empires
were heavily dependent on the beast. The expansion of the
Islamic state also played a role in this process, and Muslim
armies always incorporated a large cavalry component.
Later in the crusaders’ period, horses from Europe were
transported to The Holy Land via land and sea. Historical
texts testify to the hardships of the journey and adjustments
to the conditions in the new land, which eventually led to
the death of many horses (Clutton—Brock 1992; Hyland
1999; Kelekna 2009). Therefore, the Southern Levant
during the medieval period served as a major junction of
interaction among Eastern and Western civilizations in
which the horse and its relatives played a major role.
Morphological studies of equine skeletal remains can
determine the species (horse, donkey), or hybrids
107
based on several indicative bones (Eisenmann 1980;
1981; 1986). Bone morphometric also contribute to the
general knowledge of the individual animal (age, sex,
body size, weight, health, and utilization), enabling a
better understanding of the roles of equines in human
society. However, at present, the understanding of the
characteristics of horses in the Southern Levant and the
places of their origin are based solely on descriptions and
interpretations of historical and artistic sources without
much supporting scientific evidence. In archaeological
contexts, equine remains are rare due to sanitary disposal,
as big animals were usually buried or dumped away from
settlements in order to prevent unpleasant odors and the
spread of diseases (Motro 2004). The unprotected carcasses
were often eaten and dispersed by carnivores, resulting in
only isolated and incomplete equine specimens left to be
unearthed by archaeologists.
With the absence of morphologically distinctive bones,
most of the equine remains cannot be properly identified,
and the possibilities for in-depth studies are therefore
often very constricted. A molecular genetics approach
using ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis based on the
recovery of DNA from archaeological remains may enable
identification of species (Kahila Bar-Gal et al. 2003;
Leonard et al. 2007; Pääbo et al. 2004). The quality and
quantity of the aDNA varies due to degradations processes
(Herrmann and Hummel 1994), which have been shown
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal et al.
to be dependent on the state of preservation of the sample
and to a lesser degree on the age of the sample (Hóss and
Pääbo 1993; Poinar and Stankiewicz 1999). Despite these
drawbacks, once aDNA can be recovered it provides a
window into the past, presenting unique, quantitative data
about the genetic links between extant and extinct species
(Yang 1997).
Trace element concentrations in human bones have been
interpreted as reflecting the diet (e.g. Schutkowski et al.
1999, Mauerer et al. 2011; and Cucina et al. 2011). It is
likely that this could also be the case for equines, although
little work has been done on the subject. In the present
study, three trace-elements, lead, nickel, and chromium,
have been measured in the bones of ancient equines in order
to attempt to group them according to differences in trace
element concentrations, which hypothetically are supposed
to vary in water, plants, and/or soil of the areas on which
the animals have grazed for most of their lives. Lead (Pb),
nickel (N1), and chromium (Cr) were selected because they
form divalent cat ions, which substitute willingly for Ca?”
in the bone apatite and are not normally present in large
amounts in the surrounding soil, and therefore not likely
to have participated in large-scale diagenetic processes.
Lead, nickel, and chromium are also known not to be
metabolically—controlled, like zinc (Zn), for example. The
choice of metabolically-controlled elements would have
prevented the trace element distribution in equine bones
to reflect the distribution in the crop, soil, or water. The
large size of the equine bones limits the probability of
diagenetic processes. Such processes are also less likely
to have occurred in the relatively arid climate in Israel
compared to many other archaeological sites.
Archaeologically, the present study was made possible by
the discovery of two unique and large equine assemblages
in Israel. First, over the course of a salvage excavation
led by the Israeli Antiquities Authority in the Armenian
monastery in Jaffa (AMJ), a set of equine skeletons dated
to the early Muslim period was found under the floor of
the seventeenth century monastery (Reem Unpublished).
Secondly an excavation at the Crusader fortress at
Vadum lacob in northern Israel revealed a unique equine
assemblage from a siege that took place in August 1179
BCE (Ellenblum 2007). This assemblage represents
the first finding of complete medieval equine skeletons
in a battlefield from the eastern Mediterranean. Both
assemblages consist of relatively complete articulated
skeletons of dozens of equines.
The goals of this study were to reconstruct the roles
of equines in medieval historical events through the
determination of their species, differences in their
genetic origin, and differences in their dominant grazing
areas. Each technique in itself is not sufficient, but with
a combination of knowledge about genetic profile and
differences in grazing areas, it is indeed possible to obtain
new archaeological and historical insight.
108
Table 1. Information summary of contemporary specimens
included in the study
Lab Species Breed
code
226 E. caballus Horse Arabian
228 E. caballus Horse Arabian
233 E. caballus Horse Arabian
241 E. caballus Horse Quarter
330 E. caballus Horse Warmblood
354 E. caballus Horse Thoroughbred
417 E. caballus Horse Pony
456 E. caballus Horse Thoroughbred
519 E. caballus Horse Andalusian
596 E. caballus Horse Pony
D52 |E. asinus Donkey |-
D53 E. asinus Donkey |-
Mu4 LE caballus x E. asinus |Mule —
Material and Methods
Contemporary Equine Samples
Blood samples of 13 modern equines, including ten
domestic horses, two donkeys and one mule, from
Israel were used as references in the genetic analysis.
The domestic horses in the sample were of different
breeds including Arabian, Quarter Horse, Warm-blood,
Thoroughbred, Pony, and Andalusian (Table 1).
Equine Remains from Archaeological Sites
Equine remains from four different archaeological sites
excavated in Israel were studied. Three sites were dated
to the Muslim period (eights-tenth century): the Armenian
Monastery in Jaffa, the Ole Ziyyon Street in Jaffa, and
Ramla (Table 2, Figure 1). One sample from Ramla was
dated to the thirteenth to fourteenth century (Table 2). The
fourth site was Vadum Iacob dated to the Crusade period
(1179 AD) (Table 2, Figure 1).
The Frankish castle of Vadum lacob (“Jacob’s Ford,” or
according to its modern Hebrew name, Metzad Ateret), is
located in Northern Israel in a strategic place, guarding
the only crossing point over the Jordan River between its
sources and the sea of Galilee, on the road between Acre
and Damascus (Figure 1). The castle was constructed
by Crusaders and guarded by Templar knights, and was
populated for only 11 months (October 1178 to August
1179 AC). The castle was conquered and destroyed by
Saladin and his soldiers and was never rebuilt. Based on
historical sources, Saladin's army slaughtered some 800
Crusaders, dumping bodies of humans and horses alike
into a deep cistern (Mitchell, et al. 2006). In excavations
led by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 10 articulated
equines were uncovered with distinct arrowheads between
their skeletons, which indicate their cause of death during
The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research
Table 2. Information summary of archaeological equid remains included in the study
Excavation Date Individual / Lab code Skeletal element
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.1 Humerus, Skull
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.10 Tooth, Mandible
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.11 Mandible
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.12 Tooth (LM & P4)
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.13 Tooth (LM), Skull, Mandible
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.17 Mandible, Tooth (LM)
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.18 Tooth (L-P4)
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.4 Tooth (M2 & M3)
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.7 Skull
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.8 Mandible
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.9 Mandible
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Eq.21 Mandible
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj9 1st phalanx
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj10 2nd phalanx
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amjl6 Humerus
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amjl7 Humerus
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amjl9 Radius/Ulna
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj20 Humerus
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj21 Humerus
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj22 Tibia
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj23 Tibia
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj24 Femur
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj25 Tibia
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj26 Humerus
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj28 Radius
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj29 Scapula
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj30 Scapula
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj31 Vertebra
Armenian Monastery 9th—10th Century Amj32 Pelvis
Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century Amj33 Scapula
** Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century AmjTl Mandible
** Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century AmjT2 Skull
** Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century AmjT3 Skull
** Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century AmjT4 Bone fragment
** Armenian Monastery 9th-10th Century AmjT5 Bone fragment
**Jaffa, Ole Ziyyon St 8th-10th Century MF14 Scapula
**Jaffa, Ole Ziyyon St 8th-10th Century MEIS Femur
**Jaffa, Ole Ziyyon St 8th-10th Century MF16 Bone fragment
**Jaffa, Ole Ziyyon St 8th-10th Century MFI7 Mandible
**Jaffa, Ole Ziyyon St 8th-10th Century MEIS Bone fragment
**Ramla 8th-10th Century MF19 Femur
**Ramla 8th-10th Century MF20 Femur
**Ramla 13th-14th Century MF21 Skull
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE ATI Molar
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT2 Molar, patella
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT3 Metatarsal
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT4 Astragalus calcaneum
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE ATS Ulna
109
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal et al.
Table 2 continued
Excavation Date Individual / Lab code Skeletal element
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT 6 Molar, radius-ulna, metatarsal
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT7 Molar, tibia
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT8 Bone fragment
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT9 Molar, carpal tarsal
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT10 Molar
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT126 Metacarpal
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT113 Metacarpal
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE At2019 Metatarsal
Vadum Iacob 1179 CE AT333 Molar
** For these samples only trace element analysis was carried out. No DNA was extracted.
Seaof
Galilee
Mediterranean
Sea
ISRAEL
JORDAN
Jerusalem
e
Beer-Sheva
Figure 1. Map of geographical location of archaeological
sites. 1: Vadum Iacob; 2: Jaffa (Armenian Monastery, Ole
Ziyyon St); 3: Ramla.
the aforementioned battle. In addition, equine bone
remains that could not be attributed to specific individuals
were excavated, among them, four that were sampled for
the study.
The Armenian Monastery in Jaffa was unearthed during
a salvage excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities
Authority (November 2005-January 2006) initiated by the
renovation of a building (Figure 1). The equine remains
were found in a wide pit, sealed by a floor of a seventeenth—
eighteenth century Ottoman building that re-used the
Armenian Monastery floor. The pit contained dozens of
articulated individual equines, some of which still had
their horseshoes in place. On top of and in between the
equine skeletons were layers of lime. A few bones showed
signs of burning, and charcoal was found between some
of the bones. The equine remains were radiocarbon dated
110
to the early Muslim period (nineth-tenth century BCE)
(Dr. Elisabetta Boaretto, Weismann Institute, unpublished
information).
Forty-four specimens were sampled and studied for aDNA
from the two major sites Vadum lacob (10 identified
individuals, labelled ATI through AT10, plus four
miscellaneous remains) and the Armenian Monastery in
Jaffa (12 identified individuals, Eq., plus 18 miscellaneous
remains, Amj). Some individuals were sampled more
than once from different and/or the same bone. Based on
availability, different skeletal elements were sampled for
DNA analyses including teeth, skulls, femurs, humeri,
phalanges, and vertebrae (Table 2). Teeth were preferred
over bones, because the enamel protects the DNA from
degradation and external damage (MacHugh et al., 2000).
Twenty-nine of these samples were also analyzed for
trace elements. In addition, three samples from Ramla,
five samples from another site in Jaffa (Ole Ziyyon Street)
and five remains (AmjTI—AmjT5) from the Armenian
Monastery in Jaffa were included and studied only for
trace elements. One sample from Ramla, was dated
after sampling to the thirteenth to fourteenth century, the
Ottoman period. Samples for the trace element analyses
were taken only from the skeletal parts.
Genetic Analysis
DNA Extraction
Contemporary samples of blood from the modern
equines were extracted using the phenol-chloroform
method (Mathew, 1984) in a laboratory designated for
contemporary DNA research.
DNA from ancient samples was extracted from the equine
remains in a dedicated aDNA laboratory following strict
guidelines for aDNA sample preparation procedures
(Cooper and Poinar 2000; Hermon et al. 2011). The DNA
was extracted using the Guanidine Thiocynate solution
(GuSCN) (Boom, et al. 1990) followed by the silica beads
method (Höss and Pääbo 1993). This method has been
shown to be the most useful method for aDNA extraction
(Rohland and Hofreiter 2007). Each extraction included
a negative control sample for ruling out contamination
during the extraction.
DNA Amplification
A 105bp long nuclear Short Interspersed Nucleotide
Element (SINE), named Equine Repetitive Element-1
(ERE-1), was amplified to determine the quality of the
DNA extracted from the ancient samples (Walker et al.
2004).
Three primer sets were designed using Primer3 software
(MIT) to identify the equine species based on a single
nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that vary among equine
species. The screening for target sequences/amplicons
focused on class 1 SNP’s, since they more clearly present
differences in their melting curves (Liew et al. 2004). Two
primer sets targeting single point substitution along the
mitochondrial genes, cytochrome B (CytB) and cytochrome
oxidase I (COI), were designed to distinguish between
horses and donkeys. The primer sets were designed based
on a database that included horse and donkey sequences
obtained from GenBank (ID numbers: EU433685,
EU433686, EU4433661, X97337, EU257216, EU257215,
EU834862, X97337.], NC 001788, EF165072.1,
EF165077.1, EF165078.1, EU887260.2, EF127815.1)
and from sequences of local Israeli horses obtained by Dr.
Glantz (unpublished data). The size of the amplicons was
optimized for aDNA work, not exceeding 150bp (Table
3). The amplicon of the CytB included one point mutation
99C-T (EU433686), and the COI amplicon included
three point mutations: 342G>A, 345A>G and 369G>A
(EU834862). In addition, one nuclear gene, Prion Protein
(PRNP), was also chosen in order to enable identification
of horses/donkeys/mules and/or hinnies. The primer set
was designed based on sequences obtained from GenBank
(EF165072.1, EF165077.1, EF165078.1, EF127815.1,
EU887260.2) (Table 3). The amplicon includes one point
mutation 506G>A (EU887260.2). All primer sets were
designed for maximum specificity to equines.
The extracted DNA was amplified using Polymerase
Chain Reaction (PCR) assay and Real Time PCR followed
by High Resolution Melting (HRM) curve analysis.
Table 3. Primer sets used to determine equine species
The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research
PCR Assay
Each reaction had a final volume of 25uL, containing
7uL of the sample DNA, 10X buffer, 0.3mM each
dNTP, 3.5mM MgCl, 0.4uM each primer set, and 0.5—
1U Taq polymerase [Amplitaq Gold or Amplitaq Gold
360 (Applied Biosystems)]. DNA was amplified using
Biometra thermocycler with a touchdown cycle program:
10 min 95°C for initial denaturation, 18 cycles of 15 s
at 95°C for denaturation, 45s at temperatures varying
from 60°C to 50°C for primer annealing (3 cycles for
each temperature) and 30s at 72°C for extension, 21—26
cycles of 15s at 95°C for denaturation, 45s at 48°C for
primer annealing and 30s at 72°C for extension, 10 min
at 72 °C for final extension. The amplified fragments were
separated on a 1.5% agarose gel to determine successful
amplification. In case inhibition was suspected, the
extracted DNA was filtered using Microcon& YM-50
(Millipore™) following the manufacturer's protocol and
PCR assay was performed.
Real-Time PCR and HRM Analysis
To determine the equine species three separate Real Time
PCR targeting CytB, COI, and PRNP were conducted.
Real Time PCR was performed on Corbett's Rotor-Gene
6000 Thermocycler. Amplification mixture was either
purchased (Themo-Start PCR master mix, ABgene) or
prepared separately for every reaction. The prepared
mixture included 5-10ul of DNA sample, 10X PCR buffer,
35mM MgCl, 2.5 mM dNTPs, 10uM of each primer,
0.5 U Amplitaq Gold, 1.5 mM SYTO9 (Invitrogen).
DNA amplification cycles resembled those described
for the standard PCR assay above. After amplification,
the samples were heated from 50? to 99°C with a rise in
1°C per second. Following this melt was a hybridization
step in which the samples were cooled back to 50°C with
a decrease of 1°C per second. The HRM analysis was
conducted according to the melting step with a gradual
rise in temperature of 0.1—0.4?C per second (Wittwer et
al. 2003). Fluorescence acquisition was measured at the
end of each extension step in the amplification cycles and
during the HRM step with automatic optimization. HRM
and melting curves were analyzed using Rotor-Gene
6000 software (Corbett).
Gene Primer name Primer sequence Reference Horse* |Donkey zx |Fragment
(Accession no.) size
Eq CytoB-F 5'-CCTCAAACATTTCATCAT-'3
Cytochrome B EU433686 99C T 60
Eq CytoB-R 5'-GGAGGATTAGGCAGATTC-'3
Cytochrome Eq COI-F 5`-GGAGGATATACGGTTCAG-`3 342G A
oe EU834862 345A G 109
Oxidase I Eq COI-R 5'-CCCGAATAAACAACATAA-'3 369G P
. Eq PRNP-F 5'-CTATGAGGACCGTTACTATC-'3
Prion Protein EU887260.2 506G A 92
Eq PRNP-R S'-AGTTGTTCTGGTTGCTGTA-'3
Single base substitutions were found between E. asinus and E. caballus and the primers flanking each substitution. *Position of SNP and horse genotype.
**Donkey genotype.
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal et al.
Each Real Time PCR analysis included positive controls
of DNA samples belonging to modern horses, donkeys,
and mules. The melting curves of these samples were
used as references for genotyping the ancient samples. It
is important to emphasize that the modern samples were
never introduced to the ancient laboratory, and were
extracted and handled only in a separate modern laboratory
to prevent carry—over or cross—contamination.
Sequencing
PCR products showing successful amplification on the
agarose gel, or at the Real Time PCR analysis, were direct
sequenced for both strands. Prior to sequencing, PCR
products were purified using Bioneer’s DNA purification
kit or Exonuclease Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase (HDV
Pharmacia). Sequencing was carried out on an ABI
3700 (Applied Biosystems) by the Centre for Genomic
Technologies at Hebrew University.
Genetic Data Analysis
The sequences obtained were initially verified as equine
genes (ERE-1, COI, and PRNP) using the CBI BLAST
algorithm (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/Blast.cgi).
Chromatograms were individually examined in order to
confirm the quality of sequences and visually screened
for errors, using Sequencher 4.9 (Gene Codes Corp.).
Both strands (sense and antisense) of each successful PCR
product were direct sequenced and assembled into a contig
in Sequencher. For each individual contig, a final consensus
sequence was generated for further analyses. Sequences
with poor quality chromatograms were excluded from the
study. Sequences were compared to local modern equine
sequences included in this study.
Trace Element Analysis
Analyses for Pb, Ni, and Cr were done by graphite furnace
atomic absorption spectroscopy (GF-AAS). In order to
remove any contamination deposited on the bone surface
in the soil, during excavation or during curatorial handling,
a ca. 0.5 cm? surface area of the bone was removed by
an electric drill operated at low velocity. Following the
decontamination, a sample of ca. 50 mg was procured
with the drill. Approximately 15 mg of sample was placed
in a flask and, 1 mL analytical grade conc. HNO, and 1
mL conc. analytical grade H,O, were added. The flask was
sealed and placed on a shaking table for 24 hours. 4 mL of
0.2 wt.% ammonium-di-hydrogen phosphate was added
to the solution as a matrix modifier and the flask filled
to 100 mL with 1% analytical grade HNO,. Pb, Ni, and
Cr were measured by the standard addition technique on
a 2380 graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer
(GF-AAS) from Perkin Elmer equipped with a HGA—400
graphite furnace and using hollow cathode lamps as light
sources. The detection limits of the measurements were
typically 0.8 ug Pb per gram of bone, 2 ug g' for Ni and
0.9 ug g! for Cr. Standard deviations were calculated
based on three independently repeated measurements
112
and also included the uncertainty originating from the
calibration curve.
Results
DNA Preservation
Overall 44 specimens were sampled for DNA analysis
(Table 2). DNA was extracted from each specimen, at
least once independently. For each extraction, several PCR
attempts (2A (D26756.1) and 100A>G
(D26756.1) along the ERE-1 sequence from the reference
sequence of a domestic Thoroughbred horse (accession
number D26567.1) (Table 4a). These findings indicated
that the primer sets identify equines, but do not distinguish
between breeds and species. The differences between the
Israeli Thoroughbred horse samples and the reference
sequence suggest that the variation is probably random.
Eleven successful ancient sample amplifications were
achieved, although several amplification attempts
were conducted for each extraction. The successful
amplifications represent nine samples from AMJ, and
two from Vadum lacob. All positive amplifications
were successfully sequenced for both strands (sense
and antisense) using direct sequencing. The sequences
representing the same specimen, different extractions
and different amplifications were aligned together in one
contig, and a consensus sequence was determined for each
specimen. Alignment of the consensus ancient sequences
with a sequence of a contemporary local horse (an Arabian
horse, sample 226) revealed high variability: 23 positions
along the ERE-1 sequence (Table 4b). The nine AMJ
sequences differed from each other. Overall, a total of 20
substitutions were found among the AMJ sequences. Some
Table 4a. Summary of the base substitutions found in the
ERE-1 region among the studied contemporary equids from
Israel
Variable nucleotide position
Sample 94 100 Species
D26567.1 A G E. caballus
226 G A E. caballus
228 G A E. caballus
241 G A E. caballus
330 G A E. caballus
354 G A E. caballus
496 G A E. caballus
419 G A E. caballus
D52 G A E. asinus asinus
The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research
Table 4b. Summary of the base substitutions found in the ERE-1 region among archaeological equid remains: Armenian
monastery (AMJ), Vadum Jacob (AT), W-A or T; Y=T or C; M=A or C; R-A or G; K-T or G; N-Any; X=Position with no
coverage, :=Gap.
Variable nucleotide position
Sample |1 |3 |4 |6 (ul 19 |21 25 |26
30
31 |32 |33 |34 36 |37 |38 |39 41 |42 |43 |45 |52 |58
226 G |C |G |G |T
C |T G jC
Amj28
Amj17
Eq.8
Eq.17
Amj10
Amj20
Amj29
Amj32
Amj33
AT9
AT10
of them were shared between two to five individuals, such
as substitutions at position 26 and 27 (Table 4b). The
sequences of the two samples from Vadum lacob differed
from the contemporary horse reference sequence and also
between them (Table 4b). Moreover, they differed from
the ancient samples of AMJ. The quantitative differences
among the consensus ancient sequences may indicate
the low preservation of DNA in the samples, and can be
interpreted as nucleotide misincorporations (C <> T and G
<> A), which are often seen in ancient DNA (Hofreiter et
al. 2001; Gilbert et al. 2007). In our study, the consensus
sequence of a specimen represents sequences obtained
from different extractions and amplifications supporting
its authenticity and suggesting the possible genetic
diversity among the individuals. Although variations were
found among all ancient sequences, they were all found
to be equines (57-9395 homology), thus supporting the
morphometric identification (Motro 2004, Motro et al.
2014).
Species Identification
Species identification of the contemporary equines was
determined using Real Time PCR assay with the HRM
method supported with direct sequence of the amplicon
(Figure 2). The genotype of the horse was clearly
distinguished from that of the donkey with all primer sets
(CytB, COI, and PRNP). The PRNP primer set presents
discernible curves for the three equines: horse, donkey,
and mule (Figure 2c). Combination of the data available
from all the primer sets together enabled the identification
of the mule samples.
Relying on the success of the DNA amplification with the
ERE-1 primer set as an indication of the DNA preservation
level, we amplified the DNA of various ancient equine
113
Donkey (T)
Normalised Fluorescence
77.5 79.0 79.5 80.0 805
deg
78.0 785 81.0 81.5 820 825 830 835 840
o
S
Normalised Fluorescence
è
20
~N
>
Donkey DI
Normalised Fluorescence
Figure 2. Real Time PCR with HRM analysis of
contemporary equid samples. HRM is shown in the
normalization function. (A) CytB primer set. (B) COI
primer set. (C) PRNP primer set.
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal et al.
Table 5. Identification of the equid species among the ancient studied specimens
Sample Site Gene aDNA Result Morphological Result
AT113b Vadum Iacob COI Horse/Mule
AT126 Vadum Iacob COI Horse/Mule
AT2019 Vadum Iacob COI Horse/Mule
AT6 Vadum Iacob PRNP Horse Horse/Mule
Amj29 Armenian Monastery CytoB Donkey
Eq.10 Armenian Monastery PRNP Mule Mule
Eq.8 Armenian Monastery COI Horse/Mule Mule
Eq.11 Armenian Monastery COI Horse/Mule Horse/Mule
100
8 80
8
$
S 60
uw
T
2
o
z
20
70 75 80 85 90
dea.
CAG G- C. CGG T AA ATG AG TA CAG CA
t G C C G CA
Donkey
Are
CAG G C CGG T A AG TG A G T A CA
CRG GG GC € T A AGTTLGTAG TALCA
AT6
Horse '
CA G G C E GG TAAG T GAG TACA GCA
CA G GC C GOGTAAG T GAG TR CR GCA
Horse
|
Figure 3. Identification of species among ancient equid remains using the Real Time PCR with HRM analysis and direct
sequencing. Genotyping of AT6 from Vadum Iacob using PRNP primer set with HRM analysis and direct sequencing.
samples with the three primer sets using similar Real Time
PCR conditions for the contemporary samples. Overall,
eight samples were successfully amplified by one primer
set (Table 5). The nature of the aDNA, low quantity and
quality (degraded and frequently severed), explains the
inconsistency of amplification success among all primer
sets. Moreover, it indicates the inconsistency to amplify
different genes due to random degradation. The successful
114
amplifications indicated the presence of horses, donkeys,
and mules among the ancient archaeological remains
(Table 5, Figure 3). All Real Time PCR assays showed
no amplification of the negative controls samples (both
negative extraction and negative amplification), and,
therefore, contaminations can be ruled out. It is important
to stress that the Real Time PCR assay was designed to
differentiate between species, using one SNP along the
short amplified region ofthe degraded DNA. Therefore, the
ancient positive amplifications that were sequenced were
found to be identical to the contemporary horse sequence,
except for one sample (Amj29) that was identical to the
contemporary donkey sequence.
Among the equine ancient samples for which the species
was unknown, we were able to determine the exact species
of three specimens, and, for five specimens, we could rule
out that they were donkeys, meaning they were domestic
horse or mule (Table 5). In one specimen (AMJ Eq.1),
both morphometric and genetic results identified the
second phalanx as mule. The species of two specimens
that could not be determined by morphological criteria
were identified by the genetic analysis, indicating that one
individual (AT6) was a horse, and the other (Amj29) was a
donkey. For the other specimens (such as AT113b, AT126,
AT2019), the genetic analysis minimized the options and
identified them as possible horse or mule. The genetic
identification of sample AMJ Eq.8 as horse/mule was
supported by the morphological identification of a mule;
therefore, we suggest that sample AMJ Eq.8 is indeed a
mule.
Trace Element Analysis
The results of the trace element determination are listed
in Table 6. Interpreting the trace element data was
done by principal component analysis (PCA) using the
Unscrambler© software. The data points from six samples
were categorized as outliers. It was seen that principal
component number 1 (PC-1) is almost solely dependent
on Pb, while most of the variation in PC-2 is shared
between Ni and Cr (Figure 4a). Seven samples had such
different and unique trace element concentrations that
they were singled out as outliers in the PCA analysis
(AMJ-Eq8, AMJ-28, AMJ-T5, AT-3, AT-4, AT-5, and
AT-2019). The trace element compositions were found
to be effective in dividing the investigated equines into
three distinct groups A, B, and C (Figure 4). The group in
the lower left quadrant of Figure 4 consists of five of the
equines from Vadum lacob (AT2, AT6, AT7, AT7a, AT7b),
one from Ramla (R-MF20), one from Ole Ziyyon Street
in Jaffa (J-MF18), and two from the Armenian Monastery
in Jaffa (AMJ—Eq.12 and AMJ-T4). This distinct group is
tentatively interpreted as Crusader horses due to the fact
that the majority of the samples are from Vadum lacob.
The group of red points in the lower right consists of
data from the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa (AMJ-Eg4,
AMJ-Eq9, AMJ-Eq10, AMJ-Eq11, AMJ—Eq17, AMJ-
Eq18) and one individual from Ramla (R-MF21). The R-
MF21 specimen is dated to a later period, the thirteenth
to fourteenth century—the Muslim period. This group is
tentatively interpreted as of specific Muslim provenance.
It is interesting to note that no samples from Vadum Iacob
were found in this group. Finally, the large and most
diverse group in the upper part of the diagram consists
of equines from a variety of archaeological sites, and due
to the diverse nature of this collection, it is interpreted as
another separate group of equines of Muslim provenance
115
The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research
originating from different geographical area. From the
mid-seventh century until the coming of the Crusaders by
the end of the eleventh century, and then again from the
later thirteenth century, the Muslims were the hegemonic
group in the country. Horses would have been raised and
used mainly by the military and political elite, and thus
we can assume that these horses were indeed of “Muslim
provenance" (Amitai 2010).
Discussion
The study of the ERE-1 SINE element proved effective
as a marker to estimate the preservation state of the
DNA in the samples, and also to support the published
morphological identification of the samples as equines
(Motro 2004, Motro et al. 2014). The low success rate
(only 25%) of amplifying nuclear DNA gene fragment
(ERE-1 SINE) indicated low preservation and low quality
of DNA extracted from the archaeological specimens.
The significant difference in the success rate between the
samples (36% of the AMJ and 14% from Vadum lacob)
probably implies the differences in the general state of
preservation of the DNA, although the samples are dated
to approximately the same period. It is possible that some
of the differences are caused by type 2 transition cytosine
deamination, which has been shown to be a result of DNA
damage in archaeological samples (Gilbert et al. 2007).
But, as some of the mutations were found from different
extraction and amplification of the same specimens,
we believe that they are authentic, representing the
differences between samples. The differences could be
due to the different equine species or breed, geographical
locations, climate, and soils (Pääbo et al. 2004, Poinar and
Stankiewicz 1999). The climate in Israel is subtropical.
The northern and coastal regions have a Mediterranean
climate, characterized by hot dry summers and cool
rainy winters, conditions which are not optimal for DNA
preservation (Herrmann and Hummel 1994; Hofreiter et
al. 2001).
The finding that several ancient samples represent the same
substitution, as expected, further supports that the results
are authentic probably representing differences in origin.
For example: two samples, AMJ—Eq.10 and AMJ-Eq.8,
both excavated at the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa and
both identified as mules, differed from each other in the
ERE-1 sequence. These two samples were found to differ
also in the trace element content: AMJ—Eq.10 belongs to
group C (Muslim equines mainly found at the Armenian
Monastery), while AMJ—Eq.8 has a very different trace
element concentration pattern and belongs to group B,
probably of Muslim origin. (Table 6, Figure 4).
The results of the Real Time PCR, followed by HRM
analysis, proved advantageous in amplifying short
fragments (50-110bp), which are suitable for degraded
ancient DNA, and also for determining the equine
species. As expected, the higher success rate of positive
amplifications was among the mitochondrial genes due
to the number ratio of nuclear and mitochondria DNA in
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal et al.
Table 6. Results of the Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) analyses
116
Site Sample Pb 1c Ni 1c Cr lo
uggi pgg uggi ngg-l uere ug g-l
Armenian Monastery AMJ-Eq7 13.5 0.56 23.72 0.91 1.18 0.27
AMJ-Eq 8 82.75 1.38 18.07 1.26 16.33 0.55
AMJ-Eq9 42.21 0.44 15.34 0.42 20.71 0.8
AMJ-Eq10 21.6 0.34 15.87 0.63 15.82 0.52
AMJ-Eq11 20.17 0.4 18.78 0.53 23.73 0.78
AMJ-Eq4 24.61 0.36 13.35 0.97 20.92 0.7
AMJ-Eq17 36.16 0.43 10.88 0.54 21.28 0.7
AMJ-Eq18 19.56 0.49 14.76 1.09 22.05 0.76
AMJ-Eq21 12.53 0.84 20.9 0.6 1.24 0.26
AMJ-Eql 8.31 0.31 13.68 0.47 13.74 0.48
AMJ-28 126.31 2.26 15.19 0.83 46.45 24
AMJ-TI 8.03 0.33 32.59 0.99 4.48 0.12
AMJ-Eq12 4.59 0.29 4.14 0.12 <0.42 0.14
AMJ-T2 25.04 0.49 29.03 0.41 6.73 0.31
AMJ-T3 14.89 0.39 17.66 0.57 6.37 0.14
AMJ-T4 14.18 0.55 1.91 0.51 5:37. 0.29
AMJ-Eq4 19.21 1.07
AMJ-17 18.82 0.72 27.01 1.01 8.22 0.16
AMJ-T5 81.65 3.08 33.43 0.37 6.75 0.15
Jaffa - Ole Ziyyon St J-MF14 10.65 0.48 12.66 0.57 <1.44 0.48
J-MFI15 10.34 0.44 22.46 0.98 «1.32 0.44
J-MF16 7.83 0.32 19.28 0.79 «0.96 0.32
J-MF17 9.96 0.32 19.42 0.62 6.19 0.58
J-MF 18 1.2 0.09 2.3 0.41 12.17 0.32
Vadum Iacob AT-2 1.41 0.12 7.8 0.28 <1.14 0.38
AT-3 «0.30 0.1 2.69 0.44 <1.17 0.39
AT-4 <0.30 0.1 <1.35 0.45 <1.53 0.51
AT-5 <0.33 0.11 4.67 0.41 <1.23 0.41
AT-6 0.88 0.14 3.95 0.82 6.73 0.59
AT-7 1.11 0.1 3.15 0.51 <1.68 0.56
AT-7a 2.33 0.11 7.91 0.68 «1.92 0.64
AT-7b 2.78 0.09 6.92 0.36 «2.16 0.72
AT-8 13.32 0.64 20.83 1.02 14.71 0.35
AT-9 14.1 0.48 27.39 0.97 3.34 0.33
AT-9a 7.95 0.66 16.22 1.36 22.27 0.48
AT-10 12.11 0.8 22.63 1.51 <1.17 0.39
AT-113 15.5 0.56 23.86 0.92 <0.87 0.29
AT-126 12.5 0.25 35.27 1.66 4.9 0.46
AT-2019 144.43 9.89 29.72 0.88 7.38 0.24
Ramla R-MF19 8.78 0.32 18.85 0.7 <1.44 0.48
R-MF20 7.71 0.19 2.66 0.47 4.26 0.39
R-MF21 27.7 0.33 7.02 0.52 29.98 0.72
every cell. This phenomenon is the general reason most
ancient DNA studies are based on mitochondrial genes
(Hofreiter et al. 2001). Unfortunately, we cannot base
the species identification on the mitochondrial markers
alone, because mules are hybrids between a female horse
and a male donkey, and the mitochondria are maternally
inherited. The low success rate in amplification of the
Prion Protein (PRNP) gene, a nuclear gene, prevented the
determination of the exact equine species, but nonetheless
we were able to rule out the possibility of a donkey.
Although, in this study, the success rates determining
the equine species were low; the established method was
found to be efficient and can be used on other equine
archaeological assemblages.
The interpretation that we impose on the trace element
data is that they reflect the trace element chemistry of the
pasture area. Whether this is the trace element chemistry
of the soil, the water, or the crop on which the equines feed
is not of essence. The knowledge of the equine species,
its place of origin, and its prevalent pasture site shed light
on questions pertinent to human activities such as long-
range transportation of the horses. Did the animals travel
with the conquering army from the homeland in Europe,
or were they local horses looted, bought, or raised locally
by the Crusaders in the Holy Land and the surrounding
regions? Our results seem to sustain both possibilities. The
tentative interpretation of the trace element concentration
data is that three distinct groupings can be recognized: A:
a group of Crusader's horses (lower left quadrant); C: a
rather well defined group of Muslim equines mainly found
The Use of Equines in Archaeological Research
AM J-E
ere 1
AMJ-Eq17
PC1
Figure 4. Principal Component Analysis results. The factor loadings for the Principal Component Analysis: Factor number 1
(PC-1) is almost solely dependent on Pb, while the variation in PC-2 is shared between Ni and Cr. The color codes represent
four sites: cyan: Vadum Iacob, red: Jaffa—Armenian Monastery, yellow: Jaffa—Olé Ziyyon St, and green: Ramla.
117
at the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa (lower right quadrant)
which have probably been grazing at a rather well defined
location characterized by the highest Pb load of them all;
and finally, B: a group probably of Muslim origin (upper
half in Figure 4). The latter group is found at all the sites
investigated. Since these equines are found in so many
different places, it is likely that this origin area B is the most
prolific in raising, and in particular, in exporting equines
in the Near East, the major junction between Eastern and
Western horse breeds, as is indicated in the historical
records of the Medieval Levant (Pryor 1982). Although we
are not able to pinpoint a specific geographical position
to group B, it is our hope that either research in historical
sources, or more measurements of both genetics and trace
elements in equines from the Middle East, eventually will
reveal the identity of group B.
At Vadum lacob the finding of both horses and mules in the
same context fits well with the hypothesis that the castle
was still under construction when it was destroyed on 30
August 1179 BCE (Ellenblum 2007). The mules could
have been used to carry stones from the quarry during
the building of the castle and the Templar Knights could
have used the horses, both for regular transportation and
for fighting the Muslims (Barber 1998; Ellenblum 2003).
Concerning the main areas of pasture for the equines
from Vadum lacob, trace element analyses indicates
there are several European horses (AT2, AT6, AT7, AT7a,
AT7b), whereas five seem to be local—perhaps looted
or purchased from the Muslims at source B (ATS, AT9,
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal et al.
AT10, A-113a, and AT-126), or raised by the Crusaders
from such stock.
There are no direct historical sources describing the
purpose of the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa in medieval
times, but the city is known to have served as a major
port for the Holy Land since Biblical times (Galili et al.
2000). Among the equine remains, we identified horses,
donkeys, and mules. In a busy port, the donkeys and
mules could have been an integral part of everyday life,
carrying travelers and merchandise from place to place.
The horses could have been imported on boats arriving
in the port or bred locally. In any event, the horses were
likely to have been used for human transportation inland.
If any horses were transported across the sea, it is most
likely they were imported into Jaffa from overseas, rather
than locally bred horses being exported from Jaffa port.
The individual equines from the Armenian Monastery
in Jaffa can be divided into three groups based on the
trace element concentrations: two equines of supposedly
European origin (AMJ—Eql2 and AMJ-T4) as they
cluster with the Crusader horses, seven from the distinct
Muslim site C (AMJ-Eq4 (two samples), AMJ—Eq9,
AMJ-Eq10, AMJ-Eq11, AMJ-Eq17, AMJ-Eq18), and
six from the dispersed Muslim source area B (AMJ—Eq7,
AMJ-Eq21, AMJ-17, AMJ-T1, AMJ-T2, and AMJ-T3).
The reason we designate B and C as Muslim in origin
is because of the archaeological date. One sample from
Ole Ziyyon Street is of European origin (J-MF18), while
three are from the prolific Muslim source B (J-MFI5,
J-MF16, J-MF17). Thus, all lines of evidence, the
morphology, places of origin as reflected by the genetics
and variation in trace element concentrations reflecting
the grazing areas, point to Jaffa as a busy melting pot-
type harbor city with equines coming from all corners of
the medieval world.
The present study shows that a combined investigation
using morphology, aDNA, and trace element analysis on
equine remains gives a coherent picture that can enhance
our understanding of archaeological contexts containing
equine remains. The aDNA analysis was found successful
in identifying equine species, even when the classical
morphological methods fail to determine the species. It
was shown that trace element analysis has the potential
to distinguish different areas of pasture for the equines
independent of their genetic origin.
Acknowledgements
The study in Israel was partially funded by Israel Science
Foundation, Bikura, Grant no. 1431/07: *Medieval Human
History of the Levant Written on Horseback”.
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Part III
The Horse's Arrival in North Africa and Arabia
9
Northern Africa: Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the
Sahel and its Impact on Adjacent Regions
Pita Kelekna
The diffusion of the domesticated horse worldwide has wrought many changes on all six
continents. This article examines the impact of the horse across the centuries on the arid and semi—
arid sections of Northern Africa. Whereas certain innovations accompanying the introduction of
the horse to Africa were similar to occurrences elsewhere in the world (Kelekna 2009), others
were specialized responses to the environmental challenges of the African deserts and savannas.
Clearly, the Arabian horse was integral to the rapid Islamic expansion east and west out of
Arabia. But other types of horses were additionally operative in the evolutionary development of
technology, economy, trade, metallurgy, social organization, warfare, and religion among different
ethnic groups across Northern Africa. These advances, described in this paper, span a period of
4,000 years (Up to the point of, but not including, modern European maritime expansion) and
involved horses both imported to and domestically reared in the Sahara and Sahel (a semi-arid
zone of grass and thorny scrubland, transitioning between the sands of the Sahara to the north and
the moister savanna to the south).
Initial Arrival of the Domesticated Horse in the
Ancient Near East, Egypt, and Arabia
While wild asses and zebras are indigenous to the African
continent and primary domestication of the donkey took
place there, the horse arrived from elsewhere. From
domestic horse bones reported in Khabur, northern Syria,
and the first appearance of a word for “horse” in cuneiform
texts of the Ur III period, it is known that by the end of
the third millennium BCE horse culture had penetrated
the Near East from the Eurasian steppes (Oates 2003:
117). The true horse, "ass of foreign mountain countries,”
quickly replaced its donkey and onager predecessors and
their hybrids throughout the region in battle (Shaughnessy
1988: 211). Actual conquest with horse and chariot was
initially evidenced among the Hittites, Hyksos, Kassites,
and the Mitanni-ruled Hurrians (Gurney 1990: 86). By
the beginning of seventeenth century BCE, the Hyksos,
probably a western Semitic people, had introduced the
horse-drawn chariot along with the war goddess Astarte
to the land of Pharaohs, to dominate for over a century
the eastern delta and Middle Egypt (Cotterell 2004: 96).
As the two-horse chariot was deployed across the Levant,
Mesopotamia, and up the Nile valley, chariot speed in
combat created a revolution in warfare. With the newly
acquired horse in Eighteenth-dynasty Egypt, the pharaohs
Thutmose III and Amenhotep II captured large numbers
of slaves on expeditions to Nubia and the Sudan (Beachey
1976: 2). In military campaigns, horse-riding was initially
undertaken by scouts and messengers, albeit at first
assuming the rear “donkey seat" on the rump (Raulwing
and Clutton-Brock 2009: 9 f). Fully competent mass
123
cavalry, however, would not be achieved until the first
millennium BCE, with the saddle, probably first invented
on the Eurasian steppes, making its appearance in the Near
East toward the end of the era.
In the funerary depictions of pharaonic tombs, Egyptian
horses appear bedecked with ostrich plumes, their slender
bodies and small heads showing a marked resemblance
to the modern Arabian. Similarly, remains of horses from
seventeenth-century-BCE Buhen (Upper Nubia) and
fifteenth-century-BCE Thebes also exhibit the same fine
limbs characteristic of horses in Egypt and Arabia today.
And both skeletons share a feature in common with the
modern Arabian horse, namely five lumbar vertebrae in
contrast to the customary six or seven of other domestic
horse breeds (Clutton-Brock 1992: 81-83). By the close
of the second millennium BCE, possibly even earlier, a
petroglyph of a two-horse chariot indicates horse presence
at Jubbah in northern Saudi Arabia (Olsen 2010: 54).
Actual burials of distinctive Arabian-type horses date
to 2,000 years ago at Mileiha (UAE) where they were
elaborately interred with bejewelled trappings (Bin-Sultan
al-Nahyan 1998: 7). On the Arabian Peninsula, scrupulous
inbreeding of mounts produced an animal of unrivalled
stamina. The slighter build of these southern horses, which
contrasted to the stockier physique of the earlier northern
steppe domesticates, likely was an adaptation to dry, hot
desert conditions. Such differences in physical type reflect
variation in morphology, evidenced in many mammalian
species of wide distribution, whereby in warmer climes
there is a tendency to develop a gracile body with fine
limbs (Bergmann’s rule) and longer extremities (Allen’s
Pita Kelekna
plumes
cheekstrap
cheekpiece
WA
`
neckstrap
oke
appliqué
backing
element
$ Saddle pad
disk
yoke saddl
finial
Vs
N
Figure 1. Sketch of the Egyptian chariot of pharaoh Tut'ankamum (Littauer and Crouwel 1985: Fig. 2). Courtesy of Joost
Crouwel.
rule) (Clutton-Brock 1992: 61). Vertebral reduction too
may have been an adaptive response by the evolving
proto—Arabian horse to the stresses of southern latitudes.
As illustrated in Figure 1, by the reign of Tut'ankhamün
in the fourteenth-century BCE, the Egyptian chariot was
a formidable war machine. Its six-spoked wheels featured
an integral nave with the axle positioned to the rear edge
of the rider's box, to endow the vehicle with great fore—
aft stability. Also, lashed to the yoke, was an important
chevron-shaped wooden device, designed to adapt
the yoke to the narrow equid neck This “yoke saddle"
basically prevented the yoke from slipping down behind
the withers, thereby enabling the shoulders to exert a strong
forward pull (Littauer 2002: 479-84; Spruytte 1983: 30 f.).
The driver, clad in scale armour for protection, with reins
tied around his waist, wielded a bow and arrow. Affixed to
the side of the chariot was a Javelin case.
In keeping with the technological complexity of the light,
spoked—wheeled war chariot, from Kikkuli’s Manual for
the training of chariot horses, recorded on clay tablets
written expressly for the Hittite kings of Anatolia, we
are aware of the extraordinary attention accorded the
training of chariot horses in the middle of the second
millennium BCE. The most famous of these texts is named
after Kikkuli, who introduces himself in his manual as
assussanni, the “horse trainer” from the land of Mittani?
' The yoke, originally invented for ox-draft, was ill suited to horse
anatomy and therefore required this additional device for more efficient
traction.
> Raulwing and Schmitt 1998: 698 reconstruct: Old Indo-Aryan
ásva- “horse” + Old Indo-Aryan root sami “to come to rest, to become
exhausted” = "the one who drives the horse (during training or race) to
exhort the last reserves, to become exhausted”.
124
a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast
Anatolia 1500-1300 BCE. Kikkuli's training instructions
were found in the capital of the Hittite kings in HattuSSa.
Three training manuals survived. The first one (CTH 284)
named after Kikkuli Kikkuli’s manual was composed in
fifteenth century BCE; however, the original clay tablet
was not found in the Hittite archive, and only a copy from
the thirteenth century BCE survived. The second one
(CTH 285), a training instruction with a ritual introduction
dated in the fourteenth century BCE, and the third one
(CTH 286) written in Hittite from thirteenth century BCE.
Several kings of Mittani also had Indo—Aryan names in
addition to their Hurrian throne names (Mayrhofer 1996;
1974; Raulwing 2006). Some of those Indo—Aryan names,
together with specific termini technici of a hippological
sphere, have been interpreted as proof of a great esteem
of horses and chariots in Mittani in the second half of
second millennium BCE.* The Kikkuli Text employed
“interval training” techniques over a time span of at
least seven months comparable to modern equine sport
principle of progression, peak loading systems, electrolyte
replacement, fartlek conditioning, and repetitions (Horn
1995, tables; Raulwing 2006; Nyland 2009: 38). The
first few days of Kikkuli’s course comprised a series of
trials, designed from the outset to eliminate horses unfit
for strenuous training. The Indo-Aryan compounds for
“rounds” build with —wartanna (Vedic vartani "round")—
aika- (Vedic éka- “one”), tera— (Vedic tri three"), panza
(Vedic panca- “five”), satta (Vedic saptd— “seven”), na
3 Foran overview on the historical context, languages used in the training
manuals and etymology of Kikkuli’s profession title see Raulwing and
Schmitt 1998; Raulwing 2006 on hippological interpretations of the
Kikkuli Text.
+ EWAia, s.v; Raulwing 2004: 519 ff. and 518, Table 1 with terms which
have been accepted by most scholars as Indo-Aryan; Mallory 1996: 37 f.
;
j Ae
Cordoba (
e
Sevillee ` «Granada
XC d
Tangier s. Së , _/Algiers Tunis
Í eFez Qayrawan?
P Se
/ eMarrakesh
Q Mogad:
$ ic "e Sidjilmasa
Tripoli OY
FERRAN
TASSILI eTiror
HOGGAR
Ti-m-Missaou
Adrar des Ifoghas
.
Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the Sahel
TIBESTI
KANEM
Figure 2. Map of North Africa, showing locations of early chariot and equestrian penetration, later Arab and Almoravid
expansions, and Sahel cavalry kingdoms of the first- and second-millennia CE.
(haplolocally shortened by omitting the second syllable;
Vedic nava “nine”) and wasanna (Gen. Sg.) “track,
*stadion""—Trepresent an older dialect than Vedic as the
diphthong in aika (Vedic éka) indicates. Other cuneiform
archives in the ancient Near East have yielded further
Indo—Aryan linguistic traces such termini technici for horse
colors in Nuzi (Kirkuk)°and a collar decoration for horses
in the Amarna Tablets." Such was the Mitanni reputation
for fine horsemanship that Egypt maintained diplomatic
correspondence with that dynasty, requesting both horses
and chariots. The marshes of Lower Egypt were not great
horse-breeding country, as a consequence fine horses had
to be continually imported from Asia (Epstein 1971: 428)
(Figure 2).
Diffusion of the Domesticated Horse to the Sahara and
the Sahel
Thirteenth-century-BCE Egyptian records further
indicate horse presence elsewhere in North Africa, as when
the pharaoh Merneptah was attacked from the west at the
Battle of Perire by a coalition of Libyan, Achaean, and
Cretan charioteers. These latter invading “Sea Peoples,”
well experienced in distant wars, possibly were assimilated
? [na treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the Mitanni king first
swore an oath by Hurrian gods then by the Indo—Aryan deities in CTH
51, *In-da-ra, MESMi-it-ra-as-Si-il, MESNa-as-at-ti-ya-an-na, and
Varuna, corresponding to Mitrd—, Varuna-, Indra- and the Nasatya in
Rigveda 10.125.1 (Mallory and Mair 2000: 257; Raulwing 2013: 254
f.). See Thieme 1960 for an interpretation of the religious background
specific to the Indo—Aryan development of these gods.
€ Indo-Aryan p/babru-nnu (Vedic babhrü- reddish brown,
brownbraun"), p/barita-nnu (Vedic palita- “grey”, p/binkara-nnu
(Vedic pingala- “reddish brown, reddish yellow, greenish yellow).
7 mani-nnu (Vedic mani-).
125
Figure 3. Saharan rock drawing of a two-horse chariot,
the horses depicted in the famous “flying gallop.” Cave of
Tamadjert, Tassili-n-Ajjer (Spruytte 1996: Fig. 8). Courtesy
of Alain Spruytte and Franck David.
into North African populations. Across Saharan oases,
over 200 rock drawings of chariots, dating from mid-
second millennium BCE onward have been discovered,
some representations showing certain affinities with the
Mycenaean art style, the horses in the distinctive “flying
gallop” (Hyland 2003: 31; Lhote 1953: 1141-43, 1158)
(Figure 3). Thus, it would appear there were multiple
early entrances of the warhorse into North Africa. These
chariots of the Sahara were very light, seemingly without
wooden or wicker sides. French scholar, Jean Spruytte,
from his decades-long research in the Sahara, constructed
first models then full-scale experimental replicas of the
rupestrian chariot-drawings he had photographed. A
working replica of the light Saharan chariot is displayed in
Figure 4, its horses breaking into a gallop. Note, attached
to the very end of the draught pole, the traction bar that
Pita Kelekna
Figure 4. Working replica of Saharan chariot,
approximating the “flying gallop.” Note the frontal traction
bar-pole harness (Spruytte 1996: Fig. 82). Courtesy of Alain
Spruytte and Franck David.
possible in the Sudanic belt, with its climate of uniform
hours of daylight and pattern of summerrainfall. Continuing
climatic deterioration, however, led to experimentation
with wild grasses and, by the first millennium BCE, the
eventual domestication of millets and sorghums (Oliver
and Fagan 1975: 12-14, 48).
In 450 BCE, Herodotus reported (2007: 4.183) that the
Berber Garamantes of the Fezzan, driving four-horsed
chariots, used to raid for slaves "Ethiopian troglodytes"
in the Hoggar and Tibesti massifs of the central Sahara.
These may have been the Teda, who still today use caves
as refuges. From rock drawings of Saharan four-horse
chariots, Spruytte constructed a working model (Figures 6
and 7). The harnessing encountered in the Sahara differed
significantly from the Eurasian technique. In the latter
Figure 5. Close-up, showing details of working replica
of Saharan two-horse chariot (Spruytte 1996: Fig. 13).
Courtesy of Alain Spruytte and Franck David.
passes in front of the horses' breasts. A close-up of chariot
construction is shown in Figure 5. The sideless platform
consisted of tightly woven leather strips (Spruytte 1996:
20). The wheel, intricately modelled on an ancient
Egyptian wheel (Brooklyn Museum; Littauer and Crouwel
1979), comprises 20 separate pieces.
In former times, much of the Sahara was still open
parkland, home to plentiful wild game, such as antelope,
ass, elephant, giraffe, mouflon, rhinoceros, hippopotamus,
lion, and leopard. Hunting was widely practiced, as was
fishing near lakes and perennial streams. Rock art of the
region shows hunters of both Afro-Mediterranean and
Negroid types,‘ suggesting a mingling of races in these
southerly latitudes. Also depicted were long-and short-
horned cattle, sheep, and goats. But due to encroaching
desertification, ^ stockbreeding was transhumant,
complemented by the gathering of wild cereals as herders
moved between seasonal pastures. Cultivation of wheat
and barley, staples of the Mediterranean littoral, was not
* These Afro-Mediterraneans spoke languages of the Afro—Asiatic
family—Coptic, Berber, Chadic, and Cushitic; they early utilized both
copper and bronze. The Negroes of the south spoke languages of the
Niger—Congo, Saharan, Central Sudanic, and Nilotic families (Oliver and
Fagan 1975: 3).
126
Figure 6. Rock drawing of a Saharan chariot with multiple
draught poles joined by frontal traction bar (Spruytte 1996:
Fig. 20). Courtesy of Alain Spruytte and Franck David.
LY
=
Figure 7. Constructed replica of a Saharan chariot with
multiple draught poles joined by frontal traction bar
(Spruytte 1996: Fig. 21) Courtesy of Alain Spruytte and
Franck David.
case, the ancient quadriga utilized a central draught pole
and yoke, to which the two interior horses were harnessed
by yoke saddles, the two outspanners fastened merely by
traces. Contrastingly, the North African quadriga featured
multiple draught poles connected at the tip by a traction
bar to be located in front of the horses’ breasts (frontal
traction bar also shown in Figure 4). Spruytte attributes this
distinctive harnessing method to Phoenician influence in
North Africa, since similar materials are attested in Cyprus
during the first millennium BCE; nothing comparable is
known from Egypt (Spruytte 1996: 112 f.).
Herodotus also commented upon chariot travel undertaken
deep into the interior by Libyans, who reached a great
river infested by crocodiles—probably the Niger. In fact,
across the Sahara, numerous rock drawings of horse—
drawn chariots have been discovered that cluster along
two major routes connecting perennial waterholes while
avoiding the worst areas of shifting sand: one passing
over the Hoggar and along the ridge of the Adrar des
Ifoghas toward the gold deposits of the Niger bend; a
second running far west to the copper mines of Akjoujt in
southwestern Mauritania (see Figure 2) (Oliver and Fagan
1975: 10). Ox-drawn wagons and carts are also featured
in these early engravings of the central and western
Sahara (Lhote 1953: 1162). In the Tichitt valley, a natural
line of communication between the salt mines of Idjil, the
Akjoujt copper zone of Mauritania, and the Niger bend,
excavations by American archaeologist P. J. Munson at
Dhar Tichitt-Walata have revealed a thousand-year-long
occupation by hunting and farming cultures dating from
1500 BCE. Exploitation of aquatic resources and wild
cereals marked the earliest sites. By 1200 BCE, herding
of cattle and goats, pottery, and incipient cultivation
of bulrush millet were evident, with lakeshore villages
similar in type to those of the Mande savanna peoples to
the south. But nomads, herding animals on the fringes
of the desert, posed a threat to these settled farmers, in
times of drought raiding their southerly villages in search
of water and pastures. Around 1000 BCE, there were
both developed agriculture and significant population
increase; sedentary settlements, however, were now
located on high escarpments encircled by defensive walls.
By mid-first millennium BCE, rock engravings of horse—
drawn vehicles along the Tichitt valley suggest Berber
penetration from the north, probably for Mauritanian
copper and for gold from the western Sahel. Copper
arrows, axes, and spearheads lying in the desert resemble
forms from the Maghreb during this epoch. But between
600 and 300 BCE, heavier fortifications of the oasis
settlements signalled serious conflict. And by the latter
part of the first millennium BCE, all traces of indigenous
farmers had disappeared from Tichitt, to be replaced by
tifinar inscriptions, Libyo—Berber tombs, and paintings
of mounted warriors, indicating Berber exploitation
of Mauritanian copper mining and metallurgy from
approximately 500 BCE culminating in final equestrian
occupation. The retreat toward more humid lands by
indigenous sedentary agriculturalists, due to gradual
desiccation of the Sahara, was thus accelerated by the
127
Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the Sahel
Figure 8. Saharan rock drawings of horsemen from Ti-m-
Missaou, guiding the horse with a withe around the neck
and taps of a rod. (Giraffe heads are more ancient). (Lhote
1953: Fig. 20). (Courtesy of IFAN, Dakar).
Berber advance south (Garlake 1990: 119; Levtzion
1980: 5 f., 12 f.) (Figure 8).
Conflict had occurred elsewhere, far to the east in Nubia,
where c. 727 BCE the kings of Kush had conquered and
ruled Egypt as the XXV dynasty. Defeated by the Assyrian
Ashurbanipal in 664 BCE, the dynasty retreated south
first to Napata on the Fourth Cataract, then to Meroe
above the Fifth. Like Egyptian nobles, the Kushites raised
fine horses for chariotry and riding and in fact had long
exported them North, to Lower Egypt. In funerary pomp,
their steeds, measuring 15 hands at the withers, were
buried with elaborate trappings of bronze, silver, shell, and
faience; an ostrich plume in a gold holder was worn on the
head (Olsen 2010: 48; Raulwing and Clutton—Brock 2009:
54-56, and Doxey in this volume). Unlike the Egyptians,
Kushite pastures, though, were not limited to the narrow
Nile floodplain, but watered by annual rains extended
across wooded savannas with plentiful grass, where
horses and other stock thrived. In addition to an abundant
supply of wood, Meroe possessed much iron. Rich in
these two commodities, iron ore and the fuel to smelt
it, by 300 BCE Meroe had acquired great urban wealth.
Pita Kelekna
Figure 9. From the region south of Lake Chad, a Musgu rider of the mid-nineteenth century, armed with a large spear and
two iron throwing axes. The pony appears to have no saddle and there is only a single bridle without a bit (Barth 1857).
Also, active in hunting wild elephants from horseback,
Meroe achieved international prominence in the luxury
trade of ivory, slaves, ostrich feathers, rare skins, ebony,
and gold from inner Africa to the Mediterranean and east
to Arabia, Persia, and India (Oliver and Fagan 1975: 5
f.). From rock art in the Sahel of the Chad area, it is also
evident that from Meroe by 300 BCE, if not earlier, iron
had diffused westward, manufactured as large-bladed
spears and wielded as lances by horse riders. Traces of
ancient ironworking in sites long abandoned in the desert
are very plentiful, suggesting that *smiths accompanied
the horsemen from the time of their first appearance in
these regions." Thus, across the Sudanic bush country, 10*
north of the equator, iron was regularly used at this time.
However, these horses of the savanna were quite different
from the proto—Arabian horses of the north; they were
very small, measuring only 10 hands. Furthermore, these
ponies were always ridden, never driven (Oliver and Fagan
1975: 62). Blench (1993: 88 f.) has remarked that adverse
environmental conditions commonly produce domestic
animals of diminutive size and believes these small ponies
were derived from larger northern horses, possibly of
different breeds. In Africa's extremely hot climate, various
other livestock species, cows, pigs, sheep, and goats are
all known to have undergone dwarfing; in fact, there
appears to be a general correlation between degrees of
latitude south and animal height. Also, in antiquity Nubian
donkeys, settled on the island of Socotra, 300 km off the
Horn of Africa, in feral state were subsequently reduced
to a stature of 10 hands (Clutton-Brock 1992: 40). In
the case of these Sahel ponies, therefore, in addition to
displacement southward, feralization might have been one
further contributing factor to height reduction.
In Kushite expansion out of the Nile valley, Meroitic
hunting of wild elephants, slave-capturing, and escort of
rich caravans through alien territory were quasi-military
operations, in which armed horsemen ranged much
128
further afield than transhumant pastoralists. During these
expeditions, it is entirely possible that domestic horses
may have escaped across the scrub savanna to survive
and proliferate in the wild. At a much later date, Arab
geographer Leo Africanus in fact confirmed the presence
of feral horses in the Sahara (Blench 1993: 91). Identical
developments, of course, occurred on other continents,
where escaped Spanish horses formed the nuclei of the
great feral mustang/mestefio herds of North and South
America. In Australia, the brumbies of the outback
were a comparable phenomenon. In every case the feral
horse was smaller than its domestic predecessor (Hyland
2003: 30). As is well known, on the prairies and the
pampas, re-domestication of feral horses with minimal
apparatus revolutionized the hunting economies and
military potential of the indigenous inhabitants. So too,
in the Sahel, it appears that in the latter part of the first
millennium BCE small feral horses, re-domesticated by
transhumant herders of different ethnic groups, developed
the capacity to survive on a broadly-based diet. Deployed
in a variety of local usages, they were largely responsible
for the diffusion of iron technology across a broad belt
of the African savanna, later even extending to the edge
of tropical forests, where these equines acquired partial
resistance to trypanosomiasis? (Figure 9).
Geographer and trader accounts over the centuries attest
to the continuing presence of ponies across the Sahara
and Sahel. They were used in trade and the collective
spear hunting of savanna game, but also militarily, both
? There are various forms of trypanosomiasis transmitted to humans and
animals by different species of tsetse fly. For horses, the most dangerous
form is Trypanosoma brucei, which causes fatality within three months;
less severe rates of mortality resulting from other infections range from
six months to two years (Law 1980: 77—79). Pony resistance was highly
geographically specific. Although immune in their home range, local
stock transported elsewhere would die rapidly from other fly-borne
diseases (Blench 1993: 91).
in mounted raids to enslave neighbours and as defence
against enemy slavers (Blench 1993: 94—96). Dated from
the first millennium BCE, a brass figurine shows a warrior
mounted without saddle or stirrups on a very small blunt-
nosed horse, controlled by a single-reined, bitless bridle.
Unfortunately, not a great deal is known about these
ancient riders. Today though, we may perhaps glean a
hint of their technology from remote non-Muslim regions
of Northern Africa, particularly the Jos plateau. There,
during the twentieth century, Ron tribesmen still rode
bareback with a simple rope knotted around the horse's
nose. Alternatively used was a noseband, comprising two
curved iron bars joined on one side by an iron ring and
by a linking chain on the other. The bar placed under the
horse's chin was commonly spiked to exert a severe curb
pressure whenever the rein was pulled. In lieu of saddlery,
another Jos custom was to cut the centre of the horse's
back, so that the raw and bleeding surface, like cement,
would afford the rider a grip which otherwise would be
lacking. This incision ultimately formed a callous pad that
protected the horse's spine. (Law 1980: 93—95, 112, 127).
These ponies were widely valued for their agility in rocky
environments. They served as bridewealth payments and
were paraded at the investiture of a chief. Horse sacrifice
was also an important component of funeral obsequies.
Upon a chief's death, ponies were clubbed to death, the
deceased buried wearing the skin of his favourite mount as
a shroud (Blench 1993: 94, 97).
With the expansion of horsepower, there arose in the
Sahel the important kingdom of Wagadu, its capital
Kumbi Saleh strategically located along the north-south
trade route, midway between the desert sources of salt
and the Bambuk gold fields of the Senegal and Falem
drainage. Control over the sources of gold was essential
to Wagadu's economic prosperity and political control.
Fabulously wealthy, the Mande ruler was known as Kaya
maghan “king of gold," or Ghana “war chief" (Garlake
1990: 118 £). The king deployed cavalry as a striking
force in his armies, military superiority asserted through
the use of iron. With horses, iron swords and spears, the
Soninke elite extended Wagadu territories, raiding and
enslaving their southern neighbours, who possessed no
iron and fought only with ebony staves (Levtzion 1980:
13 f.). In the trans-Saharan trade, kola nuts, hides, ostrich
feathers, ivory, gold, and slaves travelled north. Slaves
were assigned to heavy or dangerous work in portage,
mining, cutting salt, and agriculture. While gold was
exported, Saharan salt and Akjoujt copper were imported
south, the latter not for weapons or tools, but to make
elaborate regalia for kings and the wealthy, although also
as rods to be used later as currency (Garlake 1990: 119 f.).
During the first millennium BCE, Phoenician mariners had
settled the southern Mediterranean coast. As their wealth
increased with copper, iron, and silver shipments from
Spain, their colony Carthage developed commerce with
the Garamantes of the Fezzan, who controlled the trade
from the Saharan interior. But as early as 490 BCE, the
Carthaginian Hanno had attempted to circumvent Berber
monopoly ofthis lucrative trade and to gain direct access to
129
Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the Sahel
the valuable gold of the southern savannas by establishing
trading posts along the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa.
The most southerly of these outposts was the island of
Kerne, identified with Mogador or Herne. This maritime
venture however was opposed by Pharusian nomads, who
rode across the desert with water skins strapped under the
bellies of their horses. Berber middlemen in the gold trade,
the Pharusians relentlessly attacked these competitor Punic
colonies along the Atlantic coast (Levtzion 1980: 125 f.;
Strabo 1996: 17.3.7). According to Strabo (1996: 17.3.19),
around this time, the still verdant Mediterranean littoral of
North Africa was home to vast herds of horses that yielded
100,000 foals a year (Hyland 1990: 177). Herodotus
(2007: 7.86) recounts how these Barbary horses—known
to the Greeks as Libyans and later to the Arabs as Barbs—
had famously been conscripted by Xerxes as chariot
horses for the 480 BCE Achaemenid invasion of Greece
(Hyland 1990: 24). The Barbary horse, its convex profile
widely depicted in rock paintings and engravings (Lhote
1953: 1204), also provided military escort to caravans
carrying iron tools from Carthage southward. During the
Punic invasion of Italy, Hannibal's armies exceeded by
far in ratio of horse to infantry anything the Romans had
ever fielded in battle, enlisting the formidable Garamantes
cavalry of the Fezzan. But the Numidians were the most
feared of Hannibal’s cavalries, inflicting dire defeats
on Rome at Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae (218-216
BCE). These North Africans from the Aures mountains
rode their swift, nimble horses bareback without a
bridle, guiding their horses with body movements, a
withe around the neck, and taps of a rod (similar to rock
depiction in Figure 8). They were merciless in skirmishing
manoeuvres, harrying, and tearing the fleeing Romans
from their horses’ backs (Hyland 1990: 173-175; Lhote
1953: 1156; Polybius 2011a: 3.115-117). Survivor of
Cannae, Scipio Africanus finally countered Punic might
by emulating Carthaginian tactics with Iberian horse to
defeat Hasdrubal at Ilipa, Spain in 206 BCE, then to forge
an alliance with Masinissa, the famed Numidian general.
Aided by 6,000 Numidian cavalry, Scipio in North Africa
finally annihilated Hannibal’s army at Zama in 202 BCE
(Polybius 2011b: 15.12-14), a victory which catapulted
Rome from a regional to an international power.
Early in the first millennium CE, yet another important
development had taken place. The one-humped camel
or dromedary, originally domesticated in Arabia during
the second millennium BCE, had been introduced into
the Sahara via the Sinai. Capable of carrying burdens
of up to 200 kg at a pace of 2-3 km per hour, its bulk—
transport capability, primarily as a pack animal"? soon
displaced wheeled vehicles in Northern Africa (Kóhler-
Rollefson 1996: 282-286, 291). The camel's extraordinary
efficiency in the desert environment would facilitate a
highly specialized form of mobile pastoralism across the
central and western Sahara, but also inhibit transmission
of the wheel southward. With the advent of the dromedary,
10 The camel was also widely used in plowing and lifting water.
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the volume of trade across the Sahara rose significantly.
Imperial Rome, in turn, would be beneficiary of this
valuable commerce, obtaining from the African interior
wild animals for its famed circuses—and the slaves and
gold brought from the Sahel by Berber caravan traders
(Oliver and Fagan 1975: 53).
Equestrian Islamization of the Sahara and the Sahel
In the seventh century CE, however, Roman dominion
in North Africa was challenged by Bedouin warriors
from the Arabian Peninsula. First reaching south into
Nubia, a treaty was concluded at Dongola in 642 that
laid the foundation for the Muslim slave trade in Africa.
The treaty stipulated that a mosque be maintained in the
center of town and required each year the delivery of
360 male and female adult slaves (Heers 2003: 27). In
the Islamic western expansion (643—647) out of al Fustat
(Arabic “tent” or Cairo of the future), both the camel and
Arabian horse were to play important roles. In raiding, the
dromedary could be ridden over distances of 65—80 km per
day. Yet in combat, even at a gallop, the camel could never
deliver the momentum and impact of the cavalry charge.
While fighting with lance from camelback was practiced,
it was not the easiest mode of combat, since the camel
was notoriously unresponsive to rider command (Bulliet
1990: 99). In armed hostilities, everywhere the warhorse
was the preferred steed. Thus, in the waterless desert,
the dromedary came to fulfil the important function of
supporting horses, which to conserve energy during travel
were tied to the cinch of the camel's saddle and mounted
only at time of attack (Hill 1975: 34, 36). The Arab's
camel could be bled to provide 5 L of blood per month. It
transported containers of water for both human and horse
consumption. It also provided as much as 10 kg of milk
per day for horse nourishment en route (Kóhler-Rollefson
1996: 286). Additionally, in time of dire emergency,
its stomach could be slit to access its reserve of water.
This was accomplished by initially withholding liquid,
then forcing the thirsty camels to drink copious amounts
of water. The camels’ mouths were tied to prevent their
chewing cud and contaminating water in the stomach. On
campaign, each day a specific number of camels would be
slaughtered, their stomachs slit to provide water to men
and warhorses (Donner 1981: 121 f.).
Acquiring the stirrup from the Sasanians during the
conquest of Persia, the Arabs introduced this important
device to the Sahara (Lhote 1953: 1200—02). In those
early wars, the Arabs quickly gained advantage over
their enemies through the superior mobility afforded by
dromedary support of the horse. By using the desert for
passage, raiding base, and refuge, they were able to cover
long distances rapidly and to concentrate their forces at
the point of greatest danger. Their central stratagem was
to mount surprise attacks across the desert borders. In
situations of adversity they could retreat back into the
desert, without fear of Byzantine pursuit, to await a more
favourable opportunity to rally. With these tactics, their
rear and lines of communication were safe from enemy
130
interference and their dispatch of reinforcements was free
of hazard (Hill 1975: 41 f.).
Well accustomed to the precariousness of the desert, the
Arab's horse showed a hardiness and grace under the
most trying conditions. With a long-arched neck, concave
forehead, straight nasal profile, and large somewhat
protruding eyes, the Arabian horse had a deep body
culminating in powerful quarters; the hocks well set down
gave the horsepower and ability to manoeuvre. Renowned
for its intelligence, the Arabian was the swiftestandtoughest
of horses. It remained healthy on little fodder, achieved
the fastest speeds, and displayed extraordinary stamina
(Bin-Sultan al-Nahyan 1998: 8 f. Hyland 1990: 24-27,
209). Its distinctiveness was intensified and maintained by
long inbreeding in an environment demanding toughness
and alertness. The desert tribes’ respect for endogamy
was mirrored in their close supervision of horse-breeding
practices. An asil (purebred) mare was only ever covered
by an asil stallion. When raiding into enemy territory,
the Arab sewed up the mare's vagina to prevent her from
mating with an inferior stallion. The Bedouin believed in
telegony. Should the mare be covered by a non-asil horse,
it was feared that all future foals would be contaminated
by impure blood. In birthing, the cherished asil foal was
not allowed to fall to the ground but caught and caressed as
an infant. Mare and foal shared the men's tent, the mare's
neck often a pillow for its master. After a month, the foal
was weaned then fed on camel milk and later on barley and
dates. (Amirsadeghi 1998: 18 f.).
Backed by the water-carrying, bulk-transporting
dromedary, the cavalry forces of Islam spread rapidly
across North Africa reaching the Atlantic in 680. Arab
victories could not be attributed to their masses, for they
were vastly outnumbered by their enemies. Arab strengths
were their religious fervour and their astonishing military
mobility, afforded by the Arabian warhorse. Both men
and horses were accustomed to living off the meagre diet
of Bedouin existence. Hardy and resourceful, without
supply train, they traversed barren and inhospitable lands,
traveling at night with the bright light of the desert stars—
even fighting at night (Kennedy 2007: n. 371). Poised
between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the tide of
Islamic conquest turned north. In the east, Byzantium
would continue to defy Muslim might for many centuries
to come, but in the west Spain furnished an alternate route
to assault Christian Europe. In 711 at Gibraltar, a Muslim
army commenced the invasion of Visigothic Spain, a land
internally divided. By 720 all provinces of the peninsula
had been subjugated; albeit in Asturias, the Christian revolt
of 722 would repulse the Arabs at Covadonga to form the
embryonic core of the Spanish Reconquista." The tide of
Islamic equestrian conquest continued its advance north,
finally to be repulsed on the plains of Poitiers in 733 by
a Frankish army headed by Charles Martel. And so began
the great era of Arabic learning, which would extend
! Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Islam.
across three continents and achieve prodigious heights
in art, architecture, literature, science, mathematics, and
medicine.
At the beginning of the eighth century in Africa, the
Arabian horse also played an important role in the
conquest of southern Morocco. Lured by the fame of the
Sudanese gold, the Umayyad governor in 734 ordered an
expedition to Bilad al-Sudan (Lands of the Black People),
where large quantities of gold and slaves were seized.
Realizing, however, that such raids would not secure a
steady supply of the precious metal, the Arabs encouraged
Sanhadja nomad trade across the desert, by digging wells
along the trails between oases. By the second half of the
century, independent Kharijite principalities ruled over the
northern gateways to the southern goldfields, promoting
the development of private enterprise by Muslim
merchants (Levtzion 1980: 126). Al Bakri of Cordoba later
would report how the king of Wagadu, now referred to as
Ghana by the Arabs, appeared at audiences in the capital
bedecked in a golden headdress and surrounded by ten
horses, small in stature, but caparisoned in gold. Behind
stood ten slaves bearing swords and shields mounted with
gold (Trimingham 1962: 53 f). According to Soninke
tradition, 22 monarchs, who exercised both secular and
religious authority, had ruled before Muslim contact.
The king's residence was in a palisaded grove; nearby, a
pagan priesthood guarded the sacred groves surrounding
the tombs of past kings. Arab Muslims lived in a separate
town, six miles away, as did the Zanata and Sanhadja
nomads engaged in the trans-Saharan trade (Oliver and
Fagan 1975: 163 f.).
Gold, together with silver, constituted the basis of the
Muslim monetary system. From the mid-eighth century
onward, the flow of gold from the Sahel to the Maghreb
increased dramatically. Rival caliphates competed for
control of this commerce. By 909 the Fatimids succeeded
in dominating Ifriqiya, where Sudanese gold financed
their economic and political expansion and subsequent
conquest of Egypt. Upon the caliph’s entry into Cairo,
he was presented with “500 horses with saddles and
bridles encrusted with gold, amber, and precious stones”
(Culbertson 2010: 79). The early eleventh century saw a
major migration of Arabs with their flocks out of Upper
Egypt across the Maghreb. Displacing Berbers and
spreading their distinct Arabic dialect as far west as the
Atlantic, these nomads, the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaim,
destroyed the irrigation works and ruined the agricultural
base of the North African littoral (Trimingham 1962: 18
f.). In response to Shiite Fatimid rule of former Sunni
populations, there also occurred a zealous revival of
orthodox Sunni Islam. Because in the westernmost corner
of Islam there existed considerable religious heterodoxy,
the missionary Abdallah ibn Yasin was dispatched to
indoctrinate the equestrian Sanhadja of the western Sahara.
Ribat (fortified religious centres) had been established
along the Islamic frontiers in Africa, where devout
Muslims could honour Allah and extend the kingdom of
Islam by fighting infidels. Under Ibn Yasin’s stern tutelage,
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Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the Sahel
the nomads developed into a tough disciplined fighting
force. Known as al-murabitun (ribat fighters of jihad),
later as Almoravids, they rallied many desert tribes to their
cause. As a Sunni reform movement, the Sanhadja between
1054 and 1059 succeeded in vanquishing their Zanata
Berber political rivals, capturing Sidjilmasa in the north
and Awdagust in the south. By strengthening the staging
posts along the connecting routes between Morocco and
Senegal, Almoravid equestrian militarism succeeded in
integrating the different economies of the region into the
political unity of the Maghreb; many elements of Arab
riding gear also diffused south to the Sahel at this time.
With the two termini of the trans-Saharan gold route
under their authority, the Almoravids controlled all the
trade of northwest Africa. Ibn Yasin was succeeded by
Abu Bakr who led his tribal cavalries and cameleers south
(Hrbek and Devisse 1988: 347 f., 361). What followed was
essentially a racial war between Berbers and Negroes, in
which farming communities were destroyed and marginal
agricultural land permanently ruined by pastoralist
over-grazing. After final defeat in 1076, Ghana's formal
acceptance of Islam and payment of tribute were exacted
by the Almoravids (Oliver and Fagan 1975: 166).
While Muslim power was being consolidated in the south,
Sanhadja cavalry aggressively attacked in the north,
subduing semi-Islamized Berber groups and establishing
a military camp at Marrakesh, which grew rapidly to
become the Almoravid capital. By 1083, all of Morocco
and western Algeria were conquered and the Gibraltar
strait secured. In al-Andalus, the Hispano-Umayyad
caliphate had collapsed in civil war with rebel Berbers
and been replaced by various Taifa kingdoms, which due
to incessant internecine feuding failed to gain significant
political power. In response to Taifa pleas for aid in repelling
the northern Christian armies, the Almoravid Yusuf ibn
Tashfin, with 15,000 frontier fighters, invaded the Iberian
Peninsula just as Toledo was being recaptured in 1085
by Alfonso VI of Castile and Leon. In 1086 the Christian
forces were spectacularly defeated at the battle of az—
Zallaqa (Sagrajas) near Badajoz. Continuing Almoravid
victories on the battlefield kept the Christians at bay in the
north but failed to regain Toledo. Earlier, Arab conquest of
Morocco had given the trans-Saharan commerce a fresh
impetus. Now, as the Almoravids wielded extraordinary
power, their territories extending from the Senegal river in
the south to the Ebro river in northern Spain, the gold trade
rose to a new peak. Under Almoravid rule, the economy
boomed; increased supplies of copper, iron, and silver were
exported from Morocco and vast quantities of African gold
reached al-Andalus across the straits (Hrbek and Devisse
1988: 349-51, 363). Almoravid dinars were of pure gold
and therefore in greatest demand throughout Europe. The
Almohads, another revivalist group who challenged the
Almoravids in North Africa and invaded al-Andalus in
1147, continued to maintain the same high standard of gold
coins (Levtzion 1980: 129). Ghana, long accustomed to its
fabulous wealth in the gold trade, continued to flourish as
an independent Muslim kingdom throughout the twelfth
century, imposing tolls, custom duties, market dues and
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fees for adjudication of commercial disputes. By mid-
thirteenth century, however, Ghana was in decline. As gold
exploitation shifted to Bure on the headwaters ofthe Niger
and further south to Akan on the fringes of the rainforest,
Mali emerged a dominant power (Levtzion 1980: 155 f.).
Muslim merchants continued to establish trading centres
throughout the region, so that conversion to Islam became
essential for peoples of the savanna wishing to participate
in this prosperous commercial network. Muslim religious
leaders regularly consulted with the different rulers, who
as early recipients of Islamic teachings greatly expedited
the process of islamization (Levtzion 1999: 476—81).
During the Fatimid and Ayyubid caliphates, nomadic
Arabs had always constituted a turbulent element in
Upper Egypt. The Egyptian Mamluks, however, who had
a passionate love for purebred Arabian horses, greatly
expanded the earlier furusiyya treatises on horsemanship,
chivalry, and veterinary medicine and built imposing
hippodromes for military exercises that often included
the game of polo—imported from Persia (Culbertson
2010: 78). Under their sultan Baybars, Arab uprisings
were systematically put down by the better-trained and
equipped Mamluk cavalries. As a consequence, many
nomadic tribes migrated southward, creating an explosive
situation in the Nubian borderlands. In response to
Nubian aggression, Baybars in 1276 launched a punitive
expedition against Dongola to defeat the Nubian army,
this event contributing directly to the decline of Nubian
Christianity and deterioration of Coptic Christian status
in Egypt. Subsequent disintegration of Nubia facilitated
the great Arab breakthrough to pasturelands between the
Nile valley and Lake Chad, resulting in the islamization
of the Nilo-Chadic Sahel. In 1324 on his legendary hajj
pilgrimage from the Niger to Mecca, Mansa Musa, king
of Mali, visited Cairo displaying his wealth and generosity
by distributing as gifts enormous amounts of gold, with the
result the price of the metal significantly depreciated. In
response, the sultan presented him Arabian horses equipped
with Egyptian saddles, bridles, and stirrups. Musa also
purchased 30 Mamluks as his bodyguard to return with him
to Mali. Every year, as great caravans travelled between
Egypt and Mali, peoples across the Sudan increasingly
looked toward Cairo as the commercial centre of the
Muslim world. Reporting on the Mali court of 1340, the
Arab historian al-Umari notes that the Mansa commanded
a force of 10,000 cavalry and was expending large sums
in the importation from North Africa of Arabian mounts
and Arab saddles. Saddle and stirrups greatly increased
rider security, facilitating use of the slashing-sword and
the massed charge with thrusting-spear, superior military
tactics which would diffuse southward across the savanna
(Hrbek 1977: 75—79, 90; Law 1980: 10, 28, 121).
But when Tuareg nomads seized Timbuktu in 1433,
Mali lost control of the Sahel, and was superseded
by Songhay which, according to later reports by Leo
Africanus, imported Barb horses from northwest Africa.
The very large Dongola horses were also procured from
the Arab tribes invading the Darfur region. In the central
132
Sudan, Kanem-Bornu and Hausa rose to prominence
and constructed fortified towns in order to protect the
gold trade. Cavalry, the striking force of their armies,
appears early to have been composed of free men, whose
commanders were rewarded by gifts and estates from the
king; in later times cavalry forces would include both
slave warriors and mercenaries. In the sixteenth century, as
Ottoman imperium exerted control over the Middle East
and North African littoral, the Turkish Pasha of Tripoli
sent rich gifts of horses and firearms to the kingdom
of Bornu, as did the Sultan of Morocco. There are also
accounts of Arab merchants trading “infinite numbers" of
horses from the Fezzan to Bornu (Law 1980: 28, 50, 147—
48). Absolutely indispensable to the armies ofthe savanna,
these horses, however, due to the extreme climate, were
ever subject to serious disease, needing to be replaced as
frequently as every two years. The price of one horse was
15 to 20 human slaves. Therefore, in order to replenish
cavalry, regular raids were mounted by Muslims against
the southern Negro populations in order to realize many
thousands of captives each year. To conserve the element
of surprise in night-time raids, mares were preferred, as
opposed to stallions, since females were more manageable
and less apt to cause a disturbance. Typically at dawn, a
mobile force of horsemen and cameleers would surround
and surprise an entire village, seizing fit individuals to be
dispatched northward, massacring the weak and elderly
(Heers 2003: 64—67). In the Sahel the war horse, vital
for the control of gold, also drove the slave trade. With
the build-up of military power came improvements in
weaponry. Iron helmets with chin straps to withstand
the shock of the spear, chainmail, and later musketry
largely of Turkish and Egyptian origin, were introduced
to complement spears and swords, thereby attaining a
definitive edge over pagan adversaries (Adeleye 1976:
558, 565, 574). As shown in Figure 10, /ifidi (quilted cloth
armour stuffed with kapok), locally manufactured, was
also used to protect both rider and mount. The principal
cavalry weapons were the lance for thrusting and the
hurled javelin; although less important, a broad-bladed
slashing sword was carried for hand-to-hand combat, as
were cudgels and battle-axes. Surprisingly, archery was
only occasionally used by mounted troops. Ibn Battuta,
for instance, mentions fourteenth-century Mali cavalry
commanders as carrying bows. More commonly, archers
were infantry troops (Law 1980: 119, 127-30) (Figure 10).
Late Pre—colonial Times
In sum, we see urbanization across the entire Sahel
with three major routes along which larger horses were
imported north to south: in the west Barb horses (14.5
hands) were traded from Morocco (Barbary) through
Timbuktu; to the east prized Arabian horses (14-14.5
hands) travelled from Tunis across the Fezzan or from
Cairo up the Nile valley. In the militaristic kingdoms of
the Sahel, constantly vying with one another for control
of the gold trade, these high-quality horses were destined
specifically for warfare, as were the large Dongola horses
(15 hands) brought from the east by Arab tribes migrating
Figure 10. Early nineteenth-century cavalryman and horse
wear quilted cloth armor (/ifidi); the horse head is also
protected by a metal chamfron. From a sketch by Major
Denham, engraved by E. Finden. (Denham and Clapperton
1826: 279).
from Nubia across the Sudan (Figure 11). Maintenance
of these large horses required specialist skills and slave
officials were selectively assigned to tending and training
activities. Despite this great influx of horses from Morocco,
Tunis, Cairo, and Dongola, there is firm evidence that
above the latitude 12°N the small, sturdy pony continued
to be reared for war. It seems that both large and small
varieties of horse coexisted and that different military
strategies might have been associated with each type.
On the savanna, large-horse cavalries engaging in the
massed charge were long accustomed to ruthlessly mow
down pedestrian combatants. But in mountainous regions,
the massed charge was less effective. Specifically on the
Jos Plateau, it is recorded that Muslim cavalry invasions
were repeatedly repulsed by Sura tribesmen riding
ponies, hurling javelins, and employing harrying guerrilla
tactics. While the Arabian horse was superior in lowland
battles, on rocky terrain the wiry Sura pony decisively
outperformed the larger foreign horse. Use of geldings in
war was uncommon, but apparently practiced in the hunt
for ostriches (Blench 1993: 94; Law 1980: 76, 127).
The larger horse everywhere was the symbol of wealth
and high political status. As Arab tribes continued their
expansion across the Darfur region, horse rearing of the
larger breeds began to be undertaken in restricted areas
of the Sahel, particularly in the well-watered lands
around Lake Chad. Considerable attention was accorded
to securing stallions of quality for breeding purposes.
Monopoly of mares was enforced, as only males were
available for purchase. Artificial devices were utilized
133
Equestrian Penetration of the Sahara and the Sahel
Figure 11. Early nineteenth-century bodyguard of the
Sheikh of Bornu. The horse’s head is protected by plates
of iron, brass, and silver, leaving room for the eyes of the
animal. From a sketch by Major Denham, engraved by E.
Finden. (Denham and Clapperton 1826: 64).
to discourage mountings by unauthorized stallions.
Mares were thus fitted with spiked chastity belts or with
metal rings obstructing the vulva in order to prevent
impregnation.
In territorial expansion, equestrian power from the Sahel
initially reached south to the fringes of the tropical forest,
but not far beyond. Cavalry, a fearsome force in the deserts
and savannas, could not operate effectively in the humidity
of the tropics; warhorses could deploy for a charge only
on open level ground. Dense tropical vegetation presented
insurmountable obstacles to effective cavalry offensive,
especially when bamboo traps were set along forest paths
to trip advancing horses. From very early colonial reports,
it is known that the Ijesa forested country of Yorubaland
on multiple occasions had proven to be a graveyard for
cavalry armies invading from the north. The high cost
of transporting supplies of special grasses into the forest
for foreign horse consumption was also prohibitive
(Law 1980: 46, 139 f.). The pony in this regard held a
certain advantage. Far longer inhabitant of the southerly
regions, it had developed the ability to digest a wide range
of plant foods. As we have seen, it had also achieved a
limited degree of trypanotolerance. Not so the prized
Arabian warhorse. The larger horses were especially
prone to trypanosomiasis (Blench 1993: 91), transmitted
by the tsetse fly and causing rapid fatality. Furthermore,
periodic fluctuation of the tsetse belt northward at times
even affected the kingdoms of the Sahel, resulting in the
weakening of cavalry forces and consequent decline in
military strength.
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Acknowledgements
First, I wish to acknowledge my intellectual debt to the enduring
scholarship of Mary Aiken Littauer and Joost H. Crouwel, which
has probed numerous and diverse areas of equine archaeology.
I also commend the early pioneering works of Henri Lhote
and Jean Spruytte in documenting the ancient presence of
charioteers and horsemen across the Sahara. To Alain Spruytte
and Franck David, I must express my sincere gratitude for their
graciously permitting the reprint of Saharan materials. For 15
years, David worked in close association with Jean Spruytte,
in whose memory today he directs the conservation of the
Saharan experimental models, chariots, and archives for future
scholarly research. Franck David (2011) additionally continues
to honor the tradition of Jean Spruytte by pursuing the study
of early harnessing systems in Gallic and Roman cultures.
I further wish to recognize another *more recent pioneer' of
equine archaeology, Sandra L. Olsen, whose groundbreaking
field research in the French Paleolithic Saóne Valley, Botai,
Kazakstan, and Saudi Arabia has my utmost admiration and I
applaud her spirited organization of the symposium Equids in the
Ancient Near East, Egypt, and Arabia in Lexington, KY. Lastly, I
greatly thank Bill Cooke, director ofthe International Museum of
the Horse, for his extraordinary Kentucky hospitality during the
2010 symposium; my fellow participant Gail Brownrigg for her
extensive equestrian experience and generous assistance in my
completion of this article; finally Joost H. Crouwel, Katheryn M.
Linduff, and Peter Raulwing for their sedulous editorship of this
volume dedicated to the memory of Mary Aiken Littauer.
Abbreviations
EWAia M. Mayrhofer, Etymologisches
Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. 1L.-Ul.
Winter, Heidelberg, 1997—2001.
CTH Emmanuel Laroche, Catalogue des textes
hittites. Klincksieck, Paris.
The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories,
edited. by Robert B. Strassler and
translated by Andrea L. Purvis. Pantheon
Books, New York 2007.
The Histories, Vol. 2, Loeb Classical
Library. Translated by W.R. Paton.
Revised by F. W. Walbank and C. Habicht.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
The Histories, Vol. 4, Loeb Classical
Library. Translated by W.R. Paton.
Revised by F. W. Walbank and C. Habicht.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Geography, Vol. 8, Loeb Classical
Library, edited by G.P. Goold, translated
by H.L. Jones. Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, 1996.
Herodotus
Polybius 2011a
Polybius 2011b
Strabo
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136
10
Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan
Denise Doxey
In the late eighth and early seventh centuries BCE, four kings of Kush were buried at the site of
el-Kurru in northern Sudan. The cemetery also featured the graves of the kings’ prized horses,
which were elaborately adorned for their journey to the afterlife. This paper discusses the horse
burials in the wider context of the role of horses in ancient Sudan.
The kingdom of Kush, centered in the Sudanese Nile
Valley between the Third and Fourth Cataracts and
including the fertile Dongola Reach, witnessed periods
of growth, influence and retraction over the course of
its three-millennium history. These eras are now known
by the names of the modern towns closest to the ancient
capitals at the time. The Kerma kingdom flourished in the
northern part of the region between about 2400 and 1550
BCE, dominating regional trade and agricultural output,
and eventually threatening the security of southern Egypt
(Morkot 2000: 62-8). A period of Egyptian domination
followed, corresponding to Egypt's New Kingdom
and lasting to the end of the second millennium BCE,
when Egypt's central authority fractured. As Egyptian
influence waned, a new Kushite kingdom in the southern
Dongola Reach, known today as the Napatan dynasty,
was emerging. The exact mechanisms driving Napata's
rse remain the subject of scholarly debate (Morkot
2000: 140-44). However, by at least about 750 BCE, the
Napatan state was unified under a single king, Kashta,
whose power extended into southern Egypt. His daughter,
Amenirdis, was adopted into the important religious and
political role of God’s Wife of Amun at Thebes and his
successor, Piankhy, went on to conquer the remainder of
Egypt. Five Kushite kings then ruled Egypt as the 25th
Dynasty, expanding their territory into Libya and the
Levant, before being driven out by an Assyrian invasion
and retreating to Napata in about 671 BCE. Napatan kings
continued to be buried near their capital at Gebel Barkal
until about 270 BCE, when the royal cemetery moved to
Meroe, from which the powerful Meroitic dynasty reigned
until about CE 320.
The cemetery at el-Kurru, located on the west bank of the
Nile 35 km south of the Fourth Cataract, was the resting
place of the earliest Napatan rulers and other members of
the royal family (Dunham 1950; Kendall 1999: 421—23).
Those interred there included kings Piankhy (743-712
BCE), Shabaka (712-698 BCE), Shebitka (698-690 BCE)
and Tanwetamani (664—653 BCE). Shebitka’s successor.
Taharqa (690—665 BCE) was buried at Nuri, seven km to
the north, as were the later kings of the Napatan dynasty.
The royal tombs at El-Kurru, following Egyptian burial
137
traditions, took the form of pyramids with adjacent offering
chapels and subterranean burial chambers. El-Kurru was
excavated in 1919 by an expedition sponsored by Harvard
University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (now
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [MFA]), under the direction
of George Andrew Reisner, the Museum of Fine Arts’
Curator of Egyptian Art and Professor of Egyptology at
Harvard. The results were published in 1950 by Reisner’s
successor at the MFA, Dows Dunham (Dunham 1950).
All of the tombs had been looted and little remained of
their superstructures, but significant amounts of funerary
material survived, now divided primarily between the
Sudan National Museum in Khartoum and the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston. The following discussion will focus on
one segment of the El-Kurru cemetery, namely the burial
place of the royal horses.
Horses in Ancient Sudan
Itremains uncertain exactly when and by what mechanism
the horse first arrived in Sudan. Although the dating has
been questioned, the skeleton of a horse discovered at
the fortress of Buhen in 1958 may date as early as 1675
BCE (Raulwing and Clutton-Brock 2009). Another horse,
found buried in a well shaft in the cemetery at Soleb, has
been dated to the reign of Amenhotep III, but this date, too,
is not universally accepted (Mallory-Greenough 2005:
105). In 2011, excavations led by Stuart Tyson Smith and
Michele Buzon at Tombos, near the 3rd cataract, discovered
the intact burial of a horse dating to the early Napatan
period (Schrader, Smith, Buzon and Olsen 2018). The
earliest textual and artistic references to horses in Sudan,
discussed in greater detail below, derive from the time of
Piankhy's conquest of Egypt. However, evidence from
contemporary Assyrian texts demonstrates that Kushites
were already well known as horse breeders and trainers by
the mid-eighth century BCE (Dalley 1985: 43-7; Heidorn
1996: 105-10). The Nimrud Wine List number nine,
dating to the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, a contemporary
of Piankhy, mentions Kushites present at the royal court,
and Stephanie Dalley has argued persuasively that they
were responsible for importing horses into Assyria from
Kush via Egypt (Dalley 1985). The Horse Lists from
Denise Doxey
Nimrud, dating to the reign of Sargon II (744—727 BCE),
and the Horse Reports from Nineveh refer specifically to
Kushite horses as a superior breed for pulling chariots
(Dalley 1985: 43). When the Assyrians under Esarhaddon
(680—669 BCE) invaded Egypt and defeated the Napatan
king Taharqa, he took “large horses" as booty (Heidorn
1996: 107). Hopefully, further excavation in Sudan will
one day elucidate the Kushite end of this exchange.
Beginning in the reign of Piankhy both archaeological and
textual sources provide abundant evidence of the value
early Kushite rulers placed on their horses. The best-
preserved historical evidence for the Kushite conquest
of Egypt is the “Victory Stele” of Piankhy, discovered
in 1862 at Gebel Barkal. Here, as well as on the walls of
his Gebel Barkal temple, the king recounts his defeat of
the four rulers of a divided Egypt, Nimlot of Hermopolis
(ancient Khemenu), Peftjawybast of Herakleopolis
(ancient Nen-nesut), Tefnakht of Sais and Osorkon of
Bubastis (ancient Per—Bastet). Although the text presents
Piankhy as a stereotypical example of a just and pious
ruler and cannot therefore be accepted at face value as
evidence of his true personality, the prominence given to
horses is exceptional and must reflect a degree of historical
accuracy. At Hermopolis, Nimlot and his wife surrendered
to Piankhy by offering him gifts including a horse, which
is portrayed on the victory stele (Morkot 1999: 168).
When Piankhy entered the royal palace, Nimlot 1s said to
have offered him his wives and daughters, but Piankhy
“did not turn his gaze upon them” (Morkot 2000: 188). He
was, however, deeply moved when he reached the stables,
where Nimlot's horses had become malnourished during
the siege of Hermopolis. According to the stele, he said
to Nimlot, “[the fact] that my horses were made to hunger
pains me more than any other crime you committed in your
recklessness" (Morkot 2000:188). Relief decoration on the
north wall of Gebel Barkal temple B501 also shows the
victorious king receiving a procession of horses, a position
in which human prisoners would be more expected in
traditional Egyptian representations (Dunham 1070: pl.
50). The evidence from Kush itself therefore dovetails
with the surviving historical documentation from Assyria
to illustrate the significance of the horse in Napatan times.
The El-Kurru Horse Cemetery
On March 23, 1919, the Harvard-MFA Expedition
discovered the first of a series of graves, called Cemetery
200, about 120 meters southeast of El-Kurru 51—55, the
tombs of Napatan royal women, including the wives of
Piankhy. The excavators went on to uncover a series
of 24 horse burials and two small, circular graves of
dogs (Dunham 1950: 110—17). The horse graves were
arranged in four rows, from southwest to northeast, with
four burials each in the first (SW) and fourth (NE) row
and eight burials each in the second and third (Figure 1).
Inscribed objects dated the second and third row to the
reigns of Shabaka and Shebitka, respectively, and Reisner
concluded that that the two outermost and shorter rows
therefore most likely dated to the reigns of the other two
138
Figure 1. The horse cemetery at el-Kurru (A2820). Harvard
University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
Photograph O Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
kings buried at El-Kurru, Piankhy and Tanwetamani. All
the graves had been plundered, especially those in the
outer two rows, and some were entirely empty. Others,
however, were far better preserved. Dunham discussed the
best-preserved burials in his publication of the El-Kurru
cemetery (Dunham 1950: 111—17). This paper is intended
to review Reisner and Dunham's work, to supplement
it with unpublished material from the graves and to add
thoughts on the possible configuration and function of the
horse trappings.
In all cases where evidence survives, the horses were
buried standing up with their heads facing toward the
northeast (Dunham 1950: 111), the direction of the
rising sun. Their surviving skeletal remains were divided
between the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard
University, which received one of the best-preserved
skeletons, and the Sudan National Museum, which
houses all the remaining skeletons and bones. Because
they found no skulls, Reisner and Dunham postulated
that the horses had been decapitated. However, Dunham
himself lists teeth among the finds from grave Ku 201,
and Sándor Bókónyi's more recent study of the horse
remains at Harvard University confirmed the presence of
teeth as well as skull fragments (Bókónyi 1993: 302—05).
Furthermore, one of the horses of Tanwetamani, from
horse grave Ku 219, was buried with a gilded silver plume
holder now in Boston (MFA 23.877) that must originally
have been attached to a bridle or halter. It therefore seems
evident that the horses were not decapitated but that their
heads, projecting above ground and presumably covered
by mounds of earth, were particularly subject to damage.
There has been no firm agreement regarding the breed of
horse interred at El-Kurru and further study of the skeletal
remains is warranted. Reisner described the horses as “a
short, rather small breed, not unlike the Arab" (Reisner
1919: 253). A study by George M. Allen, the Curator of
Mammals at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology
also remarked on the relatively small stature of the horses,
stating that "their skeletal character was similar to that
of animals now living in Europe and America, except
that their lines were a little more delicate, amounting to
a few millimeters in length of shaft of the longer limb
bones" (Dunham 1950: 111). Bókónyi reached a very
different conclusion, stating that the horses *were large
animals [over fifteen hands], of much greater size than
the average oriental horses of their time" and that they
had very slender limbs and wide, flat hooves (Bókónyi
1993: 307). Bökönyi’s description accords well with the
Assyrian description of Nubian horses as particularly
large animals, as well as with the characteristics of the
Dongolawi horses that became well-known in Sudan in
medieval times and later (Heidorn 1996: 107). For now,
however, the question remains unresolved. Likewise,
the sex of most of the horses is uncertain. Based on the
presence of a canine tooth among the remains published
by Bókónyi, Mallory-Greenough has demonstrated that
at least one and probably another of Shebitka's horses
(buried in Ku 211 and 212) was a stallion (Mallory—
Greenough 2005: 108).
The sacrifice of animals to accompany elite burials has
a long history in ancient Sudan. Kerma period graves
routinely contained the bodies of dogs and sheep (Kendall
1997: 59). A horse grave discovered by Reisner in the
South Cemetery at Meroe contained the skeleton of a
young horse without associated artifacts (Dunham 1963:
441). The tomb has not been securely dated but may be
of the mid-seventh century BCE (Heidorn 1996: 107, n.
7). Horse burials and trappings accompanied several later
tombs in the cemeteries at Meroe, dating from the first
century BCE to the third century CE (Dunham 1957).
In these cases, the horses, wearing functional tack, were
buried at the bottom of the stairways leading to the burial
chambers. Royal tombs at Ballana and Qustul from
the fourth to sixth centuries CE featured the burial of
multiple horses in open courtyards or the entrance ramps
to the tombs (Brooklyn Museum of Art 1978: 112-15),
often with very elaborate trappings. The El-Kurru horse
cemetery is therefore part of a long tradition of horse
burials. What distinguishes it from other instances is that
it 1s the only known case in which a distinct cemetery
was set aside for horses.
Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan
The Horse Trappings
Although the horse burials at El-Kurru were consistently
plundered and some were entirely devoid of artifacts,
certain patterns can be established based on the better-
preserved graves. Virtually all the horse trappings were
found at the head end of the graves, where they had fallen
from the heads and necks ofthe horses (Reisner 1919: 253;
Dunham 1950: 111). There is no evidence for bits or other
functional tack, or of chariots or yokes. The trappings
are therefore “horse jewelry" designed specifically for
adornment or for ritual purposes. Within each row, the
preserved trappings are nearly identical, indicating that
the horses of each king were distinctively attired. The
following sections will treat each king's horses and their
graves in chronological order.
The Horses of Piankhy
The earliest graves in the horse cemetery at El-Kurru,
numbered Ku 221 through Ku 224 by Reisner, almost
certainly belong to the horses of king Piankhy (743-712
BCE) and were located in the southwestern row of burials
(Table 1). Of the four rows of graves, those dating to
Piankhy's reign are the most complex in type, rectangular
in plan with deep holes for the fore and rear legs, central
supports for the belly, and a shelf at the head end to
support the neck; grave Ku 221 had separate holes for
each of the forelegs (Dunham 1950: 116 f.). In grave Ku
222 remains of the ribs and spinal column of the horse
remained in place on the central support and leg bones in
the pits (Figure 2). These graves were the most severely
plundered in the cemetery. Grave Ku 221 was completely
empty and graves Ku 223 and Ku 224 contained only a
few bones each. Little remains of the trappings from grave
Ku 222, but fragments of cord and matting with looped
edges and traces of fine cloth suggest that the horse was
covered in a shroud. Strings of small faience ring beads,
oval gilt silver beads and another gilt silver amulet in
the form of the sacred eye of Horus (wedjat) are all that
remain of the horse trappings. This last amulet features
a motif long popular in Egypt and later adopted by the
Kushites. According to myth, Horus, the god of kinship,
Table 1. Horses of Piye: remains recorded in the HU-MFA Object Register*
No. Horse remains Trappings
221 |None None
19-4-122 (MFA 19.2889): fragments of cord.
19-4-123: Fragment of matting, with threads crossing at right angles, looped edging, and
Partial skeleton disturbed, traces of fine clothe.
222 |head missing, ribs and spine in | /9-4-/24 (MFA 19.2890): strings of small faience ring beads.
place on central support 19-4-125 (MFA 19.2891): 2 hollow, oval, silver gilt beads, decayed.
19-4-126 (MFA 19.2892): decayed silver fragments of hollow wedjat eye (gilt), embossed.
19-4-127 (MFA 19.2893): bit of pierced, light blue faience object.
223 |Disturbed bones None
224 |Disturbed bones (19-4-128) None
* Artifacts in italics are currently housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Those not listed in italics are now in the Sudan National Museum.
139
Denise Doxey
Figure 2. Horse remains in grave Ku 222 (C8804). Harvard
University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
lost his eye in conflict with his murderous uncle Seth,
the god of chaos, only to have it miraculously restored.
Amulets featuring the restored eye were therefore believed
to offer protection both to the living and the dead.
The Horses of Shabaka
Shabaka's eight horses were interred in graves—numbered
Ku 201-Ku 208 (Table 2)—of a type similar to those of
Piankhy, but with a somewhat simpler design, rectangular
in plan with a central support for the belly and holes for the
fore and rear legs (Figure 3). Only one, Ku 203, featured
a low support for the horse's neck (Dunham 1950: 111
f.). Very few bones from Shabaka's horses survived, but
grave Ku 202 contained both rear hooves, enabling the
excavators to determine the original orientation of the
animal. Although most of the graves were severely looted,
the surviving remains of horse trappings strongly suggest
that Shabaka's horses were identically adorned for burial.
Based on the best-preserved set, from grave Ku 201, a
tentative idea of at least some of the original trappings can
be proposed.
Grave Ku 201 contained a very large quantity of blue
faience ring beads, along with a smaller quantity of ring
beads in red, white and yellow faience. Beads of this type
were often used forthe bead nets that covered contemporary
human mummies. Many of the ring beads in Ku 201 were
found in association with blue faience beads in the form of
140
the head of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love, fertility,
and rebirth in the afterlife. Some of the Hathor head beads
featured two horizontal holes for stringing and others were
pierced with a single, vertical hole, indicating that they
were part of a network of beads. Also found alongside
these beads were blue, yellow and red faience ball beads,
blue and yellow pendant beads shaped like hanging flower
blossoms, and a blue faience cartouche bearing Shabaka's
throne name, Neferkara. The arrangement of the beads
allowed the excavators to reconstruct a partial network
of beads (MFA 21.10560) like that which must originally
have adorned the neck and chest of the horse (Figure 4).
Dunham noted that the arrangement was neither complete
nor definitive, as it does not account for all the beads found
in the burial (Dunham 1950: 112). The original network
must have been considerably larger, probably continuing
around the horse's shoulders. In addition, among the
beads not incorporated into the reconstruction are similar
Hathor-head beads in silver, along with fragmentary silver
pendants, suggesting that the nets originally incorporated
precious metals. Other beads that must have been part of
additional trappings, that cannot be reconstructed, include
faience and silver barrel beads, a star-shaped bead in blue
faience, a bi-conical blue faience bead, a blue faience
bead in the shape of a cowrie shell (associated in antiquity
with fertility), and a large, elaborate bead with a floral
motif, also of blue faience (MFA 19.2470). This last bead
is inconsistent in both size and shape with the other beads
in the grave and is unlikely to have been part of a bead net.
It may have adorned a bridle.
The finds from Ku 203 and Ku 204, though less well-
preserved, are virtually identical to those from Ku 201,
including faience and silver Hathor beads, some designed
for vertical stringing and others for horizontal double
stringing, abundant faience ring beads, faience ball beads
and faience floral pendants. Although they are yet to be
reconstructed, these beads must have formed part of a
network like that from Ku 201 (Figure 5).
The Horses of Shebitka
The graves of Shekitka's horses, numbered Ku 209 through
Ku 216, are the best-preserved group in the cemetery
(Table 3). The style of the graves themselves continues
a progression from a more complex to a simpler design.
Rectangular in plan, the graves lack the central belly
supports seen in the earlier horse burials, and none has a
neck support (Figure 6). While two burials (Ku 214 and
Ku 215) were completely plundered, and three (Ku 212,
213 and 216) were heavily looted, five of the skeletons
(Ku 209-213) were found virtually intact aside from the
missing heads (Figure 7). The three best-preserved graves
(Ku 209—211) also retained considerable remains of horse
trappings. The trappings from Ku 209 are now housed in
Khartoum, while the rest are in Boston.
The trappings of Shebitka's horses differ significantly from
those of his predecessor. Based on the evidence from the
three relatively well-preserved graves, as well as remnants
Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan
Table 2. Horses of Shabaka: remains recorded in the HU-MFA Object Register*
No.
Horse remains
Trappings
201
A few bones and teeth
19-3-687 (MFA 21.10560): Hathor head beads and ring beads.
19-3-688 (MFA 21.10560): 15 blue floral pendants.
19-3-689 (MFA 19.2458): 6 yellow floral pendants.
19-3-690 (MFA 19.2459): fragments of 4 silver pendants.
19-3-691 (MFA 21.10560, 19.2460): 42 large blue and yellow ball beads.
19-3-692 (MFA 19.2461): 2 hollow silver Hathor head pendants.
19-3-693 (MFA 19.2460): 2 blue and one white faience barrel bead.
19-3-705: (MFA 19.2470) decayed faience object with floral motif.
19-3-706 (MFA 21.10560): 4 blue faience ring beads.
19-3-707 (MFA 21.10560): blue faience cartouche, pierced vertically.
19-3-708 (MFA 19.2472): blue faience cartouche, pierced vertically.
19-3-709 (MFA 21.10560): 10 blue faience Hathor pendants.
19-3-710 (MFA 21.10560): 8 blue faience Hathor pendants.
19-3-711 (MFA 21.10560): 6 blue faience Hathor pendants.
19-3-712 (MFA 21.10560): blue faience Hathor pendant.
19-3-713 (MFA 19.2460): red-brown faience ball bead.
19-3-714 (MFA 19.2460): 3 yellow and 1 blue faience ball beads.
19-3-715 (MFA 19.2460): faience star-shaped ring bead.
19-3-716 (MFA 19.2476): remains of 4 decayed silver Hathor pendants.
19-3-717 (MFA 21.10560): quantity of faience ring beads.
19-3-718 (MFA 19.2478): 2 fragments of large, hollow silver barrel beads.
19-3-719 (MFA 19.2479): silver floral pendant.
19-4-31 (19.2841): 2 blue faience beads (1 biconical, 1 cowrie).
19-4-32 (MFA 21.10560): red, blue and white faience ring beads.
19-4-33 (MFA 19.2843): fragment of alabaster instrument?
19-4-34: 2 baskets of horse bones and teeth.
19-4-35 (MFA 19.2844): 3 small fragments of iron.
202
Broken bones, including
both rear hooves
19-4-36 (19.2845): a few red, yellow and blue faience ring beads.
203
Few bone fragments
19-4-37 (21.10561-3): 100 % blue faience Hathor heads, some with double horizontal stringing and
some with single vertical.
19-4-38: Horse bones.
19-4-39 (21.10563): Red, white and blue faience ring beads.
19-4-40 (19.2847): 14 decayed silver Hathor pendants, decayed.
19-4-41 (19.2848): 3 silver imitation cowrie shells.
19-4-42 (19.2849): 7 blue faience ball beads.
19-4-43 (19.2850): Fragment of a blue faience floral pendant.
204
Disturbed bones
19-4-44 (19.2851): 2 Hathor-head beads and 1 star-shaped ring bead.
19-4-45 (19.2852): Large quantity of blue and white ring beads.
19-4-46: a few horse bones.
19-4-47 (19.2853): 72 a silver barrel bead.
19-4-48 (19.2854): 3 fragments of a blue faience floral pendant.
205
Disturbed bones
19-4-49: a few horse bones.
19-4-50: blue faience ball bead
206
Disturbed bones
19-4-51: basketful of horse bones.
207
Disturbed bones
19-4-52: 2 basketsful of horse bones.
19-4-53 (19.2855): a few blue faience ring beads.
208
Disturbed bones
19-4-54: basketful of horse bones.
19-4-55 (19.2856): a few blue and white faience ring beads.
19-6-56 (19.2857): blue faience, cowrie-shaped bead.
* Artifacts in italics are currently housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Those not listed in italics are now in the Sudan National Museum.
in the partially plundered graves, the trappings of all eight
horses were identical. Rather than networks of beads
and pendants, the horses were buried wearing numerous
individual strands of beads, many of which were found
either in their original position or still on their original
strings, allowing for a more accurate reconstruction of
their composition (Figure 8).
141
Two burials (Ku 209 and 211) retained fragments of
wide, silver bands, pierced at the edge for attachment to
leather or fabric backings. These may have been parts of
nape straps similar to those that appear in some early first
millennium Assyrian reliefs (Littauer and Crouwel 1979:
127, figs. 53 ff.). Four of the horses (Ku 209-212) wore
a series of twelve large, heavy, solid bronze ball beads
Denise Doxey
Table 3. Horses of Shebitka: remains recorded in the HU-MFA Object Register*
No.
Horse remains
Trappings
209
Skeleton nearly intact
except for head
19-4-71: 12 yellow and blue cartouches, strung as found in situ, plus 2 more blue found loose.
19-4-72: string of wedjat eye and cowrie shells, 2 strung in the original order as found. The other
'% is restored. Order: 1 large faience pendant eye flanked by 2 small eyes of faience, followed by 7
cowries and then 3 small faience eyes. Total of 22 eyes and 42 shells.
19-4-73 (19.2866): 28 blue faience lotus pendants. Original order of stringing with small blue
\faience ring beads.
19-4-74: 36 blue faience small eyes strung in original order with 2 blue faience ball beads as ends.
19-4-75: a large quantity of blue (and?) ring beads, strung and loose.
19-4-76: some horse hoof bones.
19-4-77: Large, hollow, silver gilt wedjat eye amulet.
19-4-78: 6 pieces of wide silver band collar, pierced at edges.
19-4-79: blue openwork eye bead.
19-4-80: 2 large blue faience ball beads with wedjat eyes and ankhs in black.
19-4-81: blue faience ball bead with black circles.
19-4-82: green faience ball bead with black circles.
19-4-83: 2 large gold (hollow) ball beads.
19-4-84: several loose cowrie beads.
19-4-85: 12 large solid bronze ball beads with some of the original cord.
19-4-86: some decayed cord and matting.
210
Skeleton nearly intact
except for head
19-4-87 (21.10572): strings (in original order?) of 36 small wedjat eyes in blue faience.
19-4-88 (19.2867): string of wedjat eyes and cowries similar to 19-4-72.
19-4-89 (19.2868): strings of small faience ring beads.
19-4-90 (19.2869): bronze balls as 19-4-85, some with small ring beads and their original stringing
attached.
19-4-91 (19.2870): masses of small faience ring beads on strings.
19-4-92 (21.10573): 1 blue faience cartouche.
19-4-93 (19.2871): 1 blue faience floral pendant.
19-4-94 (19.2872): 2 gold ball beads as 19-4-83.
19-4-95 (19.2873): several loose cowrie shell beads.
19-4-96 (19.2874): 6 blue faience beads (as in grave 209).
19-4-97: Horse bones.
211
Skeleton intact except
for head
19-4-98: Horse bones (Peabody).
19-4-99 (21.11729): 2 large, hollow gold ball beads.
19-4-100 (21.10564): string of 35 small wedjat eyes in blue faience.
19-4-101 (21.10565 and 19.2875): 11 % yellow and blue cartouches strung in original order,
Djedkara. In the middle of the string is a cartouche of Menkheperra.
19-4-102 (19.2876): 15 small faience eyes and one large eye pendant on string of 35 cowries. Eyes
incised on both sides.
19-4-103 (19.2877): 2 ball beads, blue with black circles.
19-4-104 (21.10566): 1 wedjat bead, 2 ball beads with ankhs and wedjats in black paint, and 1
openwork barrel bead with incised wedjats
19-4-105 (19.2878): Several cowrie beads.
19-4-106 (21.10567): 27 jasmine flower pendants and ring beads strung in original order.
19-4-107 (19.2879): a few frags of silver sheet collar.
19-4-108 (21.10568): 12 bronze ball beads (as 19-4-85).
19-4-109 (19.2880): quantity of faience ring beads, strung.
212
Skeleton intact except
for head
19-4-57 (21.10569a-b): String of 29 jasmine flower pendants, originally strung with a double row of|
ring beads in order in which they were found.
19-4-58 (21.10570): 5 openwork blue faience wedjat eye beads and fragments of 3 more, containing
remains of original string.
19-4-59 (21.10571): 12 large, solid bronze ball beads with original stringing in place.
19-4-60: 12 cowrie shell beads, copper stained.
19-4-61: a quantity of horse bones.
19-4-62 (MFA 19.2858): bag of contents from burial (brown) and faience ring beads.
213
Skeleton intact except
for head
19-4-110 (19.2881): Shawabty of Tanwetamani (intrusive).
19-4-111 (19.2882): blue faience barrel bead.
19-4-112: horse bones.
19-4-113 (19.2883): Several cowries.
19-4-114 (19.2884): strings of faience ring beads.
214
Completely plundered
Nothing.
215
Completely plundered
Nothing.
216
Part of a disturbed
skeleton
19-4-136: horse bones.
19-4-137 (19.2900): 2 cowries (beads).
19-4-138 (19.2901): 1 faded faience bead in the shape of a cowrie shell.
* Artifacts in italics are currently housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Those not listed in italics are now in the Sudan National Museum.
142
Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan
amm. E
emt
—Ó
d
gi
[7
3
i
irs pues maii m =
Figure 5. Horse trappings from grave Ku 203 (A2810).
Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Figure 3. Grave Ku 207, with horse bones in situ (B3667). Expedition. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Figure 4. Bead net from the horse buried in grave Ku 201, |
MEA 21.10560. Harvard University-Boston Museum of |
Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph O Museum of Fine Arts, »
Boston.
strung at regular intervals on thick, twisted cords (Figure
9). Reisner surmised that these strings were fastened to a E
bridle and passed down the horses’ chests and through the -
front legs like a martingale (Reisner 1919: 253). Assyrian Figure 6. Grave Ku 213 (B3668). Harvard University-
representations of horses, however, show necklaces of ^ Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph ©
similar beads worn halfway up the neck (Littauer and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
143
Denise Doxey
Figure 7. Horse skeleton in grave Ku 209 (B3666). Harvard
University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Crouwel 1979: 127, figs. 53, 76), and the length of the
strands suggests that the beads found with Shebitka's
horses may have served the same function. Graves Ku 209,
210 and 211 each also contained a pair of large, hollow
gold ball beads, the original placement and function of
which are unclear.
Excavation photographs indicate that the horses’ necks
were also adorned with a series of “necklaces” of faience
and shell beads. Immediately below the bronze ball beads,
they wore a strand of fourteen alternating blue and yellow
faience beads in the shape of cartouches topped by double
plumes and bearing Shebitka’s throne names, Djedkara
and Menkheperra (Figure 10). Lower on the neck was
a string of approximately thirty floral pendants of blue
and yellow faience strung with multicolored faience ring
beads (Figure 11) and a strand of red, yellow, blue and
white faience wedjat eyes. Longer strings of beads draped
around the neck and chest of the horses were composed of
a large, central blue faience wedjat eye bead strung with
alternating groups of three smaller wedjat eyes and seven
cowrie shells, totaling twenty-two wedjats and 42 shells
(Figure 12). Very large numbers of small, multi-colored
faience ring beads, some still threaded on the original
string, were found throughout the head ends of the graves,
apparently from multiple bead strands draped randomly
around the forepart of the horses. In some cases the beads
were fused together, and in Ku 210 they were also fused
144
Figure 8. Grave Ku 209 with beads in situ (B3677). Harvard
University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
Photograph O Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Figure 9. String of bronze ball beads, MFA 21.10568.
Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition. Photograph O Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
to the large, bronze ball beads. The abundant presence of
these bead strands, along with cartouche beads and floral
pendants nearly identical to those that adorned Shabaka's
horses, suggests that the beads were originally intended
for nets that were never completed. Hathor-head beads, so
prevalent in the graves of Shabaka's horses, appear to be
absent among the horse trappings of his successor.
Several other types of distinctive beads were found in
smaller quantities and their placement on the horses’
bodies remains uncertain. These include large, oblong,
Figure 10. String of faience cartouche beads, MFA
21.10565. Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition. Photograph O Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Figure 11. String of faience floral pendants, MFA 21.10567.
Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition. Photograph O Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
blue-green faience ball beads approximately 2.5 cm
in diameter, decorated with either concentric circles or
alternating ankh and wedjat signs in black, of which no
more than two were found in a given burial (Figure 13).
Accompanying them in two cases were smaller, ridged,
bi-conical beads in blue faience. Four graves contained
large beads of blue faience bearing openwork wedjat eyes
approximately 2.9 cm long, the largest group, from grave
212, including five complete beads and fragments of three
more on their original string.
Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan
145
Figure 12. String of wedjat eye and cowrie shell beads, MFA
19.2876. Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition. Photograph Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Figure 13. Beads with ankh and wedjat designs from Ku
210, MFA 19.2874 Harvard University-Boston Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
The Horses of Tanwetamani
The four graves of Tanwetamani’s horses (Ku 217-220,
Table 4), in the northeastern row, are, like the graves of
Piankhy's horses, very poorly preserved. The graves are
simple, oval pits without neck or belly supports (Figure
14). All four were greatly disturbed, with graves Ku 217,
Ku 218, and Ku 220 containing only a small quantity
of disturbed bones and scattered beads. A substantial
portion of the skeleton remained only in Ku 219, but
very few other artifacts survived making it impossible
to speculate on the nature of the horse trappings. Despite
Denise Doxey
Table 4. Horses of Tanwetamani: remains recorded in the HU-MFA Object Register*
No.
Horse remains
Trappings
217
A few bones
19-4-115: horse bones.
19-4-116 (19.2885): a few small faience ring beads.
19-4-134 (19.2898): a few small faience ring beads.
19-4-135 (19.2899): natural pebble with hole.
218
A few bones
19-4-117 (19.2886): a few small faience ring beads.
19-4-118: horse bones.
219
Skeleton disturbed, head missing
19-4-119a (19.2887.1): 1 sm. sacred eye as 19-4-100, but slightly smaller.
19-4-119b (19.2887.2): 1 sm. ball bead.
19-4-120: horse bones.
Unregistered (23.877): Plume holder for a horse's bridle.
220
A few scattered bones at head end,
head missing
19-4-121 (19.2888): 1 sacred eye, light blue faience, design inscribed on one side only.
19-4-131(Boston?): horse bones.
19-4-132 (19.2896): a few ring beads and % a cylinder bead.
19-4-133 (19.2897): 1 cowrie bead.
* Artifacts in italics are currently housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Those not listed in italics are now in the Sudan National Museum.
Figure 14. Grave Ku 219 (C8815). Harvard University—
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph ©
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
the plundering, Ku 219 produced possibly the most
important find from the horse cemetery, a gilded silver
plume holder that must once have adorned a bridle or
halter (Figure 15). It takes the form of a papyrus blossom
on a curved stem, atop which sits the falcon-headed sun
god Ra as a falcon, wearing the sun disk and royal uraeus
cobra. A hollow tube at the back of the sun disc enabled figure 15. Plume holder for a horse, MFA 23.877. Harvard
the insertion of the plume, most likely made of ostrich ` University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
feathers.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
146
Comments and Conclusions
Cemetery 200 at El-Kurru is exceptional in a number
of ways. First, it is the only Nubian cemetery yet known
devoted exclusively to animals. While other horse burials
are attested both in ancient Sudan and elsewhere in the
ancient world, they are typically found in or near the tombs
of their owners. Cemetery 200 was clearly planned and
constructed specifically for the royal horses. The design
of the graves, in which the horses were buried standing,
also remains unparalleled to date. A better understanding
of the role horses played in early Napatan royal funerary
ideology and practice requires additional evidence and
further study. The horse trappings include no trace of
functional tack of any kind, instead featuring exclusively
ornamental and amuletic elements. Thus, although the
arrangement of the animals in groups of four suggests
that they may have served as chariot teams, the lack of
harnesses or other equipment does not necessarily support
a role in providing transport to the kings in the afterlife.
Based on the apparently uniform nature of the horse
trappings within each reign, it seems clear that each
group of horses was buried simultaneously, perhaps at
the time of the king's internment. It is also possible that
they were killed at another point in the reign. Herodotus
recounts a Meroitic king's sacrifice of four horses to the
sun god following a victory in battle (Mallory-Greenough
2005: 106). The El-Kurru horses were almost certainly
sacrificed as well, although it is unclear how they were
killed. In Meroitic cemeteries where the horses’ skulls
have survived, the cause of death can be seen to have been
a blow to the head, possibly from a pole-ax (Mallory-
Greenough 2005: 107). Reisner’s original suggestion that
the El-Kurru horses were beheaded has conclusively been
proven to be incorrect. There is no evidence that they were
mummified.
The nature of the horse trappings suggests that their
function was not unlike that of human funerary
accoutrements. Egyptian style amulets such as wedjat
eyes, ankh signs, heads of the goddess Hathor, and cowrie
shells, common in the graves of Shabaka and Shebitka's
horses, served to offer the wearer protection en route to
the afterlife and to facilitate rebirth after death. All appear
as grave goods of elite people, as well. Human mummies
in Late Period Egypt and Napatan Nubia frequently wore
nets of faience, as did the horses of Shabaka. One group
of distinctive faience ball beads adorned with ankh and
wedjat symbols, found in the graves of Shebitka's horses,
which have a close parallel in Ku 53, the tomb of Piankhy's
wife Tabiri (MFA 19.2617), although the queen's beads, at
approximately 1.2 cm in diameter, are about half the size
of the beads found with Shebitka's horses.
Clearly, additional research into the nature of Napatan
horses and horsemanship is warranted, and further
excavation and study will no doubt illuminate the
importance of horses to the ancient Kushite civilization. At
present, cemetery 200 at El-Kurru offers unique testimony
Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, Sudan
147
regarding the significance of horses in royal ideology and
demonstrates the strong bond between Napatan rulers and
their horses, supplementing the evidence of textual and
visual sources.
Addendum
Since this article went to press, articles by Gerard P. F.
Broekman and Frédéric Payraudeau have convincingly
argued that Shebitka's reign preceded that of Shabaka.
This has significant impact on the interpretation of
Cemetery 200. Because the two outermost rows of graves
lacked inscriptions, it was assumed that the horses nearest
Shabaka's were those of Piankhy, while those nearest
Shebitka's belonged to Tanwetamani. In light of the new
evidence it now seems more likely that the order should
be reversed, so that graves 217-220 should be assigned to
Piankhy's horses and graves 221-224 to Tanwetamanis's.
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148
11
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use as Revealed in the Ancient
Rock Art of the Syro-Arabian Desert
Michael C.A. Macdonald
The desert rock art of Syria, Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia shows a variety of equids which
are often identified in accompanying inscriptions. The conventions used, which emphasize the
distinguishing characteristics of the subjects, enable us to identify horses, domestic donkeys,
hemiones, and, probably, hybrids (mules and hinnies) and provide an insight into the wild and
domesticated equids of these deserts in the last half millennium BCE and the first half millennium
CE.
The rock drawings which I shall be discussing in this
paper were carved by nomads in the deserts of what is
today southern Syria, Jordan, and northern Saudi Arabia,
in the second half of the first millennium BCE and the first
four centuries CE. Much of this area consists of broken-up
lava flows which cover the desert floor with millions of
basalt stones and boulders. As a result of the chemicals
in the basalt interacting with those in the atmosphere the
exposed parts of these rocks are covered with a thin patina
(or “desert varnish”) which over millions of years has
produced a shiny black surface (Figure 1). If this surface
Is pierced, the resulting mark shows the natural pumice-
grey colour of the rock beneath, which looks almost
white against the surrounding black. Over the millennia,
this mark gradually patinates back to the black of its
surroundings, at a speed dependant on the depth and width
of the mark and the degree of exposure it suffers.
People in this area had, of course, been carving rock-
drawings since time immemorial. The difference at this
period—the last few centuries BCE and the first few
centuries CE—was that, for the only time in their history,
the nomads of this region were able to read and write
(Macdonald 2009a: I; 2010), a skill which they practised
with great enthusiasm on the rocks with which the desert
was so conveniently supplied. This means that for the first
time, they were able to "sign" their drawings and often
identify the subjects. Although there are many which
simply say “By so-and-so is the drawing", the majority say
“By so-and-so is the oryx, the ibex, the gazelle, the horse,
the donkey, etc.” The script they used is called “Safaitic”
and the language they spoke and wrote was a dialect of
pre-Islamic Arabic (Al-Jallad 2015: 10-12).
There are a number of conventions in the rock art of this
area and period (Macdonald 2005: 336-38; 2009b: 159,
161). For our purposes, the most important of these is
the habit of emphasizing the most obvious distinguishing
characteristics of the animals they portray. Thus, in the case
of horses the relatively small head as compared to those of
149
Figure 1. The basalt desert in southern Syria near al-
Namärah.
asses, the flowing mane, and the tail made up of individual
hairs starting at the root (Figure 2a),' as opposed to asses
which are shown with a heavier head, stiff upright manes
and stalklike tails with a tassel at the end (Figure 2b-c).?
At least some ofthese features tend to be accentuated even
in otherwise crude, schematic, or frankly bizarre drawings
(Figure 2e).
! Figure 2a is an excellent example of another very widespread
convention in Arabian rock art associated with Ancient North Arabian
inscriptions. This is the attempt to show even those elements which, in
reality, would be invisible to an observer (see Macdonald 2009b: 159,
161; 2016). Thus both ears of the horse are shown, and both the rider's
legs, as are the parts of the oryx's horns which are embedded in the
horse's body. Note also that the three identifying features of the oryx—
its long straight horns, the hump at the base of its neck, and its short
tasselled tail—are present here as in almost all drawings of the animal,
however crude. In Figure 2c, both the donkey's eyes are shown on the
visible side of its head for the same reason.
? Note that, for clarity, on Figures 2a-c and on some other photographs, I
have removed extraneous marks—and sometimes also the inscriptions—
in order to show the drawings more clearly. In these cases, when the
drawing is already published the reader can check the original in the
publication. When the drawing is published here for the first time (as
with Figure 2c), I have added a photograph of the original for comparison
(Figure 2d). Readings of all the inscriptions on the previously unpublished
stones can be found in the Appendix.
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Figure 2a. A horseman (identified in the inscription as h-frs’)
spearing a charging oryx, with the inscription (KRS 331)
and blemishes removed to show the drawing more clearly.
(Original photograph by Geraldine King, see KRS 331 in
OCIANA).
Figure 2b. A drawing of a female domestic donkey referred
to as h-’tn in the accompanying inscription (Winnett and
Harding 1978: no. 342343424, which has been removed to
show the drawing more clearly).
Figure 2c. An unpublished drawing of a wild, feral,
or domestic ass, not mentioned in the accompanying
inscription (removed for greater clarity). Note that both eyes
are shown on the visible side of the face. (Photograph by
William and Fidelity Lancaster).
150
D
Pan :
MÄ m
Xu sta t
3
Figure 2e. A bizarre unpublished drawing (not accompanied
by an inscription) showing two equids which display the
diagnostic features of small head, short ears and flowing
tail suggesting (despite the legs) that they were intended to
represent horses. (Photograph by Alison Betts).
After the camel, the horse and other equids used as
mounts are by far the commonest subject in these
rock drawings. Moreover, in contrast to the camel, the
mounted equid is almost always shown in what might
be described as “heroic” contexts, i.e. hunting large and/
or dangerous beasts, raiding camels, single combat, or
a full-scale battle (Figure 3a—c). This accords with the
place the horse enjoyed a few centuries later in the pre-
Islamic Arabic poetry of the sixth and early seventh
centuries CE, and in the nomadic society of the Syro-
Figure 3a. Littmann 1943:no. 325 with the inscriptions
(which do not identify the animals) and blemishes removed
to show the drawing more clearly. It depicts a rider on
an equid raiding a Bactrian camel and a dromedary (see
Macdonald et al. 1996:468, fig. 18, 471—472 for the original).
Note the plaited mane. For the use of the spear in raiding
see Macdonald 1990. (Photograph by the author).
Figure 3b. A drawing showing a horseman (identified in the
inscription, KRS 3288, as h-frs’) hunting an oryx. On his
costume see Crone 2008: 5-6. Note the flowing mane repre-
sented by dashes on the horse's neck and the apparently
plaited tail. (Photograph by Geraldine King).
Figure 3c. An unpublished drawing showing two horsemen
fighting two men on foot. The inscription (KWQ 19)
mentions “the two horsemen” (h-frs‘n). Note that no
attempt has been made to represent the mane or the hairs of
the tail. (Photograph by Geraldine King).
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Arabian desert recorded by travellers and ethnographers
of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where
all these pursuits, if carried out successfully, were
considered to bring honour to the individual and his
tribe. The camel was the nomad's capital: the measure
of his wealth and the source of his ability to be generous,
one of the essential means by which honour is achieved
in Bedouin society. It was also, of course, his primary
beast of burden, his everyday mount, the source of the
milk products which formed a major part of his diet,
and the animal which allowed him to inhabit regions
which were inaccessible to non-nomadic peoples, thus
providing him with the other fundamental element of
Bedouin society, individual independence. The camel
was therefore clearly a symbol of the Bedouin's way-
of-life and identity. While, it cannot be proved that the
nomads at the turn of the era had the same relationship to
the camel as the Bedouin, their rock art and inscriptions
certainly give this impression.
The role of the horse in Bedouin life is very different.
Although the accounts ofthe travellers and ethnographers
reveal that Bedouin horses often had an unexpectedly
good tolerance of poor grazing, long periods on dry fodder
and limited amounts of water, and were capable of swift
travel over surprisingly long distances, the horse was not
a requirement of Bedouin life but a status symbol and a
relatively pampered pet. While the camel represented the
Bedouin's fundamental identity, the horse, because of its
relative rarity, the fact that it was kept individually near
the tent rather than in herds, and because it was the mount
used in hunting, raiding, and battle, provided him with a
heroic self-image. Once again, this is also the impression
we get from the inscriptions and rock drawings of the
ancient nomads of this area.
In the rock drawings, horses appear in different shapes
and sizes, though they all share at least some of the
characteristics of smallish heads, shortish ears, and tails
made up of long, individual hairs starting from the root.
Some appear to have very “deep” chests, a feature which
may recur in later representations of horses in Iran, if this
is not simply artistic licence (Figures 2a, 4a-d). Could
this represent a recognizable physical feature of certain
breeds of horse? In other cases, the chest appears to be
shallower.
The mane is sometimes shown as flowing free (Figure
2a), but more often as trimmed or plaited (Figure 3a, 5a),
so that, unless the artist has identified the animal as a
horse, it can occasionally be difficult to tell whether he
intended to show a plaited horse's mane or the short erect
mane of an ass or mule. The forelock is also often shown
(Figure 5a—b), and occasionally what looks like an ostrich
feather is attached to the horse’s forehead (Figures 2a,
3a, 5a), and sometimes the head of its rider (Figures 4a,
5b). A practice which nowadays has been transferred to
the front of cars and trucks (Figure 5c)!
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Figure 4a. A previously unpublished drawing, showing
a *deep-chested" equid which is not identified in the
inscriptions. (Photograph by William and Fidelity
Lancaster).
Figure 4b. A drawing of a *deep-chested horse" beside KRS
2560 which identifies it as h-frs’. (Photograph by Geraldine
King).
Of the equipment shown on the equids used for riding,
bridles are rare, though see Figure 6a? However, one
(Figure 6b),* or usually two, reins are common (Figures
6c-d). The difference in number is almost certainly the
result of inconsistent adherence to the convention of
showing parts of the composition which would normally
be invisible (as with both the rider's legs in Figures 2a,
6c, 6d, 7c), rather than a variation in riding practice.’
Occasionally, a saddle seems to be represented (Figures
? This, however, does not have an accompanying inscription and so
cannot be dated securely to any particular period.
* Note that the rein is the zigzag line. It is not clear to me what the
straight lines or the crossed lines represent but cf. those on Figure 3a.
? Note that in Figure 6b where only one rein is shown, only one of the
rider's legs is shown. However, on Figure 6c one leg but two reins are
shown, and 6d there are two legs and two reins.
152
Figure 4c. A tenth-century CE bronze model of an
apparently “deep-chested” horse from Iran (The State
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Photograph O The
State Hermitage Museum. Photo by Leonard Kheifets).
Figure 4d. A ninth- to tenth-century CE bowl from
Nishapur, Iran, showing an apparently *deep-chested"
horse. (Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, inv. no. I.
11/62).
5a, 7a, 7b), though when there is a rider it is often difficult
to tell. Sometimes there may be a saddle cloth (Figures
6c, 7c, 7d ?), though this could be simply be a gap in the
fanciful decorative markings with which both horse and
rider can be adorned (Figures 2e, 7d). Naturally, there are
no stirrups.* Unlike drawings of camels, where girths are
€ Although the Scythians may have had a rudimentary stirrup as early
as the fourth century BCE (Clutton-Brock 1992: 76) and the Kushans
in Central Asia seem to have had them in CE 100 (Azzaroli 1985: 158),
Figure 5a. A drawing of an equid with a plaited mane beside
the Safaitic inscription KRS 3297, which does not identify
the equid, (removed for greater clarity). Note also the
forelock, the ostrich feather, and the saddle. (Photograph by
Geraldine King).
Figure 5b. A drawing of a horse with a forelock (beside KRS
1865 which identifies it as h-frs’, and has been removed for
greater clarity). (Photograph by Geraldine King).
Figure 5c. A modern drawing of a truck with an ostrich
feather on the front. (Photograph by William and Fidelity
Lancaster).
153
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Figure 6a. Part of an unpublished drawing of an equid
which may have a bridle. There is no inscription. From the
surroundings of the site of Jawa in north-eastern Jordan.
(Photograph by Geraldine King).
Figure 6b. A drawing showing an equid on which only one
rein (the wavy line) is shown. The equid is not identified in
the inscription. The whole face of the stone can be seen in
Macdonald 2012:279, Fig. 9c. (Photograph by Alison Betts).
quite often included, I know of no examples of girths being
shown in the drawings of mounted equids discovered so
far.
There is one extremely interesting drawing (Figure 8),
unfortunately known only from a nineteenth-century hand
copy, which shows the breaking in or training of a filly.
The accompanying inscription (C/S v 1186) states that the
drawing is by the author and that he owns the filly (mrt)
that he is training.’
stirrups do not seem to have penetrated to the Middle East until the sixth
or seventh centuries CE (Azzaroli 1985: 157-61).
7 [am most grateful to Gail Brownrigg for telling me at the symposium
that this drawing represents quite accurately the process by which young
equids are still broken in today.
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Figure 6c. Part of a drawing showing a horseman using two Figure 7b. A possible hinny, not identified in the
reins, beside KRS 177 which does not mention the equid accompanying inscriptions (KRS 1005—1006, removed for
and has been removed for greater clarity. (Photograph by greater clarity). Note the saddle. (Photograph by Geraldine
Geraldine King). King).
Figure 7c. A drawing showing a hunter mounted on an
. . . . equid identified in the inscription as h- r, possibly on a
Figure 6d. Part of a drawing showing a horseman using two saddle-cloth. Compare the plaited tail with that of the horse
reins, beside KRS 2989 which does not mention the equid in Figure 3b. Clark 1984-85: no. B 1 (Amman Museum
and has been removed for greater clarity. (Photograph by J.14537) with the inscription removed for greater clarity.
Geraldine King). (Photograph by the author).
Figure 7a. Part of a drawing showing a saddled equid beside Figure 7d. A possible hinny, not identified in the
KRS 993 which does not mention the equid and has been accompanying inscription (KRS 253, removed for greater
removed for greater clarity. (Photograph by Geraldine clarity). (Photograph by Geraldine King).
King).
154
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Figure 8. A 19th-century copy of a rock drawing from
southern Syria showing the breaking-in of a foal. The
drawing is accompanied by five Safaitic inscriptions (CIS v
1185-1189) and a drawing of a camel by another artist, all
of which have been removed for greater clarity. One of the
inscriptions (CIS v 1186) says that the author drew the filly
(mhrt) which he was training.
As might be expected, representations of the poor relation
in the equid family, the domestic donkey, are much rarer
than those of the horse. Indeed, it is remarkable that we
have as many as we do. The terms used in Safaitic are hmr
(cf. Arabic himar) for the jackass and m (cf. Arabic 'atn)
for the jenny, terms which are common to most Semitic
languages. In contrast to the drawings of the horse, those
of asses usually show the animal in isolation rather than as
part of a heroic scene, such as a hunt or a fight. But, as with
horses, the distinguishing features such as ears, mane and
tail, are often emphasized (Figures 2b, 2c).
A particularly fine and interesting drawing (Figure 9a)
shows a man riding a horse? and a woman with a kithara
riding a domestic donkey or a mule. The long ears, the
apparently stalk-like tasselled tail, and possibly the
position of the rider? might suggest that the animal is a
donkey, even though it is shown as bigger than the horse.
It is possible, however, that it could be a mule and that
the tail (which should be like that of a horse) has been
plaited but left loose at the end.'? This would explain the
size of the animal in relation to the horse, though relative
proportions are rarely observed in these drawings. Another
drawing, known only from a rough hand copy (Figure 9b),
appears to show a similar scene and this time the animal is
described as a ‘r, on which see below.
To the best of my knowledge, the only species of wild equid
which was native to any part of the Arabian Peninsula in
* The horseman is actually wielding a spear represented by a faint line
running diagonally to the feet ofthe standing woman. A disproportionately
large sword was added later and has been removed in Figure 9a.
? The male rider in the drawing sits forward, as close as possible to
the withers of the horse. The female rider sits much further back, as one
would on a donkey. However, since her legs are not shown she may be in
some form of litter, in which case that would account for her position.
10 See Harding 1969 and Macdonald 2012: 278—80 for a description of
the drawing as a whole.
155
Figure 9a. A drawing (Harding 1969) showing a horseman,
and a woman with a lyre riding on a donkey or mule. The
inscriptions, which do not identify the equids, have been
removed for greater clarity.
Figure 9b. A drawing showing a woman with a lyre on an
equid identified in the inscription as h- ‘r (CIS v 2839-2840,
by permission of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres, Paris).
historical times was the Syrian wild ass," Equus hemippus'*
(Figures 10a-c),? which was hunted to extinction in the
early twentieth century." Bones thought to be of Equus
africanus have been found at some prehistoric sites on the
Arabian side of the Persian Gulf (Uerpmann 1991: 20, 29
f.; Uerpmann et al. 2000: 230 f.),'° but I know of no other
evidence for its early presence in the Peninsula. Equus
hemippus appears to have been relatively common in the
northern areas of the Peninsula, in what is now southern
Syria, north-eastern Jordan, and Israel, but, to the best of
11 [use this term rather than the more common “onager” following Mary
Littauer and Joost Crouwel’s statement that “the more usual ‘onager’ is
correctly applicable only to the Iranian subspecies” (2002: 396).
Formerly, Equus hemionus hemippus, but see the reclassification in
Groves and Grubb 2011: 15. I am most grateful to Gertrud and Helmut
Denzau for this reference.
5 See also the painting published by M. Milne-Edwards in 1869 which
is reproduced in Denzau and Denzau 1999: 137.
^ [ understand that the wild asses in conservation areas in Israel are not
Equus hemippus but Iranian Onagers (Equus hemionus onager Boddaert,
1785) and Turkmenistani kulans (Equus hemionus kulan Groves &
Mazák, 1967) see Groves and Grubb 2011: 15. I am most grateful to
Gertrud and Helmut Denzau for this information.
5 Uerpmann (1991: 16 f., 82.6) reports bones of Equus africanus at the
Natufian site at Ra's al-Naqab in southern Jordan, “although the onager
seems to be present as well". “Dating from the Natufian, they must
belong to wild equids" (ibid. p. 18).
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Abb. 1. Syrischer Halbesel in einer Galoppwendung. Das
Bild zeigt gut die kleinen Ohren, großen Nüstern und die
prachtvolle Rücken- und Schultermuskulatur.
KELLER phot. 1915
Figure 10a. What is thought to be the last surviving
specimen of Equus hemippus, which died in the Tiergarten
Wien-Schénbrunn in 1929. Photographed by Keller in 1915.
(From Antonius 1929).
Abb. 2. Syrischer Halbesel. Spiegel und
Aalstrich deutlich sichtbar.
KAISER phot. 1924
Figure 10b. The same animal photographed by Kaiser in
1924. (From Antonius 1929).
my knowledge, neither clear rock-drawings nor excavated
bones of this animal have been discovered further south, in
central and southern Arabia. On the other hand, there are
mediaeval and early modern reports of it in Nejd and the
Hijaz (Denzau and Denzau 1999: 135 f.), and the wild ass
156
Figure 10c. Stampeding wild asses (from a late seventh-
century CE wall painting at Qusayr ‘Amrah, north-eastern
Jordan. Photograph by M.C.A. Macdonald).
is used as an image in the pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and is
discussed by writers of the Islamic period, which suggests
that it was known in other areas of the Peninsula (Denzau
and Denzau 1999: 194 f.).
Equus hemippus is shown relatively seldom in these
drawings and is called a ‘rd (feminine ‘rdt, plural "rd)'5 in
the accompanying inscriptions. There are several drawings
of individual wild asses and one which shows a group of
five adults and one foal being hunted by men on foot with
bows (Figure 11a)." The heads are relatively large, the
manes are erect, but the tails are simply represented by
straight lines.'* Here the wild asses are identified as ‘rd.
Another scene (Figure 11b-c), which alas is only labelled
"the picture", may show wild asses being attacked or
driven by men with lances mounted on equids. However,
the riderless animals are similar in size to those carrying
riders and the drawing is sufficiently crude to make it
difficult to be sure what was intended in the representation
of manes and tails. It may therefore be that the scene was
intended to show riders driving off horses, or hybrids, in a
raid, rather than hunting wild asses.'? On the other hand,
Figure 11d clearly shows a horseman, with a helmet and
15 For ‘rd see Ababneh 2005: nos 327, 944, 1032; for ‘rdt see ibid.
no. 689. The plural "rd occurs in the inscription accompanying the
previously unpublished photograph on Figure 11a.
"7 I am most grateful to Gertrud and Helmut Denzau for identifying
the foal which I had previously mistaken for a hound! There is
possibly another drawing, though the animals are not identified in the
accompanying inscription. This is in Harding 1953: no. 73, face B. See
Macdonald 2005: 335-37.
18 As can be seen from Figure 10b, the first 30 or 40% of the Syrian wild
ass's tail seems to have been “stalk-like”, with the rest being much more
like that of a horse. This is also suggested in the wall-painting shown in
Figure 10c. It is of course impossible to know whether the much more
donkey-like tail shown in Milne-Edwards’ drawing (Denzau and Denzau
1999: 137) is an accurate representation of a variation. Be that as it may,
the tails in the rock drawing shown on Figure lla are unfortunately
simply straight lines with no attempt at accurate representation. The
one exception is the animal on the far left which has the same mane
and ears as the others, and is identified as a foal by Gertrud and Helmut
Denzau (see note 18), but bizarrely appears to have a curling tail! I have
no explanation for this.
1 Compare the clear example of hunting wild asses—though this time
by men on foot with nets—in the late seventh-century CE wall-paintings
Figure 11a. A previously unpublished inscription and
drawing from north-eastern Jordan showing men on foot
with bows and arrows hunting wild asses (called ' rd in
the inscription). (Photograph by Geraldine King, with
blemishes removed).
Figure 11b. A previously unpublished drawing showing men
mounted on equids driving, hunting or raiding other equids
none of which are identified in the inscription which has
been removed for clarity. (Photograph by Alison Betts).
Figure 11c. The original of Figure 11b.
157
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
ye
Figure 11d. A rock drawing from southern Syria showing a
horseman wielding a short throwing spear (Arabic ramh)
having thrown another spear at a wild ass. The decoration
on both the horse and the wild ass is purely the fantasy of
the artist and is not intended to represent realistic features.
(Photograph by the author).
a short throwing spear (Arabic ramh) hunting what is
presumably a wild ass, having already thrown one spear
at it.
So far, we have examined drawings of horses (Safaitic
frs," feminine frs’t), domestic jack-asses (Safaitic
hmr) and jennies (Safaitic tn) and the Syrian wild ass
(Safaitic 7d, feminine ‘rdt, plural ` rd). But, there are also
drawings of equids which are identified as ‘r or ‘yr in the
accompanying inscriptions.?!
This word presents something of a problem. In later
Arabic, 'ayr, seems to have been used for the wild ass in
the pre-Islamic poetry.” However, the Classical Arabic
lexicographers say that it could be used for both the
domestic and the wild ass. On the other hand, in these
drawings—which are of course several centuries earlier—
most of the animals which are called ‘r appear to have a
mixture of horse and ass features, which would suggest
that they are hybrids.
The whole subject of the types of hybrids and the extent
of their use in Arabia in late antiquity and the Islamic
period is very under-researched, as is the origin and exact
significance of the words for them in the different Semitic
languages.? As a working hypothesis, I would tentatively
at Qusayr ‘Amrah in north-eastern Jordan (Figure 10c), not far from the
location of these rock-drawings.
2 The word for horse frs’ (cf. Arabic faras’) and horseman frs’ (cf.
Arabic faris) are indistinguishable in the orthography of Safaitic.
?! So far, we have no examples of either a feminine or a plural of ‘(y)
r, even though the sexes are clearly indicated in the drawings some of
which show more than one '(y)r.
"7 See for example the discussion in Wagner 1987: 106, 108 f.
3 Although, in the Islamic period, there are Hadith (Traditions of the
Prophet) forbidding the production of hybrids, these were generally
regarded as forged and were widely ignored. Indeed it is reported that
Prophet himself possessed a mule called Dildulah, a gift he had received
from Egypt. It is interesting, however, that although hybrids aroused
a certain amount of interest in academic circles in the Islamic period,
there was only a very limited vocabulary in Arabic for describing them,
with apparently no distinction being made between mules and hinnies,
both being called bag/ (feminine baglah, plural ‘abgal and bigal). Since
Michael C.A. Macdonald
suggest that the breeding of hybrids among the Bedouin
might have died out some time before the surviving pre-
Islamic Arabic poetry was composed, or at least by the time
it was written down and analysed in the eighth and ninth
centuries CE. But while the breeding of these animals had
died out, what may have been the word for them, 'ayr,
remained in the vocabulary of the nomads but came to
be applied to one of the parents, the ass, whether wild or
domestic. This process of retaining a word for something
which has ceased to exist and applying it to something
else, is a common feature of historical linguistics.”
Itis certainly possible that the nomads who produced these
inscriptions and drawings bred hybrids from horses and
asses, though it is not clear whether the asses were wild, or
domestic, or both. Apart from the possible interpretation
of Figure 11b mentioned above, we have no drawings as
yet showing the capture of wild asses, and it may be that
they were only hunted for their meat, while hybrids were
bred from horses and domestic asses.?
It is well-known that hybrids in any species while having
the disadvantage that they are usually sterile, have the
great advantage that they tend to be larger, stronger, and
often capable of greater endurance, than either parent
(Macdonald 2009b: n. 21 and references there). These
advantages in an equid would clearly be very attractive
to nomads, producing mounts with the speed and agility
of the horse but with more power and endurance. In these
drawings, the animals which I have tentatively identified
as hybrids are shown in the same contexts as horses which
suggests that the two were considered to be of equal status.
Hybrids combine the features of both parents, but in
different ways. A mule (Figure 12a) has a jackass as sire
and a horse mare as dam. Its head tends to be larger than
that of a horse and more like that of a donkey, its ears are
longer than a horse’s but usually slightly shorter than a
donkey’s and it has the horse’s long thick tail, though the
hairs may not start right from the root. Its height can vary
and it can be taller than either parent.
the nineteenth century this word, which does not occur in the Ancient
North Arabian inscriptions, but is found once in the Qur’an (16: 8), has
been regarded as a loan-word from Ethiopic. However, there are certain
linguistic problems with this derivation and more recently some scholars
have suggested that the loan went the other way. The only thing that
seems reasonably certain is that by the fifth century CE hybrids seem
no longer to have been a feature of nomadic life, at least in those parts
of Arabia which produced the pre-Islamic poetry, though they may have
been used in the towns.
? Indeed a very similar process had occurred in Akkadian where, before
the introduction of the horse in the mid-third millennium BCE, wild asses
were captured to produce donkey x wild ass hybrids for which the name
was anse-BAR.AN. With the introduction of the horse, the use of wild
asses was phased out and the name was transferred to horse x donkey
hybrids. Postgate 1986: 194—206, cited in Clutton-Brock 1992: 89 f.
? Note that in those drawings showing animals labelled ‘rd (feminine
‘rdt, plural ° rd) the humans are armed with bows and arrows, rather than
lassos or nets. See also the discussion in relation to the late Assyrian
reliefs which show wild asses being shot in one context and captured
(for purposes unknown) in another (e.g. Clutton-Brock 1992: 87-90;
Macdonald 2009b: n.20).
158
Figure 12a. “Man manipulates harness on mule".
(Photograph by Ned Richards http://animalphotos.
info/a/2008/01/05/man-manipulates-harness-on-mule/).
Figure 12b. A hinny. (Photograph by B. Hutchins, published
in Clutton-Brock 1999: 45, and reproduced by kind
permission of Natural History Museum Publications).
Figure 12c. A hinny with its jenny dam behind it.
(Photograph from http://www.maulesel.info/what is a
hinny.html).
Hinnies (Figure 12b-c) have a horse stallion as sire and a
jenny as dam and seem to vary in appearance much more
than mules, some indeed can look very like horses.?° The
size and shape of the ears vary considerably and the mane
is something between that of a horse and that of a donkey.
76 See www.lovelongears.com/about mules.html and http: //www.
maulesel.info/what is a hinny.html both consulted Ist August 2012.
As with the mule, the tail is normally horse-like?’ but with
a short length of “stalk” before the hairs begin.
The animals described as rare shown in several different
contexts (Figures 13-17). In Figures 13a-d we see the r
used as a riding animal with riders armed with spears and
swords in contexts in which, in other drawings, we find
the horse (frs’). The animal shown on Figure 13a looks
to all intents and purposes like a horse, with small head,
erect ears, what could be a flowing mane,” and a tail in
which the hairs start from just below the root. The rider
appears to be positioned over the withers which would
again suggest that the animal is a horse. Thus we seem to
have a thoroughly horse-like animal described as an 7. ??
In Figure 13b, on the other hand, we find an animal which
is very similar, except that it has an erect mane. The head is
Figure 13a. A horse-like 7. KRS 3199-3201. (Photograph by
Geraldine King).
Figure 13b. A previously unpublished drawing of a rider
with a long lance mounted on an equid described as a rin
the accompanying inscription (KWQ 161). (Photograph by
Geraldine King).
?' | am most grateful to Sandi Olsen for pointing this out to me. See
the photograph on http: //www.maulesel.info/what is a hinny.html
consulted 1st August 2012.
28 This is indicated by closely spaced vertical scratches over the cross-
hatching on the neck.
? Although it appears to have fairly long legs, if the height of the rider's
feet above "the ground" are anything to go by, the relative proportions of
the horse and rider might suggest that it is not very tall. But on this see
below.
159
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Figure 13c. An equid described as a r in the accompanying
inscription (KRS 3134). (Photograph by Geraldine King).
small, the hairs of the tail, though represented differently,
start from just below the root, and the rider is seated over
the withers. What then are we to make of the mane?
Figure 13c shows an animal with a tiny head, two long
ears, an erect mane,” and what looks like a stalk-like tail
with a tassel starting half-way down its length. The rider
is sitting back from the withers, though not really in the
position one would adopt on an ass, and appears to be
wielding a spear.
Another combination of features is found in Figure 13d,
where the animal has a largish head, longish erect ears,
possibly an erect mane, and a tail on which the hairs seem
to start at the root. As in Figures 13a and b the rider is
over the withers. Although the animal is clearly a male,
there is what may be intended to represent a foal below it,
though it looks more like a small dog. This has erect ears,
no mane, and a stalk-like tail without a tassel.?!
Animals described as also occur as mounts in scenes
of hunting, raiding, and fighting (Figure 14a-e). Thus, in
Figure 14a, the rider holds two reins in his right hand and
two hunting spears in his left, and appears to be pursing
an oryx? and what look like two equids.? He sits over the
withers of an equid with a strangely shaped head which is
possibly more horse-like than ass-like, with no apparent
3 This can be seen when the photographed is enlarged.
?! There are other drawings within this category but either they are not
sufficiently detailed to help in this discussion (e.g. Ryckmans 1955: 8, no.
1, Clark 1979: no. 59) or they are only known from copies (e.g., Ababneh
2005: nos 47, 48, 427; CIS v: nos 2839-2840 (Dunand 294a-b)).
32 The animal on the far left. Note the hump behind the base of the neck
and the long straight horns.
9 The one below the rider, which is more skillfully drawn, has a small,
horse-like, head and ears pointing forward. The tail is represented by a
single line which is of no help in identifying the species.
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Figure 13d. An equid described as a y in the accompanying
inscription (Winnett and Harding 1978: no. 3767).
Figure 14a. A hunting scene with a rider on what is
described as a r in the accompanying inscription (KRS
3204) pursuing an oryx and possibly two wild asses.
(Photograph by Geraldine King).
ears or mane, a tail in which the hairs start from the root,
and long legs.
In Figure 14b, the rider is sitting well back, holding in
his right hand a rein (or reins) represented by a zigzag
line, and in his left a long lance raised above his head,
and is pursing an oryx. The equid's head consists of two
parallel vertical lines which do not seem to be joined at the
bottom and is useless for the purposes of identification.
Unfortunately, the upper part of the tail is badly damaged
and only the long hairs of the lower half remain. The ears,
160
Figure 14b. A rider on what is described as a rin the
accompanying inscription (KRS 3429) pursuing an oryx.
(Photograph by Geraldine King).
Figure 14c Two riders on what are described as r pursuing
a camel in what is possibly a camel raid. (British Museum
ME 122182, see Ryckmans 1951: 84 f. Photograph by
courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum).
if they existed, would be under a patch of damage and no
mane is shown. It is therefore only the position of the rider
which may give a clue as to the identity of the animal.
A third hunting scene (Figure 7c) again shows a rider
hunting an oryx using a long lance. Here, the equid's
head is fairly non-descript but a magnificent erect mane
is shown.” Unfortunately, the lower half of the tail is
damaged and it is difficult to tell whether the top half is
stalk-like or plaited. The legs are shown as very long in
relation to those of the rider, who is sitting back from the
withers.
Figure 14c may show a raiding scene.” The centre of the
picture is dominated by a rider on an exaggeratedly long-
legged equid. He is seated over the withers, holding a rein
represented by a zigzag line in his right hand, and a stick or
? It is difficult to believe that a plaited mane could have this shape.
35 Itis not absolutely certain that this is a raid, since usually the rider is
shown touching the camel with a long lance (see Macdonald 1990).
Figure 14d. A previously unpublished drawing of rider
on what is described as a r with bow arrow and quiver,
fighting a man on foot who is similarly armed with the
addition of a shield. (Photograph by Geraldine King).
short spear in his left.” The head of the animal is perhaps
larger than one would expect in a horse and the mane is
either erect or plaited. The tail is covered with long hairs
starting a short way below the root. The small rider below
is on a similar equid, though here the ears are shown and
the mane is clearly erect, while the tail is probably intended
to show hairs starting just below the root.*”
Scenes of fighting are represented in Figures 14d and 14e.
In the former, a mounted archer with bow, arrow and quiver
confronts a similarly armed archer who is on foot and has
the small round shield familiar in these drawings and still
used by the Bedouin in the early twentieth century. The
equid has an ass-like head, but with relatively small ears,
an erect mane, and a tail in which the long hairs start after
a short stalk. The rider 1s seated over the withers and is
very small in relation to his mount.
Figure 14e is particularly interesting because it shows
two equids by two different artists one of whom (at the
top) identifies his drawing as h-frs’ (“the horse“) and the
other (at the bottom) calls his h- r. Unfortunately, neither
artist was very skilful and the animal identified as a horse
looks more like a bovid. The drawing identified as A- 7,
has a head which looks ass-like (though this is entirely
subjective), two longish ears, and a tail represented
unhelpfully by a single line.**
There are also representations of by themselves, and
these seem to have predominantly ass-like features. Thus,
on 15a and 15b, the animal has a large head, long ears, an
erect mane and stalk-like tail with a tassel. On 15c, it has
3% This assumes that the rider is looking out of the picture, as is normal
in these drawings, rather than with his back to the viewer.
? Although at first sight it looks as though the artist intended to show a
stalk-like tail, if this were so, one would have expected him to show the
tassel in a drawing as detailed as this.
38 This line sticks out horizontally and then descends diagonally crossing
the head of an ostrich. The drawing of a camel being attacked from
behind by a hyena (?) is by yet another artist who simply calls it h-hyt
"the animals". It is not clear who was responsible for the drawings of the
six ostriches.
161
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Figure 14e. A previously unpublished drawing showing an
animal described as a horse (frs’, top left) and one described
asa r (bottom left). (Photograph by Geraldine King).
Figure 15a. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid
described as a r. (Photograph by the author).
Figure 15b. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid
described as a r. (Photograph by the author).
the large head, long ears, and an erect mane, but there does
not seem to be a tassel on the end of the tail, while on 15d
it has the ears, the mane” and the stalk-like tasselled tail,
and on 15e it has the head, the ears and the tail. On other
? This can be seen when the photograph is enlarged.
Michael C.A. Macdonald
drawings there are only two distinguishing features such
as the ears and the tail (Figure 15f and 15g) or head and
ears (Figure 15h).
Figure 15c. A previously unpublished drawing of an
equid described as a r. (Photograph reproduced by kind
permission of by Gertrud and Helmut Denzau).
Figure 15f. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid
described as a v. (Photograph by Alison Betts).
Figure 15g. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid
described as a r. (Photograph by the author).
Figure 15d. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid
described as a r. (Photograph by Geraldine King).
Figure 15h. A previously unpublished photograph of
Figure 15e. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid Littmann 1943: nos 513—514, showing a drawing of an ass-
described as a yr. (Photograph by the author). like equid described as a r. (Photograph by the author).
162
There are also drawings of animals which are referred to
as 'yr (Figures 15e and 16a-d). One might assume that this
represents a plural (cf. later Arabic iyar and ‘uyiir) but
while Figures 16a and c show more than one animal, there
is only one on Figures 15e and 16d. ‘yr could represent
a diminutive (cf. later Arabic uyayr/ iyayr), but none
of these equids seems significantly different from those
referred to as y and, on present evidence, one can only
suppose that the variations in spelling represent either
dialectal differences, or slightly different pronunciations,
one as a pure diphthong (* ayr, or a monophthong e.g.
*'er, which would not show up in Safaitic orthography)
and the other where the /y/ has become vocalized (e.g.
*'ayor).
Figure 16a. A previously unpublished drawing of men
fighting and equids described as yr. Blemishes and
the inscription have been removed for greater clarity.
(Photograph reproduced by kind permission of Gertrud and
Helmut Denzau).
Figure 16b. The original of Figure 16a.
163
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Figure 16c. A copy of a drawing of equids described as ‘yr
in the accompanying inscription. (Ababneh 2006:no. 96, by
permission of Shaker Verlag GmbH, Aachen).
Figure 16d. A previously unpublished drawing of an equid
described as ‘yr.
There are also representations of animals called f
apparently being hunted. This should be distinguished
from the hunting of the Syrian wild ass (Equus hemippus,
see Figure 11a) which is called ‘rd in the texts (see above).
In Figure 17a, an archer on foot is about to shoot an equid
with long erect ears, an erect mane, and a tail on which the
long hairs start shortly below the root. On 17b-c an archer
on foot is shooting at a v with very long ears and a stalk-
like tail with a small tassel.
Figure 17d is particularly interesting since it shows an
animal with long ears which is described as a r being
attacked by a hound (?) and two men with bows and
arrows, within an enclosure which looks remarkably like a
“desert kite". ^ These enclosures, most if not all of which
are prehistoric, are generally thought to have been built
originally for hunting herds of gazelle, but later to have
been used for other purposes. Occasional rock-drawings
accompanied by Safaitic inscriptions show them with a
variety of animals including ostrich.*' This would seem to
make it clear that animals called 7 were hunted as well as
being used as mounts.
# See Macdonald 2005 and references there.
^! See Macdonald 2005: 333 and Figure 1.
Michael C.A.
Macdonald
Figure 17a. A previously unpublished drawing of an archer
on foot shooting at an equid described as a r. (Photograph
reproduced by kind permission of Gertrud and Helmut
Denzau).
Figure 17b. A previously unpublished drawing of an
archer on foot confronting an equid described as a r. The
blemishes and the inscription have been removed for greater
clarity. (Photograph by the author).
Figure 17c. The original of Figure 17b.
What are we to make of all this? From the drawings, it
would seem that the Safaitic word ‘r (and occasionally yr)
can refer to both a horse-like and an ass-like equid, and
164
Figure 17d. An unpublished drawing showing an animal
described as a r being attacked within an enclosure which
may be a “desert kite".
animals with features of both. Moreover, they are found in
the service of man as well as being attacked by him.
The simplest explanation would be to suggest that those
who carved these inscriptions and drawings used the
word(s) ‘7/ yr for any kind of equid and were careless in the
features they gave them in their drawings. This seems to
me most unlikely. The nomads who carved these drawings
had separate words for horse stallion and mare, for jack-
ass and jenny, and for male and female wild asses. They
also show a detailed knowledge of their domestic animals
and a familiarity with the features of the commoner large
wildlife, such as gazelle, oryx, ibex, etc., though slightly
less expertise in representing lions and hyenas. It is surely
inherently unlikely that they would make mistakes about
the basic distinguishing features of the equids they were
drawing and use a catch-all term such as “equid” to
describe them.
IfI am correct in this assumption, then we need to explain
the features of the animals shown in the drawings labelled
h- (y)r. As a working hypothesis, I would suggest that
in Safaitic (y)r was used of mules and hinnies of either
sex.” Thus, if we compare the r shown on Figure 13a
which is remarkably horse-like with the photographs
of hinnies on Figures 12b and c one can see that, apart
from the exaggeratedly long legs, the drawing could well
represent a hinny. As noted above, the relative size of the
rider and the animal suggest that, despite the length of its
legs, it was closer in size to the hinny in the photograph.
The horse-like head, ears and tail all tally with this
identification.
? So far, we have no examples of either a feminine or a plural of (y)r,
even though the sexes are clearly indicated in the drawings.
Figures 13b and c might be taken to represent a mule with
erect manes and horse-like tails with the hairs starting a little
below the root. Note that in 13c the relative proportions of
the rider and his mount suggest that the latter is smaller
than it looks. The drawings shown on Figures 14a-c also
show this mixture of horse and ass features which suggest
a hybrid.
On the other hand, the {y)r shown unmounted in Figures
15e and 16a-d look distinctly more ass-like, as do those
which are being hunted shown on Figure 17a-d. Certainly,
the most detailed of these (17a) displays the long ears
and erect mane but horse-like tail of a mule and I would
suggest that they all represent hybrids of both types and
both sexes (though males predominate). The reason for the
difference between those shown mounted and unmounted
may be due to the "heroic" contexts in which mounted
equids are shown: hunting, raiding, and fighting. These
contexts may have influenced the artists unconsciously
to increase the size of the animals and give them more
horse-like proportions. As I said earlier, there does not
seem to have been any difference in status between the
horse and the '(y)r and the artists seem to have been happy
to identify their mounts as the latter and to give them the
features ofa hybrid. The context encouraged them to make
the animals look imposing, something generally achieved
by a disproportionate increase in the length of the legs,
something which they also did in drawings of horses (e.g.
Figures 3a, 5a and b, etc.).
My suggestion that (y)r refers to a “hybrid” (i.e. either
mule or hinny) is, of course, purely a working hypothesis
and I should be delighted if it can be replaced by a
better one! If I am correct, one has to ask why do we
find drawings of people apparently attacking them. Is it
possible that these may be hybrids which have escaped
and that the scenes are intended to show their recapture,
or that they are hybrids belonging to an enemy? Alas, it is
impossible to say.
Thus, while these drawings provide a unique record of
the equids used by Arabian nomads at the turn of the era,
much of the evidence they provide is ambiguous and is
capable of multiple interpretations. A thorough study of all
the available material by someone with a good knowledge
of equids together with someone with expertise on the
inscriptions could be extremely useful. If this brief paper
should chance to stimulate interest in such an endeavour,
it will have fulfilled its purpose.
Acknowledgements
I am most grateful to Gertrud and Helmut Denzau for reading
an earlier draft of this paper and teaching me a great deal about
living equids. Their comments, corrections, and suggestions
have greatly enriched this work, but, naturally, any errors that
remain are entirely my responsibility. I would also like to thank
Sandi Olsen and Gail Brownrigg for their very helpful comments
which have saved me from many errors. Once again, however,
any that remain are, of course, entirely my fault.
165
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Abbreviations
CIS v Safaitic inscriptions published in the Corpus
Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars V. Inscriptiones
Saracenicas continens, Tomus 1. Inscriptiones
Safaiticae. Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 1950—51.
KRS Safaitic inscriptions recorded by Geraldine King
on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey. Published in
the Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient
North Arabia (OCIANA) database at http://krc.
orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.php.
KWQ Unpublished Safaitic inscriptions and drawings
recorded by the late Geraldine King in Wadi
Qattaft, north-eastern Jordan, and Published in the
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North
Arabia (OCIANA) database at http://krc.orient.
ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.php.
Safaitic inscriptions and drawings photographed
by a number of different people and edited by
the author. Published in the Online Corpus of the
Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia (OCIANA)
database at http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.
php.
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Appendix: Inscriptions Accompanying the Previously
Unpublished Drawings Shown Here
Editorial conventions in these readings of inscriptions are
as follows: ( } enclose a doubtful letter in the reading and
the word or name which includes a doubtful letter in the
translation; [ ] enclose additions in the translations; ----
indicate parts of the inscription which have been lost.
Figures 2c and 2d:
(1) running around the drawing, / Alf bn hrb bn ein h-htt h
yt’ wr d y wrn h- ---- “By HIT son of Hrb son of 'S'n is the
carving: O Yt‘ blind those who would scratch out the ----”.
(2) running vertically above the ass's back and into its
body, / yhm l {b} {n} ms?kr “By Yhm' 1 {son of} Ms’kr”.
Figure 3c
KWQ 19: I s?mt bn hrs! h-frs'n “By S?mt son of Hrs! is
[the drawing of] the two horses/horsemen".
Figure 4a
Ms 50: in large letters running around the drawings: / khl
bn qn 'l bn s''r bn nzr w h "It rwh m s'qmwh ltnq'tld y wr
h-htt “By Khl son of Qn’! son of S'‘r son of Nzr and O ‘It
[grant] relief from illness and O Lt [inflict] ejection from
the grave on whoever scratches out the carving".
Ms 51: in tiny letters starting to the right of the oryx: /
ys'Im bn grm’l bn qn w ---- “By Ys'lm son of Grm'l son
of Qn and ----”.
Ms 52: in tiny letters below the equid: ----s?rt bn sbh “----
S'rt son of Sbh”.
Ms 53: along the bottom edge of the face: / /t?m bn khl bn
iq) hf “By {Tm} son of Khl son of {Qhf}”.
Figure Ila
l glhn bn mgm! h-" rd “By Glhn son of Mqm 1 is [the
drawing of] the wild asses”.
Figures IIb and c
l bs'r bn fny bn nzmt h-dmyt w bw mhlt I d y wr h-htt
*By Bs'r son of Fny son of Nzmt is the picture. And O
Yt' [inflict] dearth on whoever scratches out this carving."
Figure 11 d
Mr.A 6: l s'hr bn d bn d bn gt w s?ry m- (d? bn 'h-h
h-dmyt w ‘{w}r l-d [y] Zwir “By S'hr son of ‘d son of d
son of Gt and he bought from {‘d} his nephew the drawing
and {blindness} to whoever {scratches [it] out".
Mr.A 7: Hf n "(mj bn 'n'm bn rb 7 fb} {n} um “By {nm}
son of 'n'm son of Rb’! {son of} "nm",
Figure 13b
KWQ 161: / mitt bn ‘ly bn bdl h-r “By Mitt son of ‘ly son
of Bdl is [the drawing of] the 7°”.
Figure 14d
KWQ 10:1 ‘bn t't bn frk h-'r “By ‘k son of T t son of Frk
>”
is [the drawing of] the 7”.
Figure 14e
KWQ 122 (at the top): / zz bn kfrl h-frs' “By ‘zz son of
Kfrl is [the drawing of] the horse(man)".
KWQ 123 (diagonally immediately above the camel): / ntz
bn '"s?yb “By Ntz son of 's?yb".
KWQ 124 (diagonally between the camel and the horse):
l grmh bn rb h- r “By Grmh son of Rb is [the drawing of]
the 7”.
KWQ 125 (vertically between the rand the camel): Ir
bn hft “By 't' son of Hft".
KWQ 126 (diagonally behind the camel): / zrr bn ‘byn
h-hyt “By Zrr son of 'Byn is [the drawing of] the animals".
167
Horses, Asses, Hybrids, and their Use
Figure 15a
Above the equid's tail: / Abb h- r “By Hbb is [the drawing
of] the 7°”.
The other inscriptions are too damaged to allow a reading
of more than one or two letters.
Figure 15b
I| ms!k bn mrtn hn- r “By Ms'k son of Mrtn is [the drawing
of] the 7".?
Figure I5c
l dky bn ‘ty hínj-/']r “By Dky son of ‘ty is [the drawing
of] the 7”. *
Figure 15d
KWQ 21 at the top: / {s?}ht bn qdm( UU (h-? ‘r “By {Sht}
son of (Qdm 1) is [the drawing of] {the} 77.5
KWQ 22 scratched in tiny letters above the equid’s tail:
| "(ly bn tbrín) h-r “By {ly} son of {Tbrn} is [the
drawing of] the 7".
Figure 15e
| nm bn ms'{k} h-'yr “By N'm son of {Ms'k} is [the
drawing of] the yr”.
Figure 15f
Ms 79: I gd{y} bn ‘ng h-r “By {Gdy} son of ‘nq is [the
drawing of] the 7".
Figure 15g
l s*f bn gs'lh ‘r “By S?f son of Gs!l is [the drawing of]
the 7".
Figure 16a and b
l fh}hrm bn ("])by' bn {h} {m}y h- ‘yr. “By {Hhrm} son of
{’by'} son of (Hmy) is [the drawing of] the ‘yr’.
Figure 16d
I ‘kdt h{n} ‘vr “By ‘kdt is [the drawing of] {the} yr".^*
17 If the reading of the definite article as An- is correct this would be
one of very few examples in Safaitic of this form before pharyngal
consonants. This feature is normally associated with the Dadanitic dialect
(see Macdonald 2009a III: 41 f.).
^ Some of the letters have been playfully joined together (see Macdonald
1989 and 2009a II: 386 f.). Note, if the reading is correct, the definite
article here would be An- as in Figure 15b and 16d.
55 The letters in this inscription too have been playfully joined.
^* Once again the definite article appears to hn-.
Michael C.A. Macdonald
Figure 17a
l tmn bn fhrn h- r “By Tmn son of Fhrn is [the drawing
of] the 7”.
Figure 17b and c
(1) In thinly scratched letters in the top right-hand corner: /
s^wd bn mhlm bn rb 'l bn "nm w Al fl} h-{d}{r} fh It s‘lm w
gnmt m-s?n' w nq t l-d y ‘wr h-s'fr “By S'wd son of Mhlm
son of Rb’! son of nm and {he camped} {here}. So, O
Lt [grant] security and booty from enemies and [inflict]
ejection from the grave on whoever scratches out the
inscription".
(2) In thick hammered letters immediately behind the
equid: / zhm bn ghfl bn zan w m mhbl h-s'fr nq't I-h
-h *By 'zhm son of Ghfl son of Znn: and whoever is a
destroyer of this inscription [may there be] ejection from
the grave for his brother".
(3) In large thinly incised letters starting to the right of the
drawing (not visible on the photograph): / wdm bn ‘mr bn
stry bn hmyn h-r “By Wdm son of ‘mr son of S'ry son of
Hmyn is [the drawing of] the 7”.
(4) Below the equid: / "tm bn m yr bn "Ihn “By 'tm son of
M‘yr son of "Ihn".
(5) Below (4): / zhm bn ghfl bn znn “By ‘zhm son of Ghfl
son of Znn".
Figure 17d
KWQ 94: I trq bn hl h- r bn khl “By Trq son of Hl son of
Khl is [the drawing of] the 7.”
168
Part IV
The Horse in Ancient Asia
12
The Heavenly Horses Visualized in Han China
(220 BCE-220 CE)
Katheryn M. Linduff
Although well known in Western Asia and the Near East, multiple horse types (breeds?) played
a less significant role in China until the Han CH #H) period. Based on visual records of horses,
the earliest evidence documenting what must be blood-sweating horses, likely related to the
“great” Nisean horse prized in Persia (Brownrigg, personal communication, 11/12/2017), was in
the Western Han Dynasty, or during the 2nd century BCE. This is the time when the Han Emperor
sought to trade gold coins for the remarkable steeds from Kokand (eastern Uzbekistan, the main
transportation junction in the Ferghana Valley) and bring them to his court. Impressive horses
came into China only after Emperor Wudi (X 2 26 140-87 BCE) commanded an army of 60,000
men, 30,000 horses, 100,000 head of cattle, and thousands of donkeys and camels and marched
on Ferghana. After he reached the capital and besieged it, he returned to China with a great haul
of horses. The Han period bronze statue called the ‘Flying Horse of Gansu’ (2nd c. CE) is perhaps
the best-known equine statue in China and probably represents one of these special gaited horses.
This wingless steed was probably meant to be understood metaphorically rather than literally; the
image was certainly idealized. It is the significance of this and its visual models in Chinese culture
that are the focus of this paper.
Introduction
The excavation in 1969 of a large tomb built of brick
and stone dating from the later years of the Eastern Han
Dynasty, or from between 186-219, at Wuwei (XJ) in
Gansu Province in present-day western China yielded the
spectacular find known as the “Flying Horse of Gansu”
(Figure 1). It was among 231 relics in the tomb, including
99 bronze statues of mounted warriors and horses. The
bronze horse is 34.5 cm high, 45 cm long and weighs 7.15
kg. The horse is balanced on a single hoof that rests on the
Figure 1. Flying horse of Gansu, bronze, from tomb in
Wuwei, Gansu. Height 34.5cm, length 45cm, weight. 7.15kg,
Eastern Han Dynasty, c. 186—219. From: Zhongguo Meishu
Quanji Bianji Weituanhui 1990: p. 202, pl. 238.
171
back of a wingspread bird with three hoofs and its head
and tail raised high in the air. The animal represented is a
gaited horse, one frozen in time in a recognizable gait that
is called a singlefoot, or amble, where one foot touches the
ground at a time. Here we see lateral pacing wherein the
front and hind feet on the same side move in sequence. Not
all horses can perform an ambling gait; however, today
many breeds can be trained to produce it, and there are
several breeds of horses that inherit the ability to perform
this gait either naturally from birth or with a minimal
amount of training. This depiction confirms, nevertheless,
an animal of training and ability.
In China, the conformation and countenance of this
*Flying Horse' create a model for special horses from this
time forward. With all its attributes—high spirits, straight
neck, broad, slightly shovel-shaped forehead, flaring
nostrils, and high raised tail—this statue seemingly
depicts the attributes of those eventually assigned to
the Arabian breed (Figure 2). If that is an accurate
identification, as I believe it is, how can we explain its
appearance in the late 2nd century CE in Han China,
when the earliest noted textual references to Arabians in
China date to the Tang (ED #4), or the 8th century (Cooke
2000: 48)? I shall hopefully make a convincing case that
it does in fact make its debut in western China as early as
the Han Dynasty when the texts tell us that the Chinese
emperors became interested in expanding their stock of
horses. Moreover, the likeness lived on into the Tang,
not in its original form, but only in representations of
the head to suggest the powerful spirit of the untamed
Katheryn M. Linduff
Figure 3. Jade horse from the tomb of Lady Hao, Yinxu,
Anyang, Henan Province. Shang Dynasty, c. 1250 BCE.
From: Institute of Archaeology 1980, pl. 30:2.
animal. The full-chested, long-legged animal of the
Tang 1s probably a mixed breed.
Background—Depictions of Horses in China Prior to
the Han
We must begin with the assumption that Chinese sculptors
and painters presented images that were observationally
accurate or at least recognizably modeled on the actual
animal and that the depiction of horses was very frequently
charged with special connotations—meanings that are
based on an actual prototype that determine its manner of
visual interpretation.
The early representations of equines from the late second
millennium BCE, such as the little jade equids from the Fu
Hao Tomb (4f E M5) at Anyang that probably depict
the tenacious, wild Equus przewalskii (Figure 3) (Institute
of Archaeology, Beijing. 1980, pl. 30:2) and the inscription
in the shape of a long-eared wild ass on the base of the
bronze ritual vessel gui (#) from Jingjiecun (EJP), in
Lingshi (37), Shanxi Province (Shanxi 1986: 14), are
rare (Figure 4). Even so, their portrayal follows the late
Shang (2 #) artistic predilection for depiction of wild
animals on artifacts used in ritual. Their features—stocky
builds, erect manes, and shaggy tails—are not comparable,
however, to the longer legged and elegantly proportioned
bodies of the horses that were buried in sacrificial pits
and tombs at the site, or from the last capital of the Shang
Dynasty at Yinxu (X3), Anyang (PH), dating from
about 1250 BCE (Linduff 2006: 304) (Figure 5). Clearly
172
REA
Mi tt 8E
1,88 (M1; 19)
2.&(Ml: 35)
3,3$(M1: 34)
4.M(Ml: 36)
(8201/4)
Figure 4. Cast inscription of wild ass and bronzes from M1,
Jingjiecun, Shanxi Province, Shang Dynasty, c. 1250 BCE.
From: Shanxi Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Center
of Lingshi 1986: p. 5, fig. 8.
the Shang artisans made a distinction between the wild and
the tamed.
Evidence of highly trained horses and associated
equipment, such as those buried in these tombs, has not
been documented elsewhere in ancient China before about
1250 BCE. The practice appears full-blown at Anyang as
part of a well-established set of rituals—of burial, hunt,
and war (Creel 1970; Yetts 1934). The simultaneous
appeal of representations of wild horses and the sacrifice
of tamed ones in ritual use in late Shang society raises
questions about the attraction of this dichotomous manner
of display, as well as the availability of both tamed and
untamed animals. This bimodal way of thinking about
horses appears to have continued throughout early Chinese
history, and is preserved in the standards by which horses
were illustrated. On the one hand, the trained horses
were considered useful and important, both actually and
figuratively in battle and as a marker of courage and
strength, but on the other, some were conceived of as
metaphorical and behaved in supernatural, or even wild or
untamed ways (Linduff 2003: 139).
Taken together all the evidence (visual, archaeological,
and inscriptional) points to limited human control of horses
primarily for dietary and burial purposes in northwestern
present-day China before they were introduced for ritual
purposes for the Shang dynastic elite at Anyang. The
Shang were the first for whom we have evidence of the
use of horses for parade and not primarily for food. They
probably maintained their stables only through frequent
contact, both cordial and hostile, with non-Shang groups.
Intensive breeding and training are not indicated in
dynastic lands before that time, which further supports the
The Heavenly Horses Visualized in Han China
Figure 5. Chariot burial, Tomb 175, Dasikong, Anyang, Henan, Shang Dynasty, c. 1250 BCE. Chinese numerals: 1 Driver,
2-3 Horses, 4—9 Impressions of various parts of the chariot, 10 Traces of red lacquer, 11 Dark-colored material. From: Cheng
1960: 71.
notion that alliances with groups to the west and north of
Anyang provided the best sources for horses, but also for
breeders, trainers and equipment (Linduff 2003: 157).
The possession of horses must have given all of their
owners an advantage—in transporting their leaders, as
well as goods—whether the late Shang themselves or
those from whom they got horses, either through trade or
military effort. Burial evidence from Anyang underscores
the notion that horses counted as well when sacrificing
to the ancestors or other spiritual beings. Inscriptional
evidence expands our understanding of the high regard
in which horses were held by the Shang—their features,
including color, size, number, and conformation, were
recorded. The horses were also associated with special
aspects of character (speed, strength, power), like those
accorded to their owners. Burial practice and the contents
of the tombs, however, indicate that the individuals
associated directly with trading, breeding, training, and
managing horses were ‘outsiders’ (Linduff 2003: 158).
In the Shang, association with the horse and horse gear
could also indicate cultural identity or affiliation. As
standard goods associated with royal tombs, the horse and
173
the chariot were part of the complex apparatus of power,
both political (chariot) and spiritual (horse sacrifice).
The wild counterparts of the great parade animals, on the
other hand, were memorialized in jade (Figure 3), or were
described in pictographs and were thereby transformed
into static symbols signifying ‘outsiders.’ This was the
case, for instance, with the burial of Lady Hao, the consort
of the third king at Anyang. Her little jade horses and a set
of frontier items buried with her probably identified her
with her natal family to the northwest of Anyang (Linduff
1996; 2000: 19-22).
Most agree that warfare and sacrifice were integral and
essential parts of the religious system of the following
Zhou dynasty (}#]#H), and that the state and social order
were dependent on them (Yates 1999: 8 f.). Throughout
the realm in the early Zhou by about 1000 BCE, nearly all
burials of high-level officials included chariot and horse
sacrifices, providing a unifying image of the power of the
Zhou (c. 1050—900 BCE) and affiliation with them (Figure
6). Highly trained horses and drivers were available to, and
perhaps necessary for, the political elite, and the mysteries
or significance ofthe horse and chariot as exotic booty was
presumably forgotten (Linduff 2003: 158). By this time,
Katheryn M. Linduff
ieee numum
we "xt D DT mS
- LEN
c
c
MEN
KENIA
Figure 6. Chariot burial, Early Zhou Dynasty, c. 1000 BCE, Liulihe, near Beijing, Yan state capital. From: Joint
Archaeological Team, IA, CASS and Municipal Archaeological Team of Beijing 1984: 410.
the horse and chariot conveyed the idea of military power
under the centralized political authority ofthe all-powerful
Zhou, and supported the notion of a ranked society. One's
kinship and position in the hierarchy could be documented
by the number of certain artefacts and the size of the burial
(Hsu and Linduff 1988: 163—77).
For instance, during the reign of the third King, Kang
Wang (AJE, 1004-967 BCE), the Zhou continued
to secure their hold and expand their territories. They
engaged in at least two major wars with the pastoral people
living to their north. An account of their triumph was
inscribed on a ceremonial bronze vessel from this period
(Hsu and Linduff 1988: 142). Upon return from battle, the
Zhou troops presented the court with 4800 enemy heads,
13,000 captives, 300 cattle, and numerous horses, sheep,
and chariots. With a second victory, the troops brought
back 140 horses, as well as enemy heads, captives, and
chariots (Shirakawa 1962—77: 648—714; Hsu and Linduff
1988: 141 f.). These accounts record the striking display
of the power and perceived status of the victorious Zhou
in relation to their adversaries. The debilitated state of the
defeated enemy was marked by the capture of precisely
those pastured animals (sheep and horses) that were at the
174
center of their livelihood and without which they could not
function (Linduff 2003). The balance of power between
the Zhou state and groups of their pastoral neighbors
was delicate and essential to the perceived if not actual
hegemony of the Zhou.
During the reign of the fifth monarch, King Mu (ARE,
947—928 BCE), his fame was tied to his travels and horses
and had become the stuff of legends. In the Zuo Zhuan (Fr.
f£, c. 551-479 BCE), he is described by his desire to leave
his chariot tracks everywhere (Legge 1935: 641), and to
have a chariot pulled by eight semi-divine stallions. As
the hero of a later fictional account, he even traveled in his
chariot to a sacred mountain to visit the Queen Mother of
the West (JE ER} xiwangmu) to seek immortality.
These legends of King Mu's wanderings and his eight
wonder horses probably reflect some historical truth, for
he was thought to have owned especially good horses
(Hsu and Linduff 1988). Evidence of that is documented
in an inscription on a wine vessel in the shape of a colt (
ZMR lijuzun) excavated in Lijiacun (ZEZCf]), Meixian
(B), Shaanxi, and dated from his reign (Figure 7).
The inscription on the body of the vessel (3$, zum) says
Figure 7. Bronze ritual vessel (zum) in the shape of a colt,
Mei County, Shaanxi, China, Western Zhou Reign of King
Mu, c. 947-928 BCE. Height 32.4 cm; length 34 cm. From:
Zhongguo Meishu Quanji Bianji Weituanhui 1990: vol. 4, p.
220, pl. 221.
that before the king bestowed two young colts on the
owner of the bronze, he handled a foal. In doing so, the
king himself presumably initiated the taming, or the
process of ‘civilizing and sinicizing’ the untamed foal.
Two more inscriptions appear on the lid, each of which
gives specifics about these two colts, even facts related to
their short stature, large heads, and thick neck (Shirakawa
1962-77: 342 f.; Guo 1961: 312-19). Such horses were
probably bred and pastured outside of the dynastic center
since, as many argue, grassland suitable to pasturing
horses was not readily available close by (Sinor 1972).
Another inscription on a bronze vessel ($4, ding) from the
reign of King Xiao (Jal, 897-888 BCE) records a gift
of 32 horses given in pairs and in fours to be harnessed to
chariots, not for use as sacrificial offerings. Such evidence
points out the importance of having good stock and the
high regard in which horses were held at court. But it was
not their propagation, nutrition, or training that counted
in these equations as it might have with breeders and
handlers, it was their total numbers, potency, and outer
appearance (color and size) that mattered. Even so, these
portrayals visualized the actual physical characteristics of
range ponies in the pre-Qin period.
In this same period, only the bronze images of horses
from the tomb of the King Wuling of Zhao (BAR
Æ) at Handan (HII) are depicted in motion (Figure 8).
Wuling was the King who demanded that his army adopt
cavalry and riding gear like the ‘barbarians’ in 307 BCE.
When Official Cheng claimed, “[...] if you adopt nomadic
clothing and cavalry in the battles with them, you are
going to lose your Chinese identity!" King Wuling replied,
“There is no one way to rule the world, nor is there any
need to copy the old to benefit my country "(Di $E,
Zhanguo Ce, “Stratagems of the Warring States” [475—221
BCE], Ch. 18; Crump 1996). Here, the King claimed that
175
The Heavenly Horses Visualized in Han China
Figure 8. Bronze horse sculptures in the tomb of the king
of the Zhao State, reign of King Mu, c. 947-928 BCE, Mei
County, Shaanxi, China. Height 32.4 cm; length 34 cm.
From Hao 2003: 7.
Figure 9. A pair of cavalrymen, earthenware with painted
surfaces. Height 23.5 cm, length 18 cm; height 23.5 cm,
length 17.5 cm, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States
Period (475-221 BCE) excavated in 1995 from Tomb
2, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Institute of
Cultural Relics and Archaeology. From Cooke, 2000: p. 119,
pl. 96.
his state could only survive by becoming more like the
enemy, and his decision to adopt ‘barbarian’ ways changed
the Chinese military forever, and perhaps provoked the
freely moving depictions of these horses! This episode
calls attention to what the Chinese regarded as the essential
‘foreign’ nature of horses and riding gear, most especially
pants. Even so, horses for use as cavalry, such as the pair
dating from the Warring States Period, were necessary for
the stability of the state and were depicted in clay in stasis
for burial display (Figure 9).
Throughout Chinese history, the peoples of the northern
steppes and the sedentary farmers in the Central Plains
had come into conflict over land and resources. The key
to military success, and to fortifying the borders to the
Katheryn M. Linduff
Figure 10. Terracotta figures of a saddle horse and warrior,
terracotta. Horse: height 174 cm, length 213 cm, weight 340
kg; warrior: height 185 cm, weight 184 kg. Qin Dynasty
(221-207 BCE), Excavated from Pit 2, necropolis of Qin
Emperor, Lintong County, Shaanxi Province, Museum of
the Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Army. From Cooke 2000:
p.125, pl.103.
west and north of the Chinese state confederation, was the
number and quality of horses that could be used to repel
the invaders. In times of peace, the horse was an indicator
of rank; in times of instability and war, it provided the
foundation ofthe late Zhou military (Yang 2008: 107). The
Qin created a state agency that specialized in managing
and breeding horses, and depictions of horses in the tomb
of the first emperor bore the same physical attributes as
those in the Zhou (Figure 10). The terracotta draft and
riding horses in the Tomb are stocky, have well developed
musculature, trimmed manes, and tails knotted into bobs
that show they had been carefully prepared, were trained
for parade and display and stand about 13.2 hands (Cooke
2000: 40).
In Search of the Han ‘Celestial’ Horses
The Han period (256 BCE-220 CE) was the first Chinese
golden age of horses. The evolution of draft and cavalry
mounts finally culminated during the Han in a vitality that
is best described in Chinese in the language of dreams:
tianma (K, heavenly horses) feima («4,flying
horses), longma (J¢4,dragon horses), shenma (Ch H,
divine horses), and hanxuema (Til, blood-sweating
horses). These particular creatures were peerless
and alone in the universe (Yang 2008: 18) and were
represented as such! Their special regard 1s documented
early in the dynasty in the reign of Emperor Wudi (7X.
aer 140-87 BCE), as are the extremes to which he
quested for such animals. One result of his leadership
was the introduction of new stock, perhaps new strains
(Cooke 2000: 41), which also must have invigorated
imagery of horses.
Emperor Wudi, the ‘Martial Emperor’ was the sixth
emperor of Han and devoted himself to military
conquests and territorial expansion besides introducing
many domestic reforms. While Marius and Sulla were
176
invading the Mediterranean world in the West, Wudi built
a powerful empire that stretched from North Korea into
Central Asia. Throughout the Qin (Z&5H) and Han period,
China's most formidable opponent was the Xiongnu (J
iX), a confederation of peoples with a mounted leadership
and warrior class that, at its apex of power early in the
second century BCE, held sway over a territory that
extended all the way from Eastern Mongolia to the Aral
Sea. When Wudi took over the Chinese empire, he had
two things in mind—defense and trade (Cooke 2000:
41-43).
After losing nearly 80 percent of his cavalry horses in the
initial campaigns against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wudi
adopted a multi-pronged approach—he improved horse
husbandry within the empire, and sought to expand the
equine breeds (Figure 12). In his quest to bring the Xiongnu
under control, he planned to form an alliance with the
Xiongnu's old enemies, the Yuezhi (H KR), and to attack
the Xiongnu from the east and west simultaneously. In
138 BCE Zhang Qian (KZ d. 114 BCE), the commander
of the guards at the imperial palace gates, volunteered to
undertake the hazardous journey to persuade the Yuezhi
to become allies. The Xiongnu captured and retained his
men and him in the Hexi region in Gansu Province for
more than 10 years. He escaped and continued to travel
westward south of the Tianshan, through Kashgar and the
Pamirs, finally arriving in Kokand (Qo‘qon), Ferghana (in
modern day Uzbekistan) where he became friends with the
King. He resumed his journey to the west, met up with the
Yuezhi, then made his way back to Chang’an (K&) (Vt
%, Xi'an), the capital of the Han dynasty, after a trip of
13 years.
Between 119 and 115 BCE, Wudi sent him to Central Asia
again, this time to seek an alliance with another pastoral
group, the Wusun (3 fh), a people who lived in the Ili river
region of Xinjiang (#14, digus.s). Wudi also intended to
create friendly ties with the western kingdoms by offering
gifts. From then on, diplomatic missions were dispatched
regularly along with commercial trading; thus the
byproduct of the Xiongnu campaigns and the exploration
by Zhang Qian was the opening of the eastern routes of
the Silk Road. The Chinese imported horses, cattle, and
furs and hides from Central Asia, while silk was sent out
from China.
While Zhang Qian was in Ferghana, he was particularly
impressed with the fine horses of Kokand (X7) that
*sweated blood' (Figure 11). From him, Wudi learned
that these great steeds stood very tall (estimated from
Chinese measure to sixteen hands, Cooke 2000: 42), and
were bred two thousand miles away in Ferghana. Since the
campaigns against the Xiongnu demanded vast numbers of
warhorses with the qualities of size, stamina, and muscle
not possessed by indigenous breeds, Wudi hoped to bring
Ferghana-bred horses to his court.
Wudi’s initial attempt to trade gold coins for Celestial
Horses was rejected by the king of Ferghana, and the Han
The Heavenly Horses Visualized in Han China
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Han Names Other Ancient Names and Modern Locations
Ta-yuan Ferghana (Farghana); eastern Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan
K'ang-chü Eastern two thirds of Uzbekistan, northwestern Han Chün Numbered
Tajikistan, Southeastern Kazakstan, and western
Kyrgyzstan |] Shang-tang cant sha
Chi-pin Northern Pakistan and most of Kashmir 2 ioa
Ta-hsia Bactriane, Tukhara (7); northem Afghanistan 3 ung
Ta Y uch-chih Afghanistan (Ta-hsía included), part of Kashmir, : Le ia
und part of northern india 2 y
Kuci-shan Capital of Ta-yuan; Kasan, in northeastern 6 Ch en-liu
Uzbekistan 7 Ying-ch'uan
Pi-l'ien Capital of K’ung-chü, east of Samarkand in central —
Uzbekistan Han Chiin in Korea
Erh-shih ee in northwestern "Tajikistan Han Chün in Vietnam m" Lo-lang (108-82 B.C.)
lzbekistan R 2
Chih-chih Talas by the Talas River (Tu-lai-shui) in the Chiao-chih (est. 111 B.C) ^ E Hsuan-Pu (108-82 B.C.--)
Northweste tip of Kyrgyzstan ^
Chien-shih Often misread as Lan-shih; capital of Ta-hsia and Chiu-chen (est. 111 B.C.) Chen-p'an (108-82 B.C.)
then of Ta Y uch-chih; Balkh, in northern
Afghanistan Tih-nan (est. 111 B.C.) Lin-t’un (108-82 B.C.)
Hsun-hsien Capital of Chi-pin; Srinagar, in southern Kashmir
Figure 11. Map indicating the location of the Han Dynasty Western Borderlands. Adapted from Chang 2007: 2.
envoy sent for the negotiation was killed. In 102 BCE, the Moreover, the physical attributes of equine sculptures
Emperor himself embarked on a military campaign with were also transformed in tandem with the importation
an army of 60,000 men, 30,000 horses, 100,000 head of of different stock types. Not only was the conformation
cattle, and thousands of donkeys and camels marching ` of the horses more varied, but also suddenly the beasts
toward Ferghana. They reached the capital, successfully ^ broke into action. One such example is the little jade
besieged it, and returned to China with a great haul of the statuette discovered in 1966 near Pingling (CF Ec), Shaanxi
famous Ferghana steeds. The story continues and claims Province, in the mausoleum of Emperor Zhao (MEAT
that Ferghana continued to supply the Han court with the r. 87-74 BCE) (Xianyangshi bowuguan 1973.3: 45 f.)
best of these horses, including 2000 *ordinary stallions and (Figure 13). The limbs of the horse are bent forward as
mares', and two celestial horses every year. though galloping, and beneath his legs is a cloud-shaped
platform, clearly a symbol of his flight through the air!
Recently discovered inscriptions on bamboo strips The horse has a large head, open mouth, flaring nostrils, a
found at Xuanquan (3x), in Dunhuang (Z4), Gansu ` thick neck, and short legs. Although lacking in grace—this
Province, that are dated to the late Western Han Dynasty celestial beast has features of the Arabian.
(2nd c. BCE), record an embassy from Kangju (Jj) that
brought a tribute of nine horses, 31 donkeys, 25 camels, Fine examples dating from the Eastern Han have been
and one cow (Bi 2010) (Figure 12). The Kingdom of the ` found in Fanglingcun (DES) in Xushui (f&7K), in
Kangju was a powerful nomadic state or confederacy in Hebei Province (northeast), that depict a horse with a high
Central Asia and was the first state in that region to send head and tail carriage, but the most celebrated examples
an ambassador to the Western Han court (2nd c. BCE). were unearthed in a general's tomb of the second century
Following the import from several locations in addition to CE, near Wuwei (ÀJ), in Gansu Province. Among
Kangju, Ferghana, and Wusun, the horses were renamed. them is the riderless steed known as the ‘Flying Horse
Those from the Wusun were called xiji (UD ER. the ^ of Gansu,’ meant to be understood metaphorically rather
Westernmost horse) and ones from Ferghana were called than literally, in that it represents a horse that moves so
tianma (RH, heavenly/celestial horses). Such attributes fast that it seems to outrun the wind (Cooke 2000: 44). Its
are the first to be distinguished, other than color and size, head and tail are raised high as he proudly gallops with
and to record discernable strains. his right rear hoof resting on the back of a swift-flying
177
Katheryn M. Linduff
HISSAR RANGE
Semirechiy®
Prensent
E -day
China
Xinjiang
Province
Figure 12. Map showing the Ferghana Valley. Adapted from Knobloch 2001: 156.
Figure 13. Winged horse, jade, Western Han (2nd c. BCE),
from Weiling in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. From
Cooke 2000: p.137. pl. 120.
hawk, probably a Eurasian Sparrowhawk, or goshawk
(Accipiter nisus), a bird of prey with short, broad wings,
and a long tail (Figure 1). The complete image documents
the interest in importation of special breeds as a result of
Wudi's interest in expanding and supplying his stables.
With its distinguishing attributes—high spirits, straight
neck, broad, slightly shovel-shaped forehead, flaring
nostrils, and raised tail—this image apparently documents
Arabian-type horses in western China no later than the
2nd century CE, and perhaps earlier. This is no ordinary
horse, but regardless of its land of origin, the Flying Horse
of Gansu is not as tall as the blood-sweating breed (16.2
hands) from Ferghana, so much admired and recorded in
historical documents and still bred today in Turkmenistan.
Does it represent one of the heavenly creatures of which
only two were sent each year from Ferghana, or possibly
the xiji (VüfXWesternmost horse) type gifted by the
Wusun? That the Gansu horse is paired with a Eurasian
bird of prey (and not a swallow as it has been so often
identified), further acknowledges its foreignness, its
178
admired breeding, and perhaps even its training and
spirited airborne capacity!
The Flying Horse of Gansu is a very, very special horse,
maybe like the two supplied yearly from the Kingdom of
Ferghana. This specialness continues to be appreciated
elsewhere in East Asia at later times, for example in
Korea and Japan in mortuary settings in the 5th and
6th centuries, where the celestial aspects of this special
animal were revered. In addition, the type was admired
well into the Tang Dynasty in the 8th century in China.
This is exemplified in the raised head of Night-Shining
White (FATE FA zhaoyebai), the favorite, tethered charger
of Emperor Xuanzong (JH Z ze r. 712-56), which may
have represented both aspects of horses discussed earlier,
the untamed and the tamed or civilizing aspect. So, too,
were the untamed spirits and demeanors of the horses and
their trainers pictured as a constant reminder of their status
as outsiders. With unbridled spirit suggested in the head
of this animal, it was likened to its wild ancestors as well
as admired for its potentially civilized conduct (Linduff
2004).
Concluding Remarks
Use of the horse in East Asia begins early in the second
millennium BCE with its exploitation in the north and
west of the Central Plain as a source of food (Linduff
2003: 142-45; Yuan and Flad 2004). During the Shang,
the evidence clearly documents intentional breeding and
training for royal service for draft, for sacrificial symbols
of power, and, in their wild form, as representatives
designating ‘outsider’ groups. By the late Zhou, during
the period that saw the rise of Confucian humanism in
the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, horses were
depicted in ritual narratives, their importance as a mounted
parade animal emerged, and their symbolic uses increased
to include funerary and mythological journeys. In the
Han, wild and tamed aspects were defined and strains
were distinguished. Although none of these attributions is
certain, it is clear that as the Chinese became interested
in expanding their use of horses for cavalry and parade,
they simultaneously began to seek out the variety of types
available to them. These new categories were probably
initially secured from several locations far outside dynastic
borders in what the Chinese called the Western Territories
(PIER). These locations included the Ferghana valley, as
well as the regions of the Wusun, the Kangju, and probably
others. In this context, it is possible to distinguish between
the blood-sweating horses of Ferghana as well as others.
The Flying Horse is testimony that Gansu was probably a
prime location for the eventual breeding and handling of
multiple breeds inside dynastic territory.
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge the encouragement of Sandra Olsen, who insisted
that I take a look at the Chinese material on horse types. I am
glad I did, as I think the inquiring mind of Mary Littauer would
have enjoyed the attempt! Also the assistance of Dong Lihui in
the preparation of the figures is gratefully appreciated. My thanks
to Lauren Tomsic, my student who made the suggestion that the
horses were mixed breeds in her undergraduate paper on Tang
horses, Spring 2010.
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180
13
Emperor Tang Taizong's Six Stone Horse Reliefs and
Sasanian Art
Xiuqin Zhou
The Emperor Taizong JE (599-649) of the Tang dynasty (618—907) in China commissioned
six large relief sculptures of horses to stand in his mausoleum. These pieces have been known
since then as unusual within the traditional Chinese mortuary sculpted tradition, and also because
they depict horses in relief and in compositions that recall those known to have been made far to
the west in Sasanian dynastic period (224—651) in present-day Iran. Sasanian rulers also focused
on commissioned relief sculptures of these noble beasts. Examples were made not only in stone,
but also in silver in the form of plates. This paper reconstructs the historical connections between
China and the region of Sasanian Iran in order to show that these western Asian examples were
possible sources of inspiration for the Tang Chinese reliefs.
Introduction
Horses played an important role in the development
of early human history, reshaping global political
matrices, as well as changing cultural practices. Ancient
representations of the horse in various art forms and media
have preserved traces of cultural interaction associated
with Eurasian grasslands, the focus of this study. The set
of six stone horse reliefs, an integral component of the
Chinese Emperor Tang Taizong’s EA (599—649) burial
complex, is an exceptional example. The six stone horses,
known as Zhaoling Liujun DÉPS BO [Six Stone Horses
of Zhao Mausoleum] are masterpieces historically and
artistically. They are associated with one of the greatest
Chinese sovereigns, Emperor Tang Taizong (r. 627—649).
After assisting his father in founding the Tang dynasty
in 618, Li Shimin SIb then the Prince of Qin ZH,
continued battling against tough contenders to secure the
borders of the newly founded country. Several years later,
he eliminated major rivals and returned triumphantly, but
found himself to be a political rival to his elder brother,
the crown prince. The political struggle ended in the
death of the crown prince and abdication of the first Tang
emperor. In 626, Li Shimin became the second Tang ruler,'
Emperor Taizong posthumously, and ruled for 23 years,
inaugurating one of the most glorious reigns in Chinese
history and laying a foundation for a prosperous Tang
Empire lasting almost three hundred years. Emperor
Taizong selected Mount Jiuzong 7L 1l], 90 km northwest
of the capital Chang’an f= (now Xi’an Vli 2) in 636, to
bury his empress and to attend to his own necropolis (later
named Zhaoling HAE [Zhao Mausoleum]). He ordered the
images of his six favorite horses, selected from many he
' Tang Taizong became the second emperor of the Tang dynasty on the
day of guihai ¥% of the eighth moon (month) of 626 (September 2,
626), but his reign, Zhenguan WX, did not officially start until 627.
181
had ridden when defeating the contenders to the throne, to
be carved in stone to accompany him in his necropolis. He
named and composed a laudatory poem for each of them,
all of which have survived in literature.
Carved in relief, the six horses are rendered in different
postures: three are galloping, two are treading, and one is
standing still. The latter is accompanied by a general who
is pulling an arrow from the horse's chest. The general
is clad in a war robe and armor, wearing a felt hat and
carrying a long knife, bow, and arrows. All the horses are
adorned with full trappings, and most of them are depicted
pierced with arrows still visible today. Their sculptural
form in relief and exceptionally realistic depictions earn
them a unique place in the history of Chinese art. The
term, qianwuguren OU E A [having no predecessors]
(Lu 1973, 300), has often been used in praising these
reliefs, inviting interpretations that they were inspired by
visual traditions outside China.
The study of particular features of these horse reliefs,
including their sculptural form and presentation of the
mane, tail, stirrups, saddle, war trappings, and weaponry
has yielded rich evidence demonstrating interaction among
Chinese and non-Chinese cultures. The study reveals that
Chinese sculptors borrowed from various ancient groups,
including Scythians, Sasanians, and Turkics.
This article frames the discussion about the interaction
between China and ancient Iran, particularly the Sasanian
Empire (224-651), by examining the sculptural form
of reliefs and the presentation of crenellated manes.
The sculptural form adopted for the Emperor's horses
resembles that of the Sasanian rock reliefs; the crenellated
manes depicted on the Tang horses bear close resemblance
to those depicted on the Sasanian silver plates.
Xiuqin Zhou
Sculptural Forms of the Six Stone Reliefs and
Sasanian Rock Reliefs
The vivid representations of the horses in relief and their
placement on the tomb site depart from the Chinese
traditions of using stereotyped mortuary sculpture? The
famous stone sculpture group at the burial of Han General
Huo Qubing Æ Jj (d. 117 BCE) outside of Xi’an is an
exception. These pieces are carved to resemble human
figures and beasts, but they are carved mostly with
crudeness and in the round. In searching for traces of
foreign features on the sculptural forms of the Emperor's
horse reliefs, one source of inspiration was possibly
Sasanian rock reliefs.
Six Stone Horse Reliefs
Ordered by Emperor Tang Taizong, the images of the six
famous horses were carved in stone during his reign from
636 to 649. The horses are represented on six separate
limestone slabs, each measuring approximately 2.0 m long
and 1.7 m high and 0.4 m thick. Each scene is carved in
low relief with a raised border connected with a square
cartouche, either on its top right or left corner. Three horses,
shown in a flying gallop posture, have their legs extended
to the utmost, before and behind. Each of the six horses is
sporting a three-notched mane and a knotted tail; each is
further adorned with full trappings of a complete bridle,
a four-striped saddle blanket, a high-bridged saddle and
a pair of stirrups. Four out of the six horses are depicted
pierced with arrows ranging in number from one to nine.
The two reliefs at the University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology? were given the names
of Saluzi YAZ and Quanmaogua Ze BR (Figures 1-2)
by the Emperor. Saluzi 1s depicted standing, enduring pain
from an arrow in the chest. He is accompanied by General
Qiu Xinggong IrÍT2& (586-665), who is extracting the
arrow. Quanmaogua is depicted treading steadily despite
being shot with nine arrows, six in the front and three in
the back. The six reliefs were placed three to a row, facing
each other, on the spirit road closest to the Emperor's
burial chamber at the Zhao Mausoleum (Figure 3).
? Scholars think that it was not until the Han dynasty (205 BCE-220
CE) that stone sculpture became a recognized visual tradition in Chinese
life, especially in tomb sculpture. The Han stone sculptures featured
line carving. Based on this carving tradition, the Buddhists introduced
pictorial representations on cliffs and steles that conveyed an impression
of depth lacking in the linear Han treatment. Some Buddhists were trained
foreign sculptors who might have brought new ways of visualizing
figures inspired by a Greco- Roman background that was then transmitted
to China via India (Mahler, 1959; Lerner, 2005; Paludan, 2006).
? Thetwo horse reliefs came to the University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology as a loan in 1918. Eldridge R.
Johnson, the member of the Museum Board of Managers, contributed the
funds for their purchases in 1921. Records of the payment, made in three
installments, are kept in the Museum's Archives (Zhou 2001). The other
four stone horse reliefs are currently housed at the Beilin Museum, Xi'an,
China.
182
Figure 1. Saluzi il 4%, Emperor Tang Taizong's
favorite horse, is depicted with a three-notched mane.
He is enduring pain while General Qiu Xinggong TC
ZE is extracting the arrow from his chest. Tang dynasty,
636—649. Collection and courtesy of the University of the
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
(C395).
Figure 2. Quanmaogua 4265/1, Emperor Tang Taizong's
favorite horse, is depicted with a three-notched mane.
Tang dynasty, 636—649. Collection and courtesy of the
University of the Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology (C396).
Sasanian Rock Reliefs
Monumental Sasanian reliefs are concentrated at two sites
near Persepolis, nine reliefs at Naqsh-i Rustam, and four
at Naqsh-i Rajab (Schmidt 1953-70, 13, 122).* Dated to
the third and fourth centuries, they were carved on the cliff
surface, high above the ground. As Herrmann points out,
these Sasanian rock reliefs are considered “an official art
form” and “equivalent of advertisement boarding.” They
* According to Herrmann (2000, 36), 28 out of the 34-35 Sasanian
reliefs are in Fars and most of them are at these two sites.
Emperor Tang Taizong 5 Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art
Figure 3. The North Gate of Zhaoling under excavation in 2002. The Emperor Tang Taizong's six stone horse reliefs were
lined three in a row and placed on the east and west sides of the spirit road, as shown by the modern reproductions. Courtesy
of Zhang Jianlin, the excavator of the North Gate of Zhaoling.
demonstrate "one of the most coherent and remarkable
periods of rock relief art in Iran" (2000, 36, 40).
The Sasanian rock reliefs are carved out of the rough
uncut cliff surface, which forms a border along the scene.
Most of the rock reliefs depict a single scene that carries
powerful political implications. They portray Sasanian
kings wearing crowns with flying ribbons and riding on
fully caparisoned horses. Three reliefs provide the best
comparative material for this study with the following
description drawn from Schmidt's introduction (1953—70,
122-135):
1). The Investiture of Ardashir I (r. 224—241), 6.3 to 6.65
m long and 4.2 m high, depicts Ardashir I, the founder
of the Sasanian Empire (Figure 4). Mounted on a horse,
he is wearing a crown and receiving a ring, the symbol
of the right to rule. 2). The Triumph of Shapur I over
Valerian (r. 241-272), approximately 7.95 m long and
6.10 m high, depicts Shapur I’s victory over two Roman
emperors, Valerian and Philip the Arab (Figure 5). The
king wears a crown, carved beyond the frame of relief
and filleted with two long, wavy ribbons. 3). Equestrian
Combat of Hormizd IT (r. 302—309), 8.4 m long and 4.10 m
high, depicts Hormizd killing a foe (Figure 6). He wears a
crown filleted with two long, wavy ribbons. Clad in armor
scales below the waist with ring armor on his arms and
legs, he is grasping a long lance and is accompanied by a
quiver containing a bow and arrows. The horse is shown in
a flying gallop wearing a globular forehead ornament. The
saddle blanket shows waving tassels, and the horse's tail is
doubled up and tied with a ribbon.
Comparisons
Emperor Tang Taizong's horse reliefs and the Sasanian
rock reliefs are separated by several thousand miles in
distance, and several hundred years in time. Although
183
Figure 4. The Investiture of Ardashir I. Rock relief at
Naqsh-i Rustam, Sasanian period, 224—241 (Schmidt
1953—70, Plate 81). Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago.
Figure 5. The Triumph of Shapur I over Valerian. Rock
relief at Naqsh-i Rustam, Sasanian period, 241—272
(Schmidt 1953—70, Plate 83). Courtesy of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago.
Xiuqin Zhou
Figure 6. Equestrian Combat of Hormizd II. Rock relief
at Naqsh-i Rustam, Sasanian period, 302—309 (Schmidt
1953—70, Plate 91). Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago.
Sasanian rock reliefs are almost three or four times larger
than the Emperor's reliefs, but even so their presentations
share obvious similarities.
They both utilize the same carving technique. Each of the
Emperor's six reliefs, carved in low relief, is represented
on a stone surface with a neatly cut border to frame the
scene. The Sasanian reliefs, cut slightly deeper than the
Taizong's horses, are also framed by borders using uncut
surrounding space. The relief of The Triumph of Shapur I
has a raised square cartouche at its top left corner; a similar
cartouche also appears on either the top left or top right
corner of each of Taizong's slabs.
Both sets of reliefs depict horses galloping, treading, or
standing. The horse in Equestrian Combat of Hormizd
I is depicted in a flying gallop,’ as are three of the
Emperor's horses. Without exception, horses are featured
with complete and elaborate royal embellishments. The
Emperor's horses are equipped with complete bridles,
saddles, saddle blankets with four bands, and stirrups.
Without stirrups, the Sasanian horses are adorned further
with fancy tasseled saddle blankets and with ornamental
disks, bud-shaped tassels, and flying ribbons.
Both sets of reliefs have inscriptions. For example, The
Investiture of Ardashir I is inscribed with trilingual
inscriptions on the chests of the horses. The text identifies
the figure on the relief, to the viewer’s left, as the king
empowered by gods to rule. The Taizong’s horse reliefs
are engraved with the names and verses composed by the
Emperor himself eulogizing the magic performance of the
horses in battles. These writings are believed to have been
carved in each of the square cartouches at the upper corner.
Together with the horse images, these writings emphasize
covertly that Taizong’s ascendancy to the throne was
owning to his military merits made on horse back.
> Bishop (1918, 264) thought that the flying gallop originated with the
ancient art of Crete. “It spread, by independent routes, both to Sasania
and to ancient China, apparently through the medium of the so-called
Scythian culture."
184
Both the Sasanian and Taizong's reliefs portray the
monarchs, either visibly or by implication. The Sasanian
rock reliefs depict the Sasanian kings wearing crowns in
the center of the scenes, and in many cases as riders; the
horses on Taizong's reliefs are riderless, but one horse is
accompanied by a general who rescued the Emperor from
peril. The absence of the image of Emperor Taizong is by
no means a denial of his ownership of these horses. On
the contrary, the complete harnessing of the horses, the
affixed saddles and the positioned stirrups, suggest that
these horses are ready for or were ridden by their master.
The sight of Taizong's galloping horses makes viewers
imagine a skillful equestrian on these swift horses. The
eulogistic verses, presumably carved on the upper corners,
and the arrows pierced through the horses convey a sense
of the life-and-death battles that Emperor Tang Taizong
and his war chargers endured together. The subtle way of
focusing on the famous war chargers by rendering them
without riders differs from the direct depiction of the
Sasanian images. Regardless of the presence or absence of
the monarchs, the images and texts of both sets of reliefs
are created to advocate for their monarchs.
Further, both the Sasanian and Taizong's reliefs took
historical events as the subject. The relief The Triumph of
Shapur I portrays the Sasanian king subduing two Roman
emperors at his feet, a representation of well-known
victories recorded in history. Emperor Taizong conquered
a number of tough adversaries in several campaigns.
Each campaign is recorded in Chinese history in detail,
including the names of his horses. The portrayal of
General Qiu Xinggong with Saluzi has captured the life—
and-death battle scene in stone and frozen this historical
event in perpetuity.
More importantly, the two sets of reliefs may also share
similar political motives. Ardashir I, the founder of the
Sasanian Empire, 1s "legitimizing his seizure of power
[from Parthian] by illustrating his divine investiture
with the right to rule” (Herrmann 2000, 38). They used
sculpture located near Persepolis as propaganda. Tang
Taizong was a usurper who seized the throne by killing
his elder brother, the heir apparent, and forcing his
father to abdicate. He used commemorative sculpture
of the horses also as propaganda to create a visual
justification of his usurpation and legitimization of his
enthronement.*
The composition of these two groups of reliefs is
surprisingly similar, particularly when one compares the
Sasanian relief, The Triumph of Shapur I (see Figure 5),
with Emperor Taizong's stone horse relief Saluzi (see
Figure 1), both having a square cartouche at its upper left
corner. The striking similarities strongly suggest some
knowledge of the Sasanian rock reliefs in the production
€ The author's article on examining the Emperor Tang Taizong's real
motivation for commissioning the six stone horse reliefs and their
construction dates is forthcoming.
Emperor Tang Taizong 5 Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art
of the Emperor horse reliefs, an issue that will be further
discussed under the historical context.
Crenellated Manes on Chinese and Sasanian Relics
In the horse industry, it is common to treat manes by
clipping, trimming, or notching. If manes are regularly
notched, they are referred to as “crenellated manes" in this
paper. One may notice that Emperor Tang Taizong's six
horses all have crenellated manes, as do the horse images
depicted on Sasanian silver plates.
As Maenchen-Helfen (1957—58, 85) pointed out, the
practical function of the crenellated mane “[...] is nil. A
horse does not run faster, a mounted bowman will not
shoot better or farther whether the mane is crenellated or
not." The fascinating practice of crenellation has served
as an invaluable criterion for his study in establishing
historical connections. Similarly, the study of crenellated
manes on the Chinese relics will help trace the interaction
between China and other cultural groups.
The practice of crenellation started with mobile pastoralists
in the steppe, and the Chinese may have borrowed the
practice from these neighbors at different time periods
in history. There appear to have been two waves of
crenellation in Chinese history. The first was represented
by a dozen or so manes found depicted on the bronze
and terracotta horses from the accompanying pits of the
tomb of the First Emperor of Qin, who unified China and
ruled from 221—210 BCE, and on a group of ceramic tiles
from Henan, also dated to the third century BCE. From
their styles, notched in square and curved triangles, it is
plausible to associate them with the practice of crenellation
by ancient cultural groups, such as the Scythians." After the
first wave, crenellation disappeared in China for almost
a thousand years. It resurfaced, however, with abundant
examples during the early Tang of the seventh century and
formed the second wave of mane crenellation, the focus of
the current study.
Crenellated Manes on Tang Relics
In the early Tang, crenellated manes appeared on Emperor
Taizong's stone horses and other Tang relics. Each
Emperor's horse has three tufts, also known as sanhua =
JE [three flowers]. They stick out 0.12 m from the clipped
mane and are arranged in a row separated by 0.06-0.07
m in between. Each tuft 1s cut into a cluster of hair 0.04—
0.05 m wide and projects 0.12 m from the base. The tufts,
tapering at the top, are curved backward.
In addition to this distinctive group of images of
crenellation, there are other examples. From Qianling,
the mausoleum of Taizong's son, Emperor Gaozong rx
(r. 650—683), there 1s a free standing stone horse with a
mane that is crenellated into three low, square notches
7 Details see Chapter Five in Zhou 2009.
(Figure 7). Three-notched crenellated manes are also
found on the ceramic horses from the tombs of Prince Yide
TRT and Princess Yongtai 7K Z8 73 3. Both tombs are
dated to 706. Additionally, there are ceramic horses with
one or three square notches in their manes from the tomb
of a high official, Xianyu Tinghui BET ES SR. dated to 723
(Figure 8) and horses with crenellations of irregular shapes
185
Figure 7. Stone horse showing a mane with three low
notches. Qianling (the Mausoleum of Emperor Gaozong),
Shaanxi; Tang dynasty, late seventh century (Chavannes
1909, Plate 457).
Figure 8. Three-color-glazed horse with a one-tufted mane.
From the tomb of Xianyu Tinghui (a high official under
Emperor Xuanzong's reign), Xi'an, Shaanxi; Tang dynasty,
723 (Illustration by Yingyi Shin after Zhongguo Shehui
Kexueyuan Kaogu Yanjiusuo 1980, Plate IV).
Xiugin Zhou
Figure 9. A pottery horse showing a mane with three
irregular notches. Tang dynasty, 618—907 (Illustration by
Yingyi Shin after Maenchen-Helfen 1957—58, 117, figure 27).
on a copy of the eighth-century Tang imperial painting,
“Lady Guoguo on a Spring Outing,” and on Tang pottery
horses (Figure 9).
Between the fifth to seventh centuries, crenellated
manes also appeared on Turkic petroglyphs in the Altai
Mountains.® Another significant group of crenellated
manes is found on Sasanian silver plates that are directly
related to this study.
Crenellated Manes on Sasanian Silver Plates
Nine out of 38 Sasanian silver plates carefully studied and
published by Harper and Meyers (1981)? have been selected
for this study. They show two styles of crenellation: Type
A with three slightly curved tufts in a row; and Type B
with single, multiple square or irregular tufts in a row.
Type A is represented on two plates, one depicting Shapur
II (r. 303-309) hunting boar, now in the Freer Gallery of
Art (Figure 10), and the other illustrating Peroz (r. 459—
484) or Kavad I (r. 488-496; 499—531) hunting rams,
now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Figure 11). Both
are dated to approximately the fifth century. The mane of
each horse is trimmed and three tufts stick out from an
angular projection with long waving hair falling on the
neck. Harper classifies them as “central Sasanian" (Harper
and Meyers 1981, 5), believing they were made by the
Sasanian court workshop. They are of extremely high
quality and are the most exquisite examples of Sasanian
silver plates surviving today.
Type B is found on seven silver plates with one, two, three,
or four square—or angular—shaped tufts, and in one case, a
round one (Figures 12-14). Although most of the figures
wear royal crowns, they may actually depict crown princes
or local leaders rather than the king himself. This group
Is categorized as "provincial works" (Harper and Meyers
* [bid.
° Examples selected from this book include plates 10, 15, 17, 18, 21,
23, 25 & 26 and figure 46. Additional examples can be found in the
same book and Sasanian Silver by Oleg Grabar, University of Michigan
Museum of Art, 1967.
186
Figure 10. Horse showing a mane with three curved tufts.
Silver plate, Sasanian period, fifth century. Freer Gallery of
Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: Purchase,
F1934.23.
Figure 11. Horse showing a mane with three curved tufts.
Silver plate, Sasanian period, fifth century. Image O The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1981, 8) and is dated to late or post Sasanian eras, probably
around the seventh century.
Comparisons
The stylistic depiction of the Emperor Taizong's horses
resembles the crenellation on the “central Sasanian" Type
A plates, but with some modifications. The projection,
placed between the crest and tufts on the Sasanian silver
plates, has disappeared on Emperor's stone horses,
although the manes still project. The tufts on the silver
plates start to taper from the lower section, making them
Emperor Tang Taizong 5 Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art
Figure 12. Horse showing a mane with three square tufts.
Silver plate, Post-Sasanian era, ca. seventh century. Pushkin
Museum (Illustration by Yingyi Shin after Harper and
Meyers 1981, 222, Plate 21).
Figure 13. Horse showing a mane with two round notches.
Silver plate, Post-Sasanian era, ca. seventh century. New
York private collection (Illustration by Yingyi Shin after
Harper and Meyers 1981, 227, Plate 26).
short or thin. Taizong's horses' manes, on the other hand,
taper from the upper section, making them wide and thick
and, without the projection, even longer. Despite these
variants, the crenellated manes of Taizong's horses still are
closest to that of Type A of the Sasanian silver plates. Both
groups, limited in numbers and consistent in motifs, were
commissioned by or for the sovereigns themselves, and
their fine qualities suggest that they were produced under
close court supervision.
Unlike the Emperor's horse reliefs, the stylistic depiction
of crenellation on the Tang horses after Taizong's reign
187
Figure 14. Horse showing a mane with one notch. Silver
plate, Post-Sasanian era, ca. seventh century. New York
private collection (Illustration by Yingyi Shin after Harper
and Meyers 1981, 140, Figure 46).
shows greater variation. Completely departing from the
consistent long, thick, and projecting crenellation style,
post-Taizong horses show low, square, round, half-circle,
or even irregular tufts. Also, the number of tufts varies
between one and three. No longer made exclusively for
sovereigns, these horse effigies were produced for other
royal family members or even high-ranking officials. This
situation and the irregular styles match perfectly with that
of the post-Sasanian era and of the Type B silver plates
made during this time period. These similarities cannot
simply be interpreted as coincidence. The interaction
between China and Sasania during this period should also
be examined in the broader historical context.
Historical Contact between China and Iran
This article focuses on China and Sasania, yet it 1s still
beneficial to expand the historical review starting from the
third century BCE, the Han Empire (206 BCE-220 CE)
in China, and the Parthian Empire (248 BCE-224 CE) in
ancient Iran. Although intermittent, since the third century
BCE contact continued, and at times intensified, through
later the Sasanian Empire (224-651) and well into the
early Tang dynasty.
The discussion of contact between China and ancient
Iran unavoidably leads to the “Silk Road,” the ancient
connection between China and many areas west of China,
known as xiyu HD [Western Regions]. Scholars believe
that unofficial contact via ancient routes can be "traced to
the thirteenth or twelfth century BCE" (B. Wang 1993,
2). Zhang Qian 9K3€ (d. 114 BCE), an envoy sent by the
court, however, marks the first official endeavor of the
Western Han (206 BCE-8 CE) to explore the Western
Regions. He was sent on this mission twice, the first lasting
thirteen years (139—126 BCE) and the second, five years
Xiuqin Zhou
years (119-114 BCE). He made the first known Chinese
report on the Parthian Empire.
In Zhang’s accounts, Parthia is named Anxi ZU, a
transliteration of ‘Arsacid,’ the name of the Parthian
dynasty. His accounts are preserved in Shiji SEAL [Records
of the Grand Historian]:
EMER H scu aE HL. HREF, $ TRAE,
TB PU. RENTE. SEU) CA, jb; NOT ER, Hd
RAR. EK, ATR SAHNE, TER
BUT HL. DASRZSSE, SI. EINER, SEI
#5 (Q. Sima 1997, 123.3162).
Anxi is situated several thousand /i west of the region of
the Great Yuezhi (in Transoxonia). The people are settled
on the land, cultivating the fields and growing rice and
wheat. They also make wine out of grapes. They have
walled cities like the people of Dayuan (Ferghana), the
region containing several hundred cities of various sizes.
The kingdom, which borders the Gui (Oxus) River, is very
large, measuring several thousand /i square. Some of the
inhabitants are merchants who travel by carts or boats
to neighboring countries, sometimes journeying several
thousand /i. The coins ofthe country are made of silver and
bear the face of the king. When the king dies, the currency
is immediately changed and new coins issued with the face
of his successor (Q. Sima 1993, II, 235).
HJ, EHZZA, ZAERO BOR RR. KA
AERO HB... Ei, EE ER BUR
K, UKE SN RAH A, RINE (Q. Sima 1997,
123.3172).
When the Han envoys first visited the kingdom of Anxi,
the king of Anxi dispatched a party of 20,000 horsemen
to meet them on the eastern border of his kingdom. The
capital of the kingdom is several thousand /i from the
eastern border.... When the Han envoys set out again to
return to China, the king of Anxi dispatched envoys of his
own to accompany them, and after the latter had visited
China and reported on its great breadth and might, the king
sent some of the eggs of the great birds which live in the
region, and skilled tricksters of Lixuan, to the Han court as
gifts (Q. Sima 1993, II, 243).
Following Zhang Qian’s embassy and report, contacts
between China and Parthia and the Western Regions
increased. During the first century BCE, quite a few
Chinese missions were sent to the west and they were also
recorded in Shiji:
iB ERR s A, HERE DA eH PG dE EE]. ES] ni e fs
TRE, ER, Kir, GI ARE... ef P E
Ac, HERRN... FR EMBEDS. EXE
— BPE BR, ARN, Xi JV, IH
WK If (Q. Sima 1997, 123.3170).
The Han first built fortifications west of the district of
Lingju (northwest of Gansu province) and established the
188
Jiuquan Prefecture in order to provide a safe route to the
lands of the northwest. As a result more and more envoys
were sent to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai [ancient name of
Alains], Lixuan [Hyrcania], Tiaozhi [Mesopotamia], and
Shendu [India].... The largest of these embassies to foreign
states numbered several hundred persons, while even the
smaller parties included over 100 members, though later,
as the envoys became more accustomed to the route, the
number was gradually reduced.... In the course of one year,
anywhere from five or six to even ten parties would be sent
out. Those traveling to distant lands required eight or nine
years to complete their journey, while those visiting nearer
regions would return after a few years (Q. Sima 1993, II,
240, 241).
During the Eastern Han (25-220), such contacts continued,
probably at a reduced rate and size. It is recorded that in the
thirteenth year of the Yongping 7K-*F reign (70) “the state
of Anxi sent an envoy to offer lions and large birds from
Tiaozhi f& 5c" (Hou Hanshu, 4.18). In the second year of
the Zhanghe 3 fil reign period (88), “the state of Anxi sent
an envoy to present lions and fuba "TË [antelopes]" (Fan
1987, 4.4; Q. Wang 1960, 968.11378).
Chinese general Ban Chao HE (32-102), stationed in the
Western Regions for 31 years, won numerous battles in
defending the Chinese control of the Western Regions. His
troops went as far west as the Caspian Sea and established
direct military contacts with the Parthian Empire. Around
101, he dispatched his son, Ban Yong PES (d. ca.128)
“to escort the embassy from Anxi to present lions to the
central plain [inland]” (Fan 1987, 77.14).
In addition to sending exotic gifts to China, Parthia also
played a role in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
from Central Asia to China. In the year 148, An Shigao
zit (fl. 148-170), a Parthian prince, gave up his
inheritance and devoted himself to life as a Buddhist
missionary in China. He came to the capital city, Luoyang
XBH, where he established temples and became the first
man to translate Buddhist scriptures into Chinese (Ciyi
1989, 2394).
After the fall of the Han dynasty, the contact was
suspended due to frequent change of hands of political
powers, such as the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms
—[ (220-265) and the Sixteen States T7SE| (317-
420). During the first half of the fifth century, contact
was resumed with the Sasanian Empire and embassies
were sent out with unprecedented frequency. In response
to the envoys with tributes representing various states in
the Western Regions, the Northern Wei J52 (386-581)
sent 20 missions to the Western Regions in the first year
of the Taiyan AXE reign (435) and dispatched six more
missions the following year (T. Yu 2004, 307). The
mission sent to Bosi (Sasanian Persia) 7X Er (as recorded
in Chinese historical records) was headed by Han Yangpi
887€ Hz (S. Wei 1974, 102.2263) and Zhang Daoyi (EIB #8
(Linghu 1971, 36.642). Like the Parthians, the Sasanians
pursued active foreign relations with the Northern Wei and
Emperor Tang Taizong 5 Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art
frequently sent envoys to China. Historical records report
at least twelve Sasanian embassies to China “to offer
tribute."!?
During the Shengui 238 reign (518—520), one of the
tributes was accompanied by a memorial, which reads:
ME
KART, RZE, BRE BURG AR PAR. Behr
By “Ef Ae PE” ERR ANZ. ACRE ERR
(S. Wei 1974, 102.2272).
“The Son of Heaven of the great nation, whom Heaven
begat, may Your Majesty always be the Son of Heaven
in the Han land over which the sun rises! The king of
Bosi, Juheduo [Kavad I, 488-496 (499-531)]'' salutes
innumerable times in respect.” The imperial court
accepted this with praise. From then on Bosi often sent
envoys to present tribute [T. Yu 2004, 329].
During the Northern Zhou JE (557-581), embassies
were exchanged between the Northern Zhou court [Yuwen
Zhou X] and the Sasanians with the possible plan
of forming an alliance against the Turkics (Zhang 2003,
1053). Chinese envoys to Sasanian Persia must have had
an audience directly with the Sasanian king, because they
provided such vivid descriptions of the Sasanian king
upon their return:
Kn Säit AAR AE PR, REEN. K, GU
HIE. MARIRE W (S. Wei 1987, 102.2271).
The king is surnamed Bo and named Si. He sits on
a golden-sheep throne and wears a golden-flower
crown. He is clad in a brocade robe and woven drapery
[ribbon], both adorned with pearls and precious objects
(translated by the author).
Contacts with Western Regions also extended to the
Southern Dynasties EI OH (420-589). The Liangshu JE
= [History of the Liang] reports that the Persian envoys
presented Sakyamuni's tooth to the court in the second
year of the Zhongdatong reign "X3 (530) (Yao 1973,
54.815), and came to offer tribute in the fifth year of
Zhongdatong reign (533) and in the first year of Datong
reign X [d] (535) (Q. Wang 1960, 968.11385).
Two paintings of the Southern Dynasties, probably later
copies, Fangguoshi tu 7j Ed [is] [The portraits of envoys
from various states] ordered by Pei Ziye #2 9f (468-
530) (Yao 1971, 30.445) and Zhigong tu Hi A [E] [Tribute
paying] are attributed to Xiao Yi #i%# (508-555), later
0 S. Wei 1974, 5.115 CK e [455]); 5.120 (RIPE Ze [461]); 6.126
CK GE [466]); 6.128 ($FE [468]); 7a.142 GKI [476]);
8.205 (ERRVUSE [507]; 9.225 (HEF ZE [517]; 9.228 GITE
[518]; 9.232 (1E26 ZÆ [521]) and 9.233 GEI6=4F [522]). Linghu
1971, 50.920 (Bé —4F [553]) and 5.74 CK ZE [567]).
! T. Yu assigns this visit to the first reign of Kavad I (488-496). The
present author believes, since the tribute is recorded as being taking place
during the Shengui reign (518—520), the visit must have taken place
during the Kavad I’s second reign (499—531).
Emperor Yuan of the Liang Za (r. 552-555). They
have preserved images of tributes being brought to the
Chinese court, including an envoy from (Sasanian) Persia
(Jin 1960b, 14; T. Yu 2004, 341).?
The Sui dynasty TS OH (581—617), though short-lived, also
exchanged embassies with the Sasanian Empire. During
the Yangdi's reign (605—618), probably in 616 or 617
(Harper and Meyers 1981, 22, note 53), Li Yu ZE 5 was
dispatched to Sasania and in return the Sasanian Empire
sent their own agents to offer tributes (Z. Wei 1973,
83.1857).
The early Tang witnessed another wave of frequent
contacts with the Western Regions. In the twelfth year
of Zhenguan Hii reign (635), Emperor Taizong issued
an edict to allow the (Sasanian) Persian monk Rabbon
to preach Nestorianism and establish the first Nestorian
temple, staffed with 21 priests, in Chang'an (P. Wang
1955, 49.864).
According to records, the exchange of embassies is
portrayed also in Tang paintings, such as Wanghui tu £.
lal [The gathering of kings] by an unknown artist (G.
Sima 1956, 193.6068), Waiguo tu HE [The painting
of foreign states] and Bunian tu 178E] [On the sedan
chair] both attributed to Yan Liben BIO A (600—673) (J.
Yu 1985, 1439). Unfortunately, only Bunian tu, depicting
Emperor Taizong in audience with Tibetan envoys, has
survived. The mural excavated from the tomb of the crown
prince Zhanghuai GIS AX (706) showing the “Tang
officials greeting foreign envoys" cannot be identified with
certainty as a Sasanian Persian envoy (Ji 2006, 150 f.).
The seventh century witnessed major political power
changes, which greatly affected the contacts between
the Tang and Sasanian Empires. The newly established
Tang dynasty firmly grasped power and led China
toward prosperity; the Sasanian Empire was in a state of
emergency. When Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651) assumed
the throne in 632, attacks from Muslim Arabs began
(Litvinsky 2002, 385-88). He sent an envoy to the
"Chinese court for offering tribute" in 639 (Q. Wang
1960, 970.11399), which seems a normal occurrence in
the manner of Chinese historical records, but by that time
the Sasanians had already lost several battles with the
Muslims. In 642, Yazdegerd III amassed all his troops in
Nihavand (modern Hamadan province in Iran) to launch
a major campaign. Again he was defeated in this decisive
battle. After that, the Sasanian king lacked the power
to organize any meaningful resistance, and the counter
attacks were handled locally. The king sent envoys two
years in a row, in 647 and 648 (Q. Wang 1960, 970.11400
f), to desperately “seek assistance from the Tang court
with the hope to form a new army" (Chavannes 1900,
12 According to Jin, the painting was originally painted by Xiao Yi
around 540, and not by Yan Lide or Yan Liben of the early Tang. The
extant painting now in the collection of the Nanjing Museum is a Song
copy.
Xiuqin Zhou
172; Litvinsky 2002, 390; Rong 2002, 59). In 651, the
king fled to Merv in Tokharistan and was murdered there. "°
His successor, Peroz III (d. 677), in exile in Tokharistan,
sent envoys to China to relay the situation. and
undoubtedly sought help in the fifth year of the Yonghui
7k ft reign (654) and in the first year of the Longshuo HE
i] reign (661) (Rong 2002, 59). In 661, as a response
to these requests, the Tang court established the city,
Jilingcheng JS [Zaranj], in Tokharistan, as the
Bosi Dudufu JEJE [Sasanian Persian Military
Commander Prefecture], and Peroz III was appointed
as the Dudu AIS [Military Commander]. Peroz sent
envoys to Chang'an in 667 and 671. He came himself to
the court in 673 and returned to Chang'an in 674. He was
given the title Youweiwei jiangjun 43 Af FR [General
of the Right Awesome Guard] and died in Chang’an in
677. His successor, Narsieh (d. 708), who remained in
Chang’ an, inherited the throne in 678. One year later, the
Chinese army accompanied Narsieh in order to restore
him to the Sasanian throne" and stopped in Tokharistan,
where Narsieh fought against the Muslim Arabs for more
than twenty years. In 708 he at last returned to Chang'an
and was given the title Zuoweiwei jiangjun 7c RTE E.
[General of the Left Awesome Guard]. After his death in
708, his descendants and entourage remained in China
(Liu 1975, 198.5312, 5313; Rong, 2002, 59 f.).
The official documentation in support of the contact
between China and Parthia, and later the Sasanian Empire,
is vast. These contacts can be described as frequent and
official. This long-honored relationship and possible
political alliance must have led the Sasanian kings and
princes to turn to China to seek both military help and
life-long exile in the middle of the seventh century. The
history of contact lasting over one thousand years must
also be a history of cultural interaction. It is under this
historical context that we will discuss further the two
already introduced topics, the influence on the sculptural
form and the crenellated mane.
Discussion on the Sculptural Form
Although there is no literature directly linking the
Emperor Taizong's six stone horses to the Sasanian rock
reliefs, the subject of the mausoleum or stone horses
could have been brought up during these frequent court-
level contacts. Likewise visual models of such imagery
could have passed into court treasuries at many points
3 According to Litvinsky (2002, 390), there are several explanations to
Yazdegerd III’s death. Yazdegerd III fled to Merv, but was in conflict
with the Merv governor (kanarang), who decided to leave Sasania and
collaborate with the Turkics. Yazdegerd III demanded high taxation from
the Merv governor and also planned to replace him. People in Merv
generally did not welcome him. With no army and only few bodyguards,
Yazdegerd III fled and hid in a Christian Mill where he was spotted and
murdered by the Mill owner. Yazdegerd III’s death marked the official
end of the Sasanian Empire.
^ Jiu Tangshu (Liu 1975, 84.2802) reveals that Chinese used the
escorting of Narsieh to Iran as a pretext in order to conquer two western
tribes on the way.
190
because of that contact. When Emperor Taizong ordered
that the design for his mausoleum include real images
of his favorite war chargers, it would have been natural
that his ministers would contribute their input, or those
in charge of the project would seek suggestions. Possibly
they sought opinions from foreigners including Sasanian
envoys. The curiosity of the Chinese people toward the
people from the West was not limited to their rare or exotic
products, but also extended to their culture, particularly
their burial practices. The narrative of Zhang Qian's
exploration, as recorded in Shiji, touches on multiple
aspects of the social life of the Anxi people [Parthian],
which included the issuance of a new coin at the death of a
king. Weishu introduces the Sasanian memorial services in
which they dedicated the “twentieth day of the first moon
to the sacrifice to the ancestors" (S. Wei 1974, 102.2272).
Xiao Yi or Emperor Yuan of Liang wrote in the preface to
the painting, Zhigong tu, now at the Nanjing Museum, as
follows:
UA fe, HER EUR, Rea, WAER, 3
POA, TSR PY, SHARM. ER. DA uH
AB, AWE, BEI. DRL. AREA
Eza (Jin 1960b, 15).
Your vassal, who is a man of no ability, was appointed
to guard the upper reaches [of the Yangtze River],
where the songs of the Yi people flow as if from the
pen of a master, and the hu people gather from distant
places. [They] sincerely submit to [Your Majesty],
coming and going at Jingmen along the river. [I]
observe their appearances and have them tell their
customs. If someone coming directly to the capital to
present tribute does not arrive in Hannan, I will gather
information separately to widen the knowledge, for that
which is named Zhigong tu (T. Yu 2004, 341).
If the court officials who were sent as envoys explored
the funeral customs of the people who lived in the West,
there is no reason to doubt that other court officials would
have had the same curiosity when they encountered
foreign envoys in China. The Sasanian envoy was likely
depicted in a mid-sixth century Chinese painting and the
Sui delegation paid an official visit to the Sasanian court
in 616 or 617. The subject of Sasanian rock reliefs could
have been mentioned during such contact.
More than a few court officials served as envoys to the
Western Regions during the Northern Dynasties. Some
of them might have had opportunities to visit the famous
sites of Naqsh-i Rustam and Naqsh-i Rajab and shared
descriptions of them on their return to China. Official
envoys from Sasania also could have spread information
about Sasanian rock reliefs. It should be noted that the
necklace found in the tomb of Li Jingxun ZEiffolll (599—
608), believed to be of western Central Asian or possibly
Sasanian origin (Harper 2006, 116), landed in the hands of
the Sui royal family. Therefore, it is possible that various
art forms, including knowledge of the Sasanian relief,
could have been introduced to China by Sasanian envoys
Emperor Tang Taizong 5 Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art
or by Chinese officials who had been there even before
Emperor Taizong's reign.
There is also the possibility that the relief format could
have been made known around the time when Taizong and
his court were discussing burial plans for two members
of the royal family, his father in 635 and his empress in
636. Taizong and his officials might have encountered
Sasanian ideas and objects through contact with the
Nestorians who built the Nestorian temple in 635, as well
as during the Sasanian embassy in 639. People who traded
Sasanian products to the Chinese were a diverse group.
Besides official envoys, “many of them [were] Nestorian
Christians” (Harper 2006, 116). Polo originated in Persia,
was introduced into China during the Emperor Taizong’s
reign, and soon became popular among the Tang elite (Luo
1955, 136-66; Xiang 2001, 79-81).
In addition to the exchange of ideas on the court level,
there might have been contacts on other levels, such as
among artists. Chinese carvers must have also encountered
Buddhist monks—some of whom might have been “trained
foreign sculptors,” strong in Greco-Roman backgrounds.
As Paludan writes, at Dunhuang 2 in Gansu Hi and
Yungang ZZ fi] in Shanxi Ur Vli, the Gandharan style came
along with “motifs from Sasanian Persia.” At Longmen
HEP in Henan jr}, foreign features including “Greek,
Persian and Central Asian motifs” are evident (Harper
2006, 205 f., 211). The stone columns erected along the
spirit road of the tombs of the Southern Dynasties show
the Greek, Persian, and Indian art forms (Lin 1984, 55),
such as concave fluting, possibly introduced originally by
“foreign sculptors imported to work on the great northern
Buddhist sites (Paludan 1991, 76).”
The artist Cao Zhongda DIE. who was active during the
Northern Qi 462$ (550—577) and developed his own style
featuring Western Regions’ techniques, chaoyi chushui
$ KHK [Cao's treatment of garment and its folds like
floating water], was originated from the Cao state #
of the Western Regions (J. Yu 1985, 894). Several late
sixth century stone sarcophagi, carved in low relief, were
recently excavated and most likely commissioned by non-
Chinese. The couch of An Qie fill ((517—579) depicts
the funerary ceremony of Zoroastrian, a national religion
under Sasanian rule. The sarcophagus of Yu Hong E£5/
(ca. 550—592) is decorated entirely with Sasanian Persian
scenes. Yu Hong was from the Yu State, probably in
Central Asia. He was Rouran's #8 envoy to Sasanian
Persia, and later served in the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou,
and the Sui courts (Shanxi et al 2001, 50).
There were also artists who had access to or were directly
connected with the Western Regions and provided services
to Emperor Taizong. Yan Lide [E] CH (d. 656) was in
charge of the construction of Zhaoling and certainly had
a role in designing the form of the stone monuments and
their placement at the mausoleum. His brother and court
painter, Yan Liben, as mentioned above, is said to have
made the drawings of the horses that were to be carved in
191
the relief format. Both of them were the successors of their
father, Yan Pi IN (563-613). Yan Pi, who was married
to a Northern Zhou princess, possessed excellent painting
and craft skills. Serving both the Northern Zhou and Sui
courts, he was a contemporary of Yu Hong, the owner
of the sarcophagus with Sasanian Persian imagery. Yan
Pi could have encountered non-Chinese people, such as
Yu Hong or others from the Western Regions, and shared
what he learned with his two sons.
Yuchi Yiseng Jn} i ZÑ (fl. 639—710), whose fame is said
to have equaled that of Yan Liben (Jin 1960a, 64; Sirén
1973, 72), and who was also active during the Taizong's
reign, was a native of Yutian or Tokharistan. He was re-
commended by the king of his state to Emperor Taizong
for his “danging qimiao" PE éi nk [marvelous red and
blue] painting skills. It has been suggested that he was
sent by the King of Yutian to serve the Tang court as a
hostage (Q. Wang 1960, 968.11378; Ouyang and Song
1975, 221a.6235). He must have been an artist, however,
serving either in Yutian or in Tokharistan before he came
to serve in the court of Emperor Taizong during the first
thirteen years of the Zhenguan reign (J. Yu 1985, 794—795;
Jin 1960a, 64). Edward Schafer (1963, 32) unambiguously
claims that he was a foreigner, a Khotanese, with the Saka
name of Visa Irasangä and the Chinese name of Yü-ch’ih
I-seng [Yuchi Yiseng]. He came to the Chinese court
about the middle of the seventh century, recommended by
his king, bringing with him a new painting style of Iranian
origin, in which modeled and shaded polychrome figures
seem to stand out in relief, or even to float free from their
background.
Schafer’s view is supported by Zhongguo meishujia
renming cidian ‘PRI S AZ EHE [Dictionary of
names of Chinese artists]. There it is stated that his works
on figures, flowers, or birds “resemble things foreign and
are alien to Chinese appearance” (J. Yu 1985, 794). Yuchi
was raised in the Western Regions where he developed his
artistic style. He would have been familiar with artistic
styles and skills that prevailed in the Western Regions,
and the famous Sasanian rock reliefs may have been in
his realm of study. He may have visited or had contact
with “his elder brother, who also was good at painting but
did not come to serve the Tang” (J. Yu 1985, 794), and
remained in the Western Regions.
Since Yuchi was a contemporary of Yan Liben at the
Tang court and the construction of Taizong’s tomb was
conducted under government supervision by involving the
best people from all fields, Yuchi might have played a role
in that project. Schafer’s attribution of his roots as “Saka”
and his painting style as of “Iranian origin” clearly provide
a possible link between knowledge of the Sasanian rock
reliefs and the Emperor Taizong’s six stone reliefs.
These examples of interaction between China and ancient
Iran are both numerous and continuous. During the early
Tang, the capital Chang’an was truly cosmopolitan, filled
with foreigners and merchants including many from the
Xiugin Zhou
Western Regions. With this historical context, it is quite
plausible to think that famous sites, like Naqsh-i Rustam
and Naqsh-i Rajab at Persepolis, where Sasanian rock
reliefs are situated, would have been made familiar to
the open and receptive Tang court and subsequently to
sculptors. This could have provided inspiration for the
sculptural form of the Emperor Taizong's six horse reliefs.
Discussion on Crenellated Manes
The historical interaction. described above is not only
valid for the examination of the sculptural form. It holds
equal importance to the discussion of the presentation of
crenellated manes on Chinese and Sasanian horses. As
mentioned above, the styles and treatments of crenellated
manes appearing on the Tang horses demonstrate
similarities with those presented on the “central Sasanian”
silver plates produced through central government-
controlled workshops and the “provincial works” produced
outside of government control. Specific deliberation on
the circulation of Sasanian silver plates will shed light on
this discussion.
“Central Sasanian” silver plates are of extremely high
quality. These magnificent silver plates served varied
functions, including “gifts to high personages” or those
sent “abroad as official gifts” (Marshak 1998, 90; Harper
and Meyers 1981, 127). Most of the Sasanian silver plates
studied have been found outside Iran.
Although there is no way of determining how or when
these plates left the Sasanian Empire, it is quite possible
that they were sent abroad as diplomatic gifts. The plate
depicting Peroz or Kavad I hunting rams (see Figure 11)
“would have served as an appropriate gift from the Persian
king to the Byzantine ruler Zero, who had provided the
ransom demanded by the Hephthalite captors of Peroz”
during the late fifth century (Harper and Meyers 1981,
127).
It is feasible that King Yazdegerd III (r. 632—651) sent
“central Sasanian” silver plates as diplomatic gifts along
with his envoys, who went at least on three occasions, 639,
647, and 648 to plead with Taizong for military assistance
against the Arabs. The most likely occasion on which
to present the silver plates would have been in 639, since
this could predate the stone horse reliefs. Coming empty—
handed does not lead to successful diplomacy.!5
It is also possible that the “central Sasanian” silver plates
were brought to the Chinese court before the Tang, as
Sasanians frequently sent envoys to the courts of the
Northern Dynasties and the Sui dynasty. The Sasanian
'S According to the Jiu Tangshu (Liu 1975: 198.5312), the Sasanian
envoy presented an exotic bluish snake as a tribute to the Tang court
in 647. Chavannes (1900: 172) attributes the tribute of the same bluish
snake by the Sasanian envoy to the year of 638.
16€ J. A. Lerner (2001, 224) states “Only with the upswing in diplomacy
between the Sasanian and Chinese courts does Sasanian art begin to
impact on Chinese art, and then, not until the Tang period."
silver plate excavated from the tomb of Feng Hem SH
2€ (438-501) in Datong, Shanxi (Yuji Ma 1983), depicts
a Sasanian king, probably Bahram I (r. 273-276), hunting
boar on foot (Figure 15). It is suggested that the plate
was presented to Feng after the Northern Wei court had
received it as a tribute; or that the plate was in Qizil first
and then was taken as a trophy by the Northern Wei when
they sacked Qizil (Y. Ma 1983, 12). Harper believes the
plate “was probably made in a provincial Sasanian center
in the east Iranian world" and *may have traveled to China
in the hands of one of the trade or diplomatic missions
to the Northern Wei kingdom in the fifth and early sixth
centuries" (2006, 123 f.).
Silver wares arrived in China by other means in the
beginning of the sixth century. Luoyang qielan ji Ka
Ju SE SC [Record of Buddhist monasteries of Luoyang]
records that Chen FX (fl. 497—524), the Duke of Hejian
Yel fe] -E, while serving as the Governor of Qinzhou ZS
(modern Tianshui X7K area, Gansu HW), sent people
as far as Sasanian Persia for horses. He often showed off
his possession of *more than 100 gold vases and silver
vessels; many urns, plates, and bowls" *all coming from
the West" to the imperial members (Yang 1987, 4.12). In
all likelihood these included Sasanian silver plates.
One or more of these sources might be responsible for
circulating the “central Sasanian" silver plates or spreading
the iconography on silver plates to China, thus making the
“central Sasanian” silver plates a reference for the design
and decoration of the six stone horse reliefs.
The provincial silverplates, imitations of "central Sasanian"
plates, were made by princes and local noblemen since the
630s when the Sasanian government became weak. These
Figure 15. Sasanian-style silver plate from the tomb of Feng
Hetu, Datong, Shanxi. Northern Wei, 501. Collection and
courtesy of the Shanxi Museum, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Emperor Tang Taizong 5 Six Stone Horse Reliefs and Sasanian Art
plates still carry traditional royal images and attributes, but
with modifications and usually of lesser quality (Harper
and Meyers 1981, 8, 138). They show manes crenellated
into single or multiple tufts and in square or round shapes.
Their variants also appear in Tang China on the stone and
terracotta horses datable to the Gaozong's reign and later.
This phenomenon coincided with the political situations
of these two empires during the second half of the seventh
century.
The Sasanian Empire officially ended in 651, but their
princes kept the Sasanian court alive in other parts of the
world, such as Chang'an, Tokharistan and Tabaristan,
until the eighth century. Several Sasanian princes and their
entourages were in exile in China and probably resided
in a Persian community, one of the foreign communities
established in Chang'an. A Zoroastrian or Nestorian
temple was requested in 677 by Peroz III to be built for
their religious activities (Rong 2002, 72). Noticeable
figures originating from Iran were not few. Abraham or
Wahram [i] Së (616-710) was the grand chief of the
Sasanian Persian state in Tang China (Rong 2002, 65;
X. Ma 2002, 101) and Li Yuanliang 42707 (723-784)
was a Tang military leader recorded in the Tang official
history (Ouyang and Song 1975, 156.4901; Zhang 2003,
1080-1084). Study of the epitaph of Li Su 4° % (744-817)
reveals that he might be associated with, if not directly
descended from Peroz and his queen, both of whom died
in Chang’an (Rong 2001, 245). The epitaph of the wife of
Su Liang SECH (d. 874) claims that the deceased and her
husband, Su Liang, were both the descendants of Sasanian
noblemen (Shaanxi 1964).
These princes and their entourages maintained
communication between Chang’an and their provisionary
government headquarter in Tokharistan and possibly had
contact with other fleeing court members in the West.
While in Tokharistan, as mentioned above, Peroz III sent
envoys to Chang’an in 667 and 671. He came himself
to the Tang court in 673 and returned to Chang’an the
following year and eventually died there. His successor,
Narsieh (d. 708), was in China before returning to
Tokharistan for twenty years. He, too, eventually
returned and died in Chang’an. Other Sasanian royal
family members held court in Tabaristan, a region along
the southern coasts of the Caspian in Iran, until 765. The
fleeing courts sent envoys to the Tang court for as many
as seventeen times between 719 and 771 (Rong 2002,
60 f.). Such communication and travel would have given
them access to provincial Sasanian silver plates. They,
in turn, may have facilitated the circulation of provincial
silverwork and their iconography to China. This makes
it reasonable to assume that the direct contact with
Sasanian princes and their followers was responsible
primarily for the diffusion of the provincial silver plates
depicting crenellated manes to Tang China. There may
be other possible agents, such as the Chinese who fought
in the West, or who escorted the princes to the West,
or other people traveling to the West who could have
brought back provincial silver plates.
193
The spread of the crenellated mane as depicted on the silver
plates and the actual practice of the crenellation, however,
are two separate matters. Based on the interpretation of
his name Shifachi TIR, one of Emperor Taizong’s six
horses, was believed to have come from Sasanian Persia
(Yi 1985, 119). This attribution is subject to further
review, however, importing horses from the Sasanian
region was not impossible as it was one of the 34 places
in the West from which the Tang imported horses (Ma
and Wang 1995, 70 f.). The ancient Iranian peoples of the
Assyrian and Achaemenid periods trimmed their horses’
manes, as revealed on many stone reliefs. The presence
of crenellation on the Sasanian silver plates indicates that
Iranians had started practicing crenellation during the
Sasanian period, or simply copied patterns of crenellation,
or used mane cover, purely for embellishment.
It is plausible that direct contact between the Sasanian
Empire/post-Sasanian period and China might have
made the artistic presentation of crenellation on the
“central Sasanian" silver plates and “provincial works”
known to the Chinese court and elite and consequently
inspired the creation of various styles of crenellation in
art works in China. It is doubtful, however, that such an
interaction would have had much bearing on the practice
of crenellation at the Tang state-run pasturelands. There
is evidence that non-Chinese played a major role in horse
management under the Tang, but such evidence lacks
support for a visible role attributed to Sasanians. Rather,
it reveals a significant role played by other ethnic people,
such as Turkics, a topic to be addressed separately.
Summary
The study facilitates the reconstruction of the cultural
interaction between ancient Iran and China. This is most
clearly visible in Emperor Taizong's stone horse reliefs. It
is evident that Sasanian art had exerted a strong influence,
either in their sculptural composition or embellished horse
motifs. As there are striking similarities in the sculptural
forms and horse representations in Sasanian rock reliefs
compared to the Emperor Taizong's stone horse reliefs. The
documented continuous and frequent historical contacts
between ancient Iran and China at different periods and
levels might have made the famous Sasanian rock reliefs
known to the open and receptive Tang China, and provided
inspiration for the composition and representation of the
Emperor Taizong's stone reliefs.
The similarities in treating the manes on the “central
Sasanian" silver plates and the Emperor Taizong's six
stone horses strongly suggest a close connection. Direct
and indirect sources might be responsible for circulating
the Sasanian silver plates or spreading the iconography of
mane treatment on silver plates to China, which could then
serve as an artistic reference to the design of the Emperor's
stone horses. The presentation of the crenellated manes on
the Tang relics after Emperor Taizong's era coincided with
those styles depicted on the post-Sasanian "provincial
works." These resemblances resulted from a typical
Xiuqin Zhou
political situation in China and Sasania and the special
interaction and relationship forged during that time.
Artistic Sasanian influence was successfully absorbed
by the Chinese based on their established stone carving
tradition, featuring line and painting-like effect and
prevailing since the Han dynasty. Those Chinese art works
integrated with non-Chinese elements are exceptional
and carry extraordinary cultural significance. Emperor
Taizong's six stone horse reliefs are such excellent
examples, showcasing the encounter of the two cultures,
Sasanian and Chinese.
Interacting with non-Chinese cultures was the norm for
several thousand of years of Chinese history. The foreign
influence was not the exclusive privilege of Sasanian art,
however, this study helps to support the statement that
“Nowhere is the appeal of Sasanian art more remarkable
than at the imperial court of Tang China, from the seventh
to the ninth centuries" (Azarpay 2000, 71).
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr. Sandra L. Olsen for reviewing my paper
and inviting me to the symposium “Equids in the Ancient Near
East, Egypt, and Arabia," held at the International Museum of
the Horse, Lexington KY in June 2010, where the paper was
presented. Special thanks go to Dr. Katheryn M. Linduff for
her several reviews and comments. The paper is adapted from
a section in Chapter Five of my dissertation (University of
Pennsylvania, 2008).
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Yi Mu ZA. 1985. Zhaoling liujun shihua HE z7s 52 sb
am [Historical Tales of the Six Horse Stone Reliefs
from Zhaoling]. In Tang Taizong yu Zhaoling JB AAR
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Yu Taishan 42 Adr. 2004. A History of the Relationships
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196
Index
Museums, Collections and Institutes
AMMAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
Drawing showing a hunter mounted on an equid
identified in the inscription as /— r, possibly on a
saddle-cloth (J. 14537), 154
ANCIENT ORIENTAL MUSEUM (Istanbul). See MUSEUM OF
ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS (Ankara).
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM HERAKLION
Wall painting from the palace at Knossos, Crete, 14th
c. BCE showing rein, yoke saddle, upturned terminal
on leg of yoke saddle, finial of yoke saddle, neckstrap
and backing element, 89
ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM (Oxford)
Bridle bit, copper/bronze from Tell el Amarna
(1933.1209), see also 40 f., 86, 89
Chariot, detail of cylinder seal (1920.25), 38
Chariot wheel, fragmentary, from tomb of Amenophis
III, Thebes (1923.663), 40
Linear B tablet Sc 238 (Ideogram *240) from
Knossos (1938.704), 89
Tilt wagon, terracotta model from Hammam
(1913.183), 34
BritisH MUSEUM (London)
Assyrian bridle with bit cheekpieces made from antler
tines (detail of a relief in the palace of Ashurbanipal,
668—630 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq (BM 124875), 92
Assyrian chariot horse wearing a bit with cheekpieces
in the form of a horse (detail of a relief in the palace
of Sennacherib, 704—681 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq (BM
124783), 92
*Battle cars' shown on the *Standard of Ur' (BM
121201), 33, 98
Cheekpiece from Luristan (Iran) in the form of a
horse (BM 1359-72), 92
Captured chariot from Elam (detail of a relief of
Ashurbanipal, 668—630 BCE), Nineveh, 94
Divine driver in a “platform car" shown a Syrian seal
impression, 18th c. BCE (BM 16815a), 86
Great Gates of Shalmaneser from Balawat, 91
Ivory gaming box from Enkomi (detail), Cyprus,
British tomb 58 (BM 97/4—1/996), 89
Horses being harnessed to a chariot (detail from a
relief of Ashurbanipal, 668—630 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq
(BM 124859), 94
Two riders on what are described as 7 pursuing a
camel (possibly a camel raid) (BM ME 122182), 160
Silver and electrum terret from Ur (BM 121438), 32
Stone plaque depicting a Sledge (BM 128858), 29, 59
Yoke of an Assyrian chariot being transported on a
boat (detail of a relief of Ashurnasirpal II, 885-859
BCE), N.W. palace, Nimrud, Iraq (BM 118908), 91
197
Yoke, four—horse fitted (detail on a relief of from
Sennacherib, 704—681 BCE), Nineveh, Iraq (BM
123339), 94
BROOKLYN MUSEUM
“Soldiers in Chariot", c. 1352-1336 BCE: Limestone
with modern paint (60.28), 77 f. n.33
“A Span of Two Horses Pulling a Chariot", same
period: Gypsum plaster, painted, (54.186), 7 f. n.33
Six-spoked chariot wheel dated into the first
millennium (37.1700E), 7 and n.33; 126
Cyprus MUSEUM (NICOSIA)
Terracotta model chariot from Ovgoros, Cyprus 7th c.
BCE. (1781+798),
EGYPTIAN NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM (Cairo)
Chariot A5 from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamün (KV 62),
26
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL History (Chicago)
‘Platform car’, terracotta model from Kish (FM
229170), 34
FREER GALLERY OF ART, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
(Washington, DC),
Silver plate with horse showing a mane with
three curved tufts, Sasanian period, fifth century
(F1934.23), 186
GANSU PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, LANZHOU
Flying horse of Gansu, bronze, from tomb in Wuwei,
Gansu, 171
GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM (Giza)
Chariot A6 from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamün (KV 62),
26
GRIFFITH INSTITUTE (Oxford)
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE TOMB OF TUT ANKHAMUN
(KV 62)
Chariots Al, A2, A4 from the tomb of Tut‘ankhamtn
(KV 62), 16
Chariot material deposited in the Treasury in situ.
Close-up of dismantled Chariots A5 and A6 in the
northwest corner along the north wall, 14
General view towards the south wall of the
Antechamber showing the dismantled chariots in situ
along the east and south walls, 14;
IRAN BASTAN MUSEUM (Teheran)
Bronze tyre in segments, from Susa, 36
Two-wheeler with ‘cross—bar’ wheel, cylinder seal
from Tepe Hissar, 36
ISTANBUL ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUMS
Racing quadriga on a marble funerary stele from
western Anatolia, Turkey. Roman period, ca. CE 200,
95
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRAQ (Baghdad)
*Straddle car.’ Copper model from Tel Agrab (31389),
31
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
Shield-shaped blinker from Room S.W. 37, Fort
Shalmaneser, Nimrud, (65201), 93
Terracotta model from Tulul el-Khattab (87213), 34
Autographs of the texts (ND 2672, ND 2727), 78
Louvre (Paris)
Head of an herbivore in profile to the right with a
frontal whorl of hair at the top of the head. Shell inlay
from Susa no. 4899 (Sb 5630), 103
Orthostat (limestone) from Harput (Elâzığ) in eastern
Anatolia (Neo-Hittite) showing king Maritis of
Malatya in his chariot hunting a stag with his chariot
driver (AM 255)
Susa, Acropole area. Shell inlay (Sb 5631), 97
Tomb K, east of the Apadana, Susa. Six—part copper
tyre (Sb 6829), 99
LUXOR MUSEUM
Chariot A4 from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamün (KV 62),
16
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF Art (New York)
*Battle car', copper/bronze model (66.15), 32
Harnessed horse. Detail of a vase painting
(amphoroid krater), probably from Maroni, Cyprus
(74.51.964), 90
Proto-chariot. Detail of cylinder seal impression
(66.245.17b), 37
Silver plate with horse showing a mane with three
curved tufts. Sasanian period, fifth century, Fletcher
Fund, 1934 (34.33), 186
Ivory frontlet, 8th century BCE, from Room S.W. 37,
Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud (61.197.5), 94.
NORBERT SCHIMMEL COLLECTION:
*Horses Harnessed to a Chariot", ca. 1353-1336
BCE, Limestone, paint (1985.328.18), 7 n.32
"Chariots with Court Ladies", same period and
material (1985.328.18), 7 n.32
*Heads of Two Horses and a Charioteer", same period
and material (1985.328.20), 7 n.32
*Galloping Horses", same period and material
(1985.328.1), 7 n.32
Silver gazelle, Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BCE)
(47.100.89), 104 with n.57
THE PIERPONT MORGAN LIBRARY (New York)
‘Battle car’ with spoked wheels. Cylinder seal
(Morgan Seal 893), 37
MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI FIRENZE
So-called ‘Florence Chariot’ (2678), 9 f., 25
MUSEUM FUR ISLAMISCHE Kuwsr (Berlin)
Ninth-to tenth-century CE bowl from Nishapur,
Iran, showing an apparently “deep-chested” horse
(I. 11/62), 152
MUSEUM OF ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS (Ankara)
Orthostat with chariot and lion hunt scene orthostat
(12245), formerly in the Ancient Oriental Museum,
Istanbul (7704), 8
MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY AT HARVARD UNIVER-
SITY
Division of skeletal remains from El-Kurru, 138 (see
also SUDAN NATIONAL MUSEUM)
MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES (Cairo)
198
Blinker decorated with gold on gesso. Bottom: bridle
bosses. All from the tomb of Tut‘ankhamin, Thebes,
Egypt, 14th c. BCE
Chariots from the Tomb of Tut'ankhamün (KV 62),
15 (Table 1)
Check rowel [620 (120)], 89
Yoke saddle with calcite finial from one of
Tut ankhamün's chariots, Thebes, Egypt, 14th c.
BCE, one of a pair (158, 167).
MUSEUM OF FINE Arts (Boston)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY-BOSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
EXPEDITION
Beads with ankh and wedjat designs from Ku 210
(MFA 19.2874), 145
Bead net from the horse buried in grave Ku 201
(MFA 21.10560), 143
Plume holder for a horse (MFA 23.877), 146
String of bronze ball beads (MFA 21.10568), 144
String of faience cartouche beads (MFA 21.10565),
145
String of faience floral pendants (MFA 21.10567),
145
String of wedjat eye and cowrie shell beads (MFA
19.2876), 145
MUSEUM OF THE QIN SHI HUANG TERRACOTTA WARRIORS
AND Horses (Shaanxi)
Terracotta figures of a saddle horse and warrior Qin
Dynasty (221—207 BCE), excavated from Pit 2,
necropolis of Qin Emperor, 176
NANJING MUSEUM
Painting showing tributes being brought to the
Chinese court, including an envoy from (Sasanian)
Persia, originally painted by Xiao Yi around 540 CE,
Song copy, 189 n.12, 190
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM (Athens)
Detail of Attic black—figure neck amphora by the
Piraeus Painter, from Piraeus, Greece, ca. 600—590
BCE (353), 90
NICHOLSON MUSEUM (Sydney)
Greek chariot with central axle and dorsal yoke.
Detail of an Attic Geometric krater, 8th c BCE.
(46.41), 90
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Team of four equids controlled by nose rings. Inlay
fragment from Nippur, Mesopotamia (6N-169), 85
PRIVATE COLLECTION (New York)
Silver plate showing a horse with a mane and one
notch. Post-Sasanian era, ca. seventh century, 187
(Fig. 13)
Silver plate showing a horse with a mane and one
notch. Post-Sasanian era, ca. seventh century, 187
(Fig. 14)
PUSHKIN STATE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Silver plate showing horse with a mane with three
square tuft. Post-Sasanian era, ca. seventh century,
187
ROCKEFELLER MUSEUM (Jerusalem)
Bridle bit from Tell el Ajjul (37.3271), 41, 86
SHANXI MUSEUM (Taiyuan)
Sasanian-style silver plate from the tomb of Feng
Hetu, Datong, Shanxi. Northern Wei, 501, 192
THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM (St. Petersburg)
*Deep-chested" horse from Iran, tenth-century CE
bronze model (HP-1984), 152
SUDAN NATIONAL MUSEUM (Khartoum)
Division of skeletal remains from El-Kurru, 138 (see
also MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY AT HARVARD
UNIVERSITY)
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY
AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Quanmaogua 2% £$, Emperor Tang Taizong’s
favorite horse, Tang dynasty (C396), 182. See also
XT AN BEILIN MUSEUM.
Saluzi vil 3€ 2€, Emperor Tang Taizong’s favorite
horse, Tang dynasty, 636-649 (C395), 182
*Straddle car’, detail of stone plaque from Ur (CBS
17086), 34
VORDERASIATISCHES MUSEUM (Berlin)
Stone horse head from Zinjirli, Turkey, Earlier first
millennium BCE (3004), 93
‘Platform car’, terracotta model from Ashur (Assur S
21701), 34.
Proto-chariot, front screen of fragmentary terracotta
vehicle model from Uruk (VA 11576), 37
‘Straddle car’, fragments of stone relief from Telloh
(VA 2904)
Terracotta plaque with the depiction of a scene from
the poem *Gilgamesh and Huwawa" (VA 7246), 73
Socle of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244—
1207 BCE) from the temple of the goddess Ishtar in
Ashur (VA 8146), 75
Clay prism with dedicatory inscription of the
Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I (1115-1076 BCE)
with reports of his military campaigns mentioning
chariotry (VA 8255), 76
Letter of the Babylonian king Burnaburiash to the
Egyptian pharaoh negotiating a dynastic marriage and
gifts, among them also horses (VAT 152) 75
Administrative notice about the feeding of donkeys,
obverse, (VAT 4693), 82
Cuneiform Texts from Tell Uqair (VAT 5308), 52, 59
Private letter (Old Babylonian) mentioning the
feeding of horses, obverse (VAT 6088) 74 f.
Tablet IV of the so-called Hittite Kikkuli- Text.
HattuSa, 13th century BCE, obverse and reverse (VAT
6693), 81
Aramaic dockets from Ashur with names of
charioteers (VAT 7496, 7497, 7499), 79
Protocols of the muster of horses from Ashur, Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum, 8th century BCE. (Left:
VAT 10473, right: VAT 8878), 79
Clay tablet with the “Dialogue of Pessimism”,
Ashur, 2nd half 1st millennium BCE, Berlin,
Vorderasiatisches Museum (VAT 9933), 80
Document about the employment of donkeys as
draft animals for ploughing, obverse, and detail from
reverse showing the ANSE-sign (VAT 12433), 72
Tablet from Uruk showing a sledge pictogram and
two round impressions above (VAT 14908), 57, 59
199
Index
Archaic cuneiform tablet with the image of an equid
(obverse) from Uruk (VAT 16763), 72
Archaic cuneiform tablet with the image of an equid
(obverse) from Uruk (VAT 17600), 71
XT AN BEILIN MUSEUM
Four stone horse reliefs, 182 n.3
YALE BABYLONIAN COLLECTION
Chariot, detail of cylinder seal (Newell Collection
343), 38
Index of Objects and Names
ABDALLAH IBN YASINTO, see SANHADJA.
ABU SALABIH, 63, 66
AGEMHOYUK, 37
ACHAEMENID, invasion of Greece, 129; Period, 104, 193.
See also CHARIOT, HARNESS.
ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS, 53, 62 63 ff.; catalogue of
sledge-like vehicles with two round impressions
marking wheels, 50—52;
aDNA, DNA, combined use of ancient DNA (aDNA) and
trace element analysis, 107 f.; quality and quantity,
107, trace elements, 108, lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chro-
mium (Cr), 108, sample preparation procedures, 110
AFGHANISTAN, metal tyres, made in segments and held on
by clamps, 36. See also TURKMENISTAN.
AKKADIAN LITERATURE, 74
AL BAKRI OF CORDOBA, 131. See also WAGADU.
ALAINS, See YANCAI.
ALMORXVID, 125, 131
AMARNA LETTERS, 75; from Burnaburiash to pharaoh
negotiating a dynastic marriage and gifts among them
horses, 75; a collar decoration for horses, 125. See
also EL-AMARNA.
AMBLE/AMBLING GAIT, see HORSE TRAINING.
AMENHOTEP III, 137
AMENIRDIS, 137. See also Gop's WIFE OF AMUN AT THE-
BES GOD'S WIFE OF AMUN AT THEBES.
AMULETS, 139 f., 142, 147
AN SuicAo Zi thm (fl. 148-170), a Parthian prince, 188;
lived as Buddhist in an missionary in China, 188;
came to capital Luoyang J&[H, 188; first translator of
Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, 188
AN Omg (Zh), 191
ANDALUSIAN, see HORSE.
ANNALS OF HATTUSILIS I, 80 vehicles reported as be-
ing used in surrounding the besieged city of Ursum
(southeastern Turkey), 39
ANTELOPES, state of Anxi sending an envoy to present
lions and fuba ##4K (antelopes), 188; wild game in
Sahara, 126
ANTLER, 92
ANYANG, HORSE BURIALS, 172 f.
ANXI [Parthia], envoys from the Han court sent to, 188.
See also ANxi, WUDI, ZHANG QIAN and XIONGNU.
APADANA, 95, 99
ARABIAN HORSE, see HORSE.
ARABIAN PENINSULA, 101, 123, 130, 155
ARABIC, classic Arabic lexicographers, 157, dialect,
131, 149, poetry, 150, 156, 158, publication, 15,
vocabulary, 157; 'ayr, 157 f., 163; "rd, 156; ‘rdt,
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
156-158; atn, 155; rd, 156 plural of rdt, n.16, 157,
157 n.25, 163, 167; ‘abgal, 157 n.23; ‘r, 155, 157,
159-164, 167 f.; asil, 139; bagl, 157 n. 23; baglah,
157 n. 23; bigal, 157 n. 23
ARAMAEAN, names of charioteers in protocols for muster-
ing of horses (Sargon II), 78
ARAMAIC DOCKETS, dealing with loans of barley which
contain the same names of charioteers, 78 f.
ARCHAIC TEXTS (from Uruk), “Dating of the Archaic
Text Tablets in Uruk”, 60—62; discussion of signs
ATU 741-745 and 247, 248, pp. 49 ff., Administra-
tive Texts and Lexical Lists, 53; 2N „, GURUS,,
GURUS, ; further Termini technici, 49 ff.
ARMENIAN MONASTERY IN JAFFA, 107 ff.
ARRAPCHAEANS, names of charioteers in protocols for
mustering of horses from the time of Sargon II, 78
ARSLANTEPE, 8, 29 f. and n.9
ART TRADE, 49
ASHURNASIRPAL II,
Ass, 31 and n.14, 35, 38, 74, 101, 103, 123, 126, 149—
167, 172. See also CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES,
Equus, DONKEY, HiNNY, HORSE, HYBRIDS, MULE,
ONAGER, PONY, PRZEWALSKI’S HOSE, STALLION,
TARPAN.
ASSUR/ASHUR, Aramaic dockets from Ashur with names
of charioteers, 79; clay prism with dedicatory inscrip-
tion of Tiglath—pileser I with reports of his military
campaigns including chariotry, 76; clay prism com-
posed to serve as a deposit under the foundations of a
temple in Ashur, 77; clay tablet with the “Dialogue of
Pessimism”, 80; ‘Platform car,’ terracotta model 33 f.,
socle of Tukulti-Ninurta I from the temple Ishtar, 75.
See also ARAMAIC DOCKETS, CHARIOTEER, DIALOGUE
OF PESSIMISM.
ASSURBANIPAL, ASHURBANIPAL, 80, 92, 94
ASSYRIA, 78, 91, 94 f., 138
ASSYRIAN, accountancy 87; army, 77, 93; bas-reliefs of
the ninth and early eighth century BCE, 101; bridle
with bit cheekpieces made from antler tines, 92;
chariot horse wearing a bit with cheekpieces in the
form of a horse, 92; chariot warriors in battle, 91; de-
scription of Nubian horses, 148; equestrian texts, 84;
four-horse yoke, 93, 102; harness, 91; horses being
harnessed to a chariot (detail of a relief of Ashurbani-
pal), 94; Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty, expand-
ing their territory into Libya and the Levant, before
being driven out by an Assyrian invasion and retreat-
ing to Napata, 137; literary sources, 80; reliefs, 16,
43, 77, 93, 95, 141, 158; representations of horses,
143; Royal text documents, 76, 137; scribes, 81;
sculptures, 101. See also CHARIOT, HARNESS, YOKE.
ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY (AAS) ANALYSIS,
112, 116
ArRA-Hasis MYTH, 83; power and strength of a wild
donkey, 83
AURES MOUNTAINS, see NUMIDIANS.
AXLE, 25 f., 30, 32, 34, 38, 40, 59, 63 f.; central, 89 f.;
fixed, 40, 85; non-revolving (in Egypt), 10; rear, 40,
43, 88, 124; revolving, 45; revolved and fixed, 39
AXLE BLOCKS, 19
200
BACKING ELEMENT, 41, 87, 89
BACTRIA-MARGIANA ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX
(BMAC), 99 f.; equids shown with long, falling
manes, small ears, and short heads with large eyes
and small muzzles (not resembling the Susa equid in
conformation), 100
BACTRIAN CAMEL, depiction of a rider on an equid raiding
a Bactrian camel and a dromedary with plaited mane,
151
BALAWAT, Great Gates of Shalmaneser in the British
Museum, 91
BALL BEADS, used for the neck and chest of a horse,
140-142, 144 f., 147
BALLANA, Royal tombs with horse burials, 139. See also
QUSTUL.
BAMBOO, inscriptions on strips found at Xuanquan (LS
Je), in Dunhuang (3/5), Gansu Province, 186; traps,
142
BAN Cuao (HEE), Ban Chao YERE (32-102), general,
stationed in the Western Regions for 31 years, 188;
his troops going as far west as the Caspian Sea
establishing direct military contacts with the Parthian
Empire, 188. See also BAN YONG.
BAN YonG JE (d. ca.128), dispatched by his father,
general Ban Chao, “to escort the embassy from Anxi
to present lions to the central plain [inland]”, 188. See
also BAN CHAO.
BAR MOUTHPIECE. See MOUTHPIECE.
BARBARY Horses, convex profile widely depicted in rock
paintings and engravings, 129; known to the Greeks
as Libyans and later to the Arabs as Barbs, 129; pro-
viding military escort to caravans carrying iron tools
from Carthage southward, 129; West Barb horses
(14.5 hands) traded from Morocco (Barbary) through
Timbuktu, 132
BATTLE, fugitive charioteers escaping from battle, 16;
Hannibal's armies exceeded the Romans in ratio of
horse to infantry in battle, 129; enlisting the Gara-
mantes cavalry of the Fezzan, 129; limitation of use-
fulness of ‘straddle car’ in battle, 43; life-and-death
battle scene of General Qiu Xinggong with Saluzi,
184 [see also Qiu XINGGONG LI" Ze: life-and-
death battles of Emperor Tang Taizong and his war
chargers, 184 [see also Taızong (E zz: “los[ing]
Chinese identity!”, 175; manoeuvrability in battle, 45;
magic performance of the horses in battles depicted in
the Taizong's horse reliefs eulogized by the Emperor,
184 [see also Tarzong (JS K2:)]; replacement of
the donkey and onager and their hybrids by the true
horse, “ass of foreign mountain countries" in battle,
132; mounted equid shown in “heroic” contexts, i.e.
hunting large and/or dangerous beasts, raiding cam-
els, single combat, or a full-scale battle, 150; royal or
high-ranking personage alone in his chariot, attacking
the enemy or game and a risk under the uncertainty
of battle conditions, 48; sacrifice of four horses to the
sun god by the Meroitic king's following a victory in
battle in Herodotus, 147; superiority of the Arabian
horse in lowland Battles, 133; Zhou troops presentng
the court with 4800 enemy heads, 13,000 captives,
300 cattle, numerous horses, sheep, and chariots upon
return from battle, 174. See also TUKULTI-NINURTA.
BATTLE Booty, 77
BATTLE CAMPS, 77
BATTLE CAR, in Akkadian period (ca. 2350-2100 BCE)
driven by deities and pulled by winged monsters, 33;
‘battle car’—like models from Anatolia, 33 n.22; on
cylinder seals, 36; depiction in figured documents of
the earlier second millennium BCE, 36 f.; uncertain
classification of equids pulling ‘battle car’, 37; func-
tioned as mobile arsenals and firing platforms from
which javelins could have been thrown in warfare
or hunting, 33; copper/bronze model (New York),
32; during the Early Dynastic III period depicting
primarily in military contexts and warfare, 32 f.; no
evidence for horizontal movement of poles through
being combined with an undercarriage and a swivel-
ing front axle, 32; high front breastwork of bent wood
topped by an open rail, 32; prestige of, 33; narrow
shape, with room for a complement of two—a driver
and a passenger standing behind him, 32; with spoked
wheels, 37; transport for kings and important offi-
cers, 33; turns only in wide arcs, 32; depicted in the
‘Standard of Ur’, 33 with n.21, 39; use in cult, 33;
civil use, 33; use in warfare (not launched in head-on
charges against well-prepared enemy lines). See also
CHARIOT, WAGON.
BATTLE GEAR, of Esahaddon, 77
BATTLE OF AZ-ZALLAQA (SAGRAJAS), 131
BATTLE OF KADESH, 51
BATTLE OF PERIRE, 125
BATTLE ORDER, in Nuzi, 77
BATTLE SCENE, on Assyrian Palace reliefs, 86; chariot
scene from Syria, 48; Mesopotamian with images of
equid-drawn four—wheeled vehicles, 101
BATTLE TACTICS, and the Assyrian reliefs (difficulties to
deduce the tactics use in actual battles), 77
BATTLE TERRAIN, appropriate terrain: open plains with
room to manoeuvre (by prearrangement), 93
BATTLE WAGON. See WAGON.
BATTLEFIELD, first finding of complete medieval equine
skeletons in a battlefield from the eastern Mediterra-
nean (Vadum Iacub, q.v.), 108; battlefield messenger,
7; impact of wounding of one horse, or its laming
from an obstacle-strewn battlefield, 52; vehicles
moving at varying speed across a battlefield, 42.
BEADS, various forms and colors, p. 140—142: bi-conical
blue faience, 140; blue, yellow and red faience ball
beads, 140; blue and yellow pendant beads shaped
like hanging flower blossoms, 140; faience and silver
Hathor beads, 140 f.; faience ring beads, 140 f.;
faience ball beads in blue, yellow and red used for the
neck and chest of a horse at El-Kurru (Ku 201), 140;
faience ball bead, red-brown, 141; blue, 141; faience
star-shaped ring bead, 141; in the form of the head of
Hathor, 140; large, elaborate bead with a floral motif,
140; silver, 139; silver barrel beads (large, hollow),
141; solid bronze ball beads, 141; star-shaped bead
in blue faience, a bi-conical blue faience bead, 140—
engraved, 92; with ankh and wedjat designs, 145
201
Index
BEDOUN, 84; believing in telegony, 130; breeding of hy-
brids, 158; diet, 130; horses, 151; small round shield
depicted in drawings still used in the early twentieth
century society, 151; society, 151; warriors from the
Arabian Peninsula, 130; way of life, 151
BENTWOOD TECHNIQUE, rediscovered by the German-
Austrian cabinet maker Michael Thonet, 13
BERBER, Arabs displacing Berbers and spreading their
distinct Arabic dialect as far west as the Atlantic,
131; Berber exploitation of Mauritanian copper min-
ing and metallurgy from approximately 500 BCE
culminating in final equestrian occupation, 127;
caravan traders, 130; Carthaginian Hanno attempting
to circumvent Berber monopoly, 129; Garamantes
of the Fezzan, 127; Hispano-Umayyad caliphate
had collapsed in civil war with rebel Berbers, 131;
Libyo-Berber tombs and paintings of mounted war-
riors, 127; middlemen in the gold trade, 129; penetra-
tion from the north, probably for Mauritanian copper
and for gold from the western Sahel, 127; racial war,
131; semi-Islamized Berber groups and establishing
a military camp at Marrakesh, which grew rapidly to
become the Almoravid capital, 131; Zanata Berber
political rivals, 131. See also GARAMANTES.
BERLIN URUK PROJECT, 67. See also URUK.
Bit, 91; advantage to provide the driver with braking
power and directional control while increasing ma-
noeuvrability, 36; Assyrian bridle with bit cheekpiec-
es made from antler tines, 92; bronze bit with jointed
canons (Aegean and the Near East), 86; bridle bit,
35; bit wear, 35; bronze bit with spiked cheekpieces
from Tell el Ajjul, 86; controlling bit or noseband, 35;
elimination of the tendency of the entire headstall to
skew around when one rein was pulled strongly, 36;
divided cheek straps support a bit or a low, reinforced
noseband, 86; from Egypt, 86; evidence from Tell
Brak raises the possibility that in the Near East bit
control was initially not exclusively associated with
horse—drawn chariots, 36; invention of the bit, 85;
primitive bits, 6; from Tel Haror, 38 (found in situ
in the mouth of an equid), 85; special bit with a long
“run—out” mouthpiece used on the trotting track for
a stiff-necked horse that will not yield to its driver's
signal to turn, 86; from Tell el Amarna, 86
BLANKET, four-striped saddle blanket, 182; in New King-
dom Egypt, 87; protective blanket, 95; saddle blanket
shows waving tassels, 183
BLINKER, decorated with gold on gesso, 86; shield—
shaped blinker from Room S.W. 37 (Fort Shalma-
neser), 93; decorated with the wedjat-eye motif or
gilded scales on a wooden base found in pairs perhaps
indicating that they were only used on the outside of
each team, 87; vestigial blinker, 93
BMAC. See BACTRIA-MARGIANA ARCHAEOLOGICAL
COMPLEX.
BoGazk6y, Kikkuli Text, 42 n.50, 81. See also HATTUSA.
Bost, Sasanian Persia (7 Bir. often sent envoys to present
tribute, 189; King of Bosi, 189; mission sent to as
recorded in Chinese historical records, 188
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
Bost Dupuru (1X Bir 41 ER, “Sasanian Persian Military
Commander Prefecture"), 190
Bosses (Decorative discs), from Egypt, 86. See also
BRIDLE BOSSES.
Bovip, 103; 161; bovid draught and nose rings, 32; bov-
id-drawn four-wheelers with a high front breastwork
clearly deriving from that of the traditional *battle
car’, 33; four-wheelers with arched tilts presumably
bovid—drawn, 33; paired bovid draught found among
the funerary assemblage of ‘queen’ Pu—abi in the
Royal Cemetery of Ur, 29; wall painting from Arslan-
tepe may provide the earliest illustration of paired
(bovid) traction, 30 n.9
Bow AND Arrow, chariots, 7, 12, 39, 124; riders, 181,
183;
BREAST BAND, 89 f.; adorned with tassels, 92; low breast
band used with a dorsal yoke corresponds with the
modern breast collar which is in common use today,
90
BREAST STRAB, 89; dorsal yoke with shortened breast
strap, 90
BREEDING, close supervision of horse-breeding practices
of North African desert tribes, 130; cross-breeding,
31; of hybrids among the Bedouin, 158; of horses
in Assyria, 78; of horses in Anyang, 172 f.; during
Shang period, 178; of Gansu horse, 178, Gansu as
prime location for the eventual breeding and handling
of multiple breeds inside dynastic territory, 179;
larger horses, either imported or the result of selec-
tive breeding, depicted on the Assyrian reliefs of the
eighth and seventh centuries BCE, 93; marshes of
Lower Egypt not sufficient for horse-breeding coun-
try which led to continuous imports of horses from
Asia, 125; Qin creating a state agency that specialized
in managing and breeding horses, 176; securing of
stallions of quality for breeding, 133
BRIDLE, 11; bronze bridle from Tel Haror, 39; depicted in
Anatolian glyptics, 37; discoid bone cheekpieces of
soft-mouthed bridle bits found in northern Kazach-
stan, 39; metal, 35; holes of terracotta figurine from
Selenkahiyeh in Syria indicating paired reins belong-
ing to a (bitted?) bridle, 35; Syrian seals depicting
two-wheelers with teams of two equids indicate two
pairs of lines running to the heads of the animals, sug-
gesting the use of a bridle with or without a bit, 38
BRIDLE Brr, 35, 87, 89, 91, 140, 143, 153; Assyrian with
bit cheekpieces made from antler tines, 92; gilded
silver plume holder now in Boston (MFA 23.877)
from horse grave Ku 219, 138; made of gold and
other precious materials, 91; North Africans from
the Aures mountains riding swift, nimble horses
bareback without a bridle, guiding their horses with
body movements, a wither around the neck, and taps
of a rod, 129; plume holder for a horse's bridle, 146;
single bridle of a pony of a Musgu rider from Lake
Chad depicted in the mid-nineteenth century, 128;
single-reined bitless bridle of brass figurine shows a
warrior mounted without saddle or stirrups on a very
small blunt-nosed horse, 129; Six Stone Horse Re-
202
liefs, 182; together with a wide wheel base improved
stability and manoeuvrability and increased the suit-
ability of the vehicle for warfare, 39; use of by the
later third millennium BCE, 38. See also Six STONE
Horse RELIEFS.
BRIDLE Bosses, 11; bridle bosses from the tomb of
Tut‘ankhamin, 86; bridle bosses repeated the Bes—
head motif on the chariot to which they must have
belonged, 87
BRIDLE PLUMES, 87
BRITISH EMPIRE EXHIBITION, 8 n.39
BRITISH TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY, on Neo Assyian
chariots (in the series ‘Inventing the Past: Machines
Time Forgot’, 2003), 43
BRONZE, ball beads, solid, 141 f., 144; blinkers and front-
lets discovered in situ on the heads of horses in the
Salamis tombs (Cyprus), 95; bronze (?) hand chisel,
64; bronze (?) chisel for stone vessels, 64; bronze (?)
chisel for wheels or carts, 64; “bronze (?) spade”, 64;
“type of bronze (?), stick/goad", 64; cheekpieces of
bronze, horn, or antler tines, rod-shaped or curved,
92; AN TAK, MAR “bronze hand shovel”, 66 n.80;
“deep—chested” horse from Iran, tenth-century CE
bronze model (The State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg), 152; ‘Flying Horse of Gansu’ (bronze
statue), 171; images of horses from the tomb of the
King Wuling of Zhao (RAR £) at Handan (HR
DU), 175; horse sculptures in the tomb of the king
of the Zhao State, 175; reliefs on the Great Gates of
Shalmaneser from Balawat, 91; revolving disc with
small bronze spikes mounted on a rigid element fitted
between the yoke and the horse's bridle, 89; ritual
vessel gui (E) trappings of bronze, silver, shell, and
faience, 127; Sumerian sign AN with meaning of a
special type of bronze, 62; ceremonial vessel, Zhou,
174; vessel OR). ding), 175; ritual vessel (3$, zun) in
the shape of a colt, Mei County, Western Zhou, 175;
bronze and terracotta horses from the accompanying
pits of the tomb of the First Emperor of Qin, 185. See
also COPPER/BRONZE.
BUDDHISM, transmission of from Central Asia to China,
Buddhist scriptures, translation into Chinese, 188
BUHEN, see HORSE.
BUNIAN Tu (27% [is], On the sedan chair), 189
BURIAL, of distinctive Arabian-type horses at Mileiha
(UAE), 123; of Anyang, 172 f.; chariot burial, Tomb
175, Dasikong in Anyang, 173; pair of cavalrymen
statuettes for burial display in Warring States Period,
175; of (paired) equids without traces of vehicles at
various sites (Mesopotamia), 35; of Fu Hao (“Lady
Hao"), Yinxu, Anyang. Shang Dynasty, 173; burial
furnishings in at least three tombs in Susa, 98; at El-
Kurru, 137 ff.; burial mound of Maikop, 102; of ox—
drawn wagons with four disk wheels (Steppes), 40;
six stone horse reliefs as integral component of the
Chinese Emperor Tang Taizong’s EA (599-649)
burial complex, 181 ff.; stone sculpture group at the
burial of Han General Huo Qubing Æ X (d. 117
BCE), 182; Taizong and his court discussing burial
plans for two members of the royal family, 191;
western influence on Chinese burial practices, 190;
yoke saddle found in Chinese burials, 88; in early
Zhou period of high-level officials including chariot
and horse sacrifices, 173; chariot burial, Early Zhou
Dynasty, Liulihe, 174; kinship and position in the hi-
erarchy documented by the number of certain artifacts
and the size of the burial in Zhou period, 174
BURNABURIASH, Letter of the Babylonian king Burnaburi-
ash to the Egyptian pharaoh, 75
CALAH HorseE-List, 77 f. n.26
CAMEL, 160 n.35; the Arab's camel could be bled to
provide 5 L of blood per month, 130; camel caravans,
95; camel raid, 160; foal, 130; originally domesti-
cated in Arabia during the second millennium BCE
introduced into the Sahara via the Sinai, 129; impor-
tant role played together with Arabian horse in the
Islamic western expansion (643—647) out of al Fustat,
130; compared to the horse the camel in combat could
not deliver the momentum and impact of the cavalry
charge, 130; riding distances of 65—80 km, 130; on
rock drawings (compared to the horse), 150; being at-
tacked from behind by a hyena (?), 161; role in Bed-
ouin society, way—of-life and identity (the nomad's
capital), 151; unresponsive to riders’ commands, 130;
widely used in plowing and lifting water, 129 n.10
CANONS, jointed. See Bit, COPPER/BRONZE.
Cao STATE (f Bd) of the Western Regions, 191
Cao ZHoNGDa~ (EHE), 191
Cart, “chisel for the wheel or cart, 64; cart or wagon
with 6—part tire from Gonur-depe, Tomb 3225, 100;
monumental cart driven by a coachman from Arslan-
tepe in south-eastern Turkey, 30; pictographic script
including the sign for ‘cart’, 55, 63
CASPIAN STEPPE, bovid—drawn vehicles with and without
tilts, 33. See also TRANSCAUCASIA.
THE Cass GILBERT (130 West 30th Street, Manhattan), see
also CHARIOT, NEO-HITTITE.
CAST INSCRIPTION of wild ass and bronzes from M1,
Jingjiecun, Shanxi Province (Shang Dynasty), 172
Cataracts, Third, 137 (horse burials from Tombos);
Fourth, 127, 137 (resting place of the earliest Napatan
rulers and other members of the royal family); Fourth
and Fifth (kings of Kush defeated by the Ashurbani-
pal in 664 BCE retreated south first to Napata on the
Fourth Cataract, then to Meroe above the Fifth), 127
CAVALRY, bamboo traps set along forest paths to trip
advancing horses (in Africa), 133; Scipio's defeat of
Hannibal's army at Zama in 202 BCE aided by 6,000
Numidian cavalry, 129; deployment of cavalry as a
striking force in his armies by King of Wagadu, 129;
force of 10,000 cavalry commanded by the Mansa
as noted by the Arab historian al-Umari (1340 CE),
132; fully competent mass cavalry achieved in the
first millennium BCE, 123; Garamantes cavalry of
the Fezzan, 129; Ijesa forested country of Yorubaland
proven to be a graveyard for cavalry armies invading
from the north, 133; and infantry in Nuzi, 77; incor-
poration of a large cavalry component into Muslim
armies, 107; evolution of draft and cavalry mounts
in the Han period, 176; Mali cavalry command-
203
Index
ers carrying bows, 132; Muslim cavalry invasions
repulsed by Sura tribesmen riding ponies employ-
ing harrying guerrilla tactics, 133; and parades (in
China), 177 f.; raids by Muslims against the southern
African populations, 132; increasing use of cavalry,
and reduced need for precision steering for the less
manoeuvrable four-horse chariots leading to changes
in their design, 92; limited use in the humidity of the
tropics, 133; momentum and impact of the cavalry
charge of horses compared to camels, 130; pair of
cavalrymen, earthenware with painted surfaces (East-
ern Zhou Dynasty, Warring States), 175; Sanhadja
cavalry attack in the north subduing semi—Islamized
Berber groups and establishing a military camp at
Marrakesh, 131; spread cavalry forces of Islam across
North Africa reaching the Atlantic, 130; use of his
cavalry by Sargon II in his campaign against Musasir
in Urartu in eastern Anatolia described as “full of
bloodlust”, 79; mounted cavalry during the eighth
century BCE playing important part in the Assyrian
army, 93; Sahel cavalry kingdoms of the first— and
second-millennia CE, 125; in the central Sudan,
Kanem-Bornu and Hausa cavalry as the striking force
of their armies composed of free men, 132; principal
cavalry weapons in the Sahel: javelin; broad-bladed
slashing sword for hand-to-hand combat, cudgels
and battle-axes, 132; on slave warriors and merce-
naries in central Sudan, Kanem-Bornu and Hausa,
132; on Tiglath-Pileser Prisma, 79; under Emperor
Wudi (after losing nearly 80 percent of his cavalry
horses in the initial campaigns against the Xiongnu):
adoption of a multi-pronged approach by improving
horse husbandry within the empire and expansion of
equine breeds, 176; periodic fluctuation of the tsetse
belt affecting the kingdoms of the Sahel, resulting
in the weakening of cavalry forces and consequent
decline in military strength; demand of King Wuling
for his army to adopt cavalry and riding gear like the
‘barbarians’ in 307 BCE, 175. See also BATTLE.
CAVALRYMEN, and infantrymen in Nuzi, 77; and chari-
oteers (in Assyria), 78; pair of earthenware cavalry-
men with painted surfaces, Eastern Zhou Dynasty,
Warring States Period, excavated in 1995 from Tomb
2, Xianyang City (Shaanxi Province), 175.
CELESTIAL Horses, Han Period, 176—178
CHALDEANS, names of charioteers in protocols for mus-
tering of horses from the time of Sargon II, 78.
CHANG’ AN (KZ) (PG 2, Xi'an), 176, 181, 189 f.
CHaoyı Cuusnut (X HK), style of the artist Cao
Zhongda (9E 435), 191
CHARIOT, Assyrian chariots, 42, 91; captured chariot from
Elam (detail of a relief of Ashurbanipal), 94; Howard
Carter and Arthur Callender removing one of the
two chariot bodies from the tomb of Tut‘ankhamün,
12; chariot of the Hittites or their allies (on relief
of Ramesses II), 42; chariot body of Tuthmosis IV
(KV 43, CG 46097), 7 and n.26; on cylinder seals,
38; construction, earlier 2"! millennium, 39; progres-
sive series of construction modifications in early 2nd
millennium, 35; cuneiform sign for chariot, 55 n.22;
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
decoration, 42; earliest appearance of the motif of
*the enemy beneath the team's hooves' to return early
in the 2nd millennium with two—wheeled chariot, 33;
earliest archaeological sources, 39; Egyptian chariots
from the tomb of Tut'ankhamün (A1, A2, A3, A4,
AS, A6), 8 ff., 12 ff.; chariot Al part of the exhibition
Ramses Le Grand in Paris in 1976, 8 n.39; Chariot
Al examined by Jean Spruytte, 8 n.39; Chariot Al
illustrated, 16; Chariot A2 (body) examined by Arthur
C. Mace and Alfred Lucas, 13; Chariot A2 illustrated,
16; Chariot A4 part of the exhibition at the Discov-
ery Center in Times Square in New York (2010), 8,
16; Chariot A4, 16; close-up of dismantled Chariots
AS and A6 in the northwest corner along the north
wall, 14; Chariot A5, 16; Chariot A5 later restored by
Nadia Lokma of the Egyptian Museum, 16; sche-
matic overview of Chariot A5, 17; concordance of the
numbering system of the chariots from the Tomb of
Tut'ankhamün (Table 1), 15; stylized colored sketch-
es and line drawings of objects found in the Ante-
chamber, among them parts of the dismantled chariot
bodies of Al-A4, 14; “Appendix” with technical data
on all chariots from the tomb of Tut‘ankhamin, 25 f.;
definition as light vehicle with two spoked wheels,
usually drawn by horses controlled by bitted bridles,
and carrying one or more standing riders, 35; in the
*Dialogue of Pessimism", 80; Etruscan chariot in
the Metropolitan Museum, 8; horse and chariots as
exotic booty in Zhou period, 173; Hittite, 42; hunt-
ing, 39; and speakers of Indo—European languages,
39 f.; introduced from the Levant at New Kingdom
Egypt, 40, 42; as a mobile firing platform, 43; ortho-
stat shows king Maritis likely the ruler of Malatya,
8; Sahara chariot, 125 ff.; full-scale experimental
replicas of the rupestrian chariot-drawings, 125;
Shang period, burial, Tomb 175, Dasikong, Anyang
(c. 1250 BCE) including traces of red lacquer and
dark-colored material, 173; status symbol, 173 f.;
Syrian chariots, 42; tracks, King Mu's desire to leave
his chariot tracks everywhere and to have a chariot
pulled by eight semi-divine stallions, 174; chariot
travel, undertaken by Libyans (probably the Niger) as
reported by Herodotus, 127; two—man crew, 38; two-
wheeled chariot inscribed on a small scarab of the
sixteenth century B.C. as first representation of the
horse in Egypt, 7; true chariot, 37, 40; terrain (adopt-
ing the march against an enemy with infantry and 30
chariots described in the clay prism of Tiglath—Pile-
ser I), 77; of Tukulti-Ninurta, 75 f.; types of woods
used for Egyptian chariots, 41; year name, year 15 of
Ur-Namma of Ur (“The year that the chariot of Ninlil
was made”), 74 with n.8. See also BENTWOOD TECH-
NIQUE, BOW AND ARROW, CHARIOT BURIAL, CHARIOT
OF YUYA AND THUYU, “CHARIOT TOMB’ CLAY PRISM
OF TIGLATH-PILESER I, CYLINDER SEALS, CHARIOT
Bopy, EPONYMS, FLORENCE CHARIOT, HORSE TRAIN-
ING, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF FINE ART, NORBERT
SCHIMMEL COLLECTION, TACTICS, TUKULTI-NINURTA,
TACTICS.
204
CHARIOT Bopy, bow cases and quivers of arrows or
javelins attached outside, 43; of Thutmose IV, 7 with
n.26, 11 f.; drawing of the decoration on the left and
right side of chariot body of Tuthmosis IV (KV 43,
CG 46097), 12
CHARIOT BURIAL, El-Kurru horse burials with arrange-
ment of the animals in groups of four suggesting
use as chariot teams, 147; from Liulihe, near Bei-
jing (Early Zhou Dynasty) with five chariots, 174;
Sintashta, impressions two—wheelers left in the soil
by the lower parts of ten— or twelve-spoked wheels
accompanied by horse remains and discoid bone
cheekpieces of soft-mouthed bridle bits, 39 f.
“CHARIOT Toms’, (KV 58) also known as the “Chariot
Tomb" due to gold foils most probably used as part of
harness, 11
CHARIOT OF YUYA AND THUYU, might have been used by
a juvenile or an elderly person, 10; a model of this
chariot in the Metropolitan Museum, 10; rear partially
closed, 10; tomb of Yuya and Thuyu (KV 46) with
placement of the chariot is to the left, 10 f.; its rear is
partially closed, 10
CHARIOTEER, Aramaean, names of charioteers in proto-
cols for mustering of horses (Sargon II), 78; Aramaic
dockets from Ashur with names of charioteers, 79;
chariot driver and charioteer, 87; Etruscan and Roman
racing charioteers, 39; Henri Lhote and Jean Spruytte
documenting the ancient presence of charioteers
and horsemen across the Sahara, 134; horses or
cavalrymen and charioteers in Neo Assyrian times,
78; in Neo Assyrian chariot as described by Layard,
92; pharaoh Merneptah attacked at the Battle of
Perire by a coalition of Libyan, Achaean, and Cretan
charioteers, 125; on Syrian seals, 39
CHECK ROWEL, from the tomb of Tut‘ankhamün, 89
CHEEK STRAPS, see STRAPS.
CHEEKPIECE, 6, Assyrian bridle with bit cheekpieces
made from antler tines, 92; circular, 39, 85; discoid
bone, 39; ends of the (often long) solid or jointed
mouthpiece were inserted in the ch., 41; in the form
of a horse (Assyrian and from Luristan), 92; found
at Nimrud, Samos, and Rhodes, 93; Iliad IV, 140 ff.,
93; metal, 75; rod-shaped or curved cheekpieces of
bronze, 92; use of spikes on the early cheekpieces,
85; spiked cheekpieces from Tell el Ajjul, 86; wheel-
shaped or long rectangular, 41, 86, 92; studs on the
inside (Copper/bronze bridle bit from Tel Haror), 39;
with mouthpiece compose a bridle bit, 35
CHEN (ZR), the Duke of Hejian (JJ fA] £), Governor of
Qinzhou (GIL sending people to Sasanian Persia to
obtain horses, 192
CHIN STRAPS, see STRAPS.
CHISEL, see BRONZE.
CHROMOSOMES, 66 chromosomes: Przewalski’s horses,
64 chromosomes: domestic horses, 65 chromosomes,
101
CHRONOLOGY, absolute chronology in the ancient Near
East, 43; absolute chronology of the Uruk period not
been fully established, 62; Old World chronology, 49;
radiocarbon chronology, 67; relative chronology of
the earliest script, 53; relative chronology of Uruk,
60. See also ARCHAIC TEXTS.
Cray Prism, Tiglath—Pileser I, with dedicatory inscrip-
tion, 76 f., describing the march against an enemy, 77.
CODEX HAMMURAPI, 74 (§ 8, § 224)
COMBAT, camel compared to horse in combat; 130; camel
rider with lances in combat with camels who are
notoriously unresponsive to rider command, 130;
chariot speed in combat revolutionary in warfare,
123; Equestrian Combat of Hormizd II and on rock
relief at Naqsh-i Rustam, 183 f.; equids pulling
war wagons or straddle carts in combat scenes, 98;
hand-to-hand combat and weapons, 132; large-horse
cavalries mow down pedestrian combatants; 133;
light horse-drawn chariot used in combat; 75; Sargon
II taking his “foot-troops, experienced in combat,
walking in difficult terrain and riding on horses when
the way was smooth", 79; single combat on rock art
of the Syro-Arabian Desert, 150; Tiglath-Pileser took
his “warriors trained for successful combat with thirty
of [his] chariots escorting [his] aggressive shock
troops", 77; wagon pulled by bovids, 30; in combat
scenes or parades of booty, 100; wars and combat
between Assyria and Babylon, 75. See also BATTLE.
CONFUCIAN HUMANISM, rise in late Zhou dynasty, 178
CoPPER/BRONZE, ‘Battle car.’ New York, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 32; bit from Tel Haror, 38 f., 85; bit
with jointed canons, known from both the Aegean and
the Near East, 86; bridle bit from Tell el Ajjul, 41, 86;
bridle bit from Tell el Amarna, 41, 86; earliest three—
dimensional evidence for spoked wheels from the
so-called ‘Burnt Palace’ at Acemhöyük, 37 f.; early
utilization of copper and bronze by “Afro—Mediter-
raneans, 126
CRENELLATION, as criterion to establish historical con-
nections, 185; on the “central Sasanian” Type, 186;
origin of Iranian crenellation, 193; horses with
crenellations of irregular shapes, 185; origin with
mobile pastoralists in the steppe, practise borrowed
by Chinese, 185; spread of the crenellated mane as
depicted on the silver plates and the actual practice of
the crenellation to be separated, 193; two waves, 185;
two styles (Type A with three slightly curved tufts in
a row, Type B with single, multiple square or irregular
tufts in a row), 186; stylistic depiction of crenella-
tion on the Tang horses after Taizong’s reign showing
greater variation, 187
Cross—BAR WHEEL, see WHEEL.
CRUSADER’S HORSES, see HORSE.
CUNEIFORM TEXTS, equids mentioned in, 71 ff.; first ap-
pearance of a word for “horse” Ur III period, 123;
Lexical Lists and Administrative Texts from Uruk, 49
ff.
CYLINDER SEALS, of the Akkadian period, 33; horseback
riding on seal from the Akkadian dynasty of Babylo-
nia, 6; impressions from Arslantepe, 29 f.; from the
Old Assyrian trade colony at Kültepe (Kärum Kane’),
36 f.; from level IIIb at Tepe Hissar, 36; in the Jamdat
Nasr style, 29; in the Late Uruk style, 29; recent
bibliographical additions to vehicle representations on
205
Index
cylinder seals or seal impressions, 30; four reins; 85;
Syrian cylinder seals of the 18th and 17th centuries
BCE, 38; with proto-chariot, 37
CYTOCHROME B (CytB), 111
CYTOCHROME OXIDASE I (COI), 111
danging qimiao (OZ Sr 1b), Yuchi Yiseng (WE ZI)
praised for his *marvelous red and blue painting
skills”), 191. See also YÜ-CH’IH I-SENG.
DaroNG Reıcn Cl 189
Dayuan (Ferghana), 188
DECORATIVE Discs (bosses), see BOSSES.
DEREIVKA, horse skeletons, horse skull, 6
Desert, Sahara, 123 ff.; Syro-Arabian Desert, 149 ff. See
Rock Art and SAHARA.
DERSERT KITE, 163 with n.40
DETERMINATIVE. GIS “wooden”, 63; *d" indicating that
the subsequent name is a name for a god.
DIALOGUE OF PESSIMISM, clay tablet from Ashur contain-
ing one of the earliest examples of philosophical
poetry in the ancient Near East, 80. See also POETRY.
DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF CHINESE ARTISTS (Zhongguo
meishujia renming cidian, F [dS rae A ZEHN,
191
DILDULAH, name of a mule owned by the Prophet, a gift
he had received from Egypt, 157 n.23
Disk WHEEL, see WHEEL.
DNA, see aDNA and MITOCHONDRIA DNA.
DNIEPER RIVER, 6
DJEDKARA, 11 % yellow and blue cartouches strung in
original order, Djedkara—in the middle of the string
is a cartouche of Menkheperra (Shebitka's throne
names) [19-4-101 (21.10565 and 19.2875), Ku
211], 142. See also MENKHEPERRA, PLUME HOLDER,
SHEBITKA.
DOMESTICATION, of the donkey, 123; of the horse, 6; horse
remains from Dereivka, 6; of millets and sorghums,
126.
DoNGOLA, fertile Dongola Reach, 137; large horses (15
hands) from, 132, 139; punitive expedition against
Dongola launched by Baybars in 1276 to defeat the
Nubian army, 132; treaty concluded in 642 laying the
foundation for the Muslim slave trade in Africa, 130
DoNcoLAwir Horses, comparison to horses from El-Kur-
ru, well-known in Sudan in medieval times and later,
110. See also HORSE.
DONKEY, administrative notice about the feeding of don-
keys (VAT 4693), 73; in the Atra—Hasis, Epic, 74; in-
scriptions on bamboo strips list tribute of nine horses,
31 donkeys, 25 camels, and one cow, 177; center
for crossbreeding onagers and donkeys identified at
Abu Salabikh, 101; in the Codex Hammurapi (§§ 8,
224), 74; cuneiform sign ANSE, 71 ff.; in cuneiform
texts, 71 ff; distinguished as species and subspecies
in cuneiform texts, 72; domestication of, 123; donkey
genotype, 111; donkey seat, 123; donkey x wild ass
hybrids for which the name was anse-BAR.AN. as
an element in personal names, 72; employment of
donkeys as draft animals for ploughing, 72; equus
asinus, 101, 103, 107; female domestic donkey on
rock art referred to as h—’tn, 150; horses more agile
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
and more sensitive than donkeys, 85; horses and
donkeys side by side since at least the twentyfirst cen-
tury BCE. instruction not to buy a donkey at harvest
time and description that “a vicious donkey hangs its
neck" (in the Instructions of Suruppag), 73; heads of
horses and donkeys buried with vehicles in Salamis
tombs, 95; hybrid, 73 n.6; head of jackass larger than
that of a horse and more like that of a donkey, its
ears slightly shorter, 158; four donkeys or donkey/
onager hybrids yoked abreast, 85; in the Instructions
of Esarhaddon, 77; in the *The Jester", 80; lower lip
of a donkey, 103; name for a God (DINGIR.ANSE =
*God Donkey"), 73; described as *Hero of the along
going young donkey:" (in Sulgi Hymn), 73; Nubian
donkeys, settled on the island of Socotra, 128; off-
spring of donkeys and their fertility, 101; in proverbs
of Sumer, 74; replaced by the true horse (“ass of
foreign mountain countries"), 123; in the rock art of
the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff.; representations of
the domestic donkey in rock art rarer than those of
the horse, 155; skeletal remains of donkeys as part of
combining ancient DNA and Trace Element Analysis
Tested on Israeli Equines from ca. 900-1200 BCE,
107 ff.; two primer sets targeting single point substi-
tution along the mitochondrial genes, cytochrome B
(CytB) and cytochrome oxidase I (COI) designed to
distinguish between horses and donkeys, 111; whorl
of hair between the ears would then be the short stiff
forelock typical of the donkey especially in winter
coat, 103 f.; woman with kithara riding a domestic
donkey or a mule (as depicted on rock art), 155 with
n.9. See also Ass, CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES,
Equus, HINNY, HORSE, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER,
Pony, PRZEWALSI's HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
DorSAL YOKE, see YOKE.
DOUBLE BRIDLE, see BRIDLE.
DRAUGHT POLE, see POLE.
DROMEDARY, See CAMEL.
DUNHUANG (5/8), discovered inscriptions on bamboo
strips, 177. See also PALUDAN.
Eanna (in Uruk), leveling of all buildings in stratum IVa
in the Eanna area, 61; plan of the Eanna excavations,
levels Uruk V-III, 61
EASTERN HAN Dynasty (25-220 CE), contacts with for-
eigners, 188; later years (186-219CE), 171, 177. See
also FLYING HORSE OF GANSU.
EBLA, inlays in composite panels (or mosaics) from, 98;
terms for metal in Lexical Series, 64; parallel entries
of archaic lexical series with KAL (LAK 709B) in
the Uruk and ED IIa, 66; period rendering of the
Sumerian /g/ sound in Ebla (and Presargonic Lagas),
65 n.74
ED III (Early Dynastic III), 98; parallel entries of archaic
lexical series with GURUS and with with ĝuruš
(LAK 709A) in the Uruk and ED IIIa period (Tables
5 and 6), 65; parallel entries of archaic lexical series
with KAL (LAK 709B) in the Uruk and ED Illa, 66.
ELAM, bit wear, 35; captured chariot (detail of a relief of
Ashurbanipal), 94; remains of actual tripartite disk
wheels from tombs, 30
206
EL-AMARNA, Copper/bronze bridle bit, 41, 86; wall
paintings with depictions of chariots, 7 with n. 32 and
33, 88 f. See also METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
(New York), NORBERT SCHIMMEL COLLECTION under
Museums, Collections and Institutes above.
Er-Kunnu, Cemetery 200 at El-Kurru, 138 ff.; Harvard—
MFA Expedition Sudan, Sudan National Museum in
Khartoum, 137 ff.; design of the graves with horse
burials also unparalleled to date, 147; horse buried
standing with their heads facing toward the northeast,
138; the horses of Piye: Remains recorded in the HU-
MFA Object Register in Table 1, 139; the horses of
Piankhy, 139 f.; the horses of Shabaka, 140, Remains
recorded in the HU-MFA Object Register in Table
2, 142; the horses of Shebitka, 140—145, Remains
recorded in the HU-MFA Object Register in Table 3,
142; the horses of Tanwetamani, 145 f.; horse trap-
pings, 139 and passim. See also HORSE.
ENGRAVING. See INSCRIPTION.
Envoy, Anxi sending envoy to offer lions and large birds
from Tiaozhi, 188; Anxi sending envoy to present
lions and antelopes emperor Wudi’s envoy killed,
176 f.; envoys being sent to Anxi [Parthia], Yancai
[ancient name of Alains], Lixuan [Hyrcania], Tiaozhi
[Mesopotamia], and Shendu [India], 188; Chinese
envoys being sent to Sasanian Persia, 189; court
officials serving as envoys to the Western Regions
during the Northern Dynasties, 190; exploring the
funeral customs of the people who lived in the West,
190; Han envoys visiting the kingdom of Anxi meet-
ing 20,000 horsemen on the eastern border, 188; king
of Anxi dispatching envoys, 188; Nestorian Chris-
tians as official envoys, 191; painting Fangguoshi
tu 77 Es [i] [The portraits of envoys from various
states], 189; Peroz III sending envoys to China and to
Chang’an, 190, 193; Persian envoys presenting Saky-
amuni’s tooth to the court (530 CE), 189; Sasanian
envoy presenting an exotic bluish snake as a tribute to
the Tang court, 192 n.16; the fleeing Sasanian courts
sending envoys to the Tang court, 193; possible input
from Sasanian envoys for design of his mausoleum,
190; Sasanian envoy likely depicted in mid-sixth
century Chinese painting, 190; Sasanian envoy and
hypothesis of providing information about Sasanian
rock reliefs, 190 f.; Sasanians sending envoys to
China, 18 f.; Sasanians sending envoys to the courts
of the Northern Dynasties and the Sui dynasty, 192;
“Tang officials greeting foreign envoys”, 189; Tibetan
envoys in audience with Emperor Taizong, 189;
Yazdegerd III sending an envoy to the “Chinese court
for offering tribute”, 189; Yazdegerd III sending silver
plates and envoy, 192; Yu Hong Rouran’s envoy to
Sasanian Persia, 191; under Zhang Qian envoy sent
by the court twice, marking the first official endeavor
of the Western Han (206 BCE-8 CE) to explore the
Western Regions, 187. SEE ALSO FANGGUOSHI TU D
al [The portraits of envoys from various states],
YAZDEGERD III, YU HONG.
EPITAPH, of Li Su Z&3& (744—817), 193; of Su Liang f
a (d. 874), 193
Index
Eponyms (“Jahresnamen”, year names), Year Name no.
15 of Ur-Namma of Ur (*The year that the chariot of
Ninlil was made"), 74
ETHIOPIAN TROGLODYTES, see HERODOTUS.
Eouips, different artistic traditions of equid imagery from
equines, 107 ff.; importance European economy, 107;
importance in transportation, agriculture, and war in
medieval times, 107; Jaffa as a busy melting pot-type
harbor city with equines coming from all corners of
the medieval world, 118; primer sets designed for
Mesopotamia and Central Asia, 101, 103; bridled
equid, 35; control of, 30, 32, 35; in cuneiform texts,
6 n.12, 71 ff.; as decoration on top of Silver and
electrum terret from Ur, 32; “deep-chested”, 152;
depicted in battle scenes stepping over stepping on
fallen enemies, 33; figurines from Selenkahiyeh and
Tell Es- Sweyhat, 35; harnessed in pairs, 30, 85 ff.;
herd animals, 31; hybrids, 156; hybrids in cuneiform
texts, 73 n.6; inlay, 97 ff.; identification of equids on
ancient Near Eastern art, 37; identification of species,
101 f., 103; identification of species in inscriptions on
ancient rock art of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff.;
identification of the equid species among the ancient
studied specimens (Table 5), 114; identification of
species among ancient equid remains using the Real
Time PCR with HRM analysis and direct sequencing
(Figure 3), 114; of the land, 73; from Maikop (stocky
body, thick neck and probably upright mane identified
as a Tarpan), 102 f., 104; jade equids from the Fu Hao
Tomb (OO ZS M5) at Anyang, 172; with long, falling
manes, small ears, and short heads with large eyes
and small muzzles from copper terminal from Gonur,
100; a pin from Khardchakhalif in Tajikistan, unprov-
enanced items associated BMAC culture, 100; with a
plaited mane, 153; with short up-standing manes and
tufted tails in Susa on shell inlay, 98, on ancient rock
art of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 163; nasal bones, 32;
as part of the earlier Proto-Elamite animal world, 97,
104; skeleton, 38; long slenderer necks and low with-
ers, 31; narrow neck, 124; summary of archaeological
equid remains (Table 2), 109 f.; summary of the base
substitutions found in the ERE-1 region among the
studied contemporary equids from Israel (Table 4a),
112; summary of the base substitutions found in the
ERE- 1 region among archaeological equid remains:
Armenian monastery and Vadum Jacob (Table 4b),
113; in ancient rock art of the Syro—Arabian Desert,
149 ff.; in Sulgi Hymns A, B and D, 73 n.6; from
Susa, 97 ff.; teeth, 36; used as draught animals, 31;
vehicles drawn by four equids, 31, 34, 37, 85, 98,
101; woman with a lyre on an equid identified in the
inscription as h- y, 155. See also Ass, BACTRIA-MAR-
GIANA ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX, BURIAL, EQUINES,
Donkey, HINNy, HORSE, HYBRIDS, MULE, NOSE RING,
Pony, STALLION, ‘STRADDLE CAR’, TARPAN.
EQuiNsS, blood samples of modern equines, 108; equines,
horses and mules, originated from three different
sources, 107; of supposedly European origin from the
Armenian Monastery in Jaffa, 118; from a variety of
archaeological sites interpreted as another separate
group of equines of Muslim provenance originat-
ing from different geographical area, 115; exporting
equines in the Near East, the major junction between
Eastern and Western horse breeds, 117; genetic
data yielding information pertinent to the origin of
maximum specificity to equines, 111; primer sets
identifying equines, but not distinguishing between
breeds and species, 108; species identification of the
contemporary equines, 113; three trace-elements
(lead, nickel, and chromium) measured in the bones
of ancient equines, 108; understanding of the roles
of equines in human society, 107; use of equines
in archaeological research in Israel, 107 ff. See
also Ass, CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUUS, DONKEY,
Hinny, Horse, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, PONY,
PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
Equus, Equus africanus (African wild ass), 155; Equus
asinus (donkey),103, 107 ff.; Equus caballus (do-
mestic horse), 103, 107 ff.; Equus caballus ferus
(Tarpan), 102; Equus ferus ferus (Tarpan), 102; Equus
hemippus, (Syrian wild ass), 155 f., 163, formerly
Equus hemionus hemippus, 155 n.12; Equus hemio-
nus (onager, hemione or Asiatic wild ass). 101 f.;
Equus hemionus kulan (Turkmenistani kulans), 155
n.14; Equus hemionus onager (Iranian Onager), 155
n.14; Equus hemionus sp. (Onager), 101; Equus
przewalskii (Przewalski's horse) 101, 172. See also
ASS, CHROMOSOMES, EQUINES, EQUIDS, DONKEY,
Hinny, Horse, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, PONY,
PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
ERECH, 53. See also Un.
ESARHADDON, prism that contains the description of his
arsenal in Niniveh mentioning the horses, mules,
combat chariots, arms, equipment for the battle, booty
of the enemies, 77
EURASIAN SPARROWHAWK (Accipiter nisus), also Gos-
hawk, 178
EXONUCLEASE SHRIMP ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE (HDV
Pharmacia), 112
FACEPIECE, 95
FAIENCE. See BEADS.
FANGGUosHi Tu Ù [Ed fs |i] [The portraits of envoys from
various states] painting ordered by Pei Ziye 34 7 $
(468—530) and attributed to Xiao Yi 384% (508-555),
later Emperor Yuan of the Liang J£ 76i (r. 552-555),
189 f. See also ZHIGONG TU BA ER [i].
FANGLINGCUN (WI BW) in Xushui (487K), Hebei Prov-
ince (northeast), 177
FARA, see SURUPPAK.
FEEDING, administrative notice about the feeding of
donkeys (VAT 4693), 73; private letter from Old
Babylonian times mentioning the feeding of horses
(VAT 6088), 75
FENG Hetu (S3 #138) (438-501), silver plate excavated
from the tomb of Feng Hetu in Datong, Shanxi, 192
FERAL, see HORSE.
FERGHANA, Dayuan (Ferghana), 188; Ferghana continu-
ing to supply the Han court with the best of these
horses, including 2000 ‘ordinary stallions and mares’,
and two celestial horses every year, 177; Ferghana
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
Valley, 171, 178; horses from Ferghana called tianma
(RH, heavenly/celestial horses), 177; renaming of
horses after import from several locations in addition
to Kangju, Ferghana, and Wusun, 177; Wudi learning
from Zhang Qian about tall steeds bred two thou-
sand miles away in Ferghana, 176; Wudi hoping to
bring Ferghana-bred horses to his court, 176; Wudi’s
attempt to trade gold coins for Celestial Horses was
rejected by the king of Ferghana, 176 f.; Wudi com-
manding an army of 60,000 men, 30,000 horses,
100,000 head of cattle, and thousands of donkeys
and camels and marched on Ferghana to return with
steeds, 171, 176; Zhang Qian in Ferghana impressed
with the fine horses of Kokand that ‘sweated blood’,
176. See also DAYUAN, FLYING HORSE OF GANSU,
WUDI, ZHANG QIAN.
FEZZAN, Arab merchants trading “infinite numbers” of
horses to Bornu, 129. See also GARAMANTES.
FINIALS, see YOKE SADDLE FINIALS.
Fily, 153.
FLORENCE CHARIOT, correct reconstruction of the railing
by Anja Herold, 10; found at Thebes during the joint
Franco—Tuscan expedition under J.—F. Champollion
and I. Rosellini 1828/29, 9; Spruytte’s “Rapport sur
le CHAR DE FLORENCE”, 9; the oldest of the eight
(almost) fully preserved light horse-drawn vehicles
from the New Kingdom, 10
‘FLYING HORSE OF GANSU’, 177; attributes: high spirits,
straight neck, broad, slightly shovel-shaped forehead,
flaring nostrils, and high raised tail, depicts the at-
tributes of what became the Arabian breed, 171; Han
period bronze statue (2nd CE), 171; not as tall as the
blood-sweating breed (16.2 hands) from Ferghana,
178; special horse, maybe like the two supplied
yearly from the Kingdom of Ferghana, 178
FOOTMEN, accompanying “battle wagons”, 85. See also
GROOMS.
FORELOCK, short stiff forelock typical of the donkey es-
pecially in winter coat, 103 f.; shown in Figures 5a—b
(drawings of an equid with a plaited mane, and of a
horse with a forelock), 153
FORERUNNERS (Vorläufer), lexical texts from the Uruk
IV period with more or less the same content as the
standardised series, 62.
Fort SHALMANESER at Nimrud, Sargon II (722-705
BCE), 77; ivory frontlet, from Room S.W. 37 at Fort
Shalmaneser, 94; shield-shaped blinker and spade-
shaped blinkers from Room S.W. 37 at Fort Shalma-
neser, 93
Fortress, of Buhen, 137; crusader fortress at Vadum
Iacob, 108; in Tichitt valley (Southwest Sahara), 127
FOUR-HORSE FITTED Yoke, “The Assyrian Four-Horse
Yoke”, 93 f.; on a relief of Sennacherib, 94
Foun-HORSE CHARIOT, see CHARIOT.
FOUR—WHEELER, see WAGON.
FUBA {#4 [antelopes], 188
FURÜSIYYA (Ay sr), expansion of earlier furüsiyya
treatises on horsemanship, chivalry, and veterinary
medicine by Egyptian Mamluks, 132
GANDHARAN STYLE, see PALUDAN.
208
Gansu (HN) in Shanxi (1178), bamboo strips found at
Xuanquan (#58), in Dunhuang (348), 177; Chen
IR (Duke of Hejian YJ [5] £) serving as the Governor
of Qinzhou Ze ,192; excavation of large tomb built
of brick and stone dating from the later years of the
Eastern Han Dynasty at Wuwei in Gansu Province,
171; Gandharan style with “motifs from Sasanian
Persia in Gansu, 191; a general's tomb of the second
century CE, near Wuwei (EE), in Gansu Province
177; first Han built fortifications west of the district
of Lingju (northwest of Gansu province), 188; the
Xiongnu capturing and retaining Zhang Qian and his
men in the Hexi region, 176. See ‘FLYING HORSE OF
GANSU’, XIONGNU.
GARAMANTES, of the Fezzan driving four—horsed chariots,
used to raid for slaves “Ethiopian troglodytes” in the
Hoggar and Tibesti massifs, 126; of the Fezzan con-
trolling the trade from the Saharan interior, 129. See
also BATTLE, BERBER, CAVALRY.
GARDENER, profession in Lu A, W 9656,h III 10 (Uruk),
66 with n.77
GAZELLE, enclosures originally built for hunting herds for
hunting herds of gazelle silver statue, 163 f.; silver
gazelle (“an archaeological orphan” in the Metro-
politan Museum), 104
GEBEL BARKAL, capital of Napatan kings, 137; relief
decoration on the north wall, 138; temple, 138; “Vic-
tory Stele” of Piankhy, 138. See also PIANKHY.
GEMDET Nasr PERIOD, clay tablet from Tell Uqair, 52
GENETIC DATA ANALYSIS, 112
GHANA, formal acceptance of Islam, 131; in decline by
mid-thirteenth century, 132; independent Muslim
kingdom throughout the twelfth century, 131; Mande
ruler known as Kaya maghan “king of gold,” or
Ghana “war chief”, 129. See also WAGADU.
GANDHARAN STYLE, with “motifs from Sasanian Persia at
Dunhuang 5452 and Yungang ® [it], 191
Girrs, diplomatic, of 32 horses given in pairs and in fours
to be harnessed to chariots, not for use as sacrificial
offerings as on inscription on a bronze vessel from the
reign of King Xiao (897-888 BCE), 175
GILGAMESH, donkeys mentioned in the narrative about
struggle between Gilgamesh and the ruler of Kish, 73;
terracotta plaque with the depiction of a scene from
the poem “Gilgamesh and Huwawa”, 73
Grass, colored glass used for harness from the tomb of
Tut ankhamün, 87; on yoke saddles, 87
Gop’s WIFE OF AMUN AT THEBES, Amenirdis, daughter of
king Kashta, adopted into religious and political role
of, 137
GODIN TEPE, campared to Late Uruk phase IVc in discus-
sion about absolute dates, 62
GOLD, African gold reaching al-Andalus, 131; Almoravid
dinars of pure gold, 131; Chen EX showing off his
possession of “more than 100 gold vases and silver
vessels" etc., 192; control of gold in the Sahel using
war horse also driving slave trade, 132; gold exploita-
tion shifting to Bure on the headwaters of the Niger,
132; golden-sheep throne and a golden-flower crown
during the Northern Zhou IER 189; Mansa Musa
displaying enormous amounts of gold in Cairo, 132.
See also BEADS, HAN EMPIRE, MANSA Musa.
GoLD ROUTE, trans-Saharan gold route under authority
of Almoravids, 131.
GOLD TRADE, protection of gold trade in the central
Sudan, Kanem-Bornu and Hausa, 132; trading gold
coins for the steeds from Kokand during Han Empire,
171. See also Wuni.
GOLDEN AGE, Han period first Chinese golden age of
horses, 176. See also Wuni.
GONUR-DEPE (Merv), copper(?) horse-head terminal,
100; tombs 89, 280, 3200, 3225 in the “Royal Ne-
cropolis", 37, 99 f.; Tomb 3200: plan showing loca-
tion of 6-part tires, 100; Tomb 3225; cart or wagon
with 6-part tire, 100
GOSHAWK (Accipiter nisus), ‘Flying Horse of Gansu’
galloping with his right rear hoof resting on the back
of a swift-flying hawk, probably a Eurasian Sparrow-
hawk, or goshawk, 177 f. See also ‘FLYING HORSE OF
GANSU’.
GRAVE CIRCLE A AT MYCENAE, 7.
GREAT YUEZHI (in Transoxonia), 188
GREECE, introduction of chariots to, 42 with n.49; har-
ness systems, 89—91; mainland, 39; no country for
good horses, 7; role of chariots in the armies of the
Near East, Egypt and Greece in the second half of
the second millennium BCE, 43 with n.53. See also
CHARIOT, HOMERIC, YOKE.
GROOMS, accompanying “battle wagons”, 85; basket
muzzle and/or a tight—fitting noseband to discourage
draught teams from bickering among themselves, and
to protect the grooms when harnessing them, 32
GUANIDINE THIOCYNATE SOLUTION (GuSCN), 110
Gur RIVER (Oxus), 188
GYPSUM, collection of blinkers carved from ivory and
gypsum in North Syrian and Phoenician style, 93;
trade, 128 f.
Hap ITH (Traditions of the Prophet), forbidding the pro-
duction of hybrids, 157 n.23. See also DILDULAH.
HALTER, with a single rein, 85; tasseled, 85; one of the
horses of Tanwetamani attached to a halter, 138;
gilded silver plume holder adorning a bridle or halter
(Ku 219), 146; Susa equid depicted as wild animal
without harness, halter, or evidence of handler, 103
HAMMURAPI, See CODEX HAMMURAPI.
Han Dynasty (256 BCE-220 CE), early harnessing and
control, 85. See also EASTERN HAN DYNASTY, WEST-
ERN HAN Dynasty.
HAN YANGPI (BR RZ), heading mission sent to Bosi
(Sasanian Persia) 28 Bir together with Zhang Daoyi 4k
3A 36, 188
HARNESS, in Achaemenid Persia, 95; of Ashurnasirpal
II, 91; Assyrian, 91 ff.; the Assyrian four—horse—
yoke, 93; backing element preventing the team from
breaking out of its harness, 41; for chariot racing, 95;
chariots and their harness teams, 43; in Cyprus, 94 f.;
decoration, 78; 91; function, 87 ff.; goads and whips
shown with equine harness teams, 32; gold foils, most
probably used as part of harness decoration, 11; in
Greece, 89 ff.; harnessing the chariot horse, 85 ff.; in
Index
Instructions of Esarhaddon; leather (from the tomb
of Tut'ankhamün), 11; “Man manipulates harness
on mule”, 158; modern equid shaft-and-breastcollar
harness, 31; sheet gold, silver, faience, obsidian, and
colored glass on various parts of the harness (from the
tomb of Tut ankhamün), 87; straps passing under the
forepart of the belly keeping the harness and chariot-
pole in their places, 92; tassels of wool or silk, dyed
many colors attached to many parts of the harness,
91; theories of Commandant Lefebvre des Noéttes
and J. Sruytte, 87; attached to the yoke, 92; yoke and
harness on a chariot brought as tribute by Levantines
(tomb of Rekhmire), 88. See also BACKING ELEMENT,
ESARHADDON, LEFEBVRE DES NOETTES, SPRUYTTE,
YOKE.
HARNESS STRAPS, see STRAPS.
HARRAN, location to prepare for a British television docu-
mentary with full-scale reconstructions of ninth-cen-
tury Assyrian military chariots, 42
HASDRUBAL, defeated by Scipio Africanus at Ilipa, 129.
See also NUMIDIANS.
HATCHES, cuneiform sign ATU 745, 55
HATTUSA, CAPITAL, 42; Tablet IV of the so-called Hittite
Kikkuli-Text, 81. See also BOGAZKÖY, HITTITE.
HATTUSILIS I. See ANNALS OF HATTUSILIS I.
HAUSA, fortified towns protecting gold trade, 132. See
also KANEM-BORNU.
HEAVENLY HORSES, visualized in Han China (220 BCE-
220 BCE), tianma (K4, heavenly horses), 171 ff.
HEMIONE, not fully domesticated, 31, ancient rock art
of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff. See also Ass,
CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES, EQUUS, DONKEY,
Hinny, Horse, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, PONY,
PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
HENAN PROVINCE (Shang Dynasty), chariot burial, Tomb
175, Dasikong, Anyang, 173; crenellation on a group
of ceramic tiles from Henan (third century BCE),
185; foreign features including “Greek, Persian and
Central Asian motifs” evident in at Longmen HEP in
Henan i9] 5, 191; jade horse from the tomb of Lady
Hao, Yinxu (Anyang), 172. See also CRENELLATION.
HEPHTHALITES, see PEROZ and ZERO.
HERNE (in Morocco), island of Kerne, identified with
Mogador or Herne, 129. See also KERNE.
HERODOTUS, Barbary horses famously been conscripted
by Xerxes as chariot horses for the 480 BCE Ach-
aemenid invasion of Greece, 129; Berber Garamantes
of the Fezzan driving four—horsed chariots used to
raid for slaves “Ethiopian troglodytes” in the Hoggar
and Tibesti massifs of the central Sahara, 126; chariot
travel undertaken deep into the interior by Libyans
(probably the Niger), 127; Meroitic king sacrific-
ing four horses to the sun god following a victory in
battle, 147. See also BARBARY HORSES.
HIGH RESOLUTION MELTING (HRM), curve analysis, 111
Hinny, 155, (possible identification) 154, 164; with its
jenny dam, 158; ((y)r might refer to a “hybrid” (i.e.
either mule or hinny), 165. See also Ass, CHROMO-
SOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES, EQUUS, DONKEY, HORSE,
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, PONY, PRZEWALSKI'S
HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
HiPPODROME, built by Mamluks, 132. See also
FURÜSIYYA.
HITTITE, and Assyrian equestrian texts, 75, 80 f.; capital
42, 81,124; evidence for a role of chariots in warfare
in cuneiform texts of the Old Kingdom, 39; introduc-
tion of chariots, 39; Hittite and their allies depicted
on Egptian temple reliefs commemorating the battle
at Kadesh in Syria (1275 BCE), 42 f.; treaty between
the Hittites and the Mitanni (CTH 51), 125. See also
ANNALS OF HATTUSILIS I, HATTUSA, CHARIOT, KIKKULI
TEXT, MARITIS, NEO-HITTITE.
HOGGAR Massir, 126. See also HERODOTUS.
HOMER, blinkers described by Homer (Iliad IV, 140 ff .),
94
Horst, adaptation of horse anatomy for harness, 38;
adjacent horse, 91; administrative Horse Texts from
Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, 77; Andalusian, contem-
porary specimens included in study on ancient DNA
and Trace Element Analysis tested on Israeli equines,
108; anatomy, 31, 38, 88, 124 n.1; in Ancient Asia,
171 ff.; Arabian, burials of distinctive Arabian-type
horses at Mileiha (UAE), 123; contemporary speci-
mens included in study on ancient DNA and Trace
Element Analysis tested on Israeli equines, 108; deep
body culminating in powerful quarters, 130; integral
to the rapid Islamic expansion, 123; important role
in the conquest of southern Morocco, 130; swiftest
and toughest, 130; warhorse as preferred steed, 130;
association with special aspects of character (speed,
strength, power), 173; Barbary horse (Morocco),
convex profile widely depicted in rock paintings and
engravings, 129, 132; blood samples, of ten domestic
horses, 108; blood-sweating horses (likely related
to the “great” Nisean horse prized in Persia) of the
Western Han Dynasty, 171; kingdom of Bornu receiv-
ing gifts of horses and firearms from Turkish Pasha
of Tripoli and the Sultan of Morocco, 132; Buhen
horse, 39 and n.36, 123, 137; remains of horses from
Buhen and Thebes sharing feature with the modern
Arabian horse (five lumbar vertebrae), 123; caliph
in Cairo presented with “500 horses with saddles
and bridles encrusted with gold, amber, and precious
stones”, 131; depictions of Horses in China prior to
the Han, 192; in the Clay Prism of Tiglath—Pileser I,
150 cavalrymen, 77; in the Codex Hammurapi, 74;
chromosomes, 101; Crusader’s horses, 107 f., 117 f.;
in cuneiform sources, (documented sparingly) 35;
7] ff.; decapitated horse heads, see El-Kurru; “deep
chested”, possible reoccurrence in later representa-
tions of horses in Iran, 152; deep-chested" horse from
Iran, tenth-century CE bronze model, 152; Ninth-to
tenth-century CE bowl from Nishapur, Iran, show-
ing an apparently “deep-chested” horse, 152; finds
at Dereivka, 6; Dongola horse, large horses from (15
hands), 132, 139; Dongolawi Horses, comparison
to horses from El-Kurru, 110; dromedary support
of the horse, 130; *The Early Horse" (article about
Mary Littauer, reprinted here) 5—7; in Egypt, the first
210
representation of the horse in Egypt, 7; “‘equid’ of
the mountain", 123; experiments with inexperienced
horses, 89; feral horses in the Sahara confirmed by
Leo Africanus, 128; feral horse smaller than its do-
mestic predecessor, 128; feral horses re-domesticated
by transhumant herders in the Sahel, 128; ques-
tioned whether so-called Kherson tarpan is indeed
a purebred tarpan and not a cross—bred feral animal,
103; re-domestication of feral horses with minimal
apparatus revolutionized the hunting economies and
military potential of the indigenous inhabitants on the
prairies and the pampas, 128; Spanish horses formed
the nuclei of the great feral mustang/mestefio herds of
North and South America, 128; superior in lowland
battles, 133; from the Fezzan, 132; Flying Horse of
Gansu, 171 ff.; genotype, (Table 3) 111; Hannibal’s
armies exceeded the Romans in ratio of horse to in-
fantry in battle, 129; harnessing the chariot horse, 85
ff.; Heavenly Horses visualized in Han China, 171 ff;
high cost of transporting supplies of special grasses
into the forest for foreign horse consumption, 133;
Horse Cemetery at El-Kurru, see EL-KURRU; horse-
head, copper(?), terminal from Gonur-depe, 100;
horses of the so-called ékal masarti (the Review Pal-
ace of Nimrud) used to produce hybrids, 35; horses of
Piankhy, see EL-KURRU; horses of Shabaka, see EL-
Kurru; horses of Shebitka, see EL-KURRU; horses of
Tanwetamani, see EL-KURRU; Horse Lists from Nim-
rud, 137 f.; horse nourishment en route, 130; Horse
Reports from Nineveh, 138; horse skeleton from Tell
el-Dab a, found in a palace of ca. 1640-1530 BCE
at, 39; horse training texts, 75,80 f.; hybrids, 158f.;
hunting wild elephants from horseback at Meroe,
128; Iberian horse, 129; incision formed a callous pad
protecting the horse's spine, 129; introduction of the
horse, to the ancient Near East, 123; to North Africa
and Arabia, 123 ff.; in Israel (from Vadum Iacob
and the Armenian monastery in Jaffa, ca. 900-1200
BCE), 107 ff.; jade horse from the tomb of Lady Hao,
Yinxu (Anyang), 172; Kushites well known as horse
breeders and trainers by the mid-eighth century BCE
in Assyrian texts, 137; importing horses into Assyria
from Kush via Egypt, 137; Kushite horses as superior
breed for pulling chariots, 138; larger horses in As-
syria, 93; large-horse cavalries in the savanna, 133;
larger horses as symbol of wealth and high political
status, 133; in legal documents (horses used to pay a
penalty), 78; military strategies associated with large
and small varieties of horses, 133; Napatan horses,
137 ff.; Napatan king Taharga taking “large horses" as
booty, 138; Nimlot's horses becoming malnourished
during the siege of Hermopolis, 138; “great” Nisean
horse prized in Persia, 171; non-asil horse, fear of
breeding by Bedouin), 130; in North Africa, herds of
horses yielding 100,000 foals a year, 129; for parades
in Shang period, 192; in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry
of the sixth and early seventh centuries CE, 129;
Pony, contemporary specimens included in study on
ancient DNA and Trace Element Analysis tested on
Israeli equines,108; Sura pony outperforming larger
foreign horses on rocky terrain, 133; proto—Arabian
horse, 124, 128; Przewalski's horse, 101 ff.; Quarter
Horse, contemporary specimens included in study
on ancient DNA and Trace Element Analysis tested
on Israeli equines, 108; re-introduction to North
America, 6; ridden horses, 40; in the ancient rock art
of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff.; role of the horse
in Bedouin life, 151; in Sahara and Sahel, 123 ff.;
Sasanian rock reliefs, influence on Tang dynasty, 181
ff.; horse images depicted on Sasanian silver plates;
185; importing horses from the Sasanian region, 193;
of the savanna, 128; size, 41; in ancient Sudan, 137
ff.; in Sumerian literature, 73 f.; supporting horses,
130; protocols for mustering of horses from Ashur
(time of Sargon II), 78 f.; Six Stone Horse Reliefs,
181 ff.; as status symbol, 107; 173; status symbol
and *a relatively pampered pet" in Bedouin life, 151;
stone horse head from Zinjirli, 93; Taizong ordering
images of his six favorite horses, 181; recordings of
each campaign in Chinese history including names
of his horses, 184; sculpture of horses as propaganda
to create visual justification of his usurpation and
legitimization of Tang Taizong's enthronement, 184;
Tarpan, 102 f.; terracotta figurines, 35, 97 ff.; ter-
racotta figurines indirectly indicating early use of
(metal) bits in the Near East, 35; terracotta horses
from the accompanying pits of the tomb of the First
Emperor of Qin, 185; third horse, 91; Thoroughbred,
contemporary specimens included in study on ancient
DNA and Trace Element Analysis tested on Israeli
equines, 108; king of Wagadu appearing at audiences
in a golden headdress and surrounded by ten horses,
131; Warmblood, contemporary specimens included
in study on ancient DNA and Trace Element Analysis
tested on Israeli equines, 108; water for horses, 130;
wounding of horses in battle, 43; West Barb horse
(14.5 hands), traded from Morocco (Barbary) through
Timbuktu, 132. See also Ass, Bit, BRIDLE, BRIDLE
Bit, CALAH HonsE-Lisr, CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS,
EQUINES, EQUUS, DONKEY, EL-KURRU, FLYING HORSE
OF GANSU, FURÜSIYYA, HARNESS, HEAVENLY HORSES,
Hinny, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, POETRY, Pony, RID-
ING, SIX STONE HORSE RELIEFS, STALLION, TARPAN,
WESTERN HAN DYNASTY.
HORSEMANSHIP, furusiyya treatises on horsemanship,
132; Mitanni reputation for fine horsemanship, 124;
Napatan horses and horsemanship, 147. See also
FURÜSIYYA.
HORSEPOWER, expansion of horsepower in the Sahel and
the kingdom of Wagadu, 129; improvements in horse
equipment enabling the utilization of horsepower,
107; hocks well set down providing the horsepower
and ability to manoeuvre, 130.
HORSE COLLAR, 41; 85; 6 pieces of wide silver band
collar, pierced at edges (Ku 209) [19-4-78], 142;
few frags of silver sheet collar (Ku 211) [19-4-107
(19.2879)], 142; collar decoration for horses in the
Amarna Tablets, 125; invention the early Middle
Ages, 87; modern breast collar, 90; modern collar
harness, 90; modern equid shaft-and-breastcollar
Index
harness, 31; modern harnessing: full collar and breast
collar, 91
Horse COLORS, in the so-called Calah horse-list, 77 f.
n.26; in a letter from the time of Sargon IL, 77 f. with
n.26; in Nuzi texts, 77 with n.25, 125 n.6; in Shang
period, 173, see also 175 and 177
Horse REPORTS, from Nineveh, 138
HORSE SACRIFICE,
Horse Texts from Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, 77
HORSE TRAINING, books on techniques of riding and
training horses written by V.S. Littauer, 6; breaking
in or training of a filly with accompanying inscription
(CIS v 1186), 153, 155; Gansu horse paired with a
Eurasian bird of prey acknowledges its foreignness,
perhaps even its training and spirited airborne capac-
ity, 178; training of gait (“singlefoot”, or *amble")
and inheritance of ability to perform this gait either
naturally from birth or with a minimal amount of
training, 171; Kikkuli, 42; 80 f., 124; Middle—Assyr-
jan instructions on horse training from Ashur, 80; no
indication of intensive breeding and training before
Shang period, 172; ‘outsiders’ associated directly
with trading, breeding, training, and managing horses
indicated by burial practice from Anyang and the
contents of the tombs, 173 (for Shang period, 178); of
chariot horses, 80f., 124 f. See also KIKKULI TEXT.
Hounp, animal with long ears (described as a 7) being
attacked by a hound (?), 163; mistaken for a foal, 156
Housing, 87, linen, 87
HRM METHOD, 113
HUNTING, 126 f.; boar, 186, 192; chariots used in hunt-
ing, 42, 87, 94 f.; Chariots A5 and A6 from the tomb
of Tut ankhamün used for hunting, 15; driving game
across the raised hunter's chosen chariot path, 39;
herds of gazelle, 163; as part of the “heroic” con-
texts in which mounted equids are shown, 150, 165;
hunting setting on Syrian seal, 39; large and danger-
ous beasts, 150; ponies across the Sahara and Sahel
used in trade and the collective spear hunting, 128 f.;
rams, 186, 192; re-domestication of feral horses with
minimal apparatus revolutionizing hunting economies
and military potential of the indigenous inhabitants,
128; use of the horse in hunting, 151; use of javelins
on chariots warfare or hunting, 33; an oryx from
horseback, 151, 159 £; with two spears from horse-
back, 159; stag hunting from a chariot, 8; wild asses,
156 f. n. 19; the Syrian wild ass from horseback, 163;
wild elephants from horseback, 128
Huo Quarc (ER), d. 117 BCE, 182
HURRIAN, HURRIANS, 39, 123 f.; gods listed in treaty
between the Hittites and Mittani (CTH 51), 125 n.5;
throne names of Mittani rulers, 124. See also INDO-
ARYAN, MITTANI.
Huwawa. See GILGAMESH.
HYBRIDS, reflected in Arabic r, 157; '(y)r might refer to
a "hybrid" (i.e. either mule or hinny), 165; breeding
of hybrids among the Bedouin, 158; chromosomes,
101; in cuneiform texts, 158 n.24; escaped, 165; of
horses and donkeys, 107, 158, 117, 123, 165; mules
and hinnies, 149; necessity for further research of
211
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
hybrids and the extent of their use in Arabia in late
antiquity and the Islamic period, 157; onager hybrids,
98, 102 f., 123; larger, stronger, and often capable of
greater endurance than either parent, 158; forbidden
production of hybrids in Hadith (Traditions of the
Prophet), 157 n.23; in raid, 156; on ancient rock art of
the Syro-Arabian Desert, 149 ff.; shown in the same
contexts as horses suggesting equal status, 158. See
also Ass, CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES, EQUUS,
DonkEY, HINNy, HORSE, MULE, ONAGER, PONY,
PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
Hyksos, first representation of the horse in Egypt in post-
Hyksos period, 7; horses and chariots, 123, probably
a western Semitic people, 123
HYRCANIA, see LIXUAN.
IBERIAN HORSE, see Horse.
IBEX, 149, 164
IDEOGRAM, *240, Linear B tablet Sc 238, from Knossos,
89; from Uruk, 49 ff. See also PICTOGRAM.
INDIA, see SHENDU.
INDO-ARYAN, compounds for *rounds" in the Kikkuli
Text, 124 f.; deities in treaty between the Hittites
and the Mitanni (CTH 51), 125; etymology of Kik-
kuli's prosession title, 124 n.2; names of Mittani
rulers, 124; terms for colors of horses in Nuzi, 125
n.6. Termini technici: Names for Gods: *In-da—ra
(Indo-Aryan) [Índra- (Vedic)], 125 n.5; “EšMi-it-
ra—as—si-il- (Indo—Aryan) [Mitrá- (Vedic)], 125 n.5;
‘MES Na—as—at—ti-ya—an—na (Indo-Aryan) [Nasatya
(Vedic)], 125 n.5; MESU-ru-wa-na-as-si-el (Indo
Aryan) [Váruna (Vedic)], 125 n.5.—Names for
“rounds”: aika- (Indo-Aryan) [eka- (Vedic)], 124
f.; na— (Indo-Aryan) [haplolocally shortened from
*nava—, see nava (Vedic)], 125; panza (Indo-Aryan)
[páfíca— (Vedic)], 124; satta (Indo—Aryan) [saptá—
(Vedic)]; tera— (Indo—Aryan) [tri (Vedic)].—Names
for colors of horses: p/babru-nnu from Nuzi [babhru-
(Vedic) ], 125 n.6; p/barita-nnu from Nuzi [palita—
(Vedic) ],125 n.6; p/binkara-nnu from Nuzi [pingalá—
(Vedic)], 125 n.6.—Other terms: mani—nnu (Vedic
mani-), 125; vartani (Vedic), 124; wartanna (Vedic),
124; wasanna (Indo-Aryan), 125.
INDO-EUROPEAN, INDO-EUROPEANS, PROTO-INDO-EU-
ROPEAN, and discussion of origin of the light, spoke—
wheeled, horse-drawn chariot into the ancient Near
East and adjacent areas, 39, 42 n.49; in the Eurasian
steppes and the spoke—wheeled two—wheelers at
Sintashta and other sites in northern Khazakstan, 39.
See also HITTITE, INDO—ARYAN.
INSCRIPTIONS, on bamboo strips list tribute mentioning
9 horses, 31 donkeys, 25 camels, and 1 cow, 177;
on a bronze vessel (43, ding) from the reign of King
Xiao recording a gift of 32 horses given in pairs and
in fours to be harnessed to chariots, not for use as
sacrificial offerings, 175; catalogue of sledge-like
vehicles with two round impressions marking wheels,
50—52; cast inscription of wild ass and bronzes from
MI, Jingjiecun, Shanxi Province, Shang Dynasty,
172; on chariots from the tomb of Tut ankhamün, 14,
25; on Clay prism of Tiglath-Pileser I with reports
of his military campaigns mentioning chariotry, 76;
prism inscription of Esarhaddon, 77; prism inscription
of Sargon II, 79 n.32; Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscrip-
tion above the hunting scene, 8; ancient rock art of
the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff., esp. “Appendix:
Inscriptions Accompanying the Previously Unpub-
lished Drawings Shown Here", 166—168; royal Assyr-
lan, 79; importance of inscriptions in Shang period,
173; in the shape of a colt (243!) OS lijuzun) on a wine
vessel from Lijiacun (FXF), 174 f.; in the shape
of a long—eared wild ass on the base of the bronze
ritual vessel gui (#) from Jingjiecun (Bern, 172;
tifinar inscriptions, 127; trilingual inscriptions on the
chests of the horses on the Investiture of Ardashir I,
184; two-wheeled chariot inscribed on a small scarab
of the sixteenth century B.C. as first representation
of the horse in Egypt, 7. See also INVESTITURE OF
ARDASHIR I, MARITIS.
INSTRUCTIONS OF SURUPPAG, remarks about onagers and
donkeys, 73
INVESTITURE OF ARDASHIR I., rock relief at Naqsh—I Rus-
tam, 183; inscribed with trilingual inscriptions on the
chests of the horse, 184
TRON, 3 small fragments of iron in Ku 201 [19-4-35
(MFA 19.2844), 141; caravans carrying iron tools
from Carthage southward, 129; copper, iron, and
silver exported from Morocco during Almoravid rule,
131; copper, iron, and silver shipments from Spain to
Carthage, 129; curved iron bars joined on one side by
an iron ring, 129; diffusion of iron technology across
a broad belt of the African savanna, 128; helmets with
chin straps, 132; Meroe possessing much iron, 127;
protection for horse's head by plates of iron, brass,
and silver, swords and spears, 129; throwing axes
from the region south of Lake Chad, 128; use of iron
across the Sudanic bush country (10° north of the
equator), 128; for wielding lances for horse riders,
128; king of Wagadu deploying cavalry as strik-
ing force in his armies, military superiority asserted
through the use of iron, 129
IRON AGE, dorsal yoke developed in Iron Age Greece, 87;
horse skull from Dereivka, 6 n.11;
Ivory, detail from an ivory gaming box from Enkomi
(British tomb 58), 89; frontlet from Room S.W. 37,
Fort Shalmaneser, 92 f.; in Iliad IV, 140 ff., 93; col-
lection of blinkers carved from ivory and gypsum in
North Syrian and Phoenician style, 93; trade, 128 f.
JACKASS, in Safaitic inscriptions, 155; Jackass as sire
and horse mare as dam, 158; term among nomads,
164. Ass, CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES, EQUUS,
Donkey, HiNNY, HORSE, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER,
Pony, PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
JADE, equids from the Fu Hao Tomb (OO E MS) at
Anyang probably depicting Equus przewalskii, 172;
horse from the tomb of Lady Hao, Anyang (Shang
Dynasty), 172 f.; winged horse (Western Han, from
Weiling in Xianyang City), 177 f.
JAFFA, Armenian monestary (Muslim period, ninth-tenth
century BCE), 107 ff.; “Information summary of
archaeological equid remains included in the study"
(Table 2), 109; individual equines from, 118; asa
busy melting pot-type harbor city with equines com-
ing from all corners of the medieval world, 118
JILINGCHENG OS. Zaranj), in Tokharistan, 190
JIUQUAN PREFECTURE, established in order to provide a
safe route to the lands of the northwest of the Han
Empire, 188
JOINTED MOUTHPIECE, see MOUTHPIECE.
Jos PLATEAU, Muslim cavalry invasions repeatedly
repulsed by Sura tribesmen riding ponies, hurling jav-
elins, and employing harrying guerrilla tactics, 133;
remote non—Muslim regions of Northern Africa, 129
JUBBAH (northern Saudi Arabia), petroglyph of a two-
horse chariot indicating horse presence in northern
Saudi Arabia, 123
KADESH, see BATTLE OF KADESH.
Karhu (Nimrud), extraordinarily wide doorways might
have belonged to parts of the building where chariots
were restored or repaired, 77
KANEM-BORNU, fortified towns in order to protect the
gold trade, 132. See also Hausa.
Kang Wanc (BEE), 1004-967 BCE, 174
KANGJU (X), inscriptions on bamboo strips list tribute
of nine horses, 31 donkeys, 25 camels, and one cow,
177; nomadic state or confederacy in Central Asia,
177; renaming of imported horses, 177, 179
KARUM KANES, Assyrian trade colony at Kültepe (Kärum
Kanes, level II), 36. See also KÜLTEPE.
KASHGAR, 176
Kasura, king of the Kushite Dynasty and father of Ame-
nirdis, 137. See also Gop's WIFE OF AMUN AT THEBES.
Kavan I, (488—496; 499—531) hunting rams, 186, 192;
189 with n.11
KERMA, Kingdom, 137; Kerma period graves, 139
KERNE (Képvn, lat. Cerne) island in the Atlantic, identi-
fied by Hanno the Navigator with Mogador or Herne,
129
KHABUR, area, report of bones from domestic horses, 123
KHAFAJE, artifacts, 98; excavations, 98
KHAZAKSTAN, remains of spoke-wheeled two—wheelers
at Sintashta and other sites in northern Khazakstan,
39 f. See also SINTASHTA.
KHEMENU (modern Nimlot of Hermopolis, Eppoð óc),
138. See also PIANKHY.
KIKKULI, etymology, 124 n.2; horse trainer from Mittani,
81, 124. See KIKKULI TEXT.
KIKKULI TEXT, 42 n.50; elimination of horses unfit for
strenuous training, 124; *Excursus: The Kikkuli
Text”, 80 f.; Indo—Aryan termini technici and Vedic
comparisons, 81; 125 f.; interval training, 124;
obverse and reverse of Tablet IV from HattuSa, 13th
century BCE (VAT 6693), 124. See also INDO-ARYAN.
KIRKUK, see NUZI.
Ken, Kis, Gilgamesh the hero of Uruk and the ruler of
Kish, 73; inlays from Kish, 98; Old Babylonian ver-
sions of Lexical Lists from Kish, 64; terracotta mod-
els, 33 f.; tombs at Kish, 35; tripartite disk wheels
from tombs at Ur and Kish, 30
KITHARA, woman with a kithara riding a domestic donkey
or a mule, 155
213
Index
KoKAND (Ke), tall steeds from Kokand (Xt), 176;
fine horses of Kokand (CL 291 that ‘sweated blood’,
176; trade of gold coins for the remarkable steeds
from Kokand by Han Emperor, 171. See also FER-
GHANA, WUDI.
KÜLTEPE, Assyrian trade colony at Kültepe (Kárum
Kanes, level II), 36. See also KARUM KANES.
KusH, KUSHITEs, 25th Dynasty, 127; burials of Kush-
ite kings at El-Kurru, 137 ff; exporting horses for
chariotry and riding into Lower Egypt, 127; adopt-
ing the eye of Horus (wedjat) motif, 139; exporting
horses into Assyria via Egypt, 137 f.; known as horse
breeders and trainers by the mid-eighth century BCE
in Assyrian cuneiform texts, 137; present at the royal
court of Tiglath—Pileser III, 137. See also EL-KURRU,
WEDJAT.
LADY GUOGUO ON A SPRING OUTING, a free standing
stone horse with a mane crenellated into three low,
square notches on copy of the eighth-century Tang
imperial painting, 185 f.
LAGAS, rendering of the Sumerian /$/ sound in Presar-
gonic Lagaš (and in Ebla), 65 n.74
LATE URUK PERIOD (ca. 3500-3100 BCE), “Administra-
tive Texts” and “Lexical Lists”, 53; and Early Middle
Euphrates (EME) 1, 62; first evidence for the use of
wheeled vehicles in the Near East, 29; 49 ff.; relative—
chronological allocation of the Uruk tablets, 60; and
reliable '*C—dates, 62; stone plaque with depiction
of a sledge drawn by bovids, 29; 59; wall painting
from public Building IV of the Late Uruk period at
Arslantepe, 30
LEFEBVRE DES NOETTES, COMMANDANT RICHARD
(1856-1936), on “antique” harness, 87; confusing
two different harness systems (neck yoke in the Near
East, Central Asia, and China, and dorsal yoke Iron
Age Greece), 87; developing theory that equine trac-
tion only became possible after the invention of the
horse collar in the early Middle Ages, 87. See also
SPRUYTTE, JEAN.
LEO AFRICANUS, confirming the presence of feral horses
in the Sahara, 128
LEXICAL Lists, 53, 63 ff. See also ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS.
LEXICOGRAPHERS, Classical Arabic lexicographers con-
firming the use of ‘ayr for both the domestic and the
wild ass, 157
L1 JINGXUN (Æ$), necklace found in the tomb
believed to be of western Central Asian or possibly
Sasanian origin, 190
Li Sp (FHER), continuing battling against con-
tenders to secure the borders of the newly founded
country, 181; eliminating major rivals and returned
triumphantly, 181; political struggle with his elder
brother, 181; second Tang ruler, 181
Lr Yu (#8), dispatching to Sasania and in return the
Sasanian Empire sending their own agents to offer
tributes, 193
Li YUANLIANG (ZEIGE), might be associated with, if not
directly descended from Peroz and his queen, 193;
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
descendants of Sasanian noblemen, 193; Tang mili-
tary leader recorded in the Tang official history, 193
LrANGSHU (##, “History of the Liang"), 189
LIDAR HÓYÜK, remains of chariot wheel, 41. See also
BRONZE and WHEEL.
LINCH Pin, 11, 30.
Lion, Assyrian as described by Austen Henry Layard, 92;
hunting scene on orthostat from Arslantepe, 8; in the
Sahara, 126
LixvAN (Hyrcania), skilled tricksters of, 188; envoys
from the Han court sent to, 188
LOGOGRAPHIC SIGNS. See also CUNEIFORM SIGN.
LONGMEN (SEP) [in Henan CN. foreign features
including “Greek, Persian and Central Asian motifs",
191
LowcsHvo (XE #4) reign, 190. See Peroz III.
LuovaNa (# PH), 188. See also AN SHIGAO.
LUOYANG QIELAN Jt (bal SE 20. Record of Buddhist
monasteries of Luoyang), Chen D (fl. 497—524), the
Duke of Hejian WJ ji] = sending people to Sasanian
Persia to obtain horses, 192. See also CHEN.
MAIKOP, chased décor on a silver vessel depicting an
equid, 102 f.; Maikop equid (stocky body, thick neck
and probably upright mane identified as a Tarpan),
102 f., 104; Maikop kurgan, 102, “Maikop Treasure”,
102
Matt, fourteenth-century Mali cavalry commanders car-
rying bows mentioned by Ibn Battuta, 132; emerging
as a dominant power, 132; losing control of the Sahel
after Tuareg nomads seized Timbuktu in 1433,132;
king Mansa Musa from Mali visiting Cairo displaying
his wealth and generosity, 132; 30 Mamluks body-
guard returning with Mansa Musa to Mali, 132. See
also MANSA Musa.
MAMLUK, Furüsiyya, 132; building imposing hippo-
dromes for military exercises often including polo
games imported from Persia, 132; king Mansa Musa
bringing 30 Mamluks as his bodyguard to Mali,
132; and the purebred Arabian horse, 132. See also
FURÜSIYYA.
MANE, on Przewalski's horse, 101; on ancient rock art
of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff.; spread of the
crenellated mane as depicted on the silver plates and
the actual practice of the crenellation to be separated,
193. Horse: ceramic horses with one or three square
notches from the tomb of a high official, 185; close
connection to manes on the "central Sasanian" silver
plates, 193; from Maikop with probably upright mane
identified as a Tarpan, 102 f., 104; with one notch on
silver plate, 187; stone horse with mane and three low
notches, 185; horse with three square tufts on silver
plate, 187; on horses depicted on silver plates: two
round notches, 187, three curved tufts (Sasanian pe-
riod), 186; one notch (Post-Sasanian era), 187; three
square tuft (Post-Sasanian era), 187; a free standing
stone horse with a mane crenellated into three low,
square notches on copy of the eighth-century Tang
imperial painting, 185 f. Equids: shown with long,
falling manes from BMAC, 100; with plaited mane,
153. See also CRENELLATION, LADY GUOGUO ON A
214
SPRING OUTING, MAIKOP, Six STONE HORSE RELIEFS,
XIANYU Tincuut (fF KE ifj).
MANOEUVRABILITY, combination of speed and manoeu-
vrability in warfare by horse—drawn chariots, 42;
improved by use of pair of reins attached to either
side of the bit (through braking power and directional
control), 35; improved stability and manoeuvrability
using a wide wheel base in addition to bitted bridle,
39; limited manoeuvrability of ‘battle cars’, 33; lim-
ited manoeuvrability of spoke—wheeled two—wheelers
at Sintashta and other sites in northern Khazakstan
due to narrow wheel bases, 40. See also CHARIOT,
PROTO-CHARIOT.
MASINISSA, Numidian general, 129; Scipio Africanus
forging an alliance with, 129. See also NUMIDIANS
and SCIPIO AFRICANUS.
Mansa Musa, king of Mail, bringing 30 Mamluks as his
bodyguard to his court in Mali, 132. See also MAM-
LUK.
MARI, artifacts, 98
MARITIS, in his chariot hunting a stag with his chariot
driver, 8.
MARIUS, 176.
MENKHEPERRA, 11 % yellow and blue cartouches strung
in original order, Djedkara—in the middle of the
string is a cartouche of Menkheperra (Shebitka's
throne names) [19-4-101 (21.10565 and 19.2875),
Ku 211], 142, 144. See also DJEDKARA, PLUME
HOLDER and SHEBITKA.
MEROE, 127; acquiring great urban wealth by 300 BCE,
127; horse burials and trappings in the cemeteries
at Meroe, 139; luxury trade of ivory, slaves, ostrich
feathers, rare skins, ebony and gold, 128; Meroitic
king's sacrificing four horses to the sun god follow-
ing a victory in battle (Herodotus), 147; possessing
much iron, 127; royal cemetery moved to Meroe,
137; South Cemetery at Meroe containing skeleton of
a young horse without associated artifacts, 139.
MESOPOTAMIA, and Central Asia, 101; identification of
equid species, 101 f.; and Susa, 97-99, 101 f.; and
Syria, 103 f. See also TIAOZHI.
MiLEIHA (UAE), 2000 year-old burials of distinctive
Arabian-type horses interred with bejewelled trap-
pings, 123
MITANNI, MITTANI, MITTANI, esteem of horses and chari-
ots in Mittani, 124; Kikkuli, “horse trainer" from the
land of Mittani, 124; Indo—Aryan and Hurrian names
of Mittani kings, 124; Mitanni reputation for fine
horsemanship, 124; treaty between the Hittites and
the Mitanni (CTH 51), 125. See also INDO-ARYAN,
HURRIAN, KIKKULI-TEXT.
MITOCHONDRIA DNA, 115
MITOCHONDRIAL GENES, 111, 115, 117
MODERN HARNESSING: full collar and breast collar, 91
MoOGADOR (in Morocco), island of Kerne, identified with
Mogador or Herne, 129. See also KERNE.
Mount Jruzonc (JU 111) 90 km northwest of the capital
Chang’an (K&, now Xi’an PH 2), 181
MOUTHPIECE, 35, 85, 92; bar mouthpiece, 35 f., 39;
jointed mouthpiece, 41; run-out mouthpiece, 86;
straight mouthpiece, 92
Mu (Jal f E, 947-928 BCE), famous for travels and
horses, 174, bronze ritual vessel (zun 9$) in the shape
of a colt and Bronze horse sculptures in the tomb of
the king of the Zhao State, Reign of King Mu, 175.
See WONDER HORSES.
MULE, blood samples of modern equines incl. mule, 108;
differentiation of species in cuneiform texts, 72; no
distinction being made between mules and hinnies
in Aabic, 157 f. n.23; in administrative Horse Texts
from Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, 77; Dildulah
(name of a mule owned by the Prophet), 157 n.23;
with erect manes and horse-like tails with the hairs
starting a little below the root, 165; mule identified as
species via “A New Methodology Combining Ancient
DNA and Trace Element Analysis Tested on Israeli
Equines from ca. 900-1200 BCE”, 107 ff.; mule in
ancient rock art of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff.;
in Instructions of Esarhaddon, 77; in a letter from the
time of Sargon II, 77; mule carts of the Elamites on
wall reliefs of Ashurbanipal, 94; mules, horses and
equines originating from three different sources, 107;
in ND 2727, 78; with donkey integral part of every-
day life, 118; in Prism Inscription from Esarhaddon,
77; skeletal remains of “probable mule or possible
horse' from Tal-e Malyan, 35; in Sulgi Hymns, 73;
as transport animal, 42. See also Ass, CHROMOSOMES,
EQuiDs, EQUINES, Equus, DONKEY, HINNY, HORSE,
HYBRIDS, ONAGER, PONY, PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE,
STALLION, TARPAN.
MUZZLE, 35, 85, 100, 102 f.; absence of muzzle in equid
figurine from Selenkahiyeh, 35; basket muzzle, 32
NAPE STRAPS, see STRAPS.
NECK STRAPS, see STRAPS.
NAPATA, 127, Napatan Horses and the Horse Cemetery at
El-Kurru, 137 ff.
NAPATAN Dynasty, cemetery at El-Kurru as resting place
of the earliest Napatan rulers and other members of
the royal family, 137; Napatan kings buried near their
capital at Gebel Barkal, 137; retreating to Napata
after being driven out by an Assyrian invasion from
Libya and the Levant, 137; rise of 137. See ALso EL-
KURRU.
NAQSH-I RAJAB, four Sasanian reliefs at, 182; Chinese
court officials serving as envoys to the Western
Regions during the Northern Dynasties might have
had opportunities to visit sites of Naqsh-i Rustam
and Naqsh-i Rajab, 190; possibility that sites like
Nagsh-i Rustam and Naqsh-i Rajab may have been
made familiar to the open and receptive Tang court
and subsequently to sculptors, 192. See also NAQSH-I
RUSTAM.
NAQSH-I Rustam, nine Sasanian reliefs at, 182; rock
relief showing the Investiture of Ardashir I, 183; rock
relief showing the Triumph of Shapur I over Valerian,
183; rock relief showing the Equestrian Combat of
Hormizd II, 184. See also NAQSH-I RAJAB.
215
Index
Nave, 11, 26, 30, 38, 40; barrel nave, 37 f.; integral nave,
124; short nave of poke—wheeled two-wheelers from
Sintashta and other sites in northern Khazakstan and
their impact on manoeuvrability, 40 f.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR Il, cuneiform texts mentioning equids,
80. See also “THE JESTER”.
NECK, Chinese horses, 171, 175, 177 f., 186; of horses
and equids in general (in discussion of harness-
ing), 31, 38, 41, 85-95, 124, 127, 129 f.; physical
appearance, 101 f., 149 on ancient rock art of the
Syro—Arabian Desert, 149 ff.; in the Instructions of
Suruppag (“a vicious donkey hangs its neck”), 73;
horses from El—Kurru, 139 f., 142, 144 f., a mare’s
neck serving a pillow for its master, 130. See also
EL-KURRU, HARNESS, YOKE.
NECK STRAPS, see STRAPS.
NEFERKARA, throne name of Shabaka, 140
NEN-NESUT (modern Herakleopolis), 138. See also
PIANKHY.
NEO-ASSYRIAN, see ASSYRIAN.
NEO-HITTITE, chariot on orthostat from Malatya and
replica on the Cass Gilbert building in Manhatten, 8;
chariot orthostat from Arslantepe. See also HUNTING,
Louvre, MARITIS, MUSEUM OF ANATOLIAN CIVILIZA-
TIONS.
NESTORIANS, Christians, 191. See also TEMPLE.
New KINGDOM EGYPT, Amarna letters, 74 f.; chariots and
harness, 5 ff.; experiments with replicas of Egyptian,
Greek, and Saharan chariots, 88; illustrated in paint-
ing and low relief in tombs and on temple walls, 40,
42, 123; details of construction and dimensions from
preserved chariots, 40; domination in Kush, 137;
fortress at Buhen, 39; horse and chariot introduced
from the Levant, 40; Kushites export of horses to
Lower Egypt, 127; pharaoh Merneptah attacked at the
Battle of Perire by a coalition of Libyan, Achaean,
and Cretan charioteers, 125; royal tombs at El-Kurru
follow Egyptian burial traditions, 137; wood to build
chariots imported from the Levant and other area
north of Egypt, 41; yoke height of extant chariots,
41. See also AMARNA LETTERS, BROOKLYN MUSEUM,
CHARIOT, EGYPTIAN NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM
(Cairo), GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM (Giza), MUSEUM
OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES (Cairo), GRIFFITH INSTI-
TUTE (Oxford), METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (New
York), MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (Boston).
NiGER, 132; Niger bend, 127; Herodotus commenting on
chariot travel into the interior by Libyans reached-
ing a great river infested by crocodiles (probably the
Niger), 127; Mansa Musa’s hajj pilgrimage from the
Niger to Mecca, 132
NIGHT-SHINING WHITE (H zhaoyebai), the favorite,
tethered charger of Emperor Xuanzong (Ff Z A),
178.
NIMLOT OF HERMOPOLIS (ancient Khemenu), 138. See
also PIANKHY.
NIMRUD (Kalhu), building specifically adjusted to the
requirements of chariotry, 77. Nimrud Horse List and
Nimrud Wine List, 137. See also ESARHADDON.
NINIVEH, Prism Inscription Niniveh, 77
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
NIPPUR, inlay fragment from Nippur showing team of
four equids controlled by nose rings, 85; new lexical
repertoire developed mainly in the city of Nippur
after Old Babylonian Period, 62; shell inlays, 98
NOMADS, and ancient rock art of the Syro-Arabian Des-
ert, 149 ff.; able to read and write, 149; rock draw-
ings of the ancient nomads and heroic self-image,
151; Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaim nomads destroying
irrigation works and ruining the agricultural base of
the North African littoral, 131; camel as “the nomad’s
capital", 151; herding animals on the fringes of the
desert, 127; naming of equids, 158, 164; nomadic Ar-
abs, 132; nomadic society of the Syro—Arabian desert,
150 f.; Pharusian nomads riding across the desert with
water skins strapped under the bellies of their horses,
129; Arabs encouraging Sanhadja nomad trade across
the desert, 131; equestrian Sanhadja of the western
Sahara developed into a tough disciplined fighting
force under Ibn Yasin’s tutelage, 131; Sanhadja and
Zanata nomads engaged in the trans—Saharan trade,
131; Tuaregs seizing Timbuktu, 132
NORTH GATE OF ZHAOLING, under excavation in 2002,
183. See also Six STONE HORSES.
NORTHERN Qt 167% (550-577), 191. See also WESTERN
REGIONS TECHNIQUES.
NORTHERN WEI JE (386—581), sending 20 missions to
the Western Regions in the first year of the Taiyan X
$E reign (435) and dispatched six more missions the
following year, 188; Sasanians pursuing active for-
eign relations with the Northern Wei frequently send-
ing envoys to China, 188 f. See also SILVER PLATES.
NORTHERN ZHOU JE (557—581), artist Yan Pi was
married to a Northern Zhou princess, 191; embassies
were exchanged between the Northern Zhou court
[Yuwen F XJ], 189. See also Yan Pi BIN and Yu
Hong (54).
Nose RING, 11, 32, 35, 37 f.; inlay from Nippur, 85
NOSEBAND, 35, 85, 86 129
NUBIA, army, 132; Assyrian description of Nubian horses
as particularly large animals, 139; Bedouin warriors
from the Arabian Peninsula reaching south into Nu-
bia, 130; Buhen horse, 123; borderlands, 132; decline
of Nubian Christianity and deterioration of Coptic
Christian status in Egypt, 132; disintegration of
Nubia facilitating Arab breakthrough to pasturelands
between the Nile valley and Lake Chad, 132; Don-
gola horses (15 hands) brought from the east by Arab
tribes migrating from Nubia across the Sudan, 132 f.;
donkeys on the island of Socotra, 128; El-Kurru the
only Nubian cemetery yet known devoted exclusively
to animals, 147; Thutmose III and Amenhotep II
capturing large numbers of slaves on expeditions to
Nubia and the Sudan, 123. See also BUHEN Horse.
NUMERICAL SIGNS, sign 2N,, and the interpretation of
sledges and wheeled vehicles in the Archaic Texts
from Uruk, 49 ff., esp. 55-57 and 67; other numerical
signs documented in the context of the semantic field
of “wagon”, 56; numerical signs of the proto-Sumeri-
an (“archaic”) texts from Uruk with their correspond-
ing transcriptions (Figure 15), 58.
216
NUMIDIANS, the most feared of Hannibal’s cavalries from
the Aures mountains, 129; 6,000 Numidian cavalry
aided Scipio to defeat Hannibal’s army at Zama in
202 BCE, 129; riding their horses bareback without
a bridle, guiding their horses with body movements,
129. See also TACTICS.
Nuzi, cuneiform texts incl. battle order of two flanks of
a military unit, 77; texts describing colors for horses,
77 n.6; 125. See also HORSE COLORS.
OBSIDIAN, used as material for parts of the harness, 87.
See also HARNESS.
OLD-BABYLONIAN, versions of Lexical Lists, 63 ff.; Syl-
labary ProtoEa, 65 n.74
OLE ZIYYON STREET (in Jaffa), equine remains, 108, 110,
115, 118
ONAGER, archaeological remains in Syria and Meso-
potamia in the Early Dynastic period, 101; center
for crossbreeding onagers and donkeys identified
at Abu Salabikh, 101; in cuneiform texts, 71 ff.;
donkeys or donkey/onager hybrids yoked abreast, 85;
Equus hemionus sp., 101 f.; hybrids, 98, 102 f., 123;
offspring of horse—onager crosses not fertile, 101;
Persian onagers, 101; species, 155 n.14. See also Ass,
CHROMOSOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES, EQUUS, DONKEY,
Hinny, Horse, HYBRIDS, MULE, PONY, PRZEWALSKI'S
HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
Oryx, 149, oryx horns, 149 n.1; a horseman spearing a
charging an oryx, with the inscription (KRS 331),
150; a horseman (inscription KRS 3288) hunting an
oryx, 151; a horseman (inscription KRS 3204) pursu-
ing an oryx and possibly two wild asses, 160; a horse-
man hunting an oryx using a long lance (see also Fig.
7c), 160; nomads with detailed knowledge of their
domestic animals and a familiarity with the features
of the commoner large wildlife incl. oryx, 164; three
identifying features of the oryx: long straight horns,
hump at the base of its neck, short tasselled tail, 149
n.1; two riders (inscription KRS 3429) pursuing an
oryx, 160
OSORKON OF BUBASTIS (ancient Per—Bastet), 138. See
also PIANKHY.
OSTRICH, on rock art of the Syro—Arabian Desert 161
n.38, 163
OSTRICH FEATHERS, as decoration for horses depicted on
rock art of the Syro—Arabian Desert, 151, 152, 161;
hunt for, 133; plume, most likely made of ostrich
feathers (Ku 219), 146; trade, 129
Oxus, (Gui River), 188
Pack ANIMALS, 31, 42, 129
Paps, as forerunners of saddles, 7
PALUDAN, writes, at Dunhuang 5&5 in Gansu H 7i and
Yungang Æ Wd in Shanxi Ur li, the Gandharan style
came along with “motifs from Sasanian Persia", 191
PARTHIA, Parthian Empire (248 BCE-224 CE), Ardashir
I, the founder of the Sasanian Empire, legitimizing
his seizure of power from Parthian Empire, 184;
official documentation in support of the contact
between China and Parthia, 190; general Ban Chao's
troops establishing direct military contacts with the
Parthian Empire, 188; sending exotic gifts to China,
188; played a role in the Silk Road transmission of
Buddhism from Central Asia to China, 188; multiple
aspects of the social life of the Anxi people [Parthian]
such as the issuance of a new coin at the death of a
king as recorded in the Shiji, 190; Zhang Qian mak-
ing the first known Chinese report on the Parthian
Empire, 186 f. See also AN SHIGAO, ANXI, SHUI,
WUDI, XIONGNU, ZHANG QIAN.
PASTURES, geographical/geological locations, 107;
Kushite pastures, 127; nomads in search of water and
pastures, 127; seasonal, 126
PATINA, rocks with rock art covered with thin patina
(“desert varnish”) showing as a shiny black surface,
149; pierced surface and coloring of markings over
the millennia, 149
PCR Assay, 111
PEFTJAWYBAST OF HERAKLEOPOLIS (ancient Nen-nesut),
138. See also PIANKHY.
PER-BASTET (Bubastis, BovBaotic), 138. See also PI-
ANKHY.
PEROZ (R. 457—484), descendants, 193; hunting rams,
186, 192; ransom demanded by Hephthalite captors,
192. See also ZERO.
Peroz III, (d. 677), in exile in Tokharistan sending
envoys to China, 190; appointed as the Dudu (41 8f,
Military Commander), 190; requesting Zoroastrian or
Nestorian temple in 677 AD, 193; sending envoys to
Chang'an, 190
PETROGLYPHS, see ROCK ART.
PHARUSIAN NOMADS, attacking competitor Punic colonies
along the Atlantic coast, 129; riding across the desert
with water skins strapped under the bellies of their
horses, 129
Pr-RAMESSE (Qantir), yoke saddle finials classified as
Type c from Pi- Ramesse, 11
PIANKHY, “Victory Stele” (discovered in 1862 at Gebel
Barkal), 138; recounting his defeat of the four rulers
of a divided Egypt, Nimlot of Hermopolis (ancient
Khemenu), Peftjawybast of Herakleopolis (ancient
Nen-nesut), and Tefnakht of Sais and Osorkon of
Bubastis (ancient Per-Bastet), 138; new assignment
of graves Ku 2217-220 to Piankhy based on new
evidence, 147. See also EL-KURRU, HORSES.
PICTOGRAMS, equids on Proto—Elamite tablets, 104; inter-
preted as sledges and wheeled vehicles in the Archaic
Texts from Uruk, 29 f., esp. 49 ff.; for plough (from
Uruk IV period), 31 n.18; in Shang period, 173
Pin, from Khardchakhalif in Tajikistan, 100
PINEWOOD (Pinus spec.), see TIMBER.
PIRAEUS PAINTER, Detail of Attic black—figure neck
amphora, 90. See also Museums, Collections and
Institutes.
PLATFORM CAR, 33, detail of Syrian cylinder seal, 38;
detail of a Syrian seal impression (with divine driver),
86; in the earlier second millennium BCE, 36; ter-
racotta model from Ashur, 34; terracotta model from
Kish, 34
PLouGH, cuneiform text about the employment of
donkeys as draft animals for ploughing, 72; “plough,
leader of the plough team” in Lexical Lists, 66; pic-
217
Index
tograph from Uruk IV period, 31 n.18; plough beam,
31; wooden seeding plough, 63
PLUME HOLDER, gilded from El—Kurru, one of the
horses of Tanwetamani (Ku 219) buried with a gilded
silver plume holder now in Boston (MFA 23.877),
138, 146
Poetry, “Dialogue of Pessimism” containing one of
the earliest examples of philosophical poetry in the
ancient Near East, 80; breeding of hybrids among the
Bedouin dying out some time before the surviving
pre-Islamic Arabic poetry was composed or written
down and analysed in the 8" and 9" centuries CE,
157 with n.23; role of horse in the pre-Islamic Arabic
poetry of the 6" and early 7* centuries CE, 151; wild
ass used as an image in the pre-Islamic Arabic poetry,
156 f. See also DIALOGUE OF PESSIMISM.
POLE, as part of chariot and harness-system: 10, 25, 30,
31 £,38, 41; bar-pole harness, 126; draught pole, 6,
31-33, 41, 85, 88 f., 92, 125, 127; pole-and-yoke
hitch, 43; pole-yoke system, 31; rigid pole allowing
the plowshare to run straight, 6. See also HARNESS,
YOKE.
PoLE-Ax, 147
POLYMERASE, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay,
111
Pony, contemporary specimens included in study on
ancient DNA and Trace Element Analysis tested on
Israeli equines,108; pony of Musgu rider of the mid—
nineteenth century with no saddle only a single bridle
without a bit, 128; Sura pony outperforming larger
foreign horses on rocky terrain, 133. See also Ass,
Equips, EQUINES, Equus, DONKEY, HINNy, HORSE,
HYBRIDS, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, PRZEWALSKI'S
HORSE, STALLION, TARPAN.
POST-SASANIAN ERA (ca. seventh century CE), see MANE.
PRAYER PRIEST, profession in Lu A, W 9656,h III 10
(Uruk), 66 with n.77. See also GARDENER.
PRINCE YDE (#444 T), ceramic horses from the tomb,
185. See also PRINCESS YONGTAI.
PRINCESS YONGTAI (7K 48 3:), ceramic horses from the
tomb, 185. See also PRINCE YIDE.
PRION PROTEIN (PRNP), 111, 117
PROFESSIONS, ‘forerunner’ of a lexical text of the series
Professions Lu A (W 9656,h III 10), 66. For Kikkuli’s
profession title, see KIKKULI.
PROTOCOLS FOR MUSTERING OF Horses, 78 f. See also
ARAMAEAN, ARRAPCHAEANS, CHALDEANS, CHARI-
OTEER.
PROTO—CHARIOT, detail of cylinder seal impression from
Anatolia, probably from Kültepe (Kärum Kanes), ca.
20th-19th century B.C., Metropolitan Museum of Art
(66.245.17b), 37; detail of terracotta vehicle model
from Uruk (front screen), Vorderasiatisches Museum
(11576), 37. See also CHARIOT, TRUE CHARIOT.
PROTO-ELAMITE, animal world, 97, 104; an overview of
the term Proto—Elamite, 194 n.55; tablets, 104; tablet
Louvre Sb 6320 bearing pictographs of several types
of equids, 104
PROTO—SUMERIAN. See ARCHAIC TEXTS.
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
PRZEWALSKI’S HORSE, 101, 103. See also Ass, CHROMO-
SOMES, EQUIDS, EQUINES, EQUUS, DONKEY, HINNY,
Horse, HYBRIDS, MULE, ONAGER, PONY, STALLION,
TARPAN.
QANTIR, see PI-RAMESSE.
QIANLING, Mausoleum of Emperor Gaozong, 185; stone
horse with mane and three low notches, 185
Qiu XINGGONG (FLÄTZN), general, extracting the arrow
from the chest of Saluzi, Emperor Tang Taizong’s
favorite horse, 182. See also SALUZI, TANG TAIZONG.
QUADRIGA, racing quadriga on a marble funerary stele
from western Anatolia, Roman period, 95
QUANMAOGUA (42-65), Taizong's favorite horse, 182.
See also SALUZI.
QUARTER HORSE, see HORSE.
QUsAYR 'AMRA (north-eastern Jordan), Stampeding wild
asses (from a late seventh century CE wall painting,
156
QusTuL, Royal tombs with horse burials, 139
RACETRACK, for the light “high-front” chariot in the 7^
century BCE, usually shown with a central axle and
chiefly used on the racetrack, drawn by two or four
horses, 90
RACING CHARIOTEERS, 39
RADIOCARBON DATING, in Mesopotamia, 49; 67; equine
remains in the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa radiocar-
bon dated to the early Muslim period (9"/10" century
BCE), 110
RAMESES II, see RAMSES II.
RAMLA, equine remains, 108 ff.
Ramses II, Egyptian chariot (detail of stone relief from
Medinet Habu), 42; chariot of the Hittites or their
allies (detail of stone relief from Abydos), 42; exhibi-
tion Ramses Le Grand in Paris in 1976, 8, 18. See
also QANTIR.
RAWHIDE, 7, 6; used for chariots, 40. See also TIRE.
REAL TIME PCR Ana ysis, 112
REAL TIME PCR AND HRM Anatysis, 111
REAL TIME PCR Assay, 113 f.
Rep TEMPLE (in Uruk), 60 f.
REINS, 37, 41, 80, 85, 89, 92, 152 with n.5, 154, 159 f.;
tied around the hip, 39, 87, 124
REVIEW PALACE OF NIMRUD (ékal mäsarti), 77
RIDING, 77-79, 93, 123, 152, 155, 159, 176; Arab, 131;
astride, 7; first evidence of horseback riding in Meso-
potamia, 6; Kushite, 127; riding on fully caparisoned
horses, 183; riding gear like the ‘barbarians’, 175;
Sura tribesmen riding ponies, 133
RING BEADS, see BEADS.
RITUAL, 31, 124, 139, 172; bronze ritual vessel gui ($x)
from Jingjiecun (EJP RT), in Lingshi (RA), 172;
Bronze ritual vessel (3$, zun) in the shape of a colt
(Mei County, Shaanxi), 175; ritual narratives, 178
Rock Arr, in the ancient rock art of the Syro—Arabian
Desert, 149 ff.; Sahara: two-horse chariot, 126, 128
ROLLERS (Rolling Beams), 29, 54, 57—59, 66 f.
Roman, Buddhist monks-some as “trained foreign sculp-
tors" with strong in Greco-Roman backgrounds,
191; early harnessing systems in Gallic and Roman
culture, 134; Han figures inspired by a Greco-Roman
218
background, 182; Roman dominion in North Africa ,
130; Roman Empire, 85,
ROPE, 6, 32, 35, 129, braided, 85, simple rope knotted
around the horse's nose, 129
ROSETTE, as decoration for harnessing, 91 f.
Rouran (EZR), 191. See also Yu Honc.
RoYvAL, Achaemenid chariot, 95; chariots, 91; Assyrian
royal text documents, 77; crowns, 186; embellish-
ments, 184; inscriptions, 79; Kushites present at
Assyrian royal court, 137; horses, 139, 147; ideology,
147; Napatan royal funerary ideology and practice,
147; Napatan royal women, 138; palaces, 91; 138; pa-
rade and royal chariots, 40, 87 “Royal Necropolis” at
Gonur-depe, 99; Sasanian royal family members held
court in Tabaristan, 193; storehouse of Niniveh, 77;
Sui royal family, 190; royal family of Taizong, 191;
texts, 78; tombs at Ballana, El-Kurru and Qustul,
137 ff.; tombs at Ur, 98, traditional royal images and
attributes, 193; uraeus cobra, 146
RuN-OuT MOUTHPIECE, see MOUTHPIECE.
SACRED EYE OF Horus, see WEDJAT.
SADDLE, 132, 154; camel’s saddle, 130; high—bridged,
182
SADDLE BLANKET, four-striped, 182
SAFAITIC, language and inscriptions 149 ff. See also
SAFAITIC INSCRIPTIONS AND DRAWINGS.
SAFAITIC INSCRIPTIONS AND DRAWINGS, CIS v, 1185—
1189, p. 155; 1186, p. 153; 2839-2840, pp. 155, 159;
KRS, 177, p. 154; 253, p. 154; 331, p. 150; 993, p.
154; 1005-1006, p. 154; 1865, p. 153; 2560, p. 152;
2989, p. 154; 3134, p. 159; 3199—3201, p. 159; 3288,
p. 151; 3297, p. 153; 3204, p. 160; 3429, p. 160;
KW2Q, 10, p. 167; 19, p. 151, p. 166; 21-22, p. 167;
94, p. 168; 122-126, p. 167; 161, p. 159, p. 167
SAHARA, equestrian Islamization of the Sahara and
the Sahel, 130 ff; gradual desiccation, 127; stirrup
introduced by Arabs, 130; trade across, 130 f.; trans—
Saharan commerce, 131; trans—Saharan gold route,
131. See CHARIOT, FLYING GALLOP, HARNESS, HORSE
and Rock ART.
Sars, 138. See also PIANKHY.
SALUZI (AFR), Emperor Tang Taizong’s favorite horse,
wounded by an arrow, 182, 184
SANHADJA, cavalry aggressively attacked in the north,
subduing semi-Islamized Berber groups and estab-
lishing a military camp at Marrakesh, 131; dispatch
of Abdallah ibn Yasinto indoctrinating the equestrian
Sanhadja of the western Sahara, 131; nomad trade
across the desert encouraged by Arabs, 131; suc-
ceeded between 1054 and 1059 in vanquishing their
Zanata Berber political rivals, 131
SANHUA (AL, “three flowers”), three tufts of the Em-
peror’s horse, 185
SARCOPHAGUS, of Yu Hong (H54), 191. Se also Yu
HONG.
SARGON II, 7, 77 f.; colored horses are definitively men-
tioned in a letter, 77; Horse Lists from Nimrud, 138;
Prism Inscription of Sargon II, 79
SASANIAN, Emperor Tang Taizong’s Six Stone Horse Re-
liefs and Sasanian Art, 181 ff. See also SILVER.
SAUDI ARABIA, petroglyph of a two-horse chariot indicat-
ing horse presence at Jubbah, 123, 149 ff.
SCIPIO AFRICANUS, countering Punic might by emulat-
ing Carthaginian tactics with Iberian horse to defeat
Hasdrubal at Ilipa, Spain in 206 BCE, 129. See also
NUMIDIANS.
SEAL, ‘Battle car’ with spoked wheels, 37; chariot (detail
of cylinder seal), 38; cylinder seal, 29 f., 36 ff.; from
Tepe Hissar, 36; *Platform car' (detail of cylinder
seal), 38, 86; Proto—chariot (detail of cylinder seal
impression), 37
SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD (ca. 1650-1550 BCE), 40
SELENKAHIYEH, broken-off equine head (Akkadian), 35
SEQUENCING, 112, 114
SHABAKA (712-698 BCE), 137 ff.; Hathor-head beads
prevalent in the graves of Shabaka's horses, 144;
“The Horses of Shabaka”, 140; heads of the goddess
Hathor, and cowrie shells, common in the graves
of Shabaka and Shebitka's horses, 147; *Horses of
Shabaka: remains recorded in the HU-MFA Object
Register" (Table 2), 141; throne name (Neferkara);
140. See also BEADS, Horse.
SHAFT-AND-BREASTCOLLAR, 31
SHAPUR I (r. 241—272), Triumph over Valerian Philip the
Arab, 183 f.; rock relief at Naqsh-1 Rustam, Sasanian
period, 183
SHAPUR II (r. 303—309), hunting boar, 186
SHELL INLAY, equid from Susa (Sb 5631) 97 f.; in geomet-
ric patterns from Tal-e Malyan, 101
SHEBITKA (698—690 BCE), 137 ff.; comparison to Assyr-
ian necklaces, 143 f.; one group of distinctive faience
ball beads adorned with ankh and wedjat symbols,
147; heads of the goddess Hathor, and cowrie shells,
common in the graves of Shabaka and Shebitka's
horses, 147; *The Horses of Shebitka", 140 ff.;
“Horses of Shebitka: remains recorded in the HU-
MFA Object Register" (Table 3), 142; throne names
(Djedkara and Menkheperra), 144
SHENDU (India), envoys from the Han court sent to, 188
SHENGUI (TH IR), reign 518-520, 189 with n.11
SHIFACHI (4143.78), one of Emperor Taizong’s six horses
believed to have come from Sasanian Persia, 193
Sui (Sac, “Records of the Grand Historian”), 188,
touching on multiple aspects of the social life of the
Anxi people [Parthian], 190
SHORT INTERSPERSED NUCLEOTIDE ELEMENT (SINE), 111
SHOVEL, with a wooden stick, 66. See also BRONZE.
SILK RoAD, 187; opening of the eastern routes of the
Silk Road as “byproduct” of the Xiongnu campaigns
and the exploration by Zhang Qian, 176; sending
exotic gifts to China, Parthia playing a role in the Silk
Road transmission of Buddhism from Central Asia to
China, 188
SILVER, amulet, 139; bands, 141; bull, 104; copper, iron,
and silver shipments from Spain, 129; in horse burials
from El-Kurru, 139; exported from Morocco, 131;
gazelle, 104; gilded silver plume, 138; Sasanian, 181
ff.; silver wares arriving in China, 192; with gold as
basis of the Muslim monetary system, 131; used for
horse trappings, 127; used for decoration of chari-
Index
ots, 87; vessel from Maikop, 102 f. See also BEADs,
MAIKOP, TRAPPINGS.
SINE. See SHORT INTERSPERSED NUCLEOTIDE ELEMENT,
111
SINGLEFOOT, see HORSE TRAINING.
SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM (SNP), 111
SINTASHTA, remains of spoke—wheeled two—wheelers at
Sintashta and other sites in northern Khazakstan, 39
Six STONE Horse RELIEFS, 181 ff.; close connection to
manes on the “central Sasanian” silver plates, 193;
known as Zhao Mausoleum (Zhaoling Liujun AA i
BD [Six Stone Horses of Zhao Mausoleum]) of
Emperor Taizong, 181.
SIXTEEN STATES (T- 75, 317-420), also known as Six-
teen Kingdoms in northern China, 188
SLAVES, 65, 67, 128 ff.; captured by Thutmose III and
Amenhotep II on expeditions to Nubia and the Sudan,
123; “Ethiopian troglodytes”, 126; foundation for
the Muslim slave trade in Africa, 130; slave girl, 65,
73, 78; slaves and gold brought from the Sahel by
Berber caravan traders, 130; slave officials selectively
assigned to tending and training activities, 133; slave
warriors and mercenaries, 132; war horse, vital for
the control of gold, also drove the slave trade in the
Sahel, 132
SLEDGE, sledge car, 29 f.; sledges with house-like con-
structions and runners curving upwards at one end
showing two round impressions underneath (inter-
preted as sledges and wheeled vehicles in the Archaic
Texts from Uruk), 49 ff.
SNP, see SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM.
SOCLE OF TUKULTI-NINURTA, 75
SONGHAY, empire the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th
century, 132
SPOKED WHEEL, see WHEEL.
SPRUYTTE, JEAN (1919-2007), examined the Florence
Chariot (“Rapport sur le CHAR DE FLORENCE”),
which became part of M.A. Littauer’s and J.H. Crou-
wel’s book on Egyptian chariots (1986), 9; for M.A.
Littauer, experimented with ancient harness systems
and build ancient spoke-wheeled two-wheelers, 87;
disproved the theories of Lefebvre des Noéttes. See
also FLORENCE CHARIOT, LEFEBVRE DES NOETTES.
STALLION, 6, 35, 130, 139, 158, 164. See also Ass,
Equips, EQUINES, DONKEY, HINNy, HORSE, HYBRIDS,
MULE, ONAGER, PONY, PRZEWALSKI’S HORSE, TARPAN.
STANDARD OF UR, 33 with n.21, 98; axe seen in one war-
rior’s hand accompanying the ‘battle car’ shown on
the Standard, 33; full-scale reconstruction of a ‘battle
car’, as depicted on the ‘Standard of Ur’, exhibited at
the International Museum of the Horse in the Ken-
tucky Horse Park, 33; inlays, 98; pulled by hybrids,
98; as a symbol of military victory, 39
STEEDS, in administrative Horse Texts from Fort Shal-
maneser at Nimrud, 77; famous Ferghana steeds,
177; tall steeds from Kokand (eastern Uzbekistan),
171, 176; Kushite steeds, measuring 15 hands, buried
with elaborate trappings of bronze, silver, shell, and
faience, 127
STIRRUP, 130, 152
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
STONE Horse, head from Zinjirli, 93; with mane and
three low notches, 93
STRADDLE CAR, carries javelins, but is never shown in an
explicitly military setting, 34; depicted on a fragmen-
tary stone stela from Telloh, 36; depicted on a stone
plaque from Ur, 34; may also have served as a fast
courier's transport, 34; standard component of elite
art together with equids, 98; from Tell Agrab, 31 f.,
98, 100. See also TELL AGRAB.
STRAIGHT MOUTHPIECE, see MOUTHPIECE.
STRAPS, divided cheek straps support a bit or a low, rein-
forced noseband (in Egypt), 86
STRATAGEMS OF THE WARRING STATES (HRE S, ZHANGUO
CE, 475—221 BCE), ancient text with anecdotes of
political manipulation and warfare, 175
Early Dynastic. See ED III.
Su Lian (Ek iii, d. 874), epitaph of the wife
claims that the deceased and her husband were both
the descendants of Sasanian noblemen, 193
SUDAN, central Sudan, 132; characteristics of the Don-
golawi horses that became well-known in Sudan
in medieval times and later, 139; long history of
animals sacrifice to accompany elite burials in ancient
Sudan, 139; “Horses in Ancient Sudan", 137 f.; large
Dongola horses (15 hands) brought from the east by
Arab tribes migrating from Nubia across the Sudan,
133; peoples across the Sudan looking toward Cairo
as the commercial centre of the Muslim world, 132;
slaves captured by Thutmose III and Amenhotep II on
expeditions to Nubia and the Sudan, 123; languages,
126; Sudan National Museum in Khartoum, 137 f.,
141 £5; Sudanic belt, 126; Sudanic bush country,
128; Sudanese gold, 131; Sudanese Nile Valley, 137;
Umayyad governor in 734 ordered an expedition to
Bilad al-Sudan (Lands of the Black People), 131; See
also Horse, EL-KURRU.
Sur Dynasty (USD. 581-617 CE), Sasanians frequently
sending envoys to the courts of the Northern Dynas-
ties and the Sui dynasty, 192; short-lived, exchanged
embassies with the Sasanian Empire, 189
Stot Hymns, 73 f.
Stot Hymn (Neo-Sumerian), 73 f.
SULLA, 176
SUMERIAN, in Sumerian texts, 71 ff.; Series ‘Metal’, Se-
ries ‘Wood’, 65 ff.
SURCINGLE, 89
SURUPPAK (modern Fara), 53; 63 with n. 62, Instructions
of, 72 f. See also FARA.
SURA Pony, see Horse.
Susa, Bronze tyre in segments, 36; Equid from Susa
(shell inlay), 97 ff; studded wooden wheel from Susa,
99; tombs, 35; Tomb K, east of the Apadana, 99;
vehicles, 98; wheel, 31, 98
SYRIA, see SEALS.
SYRO—ARABIAN DESERT, 149 ff. See also DESERT.
TACTICS, Arab tactics in the Sahara, 130; Carthaginian
tactics with Iberian horse to defeat Hasdrubal at Ilipa,
Spain, 129; cavalry tactics, saddles and stirrups, 132;
chariot tactics, 42 f.; 77; Muslim cavalry invasions
repeatedly repulsed by Sura tribesmen riding ponies,
220
hurling javelins, and employing harrying guerrilla
tactics, 133. See also CAVALRY, NUMINDIANS, SCIPIO
AFRICANUS.
TAHARQA (690—665 BCE), buried at Nuri, 137; took
“large horses" as booty, 138
TATYAN (K ££), reign 435 CE, 188
TAIZONG (HERR), 2™ emperor of the Tang Dynasty,
commissioned six large relief sculptures, 181; his
“danging qimiao" (FH 75 5j 4^, marvelous red and blue
painting skills), Om XINGGONG (Ir 1725), Saluzi and
Quanmaogua his favorite horses, 182. See also Om
XiNGGONG and TANG DYNASTY.
TAL-E MALYAN, bit wear has also been reported in con-
nection with the remains of a *probable mule or
possible horse' attributed to the Kaftari phase (ca.
2200-1800 BCE), 35; inlay with a neighing Przewal-
ski’s horse, 101; the Malyan excavation report docu-
ments only shell inlays in geometric patterns, 101
TANG Dynasty (618—907 CE), admiration of the Flying
Horse, 178, contacts between China and the Sassa-
bian Empire into early Tang dynasty, 187; 189. See
also TAIZONG.
TANK, comparison to chariot warfare, 33
TANWETAMANI (664—653 BCE), 137 f.; gilded silver
plume holder found together with one of his horses
(Ku 219), 138; shawabty of (intrusive) [19—4—110
(19.2881)], 142; new assignment of graves Ku
221—224 to Tanwetamanis’s based on new evidence,
147. See also PLUME HOLDER, HORSE.
TARPAN, 1845 drawing of 5 month-old Tarpan colt
(foal?), “The Tarpan of Kherson" captured in 1866
and kept at the Moscow Zoo, 102. See also Ass,
Eourips EQUINES, HINNY, HORSE, HYBRIDS, MULE,
ONAGER, PONY, PRZEWALSKI'S HORSE, STALLION.
TASSEL, 95, 149, 159 ff.
TEFNAKHT OF SAIs, 138. See also PIANKHY.
TEL Haror (Israel), see Bit, BRIDLE, CHEEKPIECE,
CoPPER/BRONZE.
TELL AGRAB (Iraq) copper model, 31 f., 98, 100. See also
STRADDLE CAR.
TELL AL-OBAID (Iraq) excavations at, 98
TELL BRAK (Iraq) wear, possibly left by metal bridle bits,
on the teeth of five asses buried in a temple at Tell
Brak in Syria, 35 f.
TELL CHUEREH (Syria) excavations at, 98
TELL EL AJJUL (ancient Gaza), Copper/bronze bridle bit
from Tell el Ajjul, 41, 85 f.
TELL EL—DaB‘A (Egypt), horse skeleton found in a palace
at, 39. See also HORSE.
TELL Es—Sweynat (Syria) male caballine figurine with
transverse hole through its muzzle, 35. See also
HORSE.
TELL Taya (Iraq), broken-off equine head of Akkadian
date from Tell Taya, 35. See also HORSE.
TELL Uqar (Iraq), cuneiform tablet with depiction of
sledge with houselike construction and two round
imprints, 29, 49, 52, 59
TEMPLE, Gebel Barkal, Nestorian
TEPE HIssAR (Iran), two-wheeled vehicle, on a cylinder
seal from level IIIb, 36
TERRACOTTA, from China, 176; from Cyprus, 94 f.; fig-
ures of a saddle horse and warrior, 176; horses, 185;
horse figurines, 35; plaque with the depiction of a
scene from the poem “Gilgamesh and Huwawa", 77;
‘platform car’ model, from Assur, 34; “platform car’
model, from Kish, 34; proto—chariot (front screen of
fragmentary terracotta vehicle model from Uruk), 37
TERRET, 32, silver and electrum, 32; crowned by an equid
figure that was associated with Pu—abi’s sledge, 32; as
described in Linear B tablets, 89
THE Cass GILBERT (Manhattan), stylized replicas of Neo—
Hittite reliefs, 8
THE JESTER, scholarly cuneiform text being satirical about
professions, 80
THE New Yorker, Talk of the Town, “The Early Horse”
(article on Mary Littauer), 5—7
THOROUGHBRED, see HORSE.
THREE Kincpoms (=, 220—265 CE), rise and fall of,
188
TIANMA (AH, heavenly/celestial horses), in the language
of dreams, 176. See also HEAVENLY HORSES, HORSE.
TIANSHAN, 176
TrAozuHi (Í) ("Mesopotamia"), envoys from the Han
court sent to, 188
TIBESTI Massır, 126. See also HERODOTUS.
TICHITT VALLEY (Southwest Sahara), heavier fortifica-
tions of the oasis settlements signalling serious
conflict, 127
TIGLATH-PILESER I (r. 1114-1076 BCE). See also CLAY
PRISM.
TIGLATH-PILESER III (r. 745—727 BCE), a contemporary
of Piankhy, 137; The Nimrud Wine List number nine,
137
Tit Barsıp, wall paintings, 91
TIMBER, ^C sample of Building C in Uruk [pinewood
(Pinus spec.)], 62; imported into Egypt, 41; hard
timber that was also preferred by later wheelwrights,
particularly for naves, 41; used for the construction of
tripartite wheels, 30. See also WHEELs.
TIRE/TYRE, a 4—part tire from tomb in the Ville Royale in
Susa, 98 f.; 6-part copper tire from Tomb K, east of
the Apadana, 99; 6-part tire from Gonur-depe (Tomb
3225), 100; bronze from Susa, 36, 99; rawhide, 7; 30,
40; woode, 98
TOMBOS, near the 3rd cataract, discovered the intact burial
of a horse, 137
TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS, combined with ancient DNA
tested on Israeli Equines from ca. 900-1200 BCE 107
ff.
TRACTION Bar, 125; frontal traction bar-pole harness,
126; multiple draught poles joined by frontal traction
bar, 126; North African quadriga featured multiple
draught poles connected at the tip by a traction bar,
127
TRAINING, see HORSE TRAINING.
TRANSCAUCASIA, bovid-drawn vehicles with and without
tilts, 33. See also CASPIAN STEPPE.
TRAPPINGS, 5; Assyrian, 91 f.; bronze, silver, shell, and
faience, 127; possible configuration and function
of the horse trappings of horse from El-Kurru, 138
221
Index
ff.; gold, 91; Horses of Piye: remains recorded in
the HU-MFA Object Register, “Trappings” (Table
1), 139; Horses of Shabaka: remains recorded in the
HU-MFA Object Register, “Trappings” (Table 2),
141; Horses of Shebitka: remains recorded in the
HU-MFA Object Register, “Trappings” (Table 3),
142; Horses of Tanwetamani: remains recorded in the
HU-MFA Object Register, “Trappings” (Table 4),
146; jewelled, 87; 123; exclusively ornamental and
amuletic elements from horse burials in El-Kurru,
147; Six Stone Horse Reliefs: full trappings, most of
them depicted pierced with arrows, 181; together with
mane, tail, stirrups, saddle, and weaponry also war
trappings demonstrate interaction among Chinese and
non-Chinese cultures, 181
TRUE CHARIOT, spoke—wheeled two—wheelers at Sintash-
ta and other sites in northern Khazakstan do not
represent true chariots due to narrow wheel bases, 40.
See also CHARIOT, PROTO-CHARIOT.
TRYPANOSOMIASIS, equines acquired partial resistance to
trypanosomiasis during extension to tropical forests,
128 with n.9; larger horses were especially prone to
trypanosomiasis transmitted by the tsetse fly, 133
TUKULTI-NINURTA I. (1244-1207 BCE), accused of hav-
ing “mounted his chariot and harangued the hordes”
of Babylon, 75; socle of Tukulti-Ninurta I. from the
temple of the goddess Ishtar in Ashur (VA 8146), 75
TUKULTI-NINURTA Epic, 75
TULU EL-KHATAB, four-wheeler terracotta model from
with its floor of bent wood and osier or reed, held
together by bindings (National Museum of Iraq,
Baghdad 87213), 33 f.
TURKMENISTAN, Flying Horse of Gansu still bred today
in Turkmenistan, 178; metal tyres, made in segments
and held on by clamps, found in different parts of the
Near East, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, 36; Turk-
menistan kulans, 155. See also Equips, FLYING HORSE
OF GANSU and TIRES/TYRES.
TUT'ANKHAMÜN, (KV 62), tomb, chariots, wooden chest
(Egyptian Museum in Cairo),
UR, ceremonial sledge with paired bovid draught of
‘queen’ Pu-abi, 29; tripartite disk wheels from tombs
at Ur and Kish in southern Iraq, and from Susa in
Elam in southwest Iran, 30; silver and electrum terret
from Royal Cemetery, 32; ‘Straddle car’ depicted on
stone plaque from Ur, 34, 36; Sulgi, 73; Ur I period,
62. Ur III period, 64 with n.63, 66, 123; Ur HI Dy-
nasty, 73; Ur-Namma, 74. See also STANDARD OF UR,
STRADDLE CAR, TERRET, SLEDGE, WHEEL.
UR-NAMMA, ‘year name’ no. 15 of Ur-Namma of Ur:
“The year that the chariot of Ninlil was made, 74 with
n.8
URALS, see KHAZAKSTAN.
URSUM, see ANNALS OF HATTUSILIS I.
URUK, Archaic texts, 29; 49 ff.; Building IV, 30; Late
Uruk seal impressions, 30 n.9; pictographs, 30; 49 ff;
Proto-chariot (front screen of fragmentary terracotta
vehicle model from Uruk), 37; sledges on cuneiform
tablets from, 29; 49 ff; Uruk period (ca. 3400-3100
B.C.), 29; Uruk III, 52 f., 60 ff.; Uruk IVa, 53; 60 f.;
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
Uruk IVb, 60 f.; Uruk IVc, 60; wheeled vehicles on
cuneiform tablets from, 29; 49 ff; Uruk III, 52 f., 60
ff.; Uruk IVa, 53; 60 f.; Uruk IVb, 60 f.; Uruk IVc, 60
VADUM IACOB, Jacob’s Ford, animal remains from, 107 ff.
VERTEBRAL REDUCTION, as an adaptive response by the
evolving proto-Arabian horse to the stresses of south-
ern latitudes, 124
VICTORY STELE OF PIANKHY, see PIANKHY.
VISA IRASANGA (Saka), see YÜ-CH’IH I-SENG.
VORLAUFER, See FORERUNNERS.
VULTURE STELE FROM TELLO, 98
WAGADU (Ghana Empire, ca. 6700-1240 CE), 129; Al
Bakri of Cordoba reports on the king of Wagadu
referred to as Ghana by the Arabs in the 11" century
CE, 131
WAGON, combat wagon, 79; pictograms, 49 ff; pulled by
bovids, 98, 100; with a six—part metal tyre, 99 f. See
also BATTLE CAR, CHARIOT, CART.
WAHRAM / ABRAHAM (Bi HER), 193
Waicuo Tu (AH Al, The Painting of Foreign States),
189
WALL PAINTINGS,
Wancuul Tu (CE & [s], The Gathering of Kings), 189
WEDJAT, blinkers decorated with the wedjat-eye motif,
87; a strand of red, yellow, blue and white faience
wedjat eyes, 144; from el-Kurru: gilt silver amulet
in the form of the sacred eye of Horus as remain of
horse trappings in Ku 222, 139; decayed silver frag-
ments of hollow wedjat eye (gilt), embossed (19—4—
126 (MFA 19.2892), 139 (Table 1); string of wedjat
eye and cowrie shells (19-4-72), 142 (Table 2); large,
hollow, silver gilt wedjat eye amulet (19—4—77), 142
(Table 2); 2 large blue faience ball beads with wedjat
eyes and ankhs in black (19—4—80), 142 (Table 2);
strings (in original order?) of 36 small wedjat eyes
in blue faience (19-4-87 [21.10572], 142 (Table 2);
string of wedjat eyes and cowries similar to 19—4—72
(19-4-88 [19.2867], 142 (Table 2); string of 35 small
wedjat eyes in blue faience [194—100 [21.10564],
142 (Table 2); 1 wedjat bead, 2 ball beads with ankhs
and wedjats in black paint, and 1 openwork barrel
bead with incised wedjats 194—104 [21.10566],
142 (Table 2); 5 openwork blue faience wedjat eye
beads and fragments of 3 more, containing remains
of original string 19—4—58 [21.10570], 142 (Table
2); Egyptian style amulets such as wedjat eyes, ankh
signs common in the graves of Shabaka and She-
bitka's horses, 147; string of wedjat eye and cowrie
shell beads (Fig. 12) [MFA 19.2876], 145 (description
144 f.); beads with ankh and wedjat designs from Ku
210 (Fig. 13) [MFA 19.2874], 145 (description 144 f.)
WARMBLOOD, see HORSE.
WEILING, in Xianyang City (Shaanxi Province), winged
horse, jade, Western Han (2nd c. BCE), from Weiling
in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, 178
WESTERN HAN Dynasty (2nd century BCE), blood—
sweating horses (likely related to the “great” Nisean
horse prized in Persia), 171; inscriptions on bamboo
strips list tribute of nine horses, 31 donkeys, 25
camels, and one cow, 177; Kingdom of the Kangju
222
the first in that region to send an ambassador to the
Western Han court, 177; winged horse (jade), 178;
envoy Zhang Qian (EZE first official sent by of the
Western Han (206 BCE-8 CE) to explore the Western
Regions, 187. See also KANGIU, ZHANG QIAN (EZ,
WESTERN REGIONS (xiyu PEER) 187-192
WESTERN REGIONS TECHNIQUES, own style featuring
Western Regions' techniques developed by the artist
Cao Zhongda & AIS [active during the Northern Qi
167% (550-577)] known as chaoyi chushui ERH7K
[Cao’s treatment of garment and its folds like floating
water], 191
WESTERN TERRITORIES (744), expansion of use of Chi-
nese horses for cavalry and parade probably initially
secured from several locations far outside dynastic
borders [Western Territories (OD JL 179
WESTERNMOST HORSE (xiji, FEAR), 177 f.
WHEEL, 26, 30 f.; “chisel for the wheel or cart", 64;
cross—bar wheel, 36, from Tepe Hissar, 36; disk
wheel, 30, 36; Egyptian wheel in Brooklyn, 7, 126;
evolution of, 3; fragmentary chariot wheel from tomb
of Amenophis III, 40; *gir/gur “hoop, wheel", 65;
from Lidar Hóyük, 41; narrow wheel base, 40; receiv-
ing added strength from rawhide tire, 7; six-spoked,
7n.33, 12; 40; from Susa, 98 f.; transmission of the
wheel south of the Sahara, 129; tripartite disk wheel,
30, 36; from the of the tomb of Tut ankhamün, 14;
wheel-like under-carriage for depiction of sledges on
Archaic texts, 49 ff.; wheel-making, 41; models from
Urk, 62; wide wheel base, 39 f., UMBIN (ED III)
used to designate “wheel”, 56, 66
WINE LIST FROM NIMRUD, see NIMRUD WINE LIST.
WINE VESSEL, in the shape of a colt (SS DH lijuzun)
excavated in Lijiacun (CG 2X), Meixian (JE E),
Shaanxi, 174
WINGED HORS, jade, Western Han (2nd c. BCE), from
Western Han (2nd c. BCE), from Weiling in Xianyang
City (Shaanxi Province), 178
Wow (in Lu A 74), 66
WITHERS, early harnessing either attached to horns or
placed on necks in front of the withers (cattle), 85;
position of a male rider as shown in rock art as close
as possible to the withers of the horse, 155; positions
of riders as as shown in rock art over the withers and
back from withers, 159—161; pushing against the
neck yoke to produce the tractive power, 31; longer,
slenderer necks and low withers (equids), 31; size
of horses calculated from the yoke height of extant
Egyptian chariots, i.e. ca. 1.35 m. at the withers, 41;
the yoke saddle's position just ahead of the horse's
withers, 88; the yoke prevented the yoke saddle from
slipping down behind the withers, thereby enabling
the shoulders to exert a strong forward pull, 124
WONDER HORSES, legends of King Mu's wanderings and
his eight wonder horses, 174.
Woop, of Egyptian chariots, 16; 25; bent-wood, 32,
40; bent-wood floor, 33; bent-wood frame, 40;
bent—wood front breastwork, 33; bent-wood tech-
nique, 7; elm, 41; in Lexical Lists, 62 ff.; type of
wooden seeding plough, 63; wood revolving on
wood, 40; “wooden cabin (?)”, 63; “wooden wagon",
63; “wooden wagon with side boards (?), 63; wood
revolving on wood, 40
Wuni, Emperor (fr, r. 140-87 BCE), 176; built
powerful empire stretching from North Korea into
Central Asia, 176; commanded an army of 60,000
men, 30,000 horses, 100,000 head of cattle, and thou-
sands of donkeys and camels, marched on Ferghana,
171; focusing on defense and trade, 176; the ‘Martial
Emperor’, 176; after losing nearly 80 percent of his
cavalry horses in the initial campaigns against the
Xiongnu, adoption of a multi-pronged approach by
improving horse husbandry within the empire and
expansion of equine breeds, 176; sending Zhang
Qian (ik 2, d. 114 BCE), the commander of the
guards at the imperial palace gates, Central Asia
again, to seek an alliance with another pastoral group,
the Wusun (DI, 176; learned from Zhang Qian
that great steeds from Kokand (CL 291 stood very tall
(estimated from Chinese measure to sixteen hands),
176; hoped to bring Ferghana-bred horses to his
court, 176; interest in importation of special breeds as
a result of his interest in expanding and supplying his
stables, 178
WULING oF ZHAO (AIR) demanded that his army
adopt cavalry and riding gear like the ‘barbarians’ in
307 BCE, 175
Wowel (IJ) in the Gansu Province, excavation cam-
paign in 1969, 171; most celebrated horses artifacts
unearthed in a general’s tomb of the second century
CE, near Wuwei (RX), 177
XIANYU TINGHUI (BET KEifj), see MANE.
X1A0 YI (384€), two paintings of the Southern Dynasties,
probably later copies, attributed to Xiao Yi, 189
Xn (FEAR), see WESTERNMOST HORSE.
XINIIANG (XIE, Aas, 176
XIONGNU (J MQ), a confederation of peoples with a
mounted leadership and warrior class, 176; opening
of the eastern routes of the Silk Road as byproduct
of the Xiongnu campaigns and the exploration by
Zhang Qian, 176; Wudi losing nearly 80 percent of
his cavalry horses in the initial campaigns against
the Xiongnu, 176; Wudi forming an alliance with the
Xiongnu’s old enemies, the Yuezhi (H FX), and to
attack the Xiongnu from the east and west simultane-
ously, 176; capturing and retaining of Zhang Qian (5%
35) and his men in the Hexi region in Gansu Province
for more than 10 years, 176
Xıyu (PYER), see WESTERN REGIONS.
XUANQUAN (ÆR), inscriptions on bamboo strips. See
also BAMBOO, DUNHUANG, WESTERN REGIONS.
YAN Leen ([E] 97.4), 189, 191
YAN Live (A S748), 189, 191
YAN Pr OH), married to a Northern Zhou princess, pos-
sessed excellent painting and craft skills and served
both the Northern Zhou and Sui courts, contemporary
of Yu Hong, could have encountered non—Chinese
people, 191
YANCAI (ancient Alains), envoys from the Han court sent
to, 188
223
Index
YAZDEGERD III (r. 632—651), 189 ff.; amassing all his
troops in Nihavand, 189; death, 190 n.13; demand-
ing high taxation from the Merv governor, 190, n.13;
hiding in a Christian Mill where he was spotted and
murdered, 190 n.13; marking the official end of the
Sasanian Empire, 190, n.13; sending “central Sasa-
nian” silver plates as diplomatic gifts along, 132
YORE, 6, 10, 14, 38, 41, 85 ff. Assyrian four—horse—yoke,
93; four-horse fitted yoke on a relief of Sennacherib,
94; chevron-shaped wooden device asked to the
yoke, 124; construction and function, 30—32, 38, 124;
dorsal yoke, 87, 89 f. 90; Egypt, 86, harnessing, 85
ff., brought as tribute by Levantines, 88; neck yoke,
31, 87, 90; ornamented with rosettes and fringes,
92; position of yoke and yoke saddles on the horses’
necks, 88; of an Assyrian chariot being transported on
a boat, 91
YOKE BRACES, 41
YOKE SADDLE, 3, 10, 41; harnessing system with neck
yoke and yoke saddle, 87, 89; on Linear B tablets, 89
YOKE SADDLE FINIALS, calcite finials, 87; as a Leitfossil
for chariotry research exclusively used for chariots,
12; yoke saddle finials classified as Type c from Pi-
Ramesse, 11; yoke saddle finials from the tomb of
Tut'ankhamün (with the head of Bes calcite, covered
with gesso, gilded, and inlaid with glass, faience, and
calcite), 11, 88
YONGHUI (KI) REIGN, 190. See Peroz III.
YONGPING (KT) REIGN, 188
YOUWEIWEI JIANGJUN (44 RTE. General of the Right
Awesome Guard), 190
Yu Hone &3/ (ca. 550—592), from the Yu State, prob-
ably in Central Asia, Rouran's 27^ envoy to Sasani-
an Persia, serving in the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou,
and the Sui courts, 191
Yu Hong (54), sarcophagus (ca. 550-592) with Sasa-
nian Persian imagery, 191; was Rouran’s #44 envoy
to Sasanian Persia, and later served in the Northern
Qi, Northern Zhou, 191
YüÜ-CH#’IH I-Senc (Yuchi Yiseng), fame equaled that of
Yan Liben, 191; a native of Yutian or Tokharistan,
191; might have been sent by the King of Yutian to
serve the Tang court as a hostage; 191; claimed by
Edward Schafer as a foreigner, a Khotanese, with the
Saka name of Visa Irasangà and the Chinese name of
Yü-ch'ih I-seng [Yuchi Yiseng], 191
YUAN OF THE LIANG (GL. two paintings of the
Southern Dynasties, probably later copies, attributed
to Y., 189
YUCHI YISENG (HÆ Z, 18), see YÜ-CH’IH I-SENG.
Yuzzui (H KG), see XioxGNu (RN)
YUNGANG (EM) In SHANxt (L PE), see PALUDAN.
ZHAOLING LIUJUN (HA BSR) “Six Stone Horses of Zhao
Mausoleum", 181
ZERO, Byzantine ruler, providing the ransom demanded
by the Hephthalite captors of Peroz during the late
fifth century, 192
ZHANG Dat (EIB #8), headed mission sent to Bosi
(Sasanian Persia) J£ Bir together with Han Yangpi Vë
"EC, 188
Equids and Wheeled Vehicles in the Ancient World
ZHANG QIAN 5K3€ (D. 114 BCE), envoy sent by the
court twice, marking the first official endeavor of the
Western Han (206 BCE-8 CE) to explore the Western
Regions, 187; made the first known Chinese report on
the Parthian Empire, 188; increased contacts between
China and Parthia and the Western Regions increased
according to his embassy and report, 188. See also
ANXI, WUDI, XIONGNU.
ZHANGHE (LS HI REIGN, the state of Anxi sending an
envoy to present lions and fuba STI [antelopes] in
the second year of his reign, 188
ZHAOLING LiUJUN HE EZ 732 [Six Stone Horses of Zhao
Mausoleum]. See Six STONE HORSE RELIEFS.
ZHAO STATE, Bronze horse sculptures in the tomb of the
king, reign of King Mu, Shaanxi, 175
ZHENGUAN (JI WL) REIGN, 181 n.1; 189, 191
ZHIGONG Tu WA [si] [Tribute-paying], painting ordered
by Pei Ziye and attributed to Xiao Yi, later Emperor
Yuan of the Liang, 189 f.
ZHONGDATONG REIGN (FRE), 189
ZHONGGUO MEISHUJIA RENMING CIDIAN (HP BS AA
4% WEIL, Dictionary of names of Chinese artists), 191
ZHOU, burials of high-level officials including chariot
and horse sacrifices, 173; dynasty (J#] #H), 173; late
Zhou military, 176. See also Mu (J& f E).
EMPEROR XUANZONG (JH X 3K, r. 712-756 CE), 178. See
also NIGHT-SHINING WHITE.
Zuo ZHUAN (Æ f£), description of King Mu's (J f
-E, 947—928 BCE) desire to leave his chariot tracks
everywhere, to have a chariot pulled by eight semi-
divine stallions, wanderings, his eight wonder horses,
174
ZUOWEIWEI JIANGJUN (Zr RTE E General of the Left
Awesome Guard), title given to Narsieh. See NAR-
SIEH.
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224