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The Figured Evidence for a Small Pony in the Ancient Near East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Mary Aiken Littauer
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Extract

Dr. P. R. S. Moorey has recently established the identity of a ridden animal on terracotta relief plaques of early 2nd-millennium B.C. Mesopotamia as a true, if very small, Equus caballus. The presence of this species in this region at so early a date has, until now, often been seriously doubted. Also quite recently, a distinct strain of small-pony-sized horse (of 1.20m or under at the withers) has been identified in Iran. The slenderness index of its metapodials (one of the most commonly used criteria for determining equid species) has been found to fall within that of the hemiones. Hence it seems possible that some remains of harness animals of the late 3rd or early 2nd millennium B.C. hitherto dismissed as those of onager may actually have belonged to a true, if very small, Equus caballus. In the light of these facts a review of the pertinent figured evidence has seemed desirable. This has revealed the later continued use of a categorically small pony alongside that of the large pony or small horse.

Plate VI a shows a boy astride an animal that has long been called “an immense wolfhound”. It has a small head and ears, slender limbs, a full mane, and a long, full tail. This equid and others on similar plaques from this period seem definitely smaller and lighter than the Przewalski horse, whose height of 1.30m or more places him just under or already within the “large pony” class of the modern horse-show ring.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , Spring 1971 , pp. 24 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1971

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References

1 Moorey, P. R. S., “Pictorial Evidence for the History of Horse-riding in Iraq before the Kassite Period”, Iraq 32 (1970), 36–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar. I wish to thank Dr. Moorey for his kindness in letting me see this article prior to its publication.

2 Firouz, L. L., “Conservation of a Domestic Breed”, Biological Conservation 2 (1969), 53ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar. The great majority of the “horses” of antiquity would fall within today's general “pony” classification, i.e. an animal that stands 1.47m, or under, at the withers. The “small pony” category specifically includes everything 1.32m or under at the withers.

3 van Buren, E. D., Clay Figurines of Babylonia and Assyria (New Haven 1943), 159, Fig. 210Google Scholar.

4 Mohr, E., Das Urwildpferd (Wittenberg 1959), 21Google Scholar.

5 Ziegler, C., Die Terrakotten von Warka (Berlin 1962), 47, Taf. 8, no. 137Google Scholar.

6 For a horse found in a 17th-century B.C. level at Buhen see Emery, W. B., “A Preliminary Report on the Excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society at Buhen” in Rush 8 (1960), 8–9Google Scholar. This animal was similar in size and type to one found buried just outside the tomb of Sen-ne-mut at Deir el Bahri: Chard, T., “An Early Horse Skeleton”, Journal of Heredity (1937), 317, Fig. 7Google Scholar; Winlock, H. E., Rise and Fall of the Middle Kingdom in Thebes (New York 1947), 154Google Scholar; Hayes, W. C., The Scepter of Egypt, Part II (Cambridge, Mass. 1959), IIIGoogle Scholar. This size is also confirmed by the dimensions of extant Egyptian chariots: Botti, G., “Il Carro del Sogno”, Aegyptus 31 (1951), 197Google Scholar; Fox, P., Tutankhamun's Treasure (London 1951), Pl. 5Google Scholar.

7 “Syrian booty”, wall painting from the tomb of Amenmose, Thebes: Wreszinski, W., Atlas zur altägyptischen Kulturgeschichte I (Leipzig 1923), Pl. 88aGoogle Scholar; “Tribute from Syria and Crete”, wall painting from the tomb of Mencheperre-Seneb, Thebes: W. Wreszinski, op. cit., Pl. 276; “Tribute from Syria”, wall painting from the tomb of Imaunezeh, Thebes: Wreszinski, op. cit. Pl. 269; Bossert, H., Altsyrien (Tübingen 1951), Taf. 917Google Scholar; Yadin, Y., The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands (New York 1963), 194, 195Google Scholar.

8 Schaefter, Cl. F. A., “La patère et la coupe en or de Ras Shamra”, Ugaritica II (1949), 1ffGoogle Scholar; Frankfort, H., Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (Harmondsworth 1958), Pl. 145Google Scholar; Strommenger, E. and Hirmer, M., 5000 Years of the Art of Mesopotamia (New York 1964), Pl. 177Google Scholar.

9 Buchanan, B., Catalogue of Ancient Near-Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford 1966), no. 895Google Scholar; von der Osten, H. H., Ancient Oriental Seals in the Collection of Mr. Edward T. Newell, OIP XXII (Chicago 1934), nos. 341, 343Google Scholar; Ward, W. H., Seal Cylinders of Western Asia (Washington 1910), no. 981Google Scholar; Porada, E., The Collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library, CANES I (Washington 1948), no. 971Google Scholar. The manner of representing the animals on this seal as virtually without ears, the means of control, which appears to be still by nose-rings, the conspicuously bound chariot pole, the 4-spoked wheel, the upper part of the vehicle, with vertically grooved breastwork and seat (like a two-wheeled version of the Akkadian four-wheeler on Morgan 220)—all would indicate a considerably earlier date than the I4th-i2th centuries to which it is here ascribed.

10 Herre, W. and Röhrs, M., “Die Tierreste aus des Hethitergräbern von Osmankayasi”, in Bittel, K.et al., Die Hethitischen Grabfunde von Osmankayasi (Berlin 1958), 60ffGoogle Scholar. The question of provenance has arisen because of a letter of the Hittite king, Hattusilis III (1275–1250 B.C.) to Kadašman-Enlil of Babylon, in which the former requested young horses to replace worn-out ones he had at home. Herre and Rohrs, however, believe that the continuity of type that they found indicates that Anatolia itself was a successful horse-breeding area.

11 The extant records of Egypt's acquisitions of foreign horse-flesh must be very far from complete, and we cite here only three of many examples. Thutmose III (1490–1436 B.C.) carried off 2041 horses and 191 foals from Megiddo in northern Palestine: Pritchard, J. B., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton 1955), 237Google Scholar; his successor, Amenhotep III brought back 820 horses from his campaign to the Orontes in Syria: J. B. Pritchard, op. cit., 246; and when Ramses II (c. 1301–1234) married a Hittite princess she brought with her “horses without number”: J. B. Pritchard, op. cit., 257.

12 H. Frankfort, op. cit., Pls. 84, 87, 88, 92b; Barnett, R. D., Assyrian Palace Reliefs (London 1960) 14, 15, 24–27, 141–144Google Scholar; Parrot, A., Assur (Paris 1961), 62, 64Google Scholar.

13 Loud, G., Khorsabad Part I, OIP XXXVIII (Chicago 1936), 28, Figs. 31, 32Google Scholar; Salonen, A., Hippologica Accadica (Helsinki 1956), Pls. III, IVGoogle Scholar; R. D. Barnett, op. cit., Pl. 43.

14 Barnett, R. D. and Falkner, M., The Sculptures of Assurnasir-apli II, Tiglath-pileser III and Esarhaddon (London 1962), Pls. XLIV, LXIX, CXVGoogle Scholar; Gadd, C. J., The Stones of Assyria (London 1936), Pl. 15Google Scholar (I disregard the outsized royal chariot animals on this plate and am judging by the troopers' mounts in the righthand registers); R. D. Barnett, op. cit., no. 12, Pl. 57. For these sizes we also have osteological evidence, if not from Assyria itself, from Cyprus under Assyrian domination. Horse burials at Salamis of the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. have yielded remains of horses that stood from 1.33m to 1.53m: P. Ducos, “Les equides des tombes royales de Salamine” in Karageorghis, V., Salamis, vol. 3, Excavations in the Necropolis of Salamis I (Nicosia 1967), 157Google Scholar.

15 Schmidt, E. F., Persepolis I (Chicago 1953–1957), Pls. 32A, 32B, 35B, 37A, 37B, 42B, 48B, 52Google Scholar. Another example of an Iranian animal outisde of Iran being led in this manner occurs on a relief from a tomb from Xanthos in Lycia now in the British Museum (Cat. B 312), which is illustrated in Ghirshmann, R., Persia, From the Origins to Alexander, (London 1964), Fig. 445Google Scholar. The boar's-tusk strap crossings in relief on the once painted-in head-stall, indicate the Iranian origin of this large animal, which may stand as much as 1.55m at the withers but which, because he is single, can still be led in this fashion, if rather awkwardly.

16 R. D. Barnett, op. cit., no. 12, Pls. 57, 99; E. Strommenger and M. Hirmer op. cit., no. 8, Pl. 231; Smith, S., Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum (London 1938), Pls. XLIII, XLV, XLVI, LVII, LXV, LXVI, LXVIIGoogle Scholar. With both types of leading we find examples of fully bridled animals as well as ones in a leading bit or a halter, thus the headgear cannot be a factor in the manner in which they are led.

17 C. J. Gadd, op. cit., no. 14, 204, Pl. 35.

18 H. Frankfort, Cylinder Seals (London 1939), Pl. XXXVIId; R. Ghirshmann, op. cit., no. 15, Fig. 329; a cylinder seal in the Ashmolean (B. Buchanan op. cit., no. 9, Pl. 44, no. 685) also shows a hunting chariot with small ponies.

19 Head, B. V., Historia Numorum (Oxford 1887), Figs. 352, 353, 354Google Scholar; Studniczka, F., “Der Rennwagen im Syrisch-Phönikischen Gebiet”, JdI 22 (1907), 190, 191Google Scholar.

20 Dalton, O. M., The Treasure of the Oxus (London 1964), Pl. IVGoogle Scholar.

21 E. Schmidt, op. cit., no. 15, Pl. 52.

22 Herrmann, G., “The Darabgird Relief—Ardashir or Shahpur?”, Iran 7 (1969), Pls. XIIa, XIII, XIVGoogle Scholar.

23 Herodotus, V, 9. These “shaggy” and “blunt-nosed” ponies, however, would have been unrelated to the Near Eastern ones.

24 The pony here stands 1 · 9 m at the withers and the height of the groom is 1 · 68 m.