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Historical Background
The Iliad is the first written text where casting horses into the same pyre with the hero-owner was reported by Homer in
describing the burial of Patroklos by his friend Achilles (23.173-174):
/
Authors free translation: And he drove four high-necked horses /
Swiftly along the pyre, lamenting loudly as he did so
However, it was the Halicarnassus-born historian Herodotus, who best described the normal (i.e., not in a pyre) burial
habit of horses in Asia by the Gherri...most northern and remote among the Skythian tribes. In his Book IV Herodotus
gives minute details of Asian burial habits, which seemingly followed same routes with the domesticated horse, all the
way from Skythia to Greece, from the Bronze Age onwards (Histories IV.71-72): When a king dies, they dig a great
square pittake up the corpse <which> is laid in the tomb... while in other parts...various members of the kings
household are buriedHorses are buried too, and gold cupsand a selection of his other treasures Skythian graves
of human-cum-horse burials are among the most spectacular finds of archaeology (Artamonov 1970, Rudenko 1970), and
so are the Macedonian tombs. According to some scholars the mustached barrows, several of which have been found in
Kazakhstan, reflect horseshoe-shaped structures, a calendar with astronomical meaning (Bekbassar, 1993); this because
burying horses crescent-shaped and eastward bound suggests the horse cult and sacrificial rites to the solar god, widely
spread in the Eurasian Steppe. It was Herodotus again, who offered details of this cult in stating that of all the gods only
the Sun is worshipped and to whom horses are sacrificed. The idea behind this [sacrifice] is to offer the swiftest of mortal
creatures to the swiftest of the gods (Histories. I.216) Recent finds in Greece verify Homers and Herodotus
descriptions almost verbatim (Fig. 1).
3. Gold larnax 4-5. Horse mandible with traces of bridle bit; iron bit
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6. Akanthos: Family unit tomb 7. Man-and-horse burial
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11. The Philadelphia horse
15. Sindos: Horse-5 and dog burial 16. Horse-4 with man burial (at ca.55 cm)
In Herodotus story (viz. Akanthos, 6.126) Sindos is mentioned as a site crossed by the armies of Xerxes, which set camp between the
rivers Axios and Echeidoros at the point they converge at Sindos. Herodotus adds that there were many lions in the area, which
attacked only the camels of the Persian army. He wondered why, since Greek lions had never seen or tasted camels, animals unknown
to them. (VII.126 ,
, ). Regardless of Herodotus
confusion however, the finding of dogs of great size (Molossans?) should not come as a surprise, since the delta of the River Axios
was a habitat of lions as stated by Herodotus, Xenophon and other ancient writers.
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8. Therme on the Thermaic Bay: Horse above hoplites (1996)
A rescue excavation by archaeologist Dr. Desp. Ignatiadou (16th Ephorate of Thessaloniki) at a property lot of Therme in 1996
revealed a touching scene. Namely, a warhorse buried head-to-head and just above the cist grave of a Greek hoplites (soldier). It dates
to the 5th century BC (Fig. 17). The man was young carrying one sword along each femur (hoplites), and the horse was a stallion of
135-140 cm, whose head was gently placed on a flat rock over the soldiers grave. It looked as if special care was taken to make the
animal look not like being dead but resting on a pillow (Antikas T, 1994). Similar burials reflecting love between men and their
mounts had already been found in nearby Olynthos, Chalkidike, as early as 1940 (Robinson, 1942).
18. The Tzamala male boar 19. Dion: the epitaph stele 20. Edessa: pig relief
10. Thrace Mikre Doxipara: Men, women, horses and carts (2003)
An astounding discovery was made by Dr. D. Triantafyllos and his team (19th Ephorate, Komotini) at the east branch of the Via
Egnatia along the River Hebrus in Thrace (Greek-Turkish-Bulgarian border) A tumulus thought to contain sizable memorial structures
due to its large dimension (d: 60m, ht: 7 m) revealed 15 horse burials, six carts, and the pyres of a man and a woman. One of the most
impressive carts is shown on Fig. 21 and dates to the Hellenistic period. The skeletal finds of six paired and three individually buried
horses have not been studied yet hence their pathology will be the subject of a future paper. One would enjoy the exquisite handcraft
and finials of those funeral carts and would be surprised to note that the yoke horses of the second cart (Fig. 22) were buried facing it.
I believe there is no image depicting the joking phrase Dont put de cart before de horses better than this one. Seemingly the
sacrificial horses were buried first and the wagon was thrown over them afterwardsin the wrong direction.
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21. Wagon with silver finials 22. De cart before de horses
23. Aidonia: Mycenaean tombs 24. The AidoniaTreasure 25. Aidonia: Ring with a two-horse difros
Far to the north, a few months later, Prof. Andronikos reached the bottom of the Great Tumulus at Aegae after many
excavation seasons and unearthed the most important tomb found in Macedonia (viz. above). The common point in these
discoveries of the 70s which brought to life invaluable Mycenaean and Macedonian artifacts, is that they carried mystery
and intrigue. After a series of adventures following illegal digs at Aidonia, illicit trade and lawsuits filed by the Ministry
of Culture, Greece welcomed home the Aidonia Treasure in 1996. In 1997 a unique underground museum at Vergina was
inaugurated honoring the 20-year anniversary from the discovery of the Royal Tombs. Yet the identities of the dead
heroes buried in these tombs continue to be a subject of mystery and scientific debate. Another common point, i.e., the
existence of horse remains at Aidonia and Aegae is not widely known although it is important to archaeology and archaeo-
zoology. Unluckily, the incomplete horse skeletons and fourteen mandibles (Tombs 12, 14) at Aidonia, or the cremains of
horses, dogs and other animals in the pyres of the Royal Tomb II at Aegae, were not given immediate attention. The
remains of the Aidonia horses were reported years later, whereas the horse-tack finds at Aegae but not the burnt horses
were published eight years after the discovery. In both cases the lack of detailed faunal studies was probably due to the
absence of specialized Greek archaeozoologists in the last two decades. Thankfully, the horse remains at Aidonia and the
charred bones of horses at Aegae survived the time, having been kept in stock since 1977. The finds at the Royal Tomb II
have been published in detail lately in an attempt to help resolve the enigma on the identity of the cremated hero and to
provide information on the culinary preferences of the Macedonian nobles (Antikas et al, 2002). This paper adds data on
the horse burial (Grave 12) at Aidonia. The incomplete skeleton and mandibles of Tomb 14 will be the subject of a future
paper. Such finds are invaluable treasures as they derive from archaic equines living in Bronze Age Greece and bring
insight into the Mycenaean burial habits, regardless of the fact that the Aidonia horses were sacrificed but not cremated
prior to burial. As this horse is among the most ancient ever found in Greece, its data is analyzed in more detail below.
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Materials and Methods
The skeletal remains of the horse in Grave 12 were kept in a wooden rectangular container marked
1979 stored at the Museum of Nemea (Fig. 26). The skeleton was in the semi-articulated position in
which it was found, embedded in the soil of the original grave (Fig. 27). Cleaning, identifying, conserving, photographing
and cataloguing bones followed standard laboratory techniques (Antikas, 2000). Bone and tooth fragments were sampled
for isotopic analyses (C-14, 13C and 18 content) to determine the dating, nutrition, zoogeography, origins and
evolution of horses in Bronze Age Greece. Gender, age, height and probable use were determined by the degrees of dental
growth and attrition, the development of the innominate bones and metapodials, and the signs of trauma(s) on its skeleton.
Finally, whole or fragmented bones and teeth were measured (von den Driesch, 1976, Antikas, 2000) to compile indices
comparable to those of contemporary Mycenaean equines, or to later but similar faunal remains whenever possible.
26. Horse T-12 in 2000 27. Horse T-12 as found in its original grave, 1977
Results
(a) Isotopic Analyses: C-14 and 18O study as part of a pilot transect
Mean values: 18O: - 6.1, - 5.5; and 3.9 PDB. It is planned to extend the sample regime in a larger transect study, since
one complicating factor was the part sampling upland animals. The Aidonia horse results cannot be fully interpreted until
more lowland horses of the 2nd millennium BC are found and sampled across Greece and bordering countries. C14-dating:
3400 50 BP. This date renders the Aidonia horse the most ancient found in the Peloponnese (14th century BC)
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28. Two Ladies, Tiryns 29. Two Ladies, Hagia Triada
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12. Dendra revisited: The newest discovery of the oldest yoke horses (2003)
Swedish and Greek archaeologists have been excavating Medea, an important Mycenaean citadel in the Argolid since the
early 30s. The modern site of Dendra has become famous for the fully armored Mycenaean man found in one of its shaft
graves, but also for two pairs of yoke horses buried amidst two graves in Tumulus B. (Figs. 30-31). It has been argued
that these horses may belong to the early second millennium, based on sherds found in the tombs (Protonotariou, 1990).
Such postulates may be proven correct only thanks to the recent discovery of yet one more pair of yoke horses unearthed
by Ms. E. Papi (4th Ephorate, Nauplion) and shown on Fig. 32.If radiocarbon analysis of the horses bone collagen verifies
our hypothesis that they date earlier than the 16th century BC, historians will have to reconsider the established theory, i.e.
that the domesticated Equus entered Greece in the late second millennium. An issue, which needs no commentary, is the
unfortunate statement of the first archaeozoologist who examined horse skeletons 3 and 4 in the 70s. In his own words,
the horses are oldand are male or probably geldings. Apparently the fact that ancient Greeks did not castrate their
horses had not crossed the learned archaezoologists mind. Alternatively, he may have been an absentminded scientist
thinking of western practices at the time he composed the above phrase.
30 The Mycenaean 31and the Horses. 32. Recent discovery of a synoris pair, 2003-04
Conclusion
The key word expressing the keenest desire of heroes, past and present, is immortality, and this is a message conveyed
from Greece all the way to China for millennia. Greek or Eurasian heroes were often privileged to end their mortal lives
on horseback, to be inhumed with their beloved mounts, and to reach the Elysian Fields in full gallop. Meanwhile, from
the Homeric Achilles to the Macedonian Alexander, immortality was sought by a continuous search of the immortal
water. Thetis plunged her son Achilles in such water, and Philips son Alexander searched the sources of immortal water
on horseback in far away India. Almost every god, goddess or lesser deity in history was immortalized by virtue of his or
her closeness to horses, horsemanship, riding and/or driving. From the Olympians to Buddha or Mohammed the symbol
of immortality has been none other than Equus caballus. No wonder mortals, male of female, wished to follow the same
steps in response to the horses idea about it (EVEN WITHOUT A RIDER I WILL ALWAYS BE A CHARGER OF THE
GODS, BUT A MAN WITHOUT A HORSE WILL ONLY BE A MAN). Thus in addition to any other message conveyed
by the common horse-and-human burials (e.g., heroic symbolism, proof of affluence, love of ones horse), it would not be
wise to forget this messageby archaeologists, archaeozoologists or historians. However, in my opinion, the message of
immortality should not be considered primary at all times. The essential feeling of common mortals and/or heroes found
buried, or having wished to be buried with their horses such as Cimon of Athens and Euagoras of Sparta (Herodotus
Histories 6.103) was love. There has been no phrase to express this feeling better than that of Mr. Cummins:
GOD, PLEASE HELP ME NOT TO END UP IN A HEAVEN WHERE THERE ARE NO HORSES
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1. Sites with horse burials (Elpa maps, Athens, Greece) 2. Fresco on the faade of Philips Tomb (I. Touratsoglou
Macedonia. Ekdotike Athenon 1995) 3. Gold larnax (I. Touratsoglou Macedonia. Ekdotike Athenon 1995) 4. Horse
mandible with traces of bridle bit (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 5. Iron bit (P. Faklaris, Harnesses from Vegina.
Archaeologikon Deltion 41, 1991) 6. Akanthos: Family unit tomb (photo: Eleni Trakosopoulou) 7. Man-and-horse burial
(photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 8. The Lagyna horse team (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 9. Chronic sesamoiditis (photo: L Wynn-
Antikas) 10. Ringbone (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 11. The Philadelphia horse (photo: Vasso Misaelidou) 12a.
Dessiduous/permanent teeth (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 12b. Olecranon/humerus/P2 (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 13. Pydna:
the horse burial (design courtesy of Dr. M. Besios) 14. The single cranium burial (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 15. Sindos:
Horse-5 and dog burial (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 16. Horse-4 with man burial at ca.55 cm (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 17.
Therme: horse & hoplites cist-grave (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 18. The Tzamala male boar (photo: L Wynn-Antikas) 19.
Dion: the epitaph stele (D. Pandermalis, Dion. Adam Editions, 1999) 20. Edessa: pig relief (Ancient Macedonia, Inst. of
Balkan Studies, 1970) 21. Wagon with silver finials (courtesy of Dr. D. Triantafyllos) 22. De cart before de horses
(courtesy of Dr. D. Triantafyllos) 23. Aidonia: Mycenaean tombs (courtesy of Mrs. Dina Kazas) 24. The
AidoniaTreasure (courtesy of Mrs. Dina Kazas) 25. Aidonia: Ring with a two-horse difros (courtesy of Mrs. Dina
Kazas) 26. Horse T-12 in 2000 (photo: Marylin Miller) 27. T-12 as found in its original grave, 77 (courtesy of Mrs. Dina
Kazas) 28. Two Ladies, Tiryns (The Argolid. Archaeological Fund Editions, Athens, 2000) 29. Two Ladies, Hagia
Triada (S. Marinatos, M. Hirmer, Kreta. Hirmer Verlag, 1986) 30. The Mycenaean (The Argolid. Archaeological Fund
Editions, Athens, 2000) 31. And the Horses (photo: Paris Vasilakos) 32. Recent discovery of a synoris pair, 2003-04
(photo: Paris Vasilakos)
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