The World Survives with People; and People Survive by Animals and the Best of the Animals Is the Horse “ Qabus Nameh (Qabus-E Voshmgir)
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© www.desertheritagemagazine.com “ The world survives with people; And people survive by animals And the best of the animals is the horse “ Qabus Nameh (Qabus-e Voshmgir) 60 • Desert Heritage Magazine Caption of Map: Greatest Extent of Persian Empire, circa 500 B.C. Caption picture of background: Tribute Bearers bring horses and Equipment to the Great King, Apadana Stairway, Persepolis n by Monika Savier photos by Monika Savier The history of the world-spanning Persian Empire is im- mediately connected to the development of the Persian hor- ses. In Asia Minor and the Orient, conquering was done by horse, not on foot, from the 2nd millennium BAC on at the latest, as proven by historic finds from the Persian Elamite epoch (2400 BC to 539 BC): cave carvings and the tombs of the rulers who had fallen in battle with their horses, and who were, of course, buried together with their noble partners. The word “horse” is apparent even in the oldest of the Persian books of religion, the Avesta, and with the Acha- emenides (550 BC to 330 BC), horses were called „aspa”. The word appears four times in Darius the Great’s rock carvings at Bisotoon in Southwest Persia. (1) Other horse finds were made in the prehistoric tomb sites of Kerman, where tiny equestrian statuettes dating to the 2nd millen- nium BC have been found. The world had never seen a more vast empire than the Persian Empire at the time of the Achaemenides kings. Desert Heritage Magazine • 61 From the Eastern part of the Mediterranean (today’s Ly- heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from bia, Egypt, and Turkey) to Northeast Asia with the Indo- the swift completion of their appointed rounds.“ This sen- European tribes (Aryans and Scythians) and to what is tence, adopted from Herodotus and taken up as an adage by today Khazachstan, and in the southeastern direction to New York city’s main post office, still decorates their main Pakistan and the border to India, that’s the area the empire entrance. He goes on to write: “[These couriers ferrying oral spanned. When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 or written messages] galloped in relays between rest stations BC, bringing Mesopotamia (the country between the Tigris of the Royal Road: 1600 miles in nine days”. (3) and Euphrates rivers) into the fold of “Parsa” (as Persia was All those tribes united under the Persian rule had one thing called the Persians), the social climate of the region changed in common: early on they had realised that in times of war dramatically. Cyrus claimed for himself the title of „King of as well as of peace, success and development were only possi- the World“, declaring that “he would be benevolent, merciful ble if they had good horses at their disposal, horses that were towards the conquered, and tolerant of local religions. Rele- top performers and highly attached to people. For transpor- ase of the Jews from Babylonian captivity was one result of ting people and goods on the trade routes, camels and don- his edict; [that’s one reason why] the bible calls Cyrus “God’s keys were good enough if there was no special hurry. But for anointed one”. Cyrus’s pronouncements echoed Mesopota- military success, horses were needed and they had to meet mian royal traditions, but his treatment of the defeated set two important criteria: horse and riders had to be highly a new standard” (2). trained, and superior horse breeds suitable for battle had to During the almost 800 years of Achaemenides rule, the fa- be bred systematically. mous Royal Road was built, a road For attack as well as for connecting the whole of the empire defence, the level of coo- from the West to the East. Later on, peration between horse it was to gain popularity as the Silk and rider was the one Road, the trading route between Eu- thing that was crucial for rope and Asia. Riders mounted on fast success. There was a cor- horses served courier duty on the road. responding emphasis on We have been given a description by the training of horses and the Greek historian Herodotus who riders, as the warriors recorded the performance of the Acha- were loaded with shields emenidian riders and their horses in and swords or with bows his history books on his travels across and arrows, which did Persia: „Neither snow, nor rain, nor not leave any of their hands free for taking up the reins. They rode with refined aids, using their voice and shifts of weight – usually at high speed and while overcoming their fear in the face of battling forces. Almost any writings on the subject of warfare with horses, from ancient to modern times, testify to this symbiosis of horses and riders, and to the gratitude the riders, if they were lucky enough to survive those mur- derous battles, felt towards their horses. Numerous reliefs, statues and frescos of riders and horses, from prehistoric ti- mes to the 20th century, serve as testimonies. Another just as important aspect in the use of horses, for warfare as well as for civilian purposes, was careful and well-aimed breeding, developing specific potentials of va- rious horse breeds for the respective different requirements of the times. Horse trade flourished between the various regions of the empire. The Persian Kassites, a tribe of Be- douins from the high Zagros plateau in Southwest Iran, Tribute Bearers bring horses and Equipment to the Great King, Apadana Stairway, Persepolis 62 • Desert Heritage Magazine were among the first tribes well known for their success in breeding and training horses. (4) They exported their Aryan (5) horses to Mesopotamia, the region that is today Syria, Northern Iraq, and East Anatolia. To do that, they had to ride their horses across the Zagros Mountains towering up to 4500 metres, for selling them on the Babylon markets. That’s how their horses also reached Egypt, for there is proof that the Hittites, Assyrians, Elamides and Egyptians kept horses for their respective cavalries from about 1500 BC on. During the reign of the Achaemenides, which lasted for more than 800 years, horses took ever more important functions. A stone was found near the then capital of Persepolis, quo- ting king Darius the Great as saying that “[this land is] possessed by good people and good horses“. We get other testimony from Herodotus, the Greek, who no- ted in his diary: “Persians carefully instruct their children to ride, to draw the bow and to speak the truth“. (6) His dia- ries also contain records on the extent of Archaemenidic horse Horse and Groom, Esfahan school circa 1600 A.C. breeding. 160,000 horses, he says, lived on the royal pastures in between the cities of Hamadan and Kermanshah. When payment from his provinces. The relief of Persepolis depicts Alexander the Great conquered the area in 333 AC, he delegates from seven out of the 23 provinces of the Persian found only 66,000 horses. Herodotus goes on to write that Kingdom bringing horses as tax payment. Armenia alone the most expensive horses were the grey-coated Nisa. They paid 20,000 horses to the kings, while others gave horses, belonged to the king, were mules, and sheep, and the Satrap tribe from Cilicia brought fast and were not only 360 noble grey Nisa horses of their own breeding. According ridden, but also pulled the to Xenophon, the Nisas were the horses of the kings, occasio- chariots. It was customary nally getting offered to the gods as sacrifices. The Avesta says in those times to deliver that it is a grey Nisa horse who pulls God’s chariot: “Four horses to a king as a tax all-white horses, immortal and fed on ambrosia, their front Desert Heritage Magazine • 63 hooves shod with gold and their rear hooves shod with silver, also taken with the Persian model of efficient large-scale draw the chariot of Mithras”. (7) administration and took it on for themselves, in order to be In the course of time, however, the horses took their places better able to administrate their expanding empire. Iran’s Asil Arabian Horses Today in the everyday lives of the normal population. The Par- The level of quality that had been established for horse bre- thians (247 BC–224 AC), a plains tribe from the middle eding during the times of the Persian Empire was to perpe- of the Persian Empire, were well known for their mounted tuate the centuries to come. When Marco Polo (1254-1324 archers. They reached the Mediterranean and even challen- AC) travelled Persia, he wrote: “The best and most beautiful ged Rome with their fast horses and their poisoned arrows. horses of Asia are found in Persia. Foreign merchants bring Others write about them: „They ride on horseback all the the horses from Persia to India for quite a price.” (10) time, on horseback they go to feasts and attend to public and Louis IV, the king of France, arranged with the Sultan Hos- private business, stand still and converse…This is the dif- sein (1694-1722) for the yearly import of 8000 Iranian ference between freemen and slaves, the latter walk and the horses from Persia to France, „in order to improve the ca- former ride.” (8) Together with the Achaemenides, the Par- valry“. (11) thians formed a gigantic cavalry unit, but after the battle The French adventurer Chardin, departing for Persia in against Marc Anthony, only 50,000 horses were left. 1665, wrote on the subject of the horses: „Persians horses are In the following period of the Sassanides kings (224 AC to the best and most beautiful of their kind: a delicately small 641 AC), horse breeding was developed even further.