The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse . nturythe war-chariot had been superseded by mounted men. In the ^ Head, Historia Numorum, p. 373. 2 Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. in. 9. 3: magnitudine inusitata, cervice ardua,colore poeniceo, etc. 3 Pans. V. 9. 2 ; cf. v. 5. 2. ^ Strabo, loc. cit. ^ Ibid. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 303 times anterior to Philip II ( 359—336) the military forceof Macedonia seems to have consisted, like that of Thessaly, ina well-armed and well-mounted cavalry, formed from the sub-stantial proprietors of the country, and in vast numbers oftargeteers^ But until P


The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse . nturythe war-chariot had been superseded by mounted men. In the ^ Head, Historia Numorum, p. 373. 2 Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. in. 9. 3: magnitudine inusitata, cervice ardua,colore poeniceo, etc. 3 Pans. V. 9. 2 ; cf. v. 5. 2. ^ Strabo, loc. cit. ^ Ibid. Ill] AND HISTORIC TIMES 303 times anterior to Philip II ( 359—336) the military forceof Macedonia seems to have consisted, like that of Thessaly, ina well-armed and well-mounted cavalry, formed from the sub-stantial proprietors of the country, and in vast numbers oftargeteers^ But until Philip formed his famous phalanx afterthe model of the Theban system established by Epaminondas,the Macedonian infantry was little more than a rabble ofshepherds and cultivators. Philip did not merely disciplinethis raw material into the best infantry that the world hadyet seen, armed with the sarissa, a pike 21 feet in length,but he paid equal attention to his cavalry, and it was to thisarm that he owed largely his superiority over the autonomous. Fig. 87. Coin of Philip II of Macedon, showing a horse-soldier. States of Greece and the Illyrians and Thracians. When Philipcame to the throne he bestowed great care upon all thatappertained to horses and horse-racing. He sent both chariotsand ridden horses to compete at Olympia, and, according toPlutarch^ he celebrated his victories in the chariot-race on hiscoins (probably in the biga on the reverse of his gold staters),and he commemorated his victory in the horse-race* by placingon his silver tetradrachms a representation of the winner riddenby a naked boy—doubtless the jockey—bearing a palm orcrowning his horse (Fig. 86). The news of this victory reached 1 Demosth. Philippic in. p. 123. - Alex. 4 : rds ev 0\ vlKas tQ)v ap/udrwc i-^x^P^^^^ 5 0\(7iv i-mrij) kAt/tc Head, Hist. Numorum, p. Ibid. 304 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. him at the same time as that of Alexanders birth. The jockeyw


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Keywords: ., ancient, book, cavalry, coin, greece, horsesoldier, macedon, philipii