Hippotoxotai from Dura Europos' Mithraeum I

Salve,
 I have this weakness for the eastern neighbours of the Greeks and Romans, the Persians, Medes and Sakas.
Well, for a long while I have been looking at the images from the Syrian desert found at the fortress city of Dura Europos, that was a frontier outpost under the Parthians and in  AD165  Dura was captured permanently by the Romans (note that emperor Trajan's army captured Dura during his Parthian campaign), who kept it for about a century until the fateful siege of AD 256.  Then the Sassanian warrior-king Shapur's forces captured the fortress and thus ended its history and because it was left as a ruined site then the sands of time covered the ruins and preserved its rich culture to our times, early XX century.
Interesting scholarly article on the siege's technical aspects, including the death of some Roman defenders and how it came about.
On a lighter side you could travel to Dura during the siege via some historical fiction eg British writer Harry Sidebottom wrote his series' first novel Fire in the East )Warrior of Rome)   about the siege of Dura Europos, although he changed the name of the fortress and some topography.
Also, you can get a glimpse of Dura art and culture from this short museum exhibit film
A student made mini-documentary

At Dura,  during the previous rulers and under the Roman governance, there were various temples and religious sites -  Roman, Greek, Palmyrene, Jewish and even a small Christian church and one of them was the Mitraeum - excellent site here - place of worship of Mithraism. There, during the excavations, several paintings were discovered, including a painting of Mithra on horseback, circa AD 200.
In that linear painting, Mithra, the hunter, is riding a horse, hence a horse archer -  hippotoxotai. He is painted wearing a standard Parthian costume (well, he is not wearing the typical Median coat or kantus, like the two personages at the Dura Synagogue are painted wearing. )

My own quick sketch of the original mural painting

A sketch, in progress, of a warrior with his horse

A horse - that will eventually carry the shooting hippotoxotai, just shooting at some wooden target etc. ..

...

                                                                        ..

Saka - daily sketch

Salve amici and fellow travellers,
a quick sketch of a Scythian/Saka with a horse, somewhere on the  plains of Eurasian Steppe
...

...
Also, a sketch in progress, one abandoned a while back , and now I am going to work on it some more - these are Saka of the Altai's Ukok Plateau etc, 400-200 BC (after the Pazyryk finds etc)

...

Aristotélēs on Horses - part 2

Salve,
today is Corpus Christi - one of the most important liturgical feast for all Roman Catholics - may they have quiet and peacefull processions!
 In Poland  Corpus Christi has bee celebrated since the 1320s; during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth period the most important feast was held at the royal city of Poznan, in Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) . When I was a kid my grandmother Natalia, God bless her soul, used to take me to the festivities (eg 2012 video -part 1)  (part 2)centered around the Assumption of Virgin Mary and Saint Nicolas Cathedral in ancient city of Łowicz in the south-western Masovia (Mazowsze). Besides the holy Jasna Góra Monastery  this is my favorite religious place in Poland.

Continuing from yesterday, let us go back to the great truth seeker Aristotle and his opus:

History of Animals, Book VI,
                              Horses, mules and asses etc:

''In the case of horses, the stallion and the mare are first fitted for breeding purposes when two years old. Instances, however, of such early maturity are rare, and their young are exceptionally small and weak; the ordinary age for sexual maturity is three years, and from that age to twenty the two sexes go on improving in the quality of their offspring. The mare carries her foal for eleven months, and casts it in the twelfth. It is not a fixed number of days that the stallion takes to impregnate the mare; it may be one, two, three, or more. An ass in covering will impregnate more expeditiously than a stallion. The act of intercourse with horses is not laborious as it is with oxen. In both sexes the horse is the most salacious of animals next after the human species. The breeding faculties of the younger horses may be stimulated beyond their years if they be supplied with good feeding in abundance. The mare as a rule bears only one foal; occasionally she has two, but never more. A mare has been known to cast two mules; but such a circumstance was regarded as unnatural and portentous.
The horse then is first fitted for breeding purposes at the age of two and a half years, but achieves full sexual maturity when it has ceased to shed teeth, except it be naturally infertile; it must be added, however, that some horses have been known to impregnate the mare while the teeth were in process of shedding.
The horse has forty teeth. It sheds its first set of four, two from the upper jaw and two from the lower, when two and a half years old. After a year’s interval, it sheds another set of four in like manner, and another set of four after yet another year’s interval; after arriving at the age of four years and six months it sheds no more. An instance has occurred where a horse shed all his teeth at once, and another instance of a horse shedding all his teeth with his last set of four; but such instances are very rare. It consequently happens that a horse when four and a half years old is in excellent condition for breeding purposes.

The older horses, whether of the male or female, are the more generatively productive. Horses will cover mares from which they have been foaled and mares which they have begotten; and, indeed, a troop of horses is only considered perfect when such promiscuity of intercourse occurs. Scythians use pregnant mares for riding when the embryo has turned rather soon in the womb, and they assert that thereby the mothers have all the easier delivery. Quadrupeds as a rule lie down for parturition, and in consequence the young of them all come out of the womb sideways. The mare, however, when the time for parturition arrives, stands erect and in that posture casts its foal.
The horse in general lives for eighteen or twenty years; some horses live for twenty-five or even thirty, and if a horse be treated with extreme care, it may last on to the age of fifty years; a horse, however, when it reaches thirty years is regarded as exceptionally old. The mare lives usually for twenty-five years, though instances have occurred of their attaining the age of forty. The male is less long-lived than the female by reason of the sexual service he is called on to render; and horses that are reared in a private stable live longer than such as are reared in troops. The mare attains her full length and height at five years old, the stallion at six; in another six years the animal reaches its full bulk, and goes on improving until it is twenty years old. The female, then, reaches maturity more rapidly than the male, but in the womb the case is reversed, just as is observed in regard to the sexes of the human species; and the same phenomenon is observed in the case of all animals that bear several young.

The mare is said to suckle a mule-foal for six months, but not to allow its approach for any longer on account of the pain it is put to by the hard tugging of the young; an ordinary foal it allows to suck for a longer period.
Horse and mule are at their best after the shedding of the teeth. After they have shed them all, it is not easy to distinguish their age; hence they are said to carry their mark before the shedding, but not after. However, even after the shedding their age is pretty well recognized by the aid of the canines; for in the case of horses much ridden these teeth are worn away by attrition caused by the insertion of the bit; in the case of horses not ridden the teeth are large and detached, and in young horses they are sharp and small.
The male of the horse will breed at all seasons and during its whole life; the mare can take the horse all its life long, but is not thus ready to pair at all seasons unless it be held in check by a halter or some other compulsion be brought to bear. There is no fixed time at which intercourse of the two sexes cannot take place; and accordingly intercourse may chance to take place at a time that may render difficult the rearing of the future progeny. In a stable in Opus there was a stallion that used to serve mares when forty years old: his fore legs had to be lifted up for the operation.

Mares first take the horse in the spring-time. After a mare has foaled she does not get impregnated at once again, but only after a considerable interval; in fact, the foals will be all the better if the interval extend over four or five years. It is, at all events, absolutely necessary to allow an interval of one year, and for that period to let her lie fallow. A mare, then, breeds at intervals; a she-ass breeds on and on without intermission. Of mares some are absolutely sterile, others are capable of conception but incapable of bringing the foal to full term; it is said to be an indication of this condition in a mare, that her foal if dissected is found to have other kidney-shaped substances round about its kidneys, presenting the appearance of having four kidneys.

After parturition the mare at once swallows the after-birth, and bites off the growth, called the ‘hippomanes’, that is found on the forehead of the foal. This growth is somewhat smaller than a dried fig; and in shape is broad and round, and in colour black. If any bystander gets possession of it before the mare, and the mare gets a smell of it, she goes wild and frantic at the smell. And it is for this reason that venders of drugs and simples hold the substance in high request and include it among their stores.
If an ass cover a mare after the mare has been covered by a horse, the ass will destroy the previously formed embryo.

(Horse-trainers do not appoint a horse as leader to a troop, as herdsmen appoint a bull as leader to a herd, and for this reason that the horse is not steady but quick-tempered and skittish.)
            Asses The ass of both sexes is capable of breeding, and sheds its first teeth at the age of two and a half years; it sheds its second teeth within six months, its third within another six months, and the fourth after the like interval. These fourth teeth are termed the gnomons or age-indicators.

A she-ass has been known to conceive when a year old, and the foal to be reared. After intercourse with the male it will discharge the genital sperm unless it be hindered, and for this reason it is usually beaten after such intercourse and chased about. It casts its young in the twelfth month. It usually bears but one foal, and that is its natural number, occasionally however it bears twins. The ass if it cover a mare destroys, as has been said, the embryo previously begotten by the horse; but, after the mare has been covered by the ass, the horse supervening will not spoil the embryo. The she-ass has milk in the tenth month of pregnancy. Seven days after casting a foal the she-ass submits to the male, and is almost sure to conceive if put to the male on this particular day; the same result, however, is quite possible later on. The she-ass will refuse to cast her foal with any one looking on or in the daylight and just before foaling she has to be led away into a dark place. If the she-ass has had young before the shedding of the index-teeth, she will bear all her life through; but if not, then she will neither conceive nor bear for the rest of her days. The ass lives for more than thirty years, and the she-ass lives longer than the male.

           Mules When there is a cross between a horse and a she-ass or a jackass and a mare, there is much greater chance of a miscarriage than where the commerce is normal. The period for gestation in the case of a cross depends on the male, and is just what it would have been if the male had had commerce with a female of his own kind. In regard to size, looks, and vigour, the foal is more apt to resemble the mother than the sire. If such hybrid connexions be continued without intermittence, the female will soon go sterile; and for this reason trainers always allow of intervals between breeding times. A mare will not take the ass, nor a she ass the horse, unless the ass or she-ass shall have been suckled by a mare; and for this reason trainers put foals of the she-ass under mares, which foals are technically spoken of as ‘mare-suckled’. These asses, thus reared, mount the mares in the open pastures, mastering them by force as the stallions do.

A mule is fitted for commerce with the female after the first shedding of its teeth, and at the age of seven will impregnate effectually; and where connexion has taken place with a mare, a ‘hinny’ has been known to be produced. After the seventh year it has no further intercourse with the female. A female mule has been known to be impregnated, but without the impregnation being followed up by parturition. In Syrophoenicia she-mules submit to the mule and bear young; but the breed, though it resembles the ordinary one, is different and specific. The hinny or stunted mule is foaled by a mare when she has gone sick during gestation, and corresponds to the dwarf in the human species and to the after-pig or scut in swine; and as is the case with dwarfs, the sexual organ of the hinny is abnormally large.

The mule lives for a number of years. There are on record cases of mules living to the age of eighty, as did one in Athens at the time of the building of the temple; this mule on account of its age was let go free, but continued to assist in dragging burdens, and would go side by side with the other draught-beasts and stimulate them to their work; and in consequence a public decree was passed forbidding any baker driving the creature away from his bread-tray. The she-mule grows old more slowly than the mule. Some assert that the she-mule menstruates by the act of voiding her urine, and that the mule owes the prematurity of his decay to his habit of smelling at the urine. So much for the modes of generation in connexion* with these animals.
Breeders and trainers can distinguish between young and old quadrupeds. If, when drawn back from the jaw, the skin at once goes back to its place, the animal is young; if it remains long wrinkled up, the animal is old.

There is found in Syria a so-called mule * . It is not the same as the cross between the horse and ass, but resembles it just as a wild ass resembles the domesticated congener, and derives its name from the resemblance. Like the wild ass, this wild mule is remarkable for its speed. The animals of this species interbreed with one another; and a proof of this statement may be gathered from the fact that a certain number of them were brought into Phrygia in the time of Pharnaces, the father of Pharnabazus, and the animal is there still. The number originally introduced was nine, and there are three there at the present day.

                                                           ----
* original spelling
*I think this is an onager
---
illustrations/pictures are from wikipedia, except for the last one.

Aristotélēs on Horses - fragments from 'History of Animals'

Salve,
I like Aristotélēs (Aristole) and his writings, and browsing around his History of Animals (written circa 330 BC) I extracted some parts related to horses.
Today, I will provide you with the bulk of his horse 'quotations' from the translation by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson   and tomorrow the parts of chapter 22, 23, and 24 from Book VI of the same 'History of Animals.'


Aristotle was a keen observer, and in his search for truth and reality  he strove to understand the world around him, and his notes on animals are first rate observations  to be repeated, quoted or commented by various writers for the next 2000 years or so.  I will quote him here, with a great pleasure :)
Well, let us begin, just note that these are Arystotle's observation (IV c BC) on the biology of  horses and alike, so perhaps more interesting to those into the breeding or history of science etc. So if you are brave and willing, plunge in.



Book VI

The statements made in regard to the pairing of the sexes apply partly to the particular kinds of animal and partly to all in general. It is common to all animals to be most excited by the desire of one sex for the other and by the pleasure derived from copulation. The female is most cross-tempered just after parturition, the male during the time of pairing; for instance, stallions at this period bite one another, throw their riders, and chase them.[...]

Of female animals the mare is the most sexually wanton, and next in order comes the cow. In fact, the mare is said to go a-horsing [hippomania]; and the term derived from the habits of this one animal serves as a term of abuse applicable to such females of the human species as are unbridled in the way of sexual appetite. This is the common phenomenon as observed in the sow when she is said to go a-boaring. The mare is said also about this time to get wind-impregnated if not impregnated by the stallion, and for this reason in Crete they never remove the stallion from the mares; for when the mare gets into this condition she runs away from all other horses. The mares under these circumstances fly invariably either northwards or southwards, and never towards either east or west. When this complaint is on them they allow no one to approach, until either they are exhausted with fatigue or have reached the sea. Under either of these circumstances they discharge a certain substance 'hippomanes', the title given to a growth on a new-born foal; this resembles the sow-virus, and is in great request amongst women who deal in drugs and potions. About horsing time the mares huddle closer together, are continually switching their tails, their neigh is abnormal in sound, and from the sexual organ there flows a liquid resembling genital sperm, but much thinner than the sperm of the male. It is this substance that some call hippomanes, instead of the growth found on the foal; they say it is extremely difficult to get as it oozes out only in small drops at a time. Mares also, when in heat, discharge urine frequently, and frisk with one another. Such are the phenomena connected with the horse.

Mares and kine* alike, when in heat, indicate the fact by the upraising of their genital organs, and by continually voiding urine. Further, kine mount the bulls, follow them about; and keep standing beside them. The younger females both with horses and oxen are the first to get in heat; and their sexual appetites are all the keener if the weather warm and their bodily condition be healthy. Mares, when clipt of their coat [? ] , have the sexual feeling checked, and assume a downcast drooping appearance. *

The stallion recognizes by the scent the mares that form his company [herd, harem], even though they have been together only a few days before breeding time: if they get mixed up with other mares, the stallion bites and drives away the interlopers. He feeds apart, accompanied by his own troop of mares. Each stallion has assigned to him about thirty mares or even somewhat more; when a strange stallion approaches, he huddles his mares into a close ring[circle], runs round them, then advances to the encounter of the newcomer; if one of the mares make a movement, he bites her and drives her back.

Of all quadrupeds the mare is the most easily delivered of its young, exhibits the least amount of discharge after parturition, and emits the least amount of blood; that is to say, of all animals in proportion to size. With kine and mares menstruation usually manifests itself at intervals of two, four, and six months; but, unless one be constantly attending to and thoroughly acquainted with such animals, it is difficult to verify the circumstance, and the result is that many people are under the belief that the process never takes place with these animals at all.

With mules menstruation never takes place, but the urine of the female is thicker than the urine of the male.

Book VII

Of all animals the woman and the mare are most inclined to receive the commerce of the male during pregnancy; while all other animals when they are pregnant avoid the male, save those in which the phenomenon of superfoetation occurs, such as the hare. Unlike that animal, the mare after once conceiving cannot be rendered pregnant again, but brings forth one foal only, at least as a general rule;

Book VIII

Horses, mules, and asses feed on corn and grass, but are fattened chiefly by drink. Just in proportion as beasts of burden drink water, so will they more or less enjoy their food, and a place will give good or bad feeding according as the water is good or bad. Green corn, while ripening, will give a smooth coat; but such corn is injurious if the spikes are too stiff and sharp. The first crop of clover is unwholesome, and so is clover over which ill-scented water runs; for the clover is sure to get the taint of the water. Cattle like clear water for drinking; but the horse in this respect resembles the camel, for the camel likes turbid and thick water, and will never drink from a stream until he has trampled it into a turbid condition.

Book IX

When mares with their colts pasture together in the same field, if one dam dies the others will take up the rearing of the colt. In point of fact, the mare appears to be singularly prone by nature to maternal fondness; in proof whereof a barren mare will steal the foal from its dam, will tend it with all the solicitude of a mother, but, as it will be unprovided with mother's milk, its solicitude will prove fatal to its charge.

                                                               ---------

 *

archaic English plural for 'cow's'

 

*  

in other translation I read there is a different interpretation of this fragment - namely: ' if the manes of the mares are cut, their desires become weaker, and they are rendered more gentle'

L'instruction du roy en l'exercice de monter à cheval via Gallica

Salve,

I have been browsing daily through the French Gallica Bibliotheque Numerique and yesterday I came across the famous equestrian work:

  L'instruction du roy en l'exercice de monter à cheval .. etc. written by the famous ecuyer Antoine de Pluvinel (1552-1620),  disciple of the Italian equestrian schools of the XVI century, for the king of France 

Book (1666 edition) can be viewed in its entirety on the Bibliotheque site (I linked the title above) - with the great illustrations by the Duch artist Crispin de Passe (circa 564-1637).  Here, de Passe plate showing another famous cavalier and military commander of the XVII century,  Ambrosio Spinola Doria, the victor at Breda, known via the famous painting  by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez. 

Above the greeting there is one of the illustrations from the book, also from the Bibliotheque, showing the master ecuyer and his pupil, Louis XIII.

Below, a painting showing the very king, and his famous minister le Cardinal Richelieu, from wiki.

I have a facsimile of the 1625 edition, in English translation from 1989.

Daily sketch

Salve,
I have been working on this sketch, so far I am happy with the horse and how he is developing. Pinto horses were very amongst  the most popular mounts with Polish nobility, judging from the primary sources more colourful the horse coat happier the owner. Remeber that going after the Byzantine and Turkish fashion they even dyed the horses, with red dye, for parades and cavalcades, and perhaps the battles too.

Now I have to turn to the rider, fix his clothing, arms, and horse tack.
My intention is to create a XVI century Polish or Hungarian nobleman, we will see how it develops.
I will show you the updates in the near future.

Great song by dr Jacek Kowalski, scholar, poet, singer and translator of the Old French (medieval) poetry.

Wild Horses round ups on NBC (USA)

Salve,
 NBC is airing this investigative report about the American mustang and the BLM abusive round ups. Check it out
Talk, write, email, phone call etc, to your elected official, protect the wild horse!

Wild horses in this youtube video

Daily sketch

Salve,
I am back after a short hiatus, have been travelling and reading, so let me say hello with this little sketch

Lately, I became interested in the Hugh Corbett mysteries ( I read lots of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and historical crime stories and mysteries are my favourites, simply  I do not watch TV so there is lots of time to pursue other interests), as I am going deeper into the medieval world, and I do like how this writer, Paul Doherty, painstakingly reconstructs the material and spiritual world of the XIV century while weaving his stories.  
Hasta la vista

daily sketch

Salve,
A quick sketch from my sketchbook - after Wojciech Kossak -
 ..

 ..
Interesting 'channel' on youtube  - drawing with ballpoint pen - by Allan Barbeau

Mięsopustnik turecki AD 1572

Salve,
today's entry  in Polish(translation to follow ... soon):

Mięsopustnikiem nazywano hulakę zapustnego. Mięsopustować znaczy hulać w mięsopust. Encyklopedia Staropolska

Nazwy tej, dość malowniczej, miał użyć polski rycerz opisując szermierza tureckiego a wypowiedź naszego wojownika przekazał ku potomności a sławie rycerzy polskich  imć pan Jan Łasicki, opisując wyprawę do Mołdawii wojsk polskich pod hetmanem Mikolajem Mieleckim.

Mamy marzec  AD 1572  - zaciężne prywatne i kwarciane chorągwie  polskie w liczbie 2000 żołnierzy (plus czeladź) pod wodzą hetmana Mieleckiego wkraczają do Mołdawii wraz z hospodarem mołdawskim Bogdanem jako hufiec jego 'przyjaciół' mający przywrócić go na tron hospodarski zajęty przez Iwonię (Jana III Srogiego), mimo zakazów królewskich ingerowania w sprawy księstwa Mołdawii.
Armia nasza, uszczuplona o 700 żołnierzy, natknęła się w marszu wzdłuż Prutu na stolice księstwa, Jassy, na Turków i Tatarów budziackich Iwonii, i tak w końcu marca oraz w początku kwietniu doszło do walk z przeważającymi (circa 20000 żołnierzy) a ciągle atakującymi silami tureckimi.  Pisze tedy pan Jan Łasicki, jeden z kronikarzy tych potykań z Turczynem, jak to w jednym z epizodów walk pod Chocimiem, pojawia się na krótko nasz mięsopustny bohater, prawdopodobnie wyborowy 'harcerz' czyli deli: 
  ''Pomiędzy Turkami był, jeden śmielszy od innych, i jako się okazuje, wielkiej u swoich powagi, gdzie bowiem uderzył, tam się inni wielka gromada cisnęli. Tego Turka zabił z ręcznej strzelby Młodecki, towarzysz Kozielskiego [rotmistrz Maciej Kozielski], a do upadającego zawołał: - Tak wiec leżeć musisz, mięsopustna maszkaro, - bowiem był ów Turek strojny w pióra strusie i skórę  lamparcią, na kształt zapustnych maszkar; po upadku pana, towarzysząca mu czereda Turków pierzchła do obozu''. ''Historia de ingressu Polonorum in Valachiam cum Bogdano Voivoda''
(tłumaczył z łaciny Władysław Syrokomla)

Ciekawa sprawa tu nam się jawi - czyżby nasi żołnierze AD 1572, nazywając Turka 'maszkarą mięsopustną', jeszcze nie zażywali skór lamparcich a piór strusich w boju tak jak podobno mieli to robić za Batorego i Zygmunta III etc?

ps
...więcej o wyprawie mołdawskiej AD 1572 w przyszłości... jeśli będzie sprzyjać Fortuna.

Daily sketch - Przewalski horse

Salve,
 beautiful Spring has arrived finally - and I am thinking about the big open grasslands of Eurasia, where wild horses have been domesticated by our ancestors, perhaps more than 6000 years ago.  The ancestor of the domesticated horse or tarpan has been extinct since XIX century, but its cousin, the Przewalski horse, is still surviving. I sketched this Przewalski horse head for now.  But I am going to give a try at drawing a tarpan, especially since I have this excellent (but outdated in many parts) book by David P. Willoughby titled ''The Empire of Eqqus,'' where the author drew some fine diagrams of the wild equids that are quite helpful in understanding the anatomy differences etc.
Polski konik aka Polish konik was used to recreated the extinct tarpan (Tadeusz Vetulani et al) and in Poland there is this wild horse preserve at Popielno, where wild koniki roam. From Popielno the offsprings of polskie koniki gave raise to various wild horse herds throughout European nature preserves.

Interesting article on the ecology of the wild horse and aurochs modern substitutes

Dzhigitovka - daily sketch

Salve,
today's dzhigitovka or dżygitówka is a name for the trick riding involving some superbly trained mounts and athletic, superbly fit riders that show their skills in controlling their galloping or cantering mount while performing various acrobatics on and off the saddle.
It might have had its origin in the Pontic steppe and survived amongst the various equestrian people of the Caucasus Mountains region, and during the XIX century it has been 'appropriated' by the Russian Cossacks.  But it seems to have been part of the Roman cavalry training and many other equestrian cultures practiced it, especially the Hungarians, Alans, Tatars, Persians, Kurds, Berbers, Arabs, and the Turks etc, since this demanding equestrian 'sport' had clearly the military origin and served military purpose of increasing levels of horsemanship and dexterity with weapons while on horseback, as seen  in this 1840s painting showing Kurdish and Tatar riders showing their skills.

 Old Poland during the Jagiellon Dynasty and later during the Commonwealth was a melting pot, and many noble families form the Caucasus settled in the Kingdom, including the Circassians, from whom the Russian Cossacks most likely learned their dzhigitovka.
I think this style of trick horse riding might have been the preferred way of showing their equestrian skills amongst our horsemen, especially the younger ones, since we hear nothing, via the sources,  about the American rodeo style competitions taking place among  the horsemen of Old Poland. 
We know, again from many period writings, that the beauty of riding and management of one's steed along with that horse's level of collection and its own physical perfection (conformation)  were much appreciated by the contemporaries, and often commented upon, from the Middle Ages onward; and even XIX century Polish writers, who were still immersed in the Old Poland's Sarmatian culture,  still wrote  about the prowess in horsemanship as a sign of the ancestral nobility and martial spirit. 

 In pre-World War II Poland the cavalry regiments took pride in showing off with trick riding clearly visible  in this miraculously surviving video uhlans show off  their horses and their dzhigitovka moves in 1937 Warsaw.
So I sketched one - just for fun and rather quickly

Sketches

Salve,
having the benefit of the digital canvas one can manipulate an image almost endlessly - well, I am just doing that with the sketch I showed to you last time.

I started with this one - added quiver and changed the bow case - here you can see the very interesting study on the Polish and Turkish/Tatar bow cases and quivers (in Russian, but pictures can speak for themselves)

...then progressed to this version, where I changed the position of the bow case to more realistic

and finally this is the last variation, rotated the quiver and will add the sword etc

and so  now I have decided I am going to work with the last version :)

I am always interested in the history of Asia, especially nomadic Asian, horsemanship and warriors - recently there has been a major discovery in Japan of VII century AD remains of a war horse with his metal trappings and tack, so often seen in the  so called haniwa horses (eg this one), but had never been found in the burials - nota bene great haniwa of a warrior here.  I would like to see some  art and artifacts showing horse tack and warriors of the same period ( III-VIII centuries AD) from Three Kingdoms of Korea, to contrast and compare with the Japanese horsemen of the Kufun period.

                                    

Some sketches

Salve,
I have been toying with this one pen drawing of mine of a Polish or Hungarian horseman of XVII century (plus minus), consequently two separate sketches have been born -  they are progress ones, so there is plenty of work to be done yet.
1.

2.

                                             ++++

I am going to take this opportunity to share with you here  the very interesting UC Irvine Persian Studies  presentation on the Bronze Age Afghanistan by Fredrik Hiebert - aka Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex and a bit on Andronovo culture - there, some 4000 years ago a war chariot and war horse (best to read David Anthony research page )had been born within  the Indo-Iranian peoples territories.

New sketch

Salve,
I am continuing with the idea of these spirited horses,  so another one today - MyPaint and Gimp filter .

Daily drawing

Salve,
another sketch of a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth horseman working his young colt...

MyPaint and Wacom tablet - enjoyable result I hope

Interesting article by Carlo Parisi about master of sword fighting Francesco Antonio Marcelli (''The Rules of Fencing'' AD 1685) and his sciabla(szabla) technique.

Daily sketch

Salve,
reading about the Polish ox and cow trade that I started last month and today I sketched a Polish rider doing a sort of rodeo on a young horse, hence a cavesson bridle on this spirited mount .

Musicians - a sketch in progress

Salve,
 in this post I brought  into this blog  the prints of de Bruyn - particularly the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth horsemen. In this sketch, nota bene I am using my older sketch just to play with the idea, well, here I am going for the horsemen-musicians from XVII century. There is still lots of work to be done here.
     Apparently the trumpeters or buglers  and drummers (in Polish cavalry we called them ''paukers'') were part of every winged hussar cavalry banner,  or the period iconography and surviving documents lead us to believe such was the situation.

     They were paid and were armed, since they could be fighting too, and they were busy on the battlefield playing out their part in the military operations and fighting. From the information provided in this regimental roll (record of enlistment from 1659-61)  you can see that the Western style cavalry  or Foreign 'Autorament'/Contingent (reitars) regiments  in Polish armies of XVII century a  ''pauker'' was part of the regiment's headquarters while trumpeters were attached to each company, so the regimental drummer in this particular example gets 2 as much salary as each of the companies' trumpeters.
I intend to draw some reitar musicians too, some day soon.
 The most colorful trumpeters, due to the color of their uniforms and also horses, can be seen during the Napoleonic period.
                                                      


Kircholm battle

Klushino battle

Beresteczko battle

Chocim (Khotyn) battle

...

Mustang is an American icon

Salve,
 I had seen this book - Wild Horse Consipracy by Craig C. Downer  and I had this thought to myself that I need to share it with you  his idea - that the wild horses and burros ''represent a giant missing piece in the ecological puzzle of America'' and the time has come to save them, or rather enforce the existing law - Wild Horse and Burro Act.
Here is the video - Save the wild horses!
The video about his book is on youtube.  Craig wrote another book wild horses: Living symbols of freedom.
Interview with Mr Craig.
Natural Horse Magazine article on wild horses
A letter Mr Craig wrote to BLM Carson City District Office

FOREVER WILD AND FREE speach

Well, I love the America's little mustang  and believe that we, horse people, have a duty to defend them from the tyranny as the Constitution enshrines our right to do so - with the First Amendment  no less - ''Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.''
Howgh, kolas!

Daily sketch

Salve,
a sketch in MyPaint of a Roman officer or a decurion.
He is obviously missing his weapons and boots, also details of his helmet etc; but playing with that part of his equipment I will save for the next time

..
Timetrotter - these guys from Germany are awesome Roman reenactors . I think they were using Camarague or Iberian horses in these videos.

Daily Sketch

salve,
 Semana Santa or Wielki Tydzień is upon us, and in the spirit of Christian love and sharing, allow me to share with you a sketch of a horse in MyPaint.

Interesting links here   - Cavalry bits by Ken Bray and Don Murphy and Curb chains with Dennis Moreland  -  remeber! usage of these bits is all about the rider's hands and touch, with tons of experience and the horse has to be trained to it, so from hackamore/cavesson or snaffle bit to curb bit. Yes, it is historic, it is time consuming and when properly used on a highly trained mount, your friend mind you, it can look and work amazingly - say old Vaqueros liked Ed Connell. But improper handling of the reins on a horse not trained for it  can spoil the horse's mouth, not to mention the potential injury to the animal.

Sarmatian horse

Salve,
Sarmatian riders became famous because of their contact with the Classical world, mainly the Romans and their empire. Being nomadic dwellers of the Panonian, Pontic and Caspian steppes they had to have some good, well trained horses to be able to carry their riders against their enemies while often heavily armoured and armed, at least the elite warriors.

 We know from  Strabo that they rode geldings, having castrated their colts. Strabo wrote that their horses were ''small, but exceedingly fast'' but ''difficult to control'' (for the Romans, I suppose).

Were the Sarmatian horses large, like the alleged Nisayan? Well, it does not appear to have been so, at least not from the sources, as evidenced by Starbo's description, or from the famous Trajan Column in Rome, where their horses are the same size as the Roman cavalry mounts. But they must have been strong and stout to be able to carry their bardings (scale armor) 

  Above a wikipedia photo of the pertinent section of the Trajan Column.

           In Roman work titled ''Historiae Augustae,'' a collection of biographies of the Roman emperors from Hadrian to Carinus, we have an interesting story involving  a reputedly fast Sarmatian (Alan) horse and  emperor Probus (Ad 276-282), :

   ''Once, indeed, when a horse was found among the booty taken from the Alani or some other nation — for this is uncertain — which, though not handsome or especially large, was reputed, according to the talk of the captives, to be able to run one hundred miles in a day and to continue for eight or ten days, all supposed that Probus would keep such a beast for himself. 

But first he remarked, "This horse is better suited to a soldier who flees than to one who fights,"  and then he ordered the men of the put their names into an urn, that the one drawn by lots should receive the horse.  Then, since there were in the army four other soldiers named Probus, it so chanced that the name of Probus appeared on the lot that first came forth, though the general's name had not been put into the urn.

And when the four soldiers strove with one another, each maintaining that the lot was his, he ordered the urn to be shaken a second time. But a second time, too, the name of Probus came forth; and when it was done for the third and the fourth time, on the fourth time also there leaped forth the name of Probus.  Then the entire army set apart that horse for Probus their general, and even those very soldiers whose names had come forth from the urn desired it thus.'' [David Magie's translation]

Finally,  we also know that emperor Hadrian had an Alan steed, used for hunting (thus a hunter), and he was called Borysthenes Βορυσθένης (Greek name for river god of Scythia and the Dnieper River). The name and information about this hunting horse survived because it was inscribed on its tomb at Apt, near Nimes, in present day France.
 I have copied the poem, so pretty soon I will provide the entire poem with an appropriate drawing, gods willing - :)

I did this drawing on MyPaint, and this is a Sarmatian horse, that bears a tamga{owner's brand marking] on its hindquarters, a notched ear also indicated his owner, and perhaps it belongs to the Bosporan Kingdom horseman ( a Sarmatian monarchy mixing Greek, Roman and Sarmatian elements since the rule of king Asupurgus ), and his equipment is a mix of Roman and Sarmatian tack, and while his tail is tied in the steppe manner his mane is not crenellated.

Steppe rider - daily sketch

Salve,
 just wanted to share with you a sketch of the Eurasian Steppe rider - perhaps a Polovetz (Cuman), prior to the Mongol blitzkrieg of XIII century - astride a tall blood horse purchased, given or stolen from the southern lands (south of Cumania), perhaps Persia (Khwarezmid Empire) or from the Karakhanids or the Seljuks.
I hope to write and sketch some more Polovetz riders, both men and female -
for examples see dr Nicolle book on the Kalka River battle and the watercolours by Victor Korolkov in there. 

I did it entirely in MyPaint :)

ps
my Wacom Intuos4 tablet is malfunctioning and perhaps it will declare itself 'finito' any moment soon, so be forewarned I will put here some pen and ink drawings :) etc. Since Intuos5 is nothing to brag about, I may purchase the new Wacom Cintiq tablet that is coming out this April, we shall see...

 Easter is coming fast, this being La Semana Santa; hence we arrived at the moment when one needs to paint some eggs and .... do some travelling, astride a mechanical herd of horses.

Daily drawing - Silesian noble and chart polski

Salve,
 as tradition demands a MyPaint sketch of a XVI century Silesian noble with a chart polski.   Going along my point of interest, i.e., cattle driving accross Polish Crown and Silesia into Germany, then the  old Piast cities of Wrocław and Świdnica were big cattle markets for the Polish oxen, and later in XVIII century also horses.

Silesian nobility, with their roots deep  in the Piast Poland while augmented with the blood of German and Bohemian nobility of the Holy Roman Empire, was often seeking employment with the Polish Crown and her magnates, although as often fought against the Polish Crown, especially under their own Piast dukes during the later Middle Ages and later in the employment of their Hapsburg emperors, eg battle of Byczyna. The most famous Silesian nobleman who achieved great fame and success in Poland during XVI century was this great knight and military lord Bernard Pretwicz, "Wczele"  coat of arms,  known in Poland as Murus Podoliae and Terror Tartarorum. One day I would like to write more about his numerous deeds, amongst them there is a legend of unicorn's horn.

A winger hussar - daily sketch

Salve friends,

 a MyPaint sketch of a XVI century winged hussar, could be Hungarian or Polish, with a sketch of a anima armor/armour  - myarmoury.com has a nice discussion on the subject 
The discussion includes some input from my friend and young scholar Samuel Bena who is doing some great research into the history of the early winged hussars.

Have a nice day