Overview

These Actes des Journees d'etude internationales (Strasbourg, 6-7 November 2009) are the end result of a 2007-2009 research programme held at the UMR 7044 (Etude des civilisations de l'Antiquite: de la Prehistoire a Byzance) on the role of the horse in the Byzantine Empire. These fourteen contributions focus on the role of the horse in both war and leisure from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The book is divided into three sections. In the first, contributors analyze the origins and use of cavalry in the Roman army. Additionally, this section explores the regional differences in the breeding of horses throughout the Mediterranean, their monetary value, as well as the hippological knowledge of Antiquity. The chapters constituting the second part discuss the medieval, Byzantine, and western horse. They approach this subject via texts, archaeological sources, illustrations, and an examination of the customs and traditions of these civilizations. The final part focuses on hippological instruments, weapons, and the care of horses. Here the contributors examine the innovations, adoptions, and adaptations during late Antiquity of pieces of equestrian equipment essential for war, such as stirrups and bits. Horsemen's weapons are re-evaluated, as well as the changes in their tactics brought about by the widespread adoption of stirrups. Also present is an analysis of the vocabulary used for the anatomy of the horse in Greek hippological literature, which saw an unprecedented increase at this time thanks to the development of the Roman and Proto-Byzantine cavalry.

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