Palio di Siena - August 2022 race & 1988 documentary

Salvete Omnes,

 

another short entry this early morning - :)

 

Palio di Siena  - the famous 17 contrada(city neighborhoods) biannual  horse race of Siena, Tuscany, held from 1633 onward, but this city race tradition dates back to many centuries before, and most likely continuing the ancient Etruscan-Roman tradition of Ludus Troiae and other ancient Italian horsemanship traditions.

 I turn to academa.edu to search for article on the famous race - eg Beyond Palio, 

There is a short article on the safety of horses in Palio - academia. According to the article only mix bred Anglo-Arabian Sardinian horses of specific conformation are allowed the entry.  On Research Gate there are articles too -  eg Palio di Siena: an advisory report on how to ensure horses and jockeys' welfare whilst continuing a dangerous tradition. In 2019 this article was published analyzing 72 years of  jockeys injuries during the Siena Palio. - Note that participants ride bareback. (another article about jockey's injuries in general horse racing and long term consequences )

you can watch this year famous city race via recorded video on YT - Gazzetta di Siena platform- Palio di Siena 17 agosto 2022 . 

An American documentary made  1988AD (before  Woke, CRT and all those other  ideologies destroying our world) - Palio di Siena- a race about honor and tradition, rivalry and friendship, violence and conflict , and it is an excellent overview of the the tradition and race.
[there are many videos on Yt about Palio di Siena - you can explore with an easy click - :) - andiamo ]

all images are from Wiki Commons

Valete

 

Emperor Xuanzong & a dancing horse from Cincinnati

 Salvete Omnes,

 

beautiful consorts and horses were supposedly the chief preoccupations of emperor Xuanzong

a very short entry -  

there was this fabled empire in China  circa 300 years in duration of the second half of I millennium AD, called Tang  - Golden Peaches of Samarkand is a must read and some other books on the Silk Road etc- and during this illustrious dynasty they had plenty of fine horses, polo, heavy cavalry and horse archery, and dancing horses - all depicted in their flowering arts, including sculpted and painted  horses, including figurines in porcelain and clay. 

And in the SiTech Daily digitally re-published the Heritage Science article about one of those sculpted and dancing horses of the Tang -  on the collaborated effort between the Cincinnati Art Museum and University of Cincinnati on whether this dancing horse had a tassel on its forehead.

 

The horse comes from the era of emperor Xuanxong of Tang (House of Li) - and thankfully there were works of art created during his reign or about his reign. (Tang military is perhaps  best read about via  Karl Ranitzsch's book from Montvert Pub. titled The Army of Tang China ( 1995).

nota bene, this august emperor had many mishaps during the last decade of his rule and retirement,

 

 when emperor Suzong became his successor , namely the defeat during the  battle of Talas against the Islamic conquest of Central Asia, and the An Lushan Rebellion and some other calamities, 

enjoy

Valete

Johann Christoph Brotze - various horse drawn vehicles from Riga circa 1790sAD

 Salvete Omnes,

 

from wiki commons comes this collection of colored drawings by Johann Christoph Brotze, a Saxon emigre to Russian Empire where he was a teacher and then director in Riga's Imperial Liceum (high school), then Latvian Riga was  a very large city in Russian Empire. 

 

from the uniforms it seems to me the drawings were made circa 1785-95AD, when the Russian Imperial Army adopted Polish designed uniforms -   

ps
a special northern visitor from the land of reindeer

Valete

Trojan Horse - Mykonos Vase

 Salvete Omnes, 

 

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (Aeneid)  or Beware of Achaeans [Greeks] bearing gifts - says the saying - :)  -
full line goes - "Equo ne credite, Teucri. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes - Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Danaans [Greeks], even those bearing gifts."

 

and one of the earliest surviving visual depictions of the Trojan horse  comes from the collection of  Mykonos Museum (Greece) where  this Greek Archaic period pithos vase (circa 675BC or early 7th century BC) is stored.

and the violence depicted on the vase -

 

nota bene -
perhaps a depiction of the Trojan Horse making in this ancient pottery

From Virgil's Aeneid, Book II, - 1-56.
"After many years have slipped by, the leaders of the Greeks,
opposed by the Fates, and damaged by the war,
build a horse of mountainous size, through Pallas's divine art,
and weave planks of fir over its ribs
they pretend it's a votive offering: this rumour spreads.
They secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot,
there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge
cavernous insides with armed warriors."

A.S. Kline translated

Valate

Open Access - Article Breed Distribution and Allele Frequencies of Base Coat Color, Dilution, and White Patterning Variants across 28 Horse Breeds

 Salvete Omnes,

 

short entry - a link to the School of Veterinary Medicine,US Davis, study on horse colors and white pattering titled -  Breed Distribution and Allele Frequencies of Base Coat Color, Dilution, and White Patterning Variants across 28 Horse Breeds - you cen read it on their site or download for a later perusal .

Valete