Salvete Omnes,
a little time jump today, we will time travel to the ancient Epirus where at
Dodona since the time immemorial had been a sanctuary and oracle.
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| Pegasus or winged horse from Louvre |
Excavations brought forward various and amazing objects of art from across the ancient Greek antiquity.
Among them, on display at the Athens Museum, there are the fine examples of the ancient metal forging arts from the IV century BC/
Ante Christum , a two different bit parts (one from Dodona, and one from an unknown location), shown at the museum as one large bit: with large S psalia and elaborate discs on the 'bit-bar,' shortened ringchain and studded bars between the psalia and discs. The s-shaped psalia or cheekpieces look a bit like the wild boar's tusks and could make the horse head appear quite unusually grotesque. Similar bit is displayed on the Alexander Mosaic.
the way this composite bit is constructed or displayed on a see-through horse's head -
- with its discs sharp, pointy and this large inside the horse's mouth and the metal chain rings joining the two pieces very short and with rings loose inside the mouth (perhaps dangling on the tongue) to create one horse bit,
- then perhaps this display in this entirety presents a hypothetical piece of horse equipment, and not a real one (my old r
endering of the Persian bits now make me think twice about them too). Because how would they operate this bit without completely ruining a horse's mouth (as it is 'reconstructed' in the
museum).
a horse from Dodona, rider missing - note this horse with rider from
Boston Museum, dated to late VI century BC.
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| horse from Louvre |
Valete!
ps
Alexander Mosaic from Pompei - the Persian Achaemenid horses with S-shaped bit
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