The horse: A perfect gift to a Persian (or Parthian)

"For a nomadic people like the Persians, the horse had a significant practical and symbolic purpose and the importance of horses among the Iranian nobility is evidenced by the fact that many of them bore names compounded with the Old Persian word aspa – ‘horse’, observes Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh.  "Several of Darius I’s inscriptions note that Persia was a land containing both good men and good horses (DZe §1; DPd §2) and Herodotus famously states that Persian fathers were intent on teaching their sons ‘to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth’ (1. 136; see also Strabo 15. 3.18). The premium Persian horses were bred in the alfalfa-rich plains of Media, and it was here that the main royal stud farms were located (Polybius 10.70). Most prized of all were those steeds bred on the plains of Nisaea near Ecbatana and Bisitun, and Nisaean horses became celebrated for their magnificence, fine proportions, and swiftness (Herodotus 3. 106, 7. 40; Aristotle, History of Animals 9. 50.30). Nisaea is said to have sustained 160,000 horses (Diodorus 17.110), although stiff competition came from Media and Armenia which were also used for breeding good steeds (Strabo, Geography 11. 13.7; 11. 13.8, 14.9), as were the provinces of Babylonia (where one satrap possessed 800 stallions and 16,000 mares; Herodotus 1. 192), Cilicia (which provided an annual tribute of 360 white horses, Herodotus 3. 90), Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, and lands of the Saka which provided the Empire with its cavalry."

The Persepolis texts tell us that individuals who safeguarded the royal horses and officials serving as Masters of the Horse were paid well and enjoyed a diet of regular meat. Horses symbolized wealth and status and appeared in courtly ideology to model the ideal warrior image. They were also the center of aristocratic pastimes including hunting and racing.

According to Xenophon, the finest present to give a Persian was a horse and horses served as exceptional religious sacrifices.  

"As founder of the Empire, Cyrus II was honored with a horse sacrificed to his soul every month (Arrian, Anabasis 6. 29.7.)," states Llewellyn-Jones. "Moreover, the infamous tale recounted by Herodotus (3.85) of how Darius I acquired his kingdom through a trick involving the neighing of his horse is, in all probability, a Greek misunderstanding of the Iranian practice of hippomancy, or divination through the behavior of horses (see also Ctesias F13 §17), demonstrating the deep-set importance of the horse as a hallowed species in the Iranian consciousness."

Image: Procession of nobles, possibly from Palmyra, Syria, 100-150 CE, limestone, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, image courtesy of the museum.

Palmyra was a key center for trade between the Roman and Parthian Empires. This unique relief at the Cleveland Museum of Art has been associated with Palmyra only through stylistic comparisons because its find spot is unknown. 

"It depicts men in Parthian dress riding Arabian horses with bejeweled harness trappings ahead of riders on camels—a possible reference to the caravans that made Palmyra so wealthy. Although all of the riders are dressed and equipped as Parthians, the proportions and perspective of the scene seem to be informed by Greco-Roman conventions. It may depict a ceremonial procession." - Cleveland Museum of Art

The museum defines the horses as Arabians but their body structure is quite stocky, not at all like the Arabian horses of our time. Yet, a 2017 study by evolutionary biologist Barbara Wallner at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna concluded that nearly all modern horse breeds can be traced to two distinct, ancient Middle Eastern lines, the Arabian and the now extinct Turkoman horses from the Eurasian Steppe. Wallner and her colleagues studied variations in a segment of DNA along the Y chromosomes of 52 modern male horses that represented 21 modern breeds then expanded their analysis to include 363 males representing 57 modern breeds.  

 

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Zenobia: A female tidal wave that almost engulfed Rome

Zenobia rose to power when her husband, ruler of Palmyra (in present-day Syria), died in 267. As queen, she conquered Egypt and reigned until 274 when Roman forces overpowered her armies and captured her.

“Those who speak with contempt of the war I am waging against a woman, are ignorant both of the character and power of Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations of stones, of arrows, and of every species of missile weapons and military engines.” - Roman emperor Aurelian

The Historia Augusta tells of her being at the head of Aurelian`s Triumph in a golden chariot she had originally commissioned for her own triumphal march into Rome as conqueror, and bound in golden chains, as depicted in Hosmer's portrait.

A lovely poem that could describe Zenobia:

Could you not have been
a little smaller than a queen -
a river, not a tidal wave
engulfing all you tried to save?
- Anne Stevenson

From an excellent blog post: Zenobia: A Rebel With A Cause

https://mnorth52.wordpress.com/…/zenobia-a-rebel-with-a-ca…/

Image: Zenobia by American artist Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, 1859 at the Saint Louis Art Museum courtesy of the museum. The dignity of this figure’s profile, the detail of her ancient dress, and the careful regularity of the drapery folds testify to sculptor Harriet Hosmer’s mastery of neoclassical style. 

I also thought this ancient portrait of Zenobia's husband, Odenathus c. 230-250 CE, at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen was quite dramatic. They say the unfinished back shows that the statue stood in a niche. The carved eyelashes are an unusual detail. The pupil and iris were inlaid.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Carole Raddato.

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Review: The Imperial Banner by Nick Brown Book Two in the Agent of Rome series

History resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2017


When we left Imperial Agent Cassius Corbulo at the end of "The Siege", Book One of the "Agent of Rome" series, a teenaged Corbulo had survived the brutal attack on a lonely Roman outpost deep in the Syrian desert by forces of the Palmyran Queen Zenobia.  The youngster had managed to pull together the undisciplined remnants of the Roman garrison and combined them with an auxiliary detachment of local slingers, and a drunken demoralized Praetorian "hero of Rome" to withstand an onslaught of tribesmen led by the best swordsman in the Palmyrene Empire.

As book two, "The Imperial Banner," opens, we find Corbulo assigned to recover a battle standard of the Persian Empire that fell into Roman hands at the end of the Palmyrene revolt but has since gone missing.  The Roman emperor Aurelian plans to return the standard to the Persians as part of a historic peace treaty,  so the pressure is on the Imperial Service to find it.

The so-called "Pseudo-Corbulo", once thought
to be the portrait of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo,
actually a portrait of an unknown personality
of the 1st century BC. Image courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons.

Corbulo is once again accompanied by his faithful Gallic servant, Simo. But his superior, Abascanthius, thinks Corbulo needs more protection on this assignment since the detail assigned to escort the banner to the emperor was composed of experienced veterans who all vanished as well. So he assigns a bodyguard named Indavara, a former gladiator, to Corbulo to take care of any rough stuff that should happen along the way.

We learned in Book One that Corbulo, despite his clever intellect and his distant familial lineage from the illustrious General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, has very marginal sword skills despite the basic military training he received when joining the service.  This continues to be a bit disconcerting to me since I am used to most protagonists in this genre being highly skilled warriors.  But with at least the presence of a skilled bodyguard Corbulo should be able to survive violent encounters without relying upon an opponent's blunder.

The prelude to the book details Indavara's astonishing final performance in Rome's most celebrated arena.  The veteran of hundreds of bouts and a crowd favorite, Indavara faces multiple uneven contests in his last bid for freedom because his corrupt lanista has wagered a huge sum against Indavara's survival.  This passage was very exciting and really ratcheted up my expectations for this new character.

Relief of Mithras slaying the bull photographed at the
National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome, Italy
by Mary Harrsch © 2005

As the story unfolds, Corbulo tracks the banner back to Antioch where he tries to determine if the prize has been purloined by a rich merchant or a member of the provincial governor's staff.  One of the administrators turns out to be the head of the local Mithras cult so readers get a chance to learn a little about Mithraism along the way.

But as the bodies piled up, I expected to read about more spectacular encounters between Indavara and the villain's minions.  However, most of the deaths occur "off-stage" so-to-speak, except in the final confrontation.  I would have preferred more direct action but maybe I'm just getting bloodthirsty in my old age!

Also, although the primary characters were well drawn, there was little backstory or character development for the potential culprits, so Corbulo's eventual triumph lacked the level of gratification it could have had if the reader had a chance to develop an appreciation for the capabilities of Corbulo's opponents.  Still, the author did a great job of recreating ancient Antioch and life in the 3rd century CE Roman east and I found it an entertaining read.

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Review: The Siege (Book One of the Agent of Rome Series) by Nick Brown

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2016

At just 19-years old, Cassius Corbulo is probably the youngest centurion in the Roman Army.  Has he won a civic crown or been the first over the wall of a besieged town?  No.  Actually, he spent a few too many nights wooing the young women of Rome, so his father signed him up for the Imperial Security Service, sort of the Roman emperor's version of the FBI.  No one, including Corbulo's father, ever thought he would end up actually leading troops in the field, especially not in Syria where Queen Zenobia's troops, trained in Roman tactics and under the leadership of the fierce commander, Septimius Zabbai, are wreaking total havoc from Egypt to Asia Minor.

But when Corbulo arrives to assume his role on the Syrian governor's staff, he is immediately dispatched to Roman outposts in the region to collect up what troops remain and escort them back to Antioch.  He is told to assume the role of centurion, since that is the equivalent rank he holds in the security service, but he feels painfully aware of his total inexperience and is embarrassed to be issuing commands to the grizzled veterans he collects.

Palmyran Loculus Cover 2nd century CE.  Photo by
Mary Harrsch © 2005

His uncle, a successful merchant in Antioch, has provided Corbulo with a knowledgeable man-servant from Gaul but, unlike other "sidekicks" in similar tales, Simo has no demonstrated skill in arms.  Corbulo, himself, despite being distantly related to the famous general, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, and undergoing the Roman equivalent of basic training, is actually clumsy with a sword.  Fortunately, his behavioral perception and ability to judge men's characters are significantly beyond his years.  So, unlike Harry Sidebottom's Marcus Claudius Balista or Douglas Jackson's Gaius Valerius Verrens, both quintessential warriors, young Corbulo will need to use his wits and his courage rather than his brawn to outwit the opponents he will face as the story unfolds.

Corbulo receives a dispatch to proceed to a ramshackle Roman fortress named Alauran, guarding one of the precious wells in the region, and hold it until a Roman relief force arrives.  There he finds less than half of the original century assigned to the post still alive and only a drunken praetorian, a disgraced hero of Rome suffering from a severe intestinal disorder, the only remaining officer.  With no leadership, the men, who have not been paid in almost two years, have little discipline left and have little faith in a contingent of slinger auxiliaries made up of local tribesmen with whom they share the compound.  But every available man will be needed if Corbulo is to withstand an attack.

Byzantine-era silver plate depicting the world's most famous slinger Goliath.  Photographed
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Mary Harrsch © 2007

Meanwhile, Zabbai sends an elite contingent, under the command of one of the most celebrated swordsmen in Palmyra, to capture the Roman outpost.

Brown does an excellent job of describing the setting and developing the characters of Corbulo, Simo, the praetorian, the appointed squad leaders and the Palmyran swordsman and commander, Azaf.  I found it interesting to see how Corbulo was going to rebuild a fighting force by selecting men who would respond to his leadership efforts and help motivate the remaining men to mount a formidable defense.

When the attack begins, the action is non-stop and the suspense builds to a gratifying conclusion.  I was listening to the unabridged version of the audiobook and must admit, though, at one point I shouted "throw the caltrops!" as it looked like Corbulo had forgotten them when he was actually waiting for just the precise moment for maximum effect.

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Fluorosis a problem in ancient Palmyra and Herculaneum

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2015

The great archway leading to the grand collonade in Roman Palmyra.  Image
courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Note: This is a crosspost from my blog "History's Medical Mysteries".

A 2006 study by researchers at Kyushu University suggests residents of ancient Palmyra may have suffered from fluorosis, a chronic condition caused by excessive intake of fluorine compounds, marked by mottling of the teeth and, if severe, calcification of the ligaments.

Palmyra, today, is a World Heritage Site, a designation bestowed by the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1998. About 140 miles southeast of Damascus, the trading town once known as Tadmor (also spelled Tadmur) to the ancients, had been a center of trading since around 2000 B.C.E. But the town really bustled during the Roman Empire, and was filled with magnificent buildings throughout the 1st and 2nd century, beginning with the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 129 A.D. Hadrian renamed the oasis town "Palmyra Hadriana." But, the city's wealth faded with the decline of Roman influence in ancient Syria.

Starting in 1990, Japanese archaeologists began excavating the southeast necropolis of Palmyra and examined remains from the Roman era dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Despite Palmyra's prosperity, "skeletal remains uncovered from the underground tombs of Palmyra have been found to retain an arthropathy of the joints, especially in the knee joint, bone fracture, marked bone lipping, spur formation, and eburnation (smoothed bone cavities)," reports the team led by Kiyohide Saito of the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara in the Journal of Archaeological Science. "A brown discoloration was also observed in the teeth."

Funerary Portrait of Yarkhai, Son of Ogga and Balya his Daughter
from Palmyra in Roman Syria 150-200 CE Limestone.  Photographed at the
Portland (Oregon) Art Museum by Mary Harrsch © 2012.

Fluoride in small concentrations is thought to deter microbes that cause tooth decay, the reason why about 66% of public water supplies in the United States are now fluoridated, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the Palmyrans' skeletal pathology, along with their discolored teeth, point to "fluorosis," a skeletal and enamel-damaging syndrome caused by ingesting too much fluoride over a long time, the researchers note. Looking at two large tombs for example, 25 of 33 individuals (76%) had discolored teeth in one, and 45 out of 65 (69%) had discolored teeth in the other.

Palmyrans drank, and still drink, water from wells tapped from ground water by long tunnels called "qanats" (an excellent Scrabble word). The area's geology and water table has been stable for about 7000 years, meaning water conditions now aren't greatly different from those during Roman times. In a bid to estimate the fluoride burden suffered by the town's ancient inhabitants, the researchers analyzed the water from these wells. Fluoride levels were as high as three parts per million in the water, a level that a National Academy of Sciences report in March warned could lead to fluorosis.

Archaeologists also ground up seven discolored teeth from tomb inhabitants, and compared them to seven others without discoloration, to reveal their fluoride concentration. In a chemical reaction, fluoride tends to replace some calcium in tooth enamel, making overexposure to fluoride particularly worrisome for children with growing teeth and bones. The ground-up teeth revealed that in the most discolored ones, about 22% of the calcium had been replaced by fluoride. "Thus, it was possible to directly verify that the ancient inhabitants of Palmyra did suffer from fluorosis," they conclude.

Vesuvius still hovers threateningly over the remains
of Herculaneum near Naples, Italy.
Photo by Mary Harrsch © 2007.

But, ancient Romans in Palmyra were not the only ancients to suffer from fluorosis. In 1981, when skeletal remains of victims of the Vesuvius eruption were found in the boat chambers on the shore of Herculaneum, researchers were provided with another opportunity to study dental conditions of Roman residents in a different ancient setting. In The Lancet, researchers Gino Fornaciari, M. Rognini and M. Torino reported finding only 3.8% of teeth recovered from 41 adults and 12 children damaged from tooth decay.

"This percentage is very low for both modern and ancient populations, in which values were between 8.5%, as in classic Magna Graecia and 11.4%, as in Roman Britain," the researchers stated.

However, the researchers also discovered a high percentage of individuals with calcium-deficient tooth enamel - a condition often resulting from starvation at an early age but also found in well-nourished individuals suffering from fluorosis.

"To elucidate this hypothesis, we examined thin sections of permanent teeth enamel (first molar) from 8 individuals found in the Herculaneum arches site and from a present-day patient from Pisa without evidence of fluorosis, as control," the researchers explained, "Enamel was analysed by energy dispersion system (EDS) with an SEM (Jeol) 6400 connected to a microanalysis system (EDS) (Noran-Tracor) with a detection of Z-MAX 30. Enamel fluorine concentrations were greater than 10-fold higher than normal (1500-3600 parts per million [ppm]) were recorded in 6 individuals."

Skeletal remains of 32 victims awaiting evacuation in the boat chambers of
Herculaneum.  Image courtesy of Tom Huesing via Flickr.

However, the condition was not found uniformly throughout all individuals in the sample and no fluorine was found in soil samples. But, researchers did find a strong concentration of fluorine in the water-bearing stratum of Herculaneum (3-8 mg/mL), with a calculated intake of 11.4-19.0 mg a day per person at the time of the volcanic eruption.

Researchers concluded that some of the sampled remains may have been visitors to the area, since the Roman aristocracy maintained vacation villas in the area.

References:

Torino, M., Rognini, M., & Fornaciari, G. (1995). Dental fluorosis in ancient Herculaneum. The Lancet, 345(8960), 1306. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(95)90952-4

Yoshimura, K., Nakahashi, T., & Saito, K. (2006). Why did the ancient inhabitants of Palmyra suffer fluorosis? Journal of Archaeological Science, 33(10), 1411-1418. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.01.016

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Lebanese play "Zenobia" draws cultural and historical parallels

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2007

Queen Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra, by Herbert Gustave Schmalz
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This play sounds fascinating! I am presently reading The Chronicle of Zenobia by Judith Weingarten so the characters portrayed in this performance are known to me. Zenobia's leadership in a culture where women were seldom seen and not officially heard is nothing short of miraculous. Her adaptability is even more amazing as, unlike her distant relation Cleopatra, Zenobia endured being the captured prize in a Roman triumph and even later married a Roman senator. I wish I could see this play. I wonder if anyone has thought about filming it?

"History is a mirror of the future," says Oussama Rahbani. "If you don't have a history, you don't have a future." It was with this notion of embracing the past in order to greet the future that Lebanese composer Mansour Rahbani, in collaboration with his sons Marwan, Oussama, and Ghady Rahbani, created the epic musical "Zenobia," which opened a five-night run on Wednesday evening for the Byblos International Festival, in the old port city north of Beirut.

Though in many ways a tragedy, ending in defeat and suicide, the play is at heart a celebration - of culture, music and freedom, and, perhaps more forcefully, of the strength, determination and ferocity of the female spirit.

What makes "Zenobia" enveloping and believable is the plot's adherence to the play's historical foundation. Zenobia was the third-century queen of Palmyra, an oasis in the desert of central Syria fueled by caravans snaking along the Silk Road. Sandwiched between the two great powers of the day, the Persians to the east and the Romans to the west, the city was caught between two empires jockeying for position. Palmyra became a Roman province in the first century.

A head said to represent Odenathus in the Palmyra
Museum.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

When her husband Odenathus was murdered along with his heir, Zenobia, ruling in the stead of her young son Vaballathus, rebelled against Rome. She was eventually defeated and hauled off to answer for her defiance but not before liberating greater Syria, Palestine and parts of Egypt.

With this historic episode as a reference, the Rahbanis succeed in fabricating a performance of savory meaning and depth. This is not to say that they do it alone - close to 100 actors and actresses took the stage on Wednesday night, with a supporting army of technicians, designers, choreographers and assistants - but the creative energy behind the production is exemplary of the quality of theater Lebanese audiences have come to expect from a Rahbani production.

The play opens with a dream sequence in which Zenobia, played by Carole Samaha, receives a prophecy from Cleopatra that she will be ruler of the East. In reality Cleopatra was Zenobia's idol - she even claimed to have descended from her as Zenobia's mother hailed from Egypt. But in the play, Cleopatra takes on the additional role of Zenobia's subconscious, mentor and, at times, tormentor.

Odenathus, the king of Palmyra, returns with the army from a victorious battle against the Persians. While Zenobia asserts that the victory belongs to Palmyra and not Rome, her counselor Longinus - modeled after the queen's real-life advisor, the philosopher and rhetorician Cassius Dionysius Longinus - tries to convince her to break away from Rome. Zenobia is reluctant to cut the alliance, even though she remains intensely tethered to the East.

This state of affairs does not last long, however. Odenathus travels to Emesa (modern day Homs in Syria) against the advice of Zabdai (played by Ghassan Saliba), the leader of Palmyra's army. There the king is betrayed by his nephew Ismail Maeonus, who, after killing Odenathus and his son, declares himself "the king of kings."

Zenobia, who now fears that her city will be trampled underfoot by the Persians and Romans alike, takes charge and vows to extend her territory into Asia Minor and up to the gates of Rome itself."

More about Zenobia:

A Kindle preview:




More suggested reading:

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