Thread by @VeraCausa9

Ancient Greeks used the horse as a physical extension to actualize man's potentiality through agon [contest] & arete [excellence] in the Olympics & in war. Thus forging an ideal-harmonious temperament: inner drive+physical prowess+moral virtue=kalos kagathos [good in body & mind]

Marble bas-relief of a youth with his horse & hunting dog. Possibly representing Castor taming his immortal horse Kyllaros [Hippoi Dioskourioi] given to him by Hera-ca. 117-150 AD found in Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli-at British Museum [1]

Not only man but also horses could posses arete. In The Iliad's Bk. XXXIII, Homer uses the word ἀρετάω (aretao) "to thrive" from ἀρετή (arete) "excellence" to describe Achilles' immortal horses: Xanthos & Balios.

Kantharos fragment-Achilles tending his divine horses-c. 550 BC

Kantharos fragment details: The potter/painter Nearchos inscribed Achilles Αχιλ[λ]ε[υς name. However the first two horses names are not Achilles' divine horses but Chaitos (Χαιτος) and Euthoias (Ευθο̣ιας) which are not Homeric yet the 3rd horse Pedasos was mortal in the Iliad [1]

This wonderful kantharos fragment depicting Achilles & his divine horses is at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens [2]

Four Greek vase fragments depicting horses: 1- A laureled charioteer w/ his 2 horses after an athletic victory 2-A hoplite & his grazing horse 3- a horseman & his spirited steed 4-Two horses heads, one of them just a ghostly trace.

Greek Vase Fragments w/ Horses:
1- 6th c. BC at Met museum
2-6th c. BC at Penn museum
3- 6th c. BC at British museum
4- 4th c. BC -private collection [1]

Correction: In The Iliad's Bk. XXIII* in reference to the arete of Achilles' divine horses [2]

Plato's Phaedrus-"Chariot Allegory"

The charioteer of the soul drives a chariot pulled by a black & white winged horse. Charioteer is Logos [reason] trying to stir both the rational [white] & irrational [black] soul impulses into a harmonious telos so it can behold the Forms.

Black-figure amphora depicts a charioteer readying for a synoris or two-horse chariot race-ca. 500 BC at British Museum [1]

Besides being a mythical creature, the centaur [half man-half horse] is also symbolic of man's inborn irrationality & unbridled violence.

Parthenon Metope south: Centaur vs Lapith in combat- 447-432 BC @britishmuseum

Xenophon's On Horsemanship c. 350 BC:
"A spirited horse should never be raced against other horses, this will make him more difficult to handle." He also suggests an "overly spirited horses not be bought for the purpose of war"

Cavalcade: Parthenon West frieze ca. 447–433 BC

Xenophon treatise "On Horsemanship" ca. 350 BC is considered one of the earliest extant works on horsemanship in any literature.

The Parthenon's west frieze depicting a cavalcade is at the British Museum [1]

If you are interested in reading the complete Xenophon's insightful treatise "On Horsemanship" c. 350 BC-here is the link in e-book format:
ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/x/xenophon/x5h… …

Horse head carved marble frieze detail from The Temple of Apollo Epikourios c. 450 BC- at British Museum

The Prometopidion is a bronze piece of armor that protected a horse's forehead. Decoration of warrior in chalcidian helmet w/ rams' heads cheek pieces is symbolic of armor's power to protect its wearer together w/ the apotropaic gorgon-from Magna Graecia-ca. 480 BC @GettyMuseum

Bronze Prometopidion details: the warrior's eyes are inlaid with ivory but also w/ amber, the brilliance of the gemstone would have gleamed off the sunlight thus shooting forth a flicker from the horse's forehead as the steed headed into battle [1]

Like the human form this horse bronze stattuete also embodies Polykleitos' idea of relating beauty to ratio: a symmetrical elegance & rhythm that mirrors mathematical proportion & balance.

Greek, Late Hellenistic 2nd–1st century BC @metmuseum

Though transcendent of this physical world, the austere yet timeless symmetry of this horse bronze statuette always remind me of what Plato had in mind when he envisioned a Greek sculptor's hand seeking that unchanging template of a horse's eternal form.