Did Iranian Tame The Horse...?

Horse in
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the religion of
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Achemenian,



Any stage of the Iranian history is associated with given religion. However the beginings of Persian Empire are covered by darkness, and a bit of Greece chronicles are the most important source of this times.

Because of that, informations about this period are full of imprecisions and doubts. In spite of that Greece sources aren't very numerous, there are several notes about animals. Besides of this, a lot of conclusions come when we analize the Achemenian art and we look at the bas-relief and sculptures of Persepolis.

The informations about some kind of animal are relatively often.

At the first place it is necessery to mention a horse. This animal is very strong associated with Iranian culture.

It is said that Iranians tamed a horse. The good horse was a synonym of wealth and the best friend of a warrior. In the cuneiform inscriptions we can find the mentions concerning a horse :

"Said Darius the King : This country, Persian, which Ahuramazda bestowed upon me, good, possessed of good horses, possessed of good men - by the favor of Ahuramazda and me, Darius the King, does not fear of any other."

The some of people's names are connected with Old Persian word asa or Median aspa. For example the name of Zarathushtra's father sounds Purushpa [It means from speckled horse ]. Besides it, people used to sacrifice a horse because it was the most blessed sacrifice. For example every year the Magian sacrificed one horse next to the King Cyrus tomb .

A horse participates in the legendary story about King Darius the Great, for its reason Darius became a king. This story was written by the Herodot : It was established that this man become a king who's horse first will neigh (horse sound: the long high-pitched sound that a horse makes) at dawn. By deceit Darius' horse neighted as the first.

The pictures show Caspian Horses
For more inormation on animals in Achemenian religion see:http://www.iran.krakow.pl/zwierzetaang.htm