Persian Nesaean stud

[Dan Howard]

I was wondering whether there are any sources that suggest a typical height of a Persian Nesaean horse at the time of the Parthian cataphract. I'm guessing around 13 hands but was hoping for something a little more definite.

[Jona Lendering]

If only we found a horse's skeletton and were able to say that it is a horse from a Nesean breed. But we do not know the location of the Nesean plain; Diodorus suggests between modern Kermanshah and Hamadan, the TAVO projects thinks south of Lake Urmia. Perhaps the horses represented on the Eastern Stairs of the Apadana in Persepolis are Nesean horses. Then again, perhaps they are not. We simply do not know.

On the assumption that Herodotus is right that the chariot of the king was drawn by Nesean horses, and that this relief on the staircase already mentioned is the king's chariot, we may assume that horses, back then, were about as large as our horses:

[bachmat66]

Salve,
Horses of Nisaya - Littauer and Crouwel in their digs found horses ranging from 100cm at withers to 150cm from the so called Median strata ...
Considering that the best of them ate alfaalfa/lucerne – this most important horse food that was domesticated by the Iranians relationship between size,strength and stamina versus performacne on the battle field.
I think the Parthian horses must be mostly inferred from other source -
firstly you could look at the stone relieves from Firuzabad representing the battle of Hormozdagan
between Ardashir, future king of Persia, and Arabanus the Parthian monarch – from this very great site
http://www.livius.org/a/iran/firuzabad/ ... ad-relief1
Dura Europos graffito - Parthian 'knight'
The closesst might be the Ms Louise Firouz' article – although it is mostly about the Caspian horse in this horse's present condition (well, 1970s), but she provides in her article some data on the Nissean , eg that 'he' was about 65 inches at withers (comparisons done by reference of the Persepolis Apadana). Also she talks about discoveries (late 1960s and early 1970s) of skeletal remains of horses from the pre-Islamic strata in Iran, especially of interest shall be the site at Shahr-e-Kumis where some remains of Parthian horses (including large skull with that 'Nissean nose' aka swelling from occiput through nasal bones) have been found. She cited(1972) works of Anderson, Sandor Bokonyi, M.A. Littauer etc as the best to look up this matter.
Finally, she provided a citation by Timotheus of Ghaza (6c A.D.) who wrote on the Nissean horses (Kermanshah region of Iran)– that they were remarkable for their great size and feet that shook the earth.

Definitely you should look at the Chinese sculptures from the Han (eg horses for emperor Wu-Ti) and Later Han, early T'ang dynasties, the best – Tien-Ma or 'heavely horses' – came from east Iranian lands.

also compare with Persepolis graffiti – a fine Callieri's article about these images etc - especially at figure 3, 4, 5 and 6
http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/callieri.html
they belong to the Sassanian period but perhaps they are some indication of the size of the noble mounts.

Finally look at the Panjikent frescoes – they are mostly from the 7th -8th century but the horses there belong to the last phase of the east Iranian(Sogdian) pre-Islamic culture – and they do have the conformation of the war horses of the ancient Persians.
I am going to look to Hyland's 'Equus' and her "Horse in the Ancient World' to see if she has anything there etc.

[Dan Howard]

Wonderful. Many thanks.

[bachmat66]

Salve,
I am glad to be of some assistance
to add some more -
Strabo wrote about Nisean horses and their breeding grounds having been in Armenia (he thought that the Nisean plain was in Armenia and not in Media) . He also says that Parthian horses were not like any horses of the Greek world but very similar to the Nisean horse bread by Achaemenid Persians (Strabo 524).

Oppian writes in his Cynegetica about the Nissean horses, extolling their easy strides, graceful movements, flowing manes (contrary to the contemporary Iranian fashions of crenelated manes and tied tails). He also talks about golden manes - that might imply some influence of the glitering heavenly horses -Tien Ma - from Ferghana - today known as the Akhal-Teke or Turkoman golden horse(please note that obviously the Turkomans were not first to breed these horses that bear their name, these horses as a breed predate the Turks by at least 5-7 centuries and were first bread by the eastern Iranians or the inhabitants of the Ferghana Valley - divided between modern Uzbekistan, Kirghistan and Tajikistan ).

Azzaroli in his book states that in a private communication with Sandor Bokonyi he learned that Bokonyi had 'observed horses remains strong build, standing up to 16hands in the sites from north-western Iran belonging to the Achaemenid period'.

Also, Pazyryk horses and other south-Western Siberia Saka horse finds show consistent patern of tall (15-16h) noble horses and smaller 'common' horses (12-13hands). Dahae or Parni aka Parthians came from the Central Asian steppes already equipped with very fine war horses of certain known qualities etc, suitable for mounted lancer warfare (Mielczarek).
Also might be worth pondering the issue of Parthian exchanges (both peaceful and bellicose) with their cousins from northern India, Pakistan and Bactria(Afghanistan) that might have added more horse breeds/strains to the actual development of the ' Parthian' strain of Nisean horse between 3nd and 1st centuries BC.
I am yet to get to the Ann Hyland's works...
I am reading this very interesting book by one of the most prominent 'equine historians' from XIX century - writing about the horses in the pedigree o the English Thoroughbred -William Ridgeway ' The Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse (Cambridge University Press 1905)' (please note that some of the information written in this book is already outdated because of modern research and archaeological discoveries etc)
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id= ... &ct=result
p. 194 "... the Parthian horses, which were both grey and also commonly dun, were descended from the Nisean breed, and resembled it in appearance, we may conclude that the Persian horses of the fifth century B.C. were dun, white or grey. But we have just seen that dun and white especially characterized the horses of Upper Europe and Upper Asia in classical and Medieval times. From this it would appear that the Nisean horses bred in Armenia were of the Upper Asiatic, i.e. Turcoman stock"......
more to follow...