"A four thousand year history from ancient Egypt to today"



the Akhal-Teke breed is mentioned, of course, read more on http://www.westholmepublishing.com/warhorse.html

I will order a copy!

1. Carolyn03/20/2007 09:58:00

Hmm, well that does look interesting. This must be the book you mentioned to me earlier. I will have to pick up a copy as soon as it is released.
It is nice to see ancient cavalry attracting so much attention these days (and obviously the Teke in connection with that!)

2. Jessica03/20/2007 10:06:39

Carloyn, I knew you would be interested! I have also been thinking about asking you how you found the link to Tekes in you study of the Greek horses and Herodotos and how you view the type of horses used in Greece compared to the modern Teke.

3. Heather03/20/2007 11:08:37

Carolyn,
Not too much into your thesis topic I hope, but the book looks interesting! Are you planning to publish your thesis work???? Keep us informed!
Heather

4. Carolyn03/20/2007 13:50:12

Yes hopefully the book will not cover everything! But it seems like he wants to cover quite a bit of time, so it looks to be a good overview/summary type thing. I'm sure the bibliography will be useful.
I am hoping to publish some work soon; am considering a few different options. I will definitely keep you informed about such things.
I'm not entirely sure how I came across the Teke. I think I was just flipping through some books on horse breeds when I came across it and some Greek ponies, realizing that they looked an awful lot like images in Greek/Scythian/Near Eastern art. I am actually translating book 4 of Herodotus right now, so it will be interesting to see what the Greek says about the horses.
It seems to me that, for the most part, the modern Teke is quite similar to the ancient types. I don't know about personality as I have never had the pleasure of meeting a Teke in person, but conformationally they are exact images of each other. And this is carried across a number of cultures: Assyrian, Greek, Scythian etc. It drives me absolutely crazy when people say that the horses depicted in ancient art must have been idealized, that they didn't really look like that (mostly along the lines of 'they couldn't have been that short') I have ridden native Greek ponies in Greece and they definitely suit their terrain. And, looking at the build of the Teke and other breeds you start to understand how they were used in ancient cavalries etc. As you can tell, I love what I am doing!