Horseback riding in the Hellenistic Era

[robbie]

Thank all of you for replying!

So it's pretty safe to say, then, that they weren't exactly large animals, and not dwarflike either, but somewhere in between?
The height at the withers of a horse from that period might then have been somewhere between ca 140 – 150 cm...

[Xenophon]

Thank all of you for replying!

So it's pretty safe to say, then, that they weren't exactly large animals, and not dwarflike either, but somewhere in between?
The height at the withers of a horse from that period might then have been somewhere between ca 140 – 150 cm...

Yes, that is correct, as Agesilaos mentioned in his earlier reply. Both archaeology and historical sources confirm that cavalry horses from Greek times through Hellenistic and down to early Byzantine times were typically 14-15 'hands' at the withers ( a 'hand' being 4 inches ; 10.1 cm). This is at the 'large pony'/'small horse' size, a pony technically being anything under 14 hands 2 inches at the withers.

[hiphys]

Yesterday I saw a Japanese movie on Genghis Khan (2007, directed by Shin'ichiro Sawai). After seeing the horses on the movie, anyone, I think, would be able to imagine the real Hellenistic horses: the Mongolian ones IMHO are very similar, in shape and size, to their Hellenic (i.e. old Asian) ancestors.