Ancient horse statue - image used under a Creative Commons licence and is by Visual Media

Take a second to imagine Alexander the Great’s horse. It may help to know he was named Bucephalus which translates as Oxhead. It conjures a mental image of a warhorse with a battering ram of a head, with a diminutive (his true height remains a subject of debate) young conqueror astride it bowling his adversaries over in the middle of a dust and blood battlefield.

You probably haven’t pictured his ugly equine atavism, vestigial toes.

Toes on a horse are an evolutionary legacy akin to human tailbones and gills in womb. Embryos of modern horses develop the rudiments for three toes in utero. Ordinarily, the middle toe will eventually outgrow the outer ones which then become splint bones. This central toe is then the one which will support the horse through contact with the ground, ie the hoof. Bucephalus’ atavism made him a polydactyl, which means having more than one toe; his toes toes did not develop in the normal manner during gestation.

The legend of Bucephalus’ mutation was nurtured, imbuing the horse and his owner with mythical properties. The toes, in some way, embodied the outstanding nature of his master’s life, as if everything he touched was extraordinary. Centuries later Julius Caesar hung on the coattails of this myth by sourcing a three-toed horse and protesting that it would let none other than the man himself ride it.

The horses of these two ancient potentates were propagandistic symbols – the contemporary equivalent of an armoured Hummer or Obama’s Beast. They were chosen simply to show how unique their riders were, as tangible, physical symbols that could be woven into their legacy while simultaneously pointing toward their destiny. Horses were, until the twentieth century a powerful symbol. They were a weapon of war, a means of transport and an expensive possession.

Would Alexander have been Great if he had ridden a lovely piebald mare called Flossie?

Caesar’s Horse from a Triumph of Caesar (1514), Attributed to Jacopo di Stefano Schiavone, tin-glazed earthenware maiolica dish, Fitzwilliam Museum

Caesar, in particular understood, the use and power of symbols, in creating his own myth. To show his being born into wealth and power he told of how he was born on his family’s lands. This also curried favour in a state concerned with agrarian matters. He chose the horse to relate his own intentions and capabilities to Alexander’s. Julius Caesar told how the horse could only be ridden by himself, he was the anointed one, Rome could only succeed through him. This again echoes the Alexander myth – the story was put about that Alexander had to tame Bucephalus himself because no-one else could.

In his sword-in-the-stone moment Alexander learns that it has been prophesised that the tamer of the horse will rule the world. Handy, that.

Incidentally, a quick search online reveals an astonishing number of people believing horses still had not evolved toes by Alexander Great’s time. Or even that they had “extra toes”. This is a slight miscategorisation by these extra digit fanatics; they are categorising the entire hoof structure as a single toe, as that is its evolutionary origin. On the other hand, those who believe that hoofs have only evolved within the last two and a half millennia, simply defy belief and would be better off ignored in the hopes that they will pack up and leave the internet.

Choosing a footloose, fancy-free mount was more common than you might suppose. Other supposed examples include:

• The Duke of Wellington’s famed charger Copenhagen
• Napoleon Bonaparte’s Marengo
• Robert E. Lee’s horse Traveller

Also worth a mention was Caligula’s horse Incitatus. This poor horse was the lamest example of an exalted equine. In celebrating his horse Caligula simply copied his predecessor, Caesar, fully realising that he in turn had only copied the Macedonian king. Caligula’s horse was fed gold flakes at his own dinner parties. Incitatus even had normal hoofs, the poor proletarian.

Bibliography
Galis, F. and R.A. Jenner (2001). The evolution of individuality and conflict mediation. Trends Ecol. Evol.16, 541.
Twelve Emperors – Suetonius
Atavisms – The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Hoxd-13, Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Ancient Times blog on Caesar’s Fables
Bucephalus has his own Wikipedia entry
Caligula’s polydactyl horse

Original content created by: The Inquisition

History doesn’t necessarily write itself – a choice, often conscious, is made of what to retain and hand down. When that choice is bypassed, things get really interesting.

The Vindolanda tablets, and the extensive site itself, took one such circuitous route. They are important historical records of the more pedestrian aspects of an empire whose reach was wide and whose grip was fast.

In 1970s a horde of impossibly fragile artifacts from Roman Britain came to light at Hadrian’s Wall. The site was bought by an archaeologist by the name of Eric Birle. His sons still run and excavate the site today.

A somewhat fanciful story is told of how Flavius Cerialis, a camp commander at the time, upon hearing of his and his troops’ redeployment to other, more strategically important parts of the empire, set about disposing of anything that would not be brought along.

However, you would have to imagine this particular man was not the exemplary and adroit Roman military commander that comes to mind when we picture the huge empire and its armies. In fact, it seems he was even incapable fire to his own rubbish properly. The burning and looting, raping and pillaging of any self-respecting ravaging horde must have been utterly incomprehensible to him. Or maybe he was just lazy.

But we should thank him. And profusely so. This partially burned waste is a historical record of the greatest value.

The Tablets Overview

The horde contains a huge number of handwritten fragments on extremely thin, folded, wooden tablets. The everyday nature of these was a revelation. Until these tablets were found scholars worked with few writings on the mundane, which had been survived through to posterity. We knew about how the common people but that knowledge was not personal in any way. So lacking was our understanding that the distinctive handwriting scripts were unfamiliar – this was a kind of shorthand used for epistolary communication (an awkward and pretentious blogger’s contrivance meaning “letters”). It was still Latin, just not the formal script used by the stonemasons who created the works most resistant to wear over time.

The subject matter is varied, as you might expect from a random collection of everyday writings, containing everything from task lists to inventories, writing lessons to personal letters.

Their Historical Context and Importance

Rome was an empire that positively revelled in documenting and celebrating its achievements. Vast amounts of Latin literature still inform communication and the arts globally today. Architects still look back to the grandeur of Rome. Columns, amphitheatres, arches and more triumphal edifices still dot the ancient imperial lands. Rome was no shrinking violet. This triumphalist entities only tell part of the story, the one that the rulers would have wanted us to hear. And that is why this alternate voice is so powerful. The fact that it details the lives of true Romans but at the Empire’s boundary only adds to this.

Vindolanda Excavations by Flickr User James Laing

The Site

The camp formed before Hadrian’s Wall, the first line of defence against the Picts. The garrison’s job was to, along with defending that particular section of the wall, police the locals, promote trade and spread Roman cultural and economic influence. The site is so huge excavations are expected to be ongoing until well into the next century!

The camp was rebuilt many times before and after the tablets were produced. The methods employed by the Romans for this involved demolition of existing structures and flattening them compacted into the soil. This created a series of anaerobic layers which were inhospitable to the processes of biological decay.

In fact these layers were so sterile and effective in their preservation that when the tablets are unearthed today, and exposed to air they are only legible for minutes before fading. Thankfully the ink residue can be seen clearly in infra-red light (as in the image at the top of this page).

Three Tablets – sample translations

Tablet 291 – Birthday Invite
Hi Lepidina, Claudia Severa here! Sister, I am celebrating my birthday on the 11th of September. I would love if you could join us, which would improve the day no end. Give my greetings to Cerialis. My husband Aelius and are little boy send their love. See you soon, favourite sister, all going well.

Tablet 302 – Shopping List
…2 jars of bruised beans > 20 chickens > 100 apples (only if they look nice, and are cheap) > 100 or maybe 200 eggs > 8 loads of garum* > a jar of olives. Bring all this back to Verecundus’ house.
*Garum was a very salty sauce made from fermented anchovies. As disgusting as this description is, the sauce is really tasty, especially to add depth of flavour to pasta sauces or as a pizza topping. It is still made by Geo. Watkins and Co.

Tablet 118 – Writing Exercise
INTEREA PAVIDAM VOLITANS PINNA
TA .VBEM m2 seg. uacat

This tablet fragment appears to have been unsent and then used by a child to practice their writing. In capitals they have written a partial line from Virgil’s Aeneid

Bibliography
See the tablets online
The offical website for the site
The Story of Archaeology in 050 Great Discoveries, Justin Pollard, Quercus, 2007
Salt – A World History, Mark Kurlansky, Vintage, 2003

Original content created by: The Inquisition