Ratified Research: Nisean

Yes, I did put all of that into tomato soup. I modified a recipe and it tastes great. Yum!

I have a few blog titles at my blog account that sort some of my entries. "Ratified Research" lets you know the post will be long and more factual than anything. However for these posts I have links and try to make it as engaging as possible. I wish I could embed photos to break up the words but I only know how to do that in my blogspot account (here I think I need a premium account -___-). They're not always boring, I promise. I try to make them fun and write them with a lighter-than-documentary tone. I even give you fun facts! Hehe.

I am writing a horse literature story called "Whisper of Winds" and I've been doing some research on horse breeds. I do not want to just default on the more popular breeds, such as arabian, thoroughbred, clydesdale, etc. so I have been doing some research on breeds. While doing said research I have found a particular breed that caught my attention: the Nisean.

Said to be the founder of all Asian breeds the Nisean is a now extinct ancient breed of horse. The breed was native to the Nisian Plains at the foot of Zagros Mountains, Iran. Here's a labeled geographical map I found of the location and a pictorial representation: media.stratfor.com/files/mmf/2… and, media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-…

It does not quite point out the plains on the labeled map but but you can get the general gist of it. The Nisean was originally bread by the plains people in Nisa, the Medes. He was traded amongst other goods but prized above all others. The Greeks named the breed after the town it was bred but he was called, by the Chinese, "T'ien-Ma" which translates to "Heavenly Horse" and "Soulon" which translates to "Vegetarian Dragon." Quite an honor, no? The Nisean was said to look much like one of its descendants, the akhal-teke, and was of a dark bay and seal brown color in the coat. The most notable color of this breed was a gold, minted-coin-tinted coat. It is supposed that their rare colors were shades of roan, polomino, and black. Some of this notably tall and swift breed were spotted in a similar pattern to leopards. These horses were around before even the Arabians began their breeding books. That said the Nisean was structured much like the akhal-teke but it had a thicker, less concave head (think robust, like a warhorse though it has also been described as "ram-headed"). Speaking of warhorses, Alexander the Great's horse, Bucephalus, was said to be a Nisean breed and, when Alexander conquered Persia the prize he demanded as their tribute was that the Persians gift them thousands of Niseans.

This breed was honored by the royals as well, notably the Persians. In fact, it was the Persian imperial horse. Two horses, specifically white, would carry the load of the shah's royal chariot. Once the royal white horse of a Persian ruler drowned in a river. He was so distraught that he had the river drained for to him nothing should be permitted to kill such a beautiful animal. The Niseans were also pictured bearing the load of the supreme gods of Persia, specifically Ahura Mazda and Medea. Most of these images were depicted with the riders straddling the Niseans bareback. It is thought that this breed had a smooth gait and was fairly easy to seat without any gear.

The main demander of the breed in its existence was the Greeks, particularly Spartans. Yes, you read right. The Nisean breed was the main mount of the mighty Spartans. Speaking of Spartans, guess how Xerxes ultimately beat down the Thessalians? By defeating them in a race, a horse race, with his Nisean mares (which was no easy feat as the Thessalian mares were also quite legendary: farm4.static.flickr.com/3621/3…).

This breed was so prized that ancient peoples went to great lengths to steal them and breed them with their native stock. Among the traits that the Nisean passed down to its descendants are "horns," so named because of the placement of these bony knobs that grew on or around their foreheads. It seems that this may have contributed to the idea of unicorns. I'm not sure if it was this breed in particular though so don't take my word on it.

Do you know the Persian General Mardonius who served Darius? The general who married Darius's daughter Artazostra, convinced Xerxes to invade Greece, and died at the Battle of Plataea? He had a Nisean warhorse whose training was so feared that the Athenians had made a special plan just to kill the beast? Well, I thought it was funny.

Marc Antony brought the Nisean to Egypt when he raided Armenia after losing the war against Parthia. Lucius Astorius Castus, thought to be an influence for Arthurian legends, guarded Hadrian's wall with 5,500 Sarmatian horse cavalry. The cavalry was composed by Nisean mounts which the Sarmatians rode while decked out in heavy chain mail armor. A warhorse indeed. A famous rock carving in Iran depicts how the defeated Roman Emperor Valerian was forced to kneel while Sapor, the Sassanid Shah, mounted his Nisean stallion. The Heavenly Horses of Ferghana which the Chinese emperors prized came from this line. In fact, I believe this may actually mean that an almost pure-bred Nisean has survived extinction but with all the muddled records and wars and eating-of-horses that happened who knows?

Among the descendants of the Nisean are the Akhal-teke, the Carthusian (thought to be the purebred ancestor of Andalusians), Andalusian, Barb, Lusitano, and the Spanish Mustang. The particular time when the Nisean became extinct was in the thirteenth century when Constantinople was sacked (1204). However the breed is not forgotten as Elwyn Hartley Edwards calls the Nisean the "super horse of the ancient world" in The New Encyclopedia of the Horse.

You know, I think if I had been taught history from the 'back of a horse' maybe I'd remember more of it now. As it is I don't think I'll forget much of the history I implemented here for you. I hope you enjoyed it!




Did You Know that Darius the Great became king of Persia after making his own mount neigh at sunrise the morning after Cambyses II died from a fall off his horse in 521 BCE?

The trick: Darius's servant had inserted his hand into a mare's vulva when she was in heat. Near sunrise, the servant held his hand near Darius's stallion's nostrils.

Did You Also Know that the first "Pony Express" started in 580 BCE in Persia?



My references are as follows:
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisean_h…
Encyclopedia of Britannica - www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t…
Sino-Platonic Papers - www.sino-platonic.org/complete…