awe,’ ” Brice says. “Instead, the job of Alexander’s cavalry was to ha- rass the enemy cavalry and exploit any gaps in the lines created by his infantry. In both the Battle of Issus in 333 B.C. and the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C., his cavalry was instrumental.” Interestingly, though the Romans are renowned for having one of the
A German archeological site known
as Kalkriese has revealed much about the Roman use of beasts of burden. There, in 9 A.D., a large Roman force under Publius Quinctilius Varus was all but wiped out in what is known as the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. The remains of numerous mules have been found at the site, along with col- lar bells — many of which had been
stuffed with straw. “The Romans were trying to escape, and they stuffed straw in the bells so the Germans wouldn’t hear them,” Brice says. “So we know the Romans used a great many donkeys and mules.”
Elephants as weapons
Elephants also commonly were used as beasts of burden and as
most powerful militaries of the an- cient world, they were not especial- ly skilled cavalrymen themselves, Brice notes. As a result, they often outsourced their cavalry to allies and auxiliary, such as Germans and Gauls, whose cultures emphasized superior horsemanship. The Romans also used a tremen- dous number of oxen and donkeys during their military campaigns. “Beasts of burden were the backbone of the army,” Brice says, “because without them you couldn’t move a large army from point A to point B nor would you have a food source.”
(top row, from left) In this frieze from the Vix krater, circa 500 B.C.,
Greek athletes compete in a chariot race. Rebel Falange troops pose on horse- back in 1939 after victory in the Spanish Civil War. Cavalry played a role dur- ing the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz, one of Napoleon’s greatest victories. The patron saint of Paris, Genevieve, bows before Attila the Hun (on horseback) in this 1890 Camille Gilbert illustration depicting how Genevieve in 451 A.D. led Parisian women to save the city. (bottom row, from left) The Standard of Ur (present-day Iraq), an inlaid wooden box depicting war and peace (including the use of beasts of burden), dates from 2600-2400 B.C. This 6th century B.C. Athenian amphora by the Leagros Group shows both horses and dogs in com- bat. In 1941, Herbert M. Herget painted this scene of King Thutmose III driving his chariot into biblical Armageddon. This lone samurai horseman is on a frag- ment of a scroll painting of The Burning of the Sanjo Palace from around 1160. Soldiers on horseback helped manage Yellowstone National Park from 1886-1916. (first spread) Jean-Leon Gerome painted in 1867 a camel-borne Napoleon during the war hero’s unsuccessful Egyptian expedition of 1798.
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