HORSE (Hebr. am, Parash; the latter word, however, often designates the rider): On the Assyrian and Babylonian monuments the horse is frequently represented. He was known and valued in those countries from the earliest times, but, judging from the representations, only for Tiding and for the chariot, and not as a beast of burden. The same is true of the Hittites, whose chariots formed an important part of their military equipment. Among 'the Egyptians the horse is represented only after the period of the Hyksos and exclusively for use in war. In the Amama Tablets the princes of Babylonia and Mitanni send horses and chariots as presents to Egypt; they were nearer to Central Asia, the habitat of the horse. Egypt could never excel in horse-breeding, while Mesopotamia., with its vast plains, possessed special advantages in this direction. Horses and chariots appear to have been introduced into Syria by the Hittites; still the Amama Tablets state that the princes of northern Palestine sometimes requested horses from the Egyptian king. On account of the mountainous conformation of the country chariots were used only in restricted numbers in Palestine, principally on the plains and along the coast. The Israelites are said to have been terrified at the chariots of the Canaanites, and according to the sources it was Solomon who first introduced horses on a large scale from Kue and MuZri (in Cilicia and North Syria; see Assyria, VI.,2, § 1; in the E. V. of I Kings x. 28-29 rendered " Egypt "). Among the Israelites also they were- used almost exclusively for warlike purposes. To drive in chariots drawn by horses in time of peace was the prerogative of the king only (II Sam. xv. 1; I Kings i. 5); but in later times high officials assumed the prerogative (Jer. xvii. 25). Not until the Roman period, when roads were first built in Palestine, was the horse generally used in that country for driving and riding; in ancient times the ass, and, for the nobles, the mule, were the animals so employed (Isa. xxviii. 28 is faulty; cf. B. Duhm on the passage in Handkommentor zum Alten Testament, Göttingen, 1903, and T. K. Cheyne, Isaiah, in SBOT).

The Old Testament also mentions the breeding of horses; they were kept in a stable (urwah), and fed with barley and straw (I Kings iv. 26-28). They were controlled by means of the bit (resen), the bridle (methegh), and the whip (shot). The poets admire the strength and swiftness of the horse (Jer. iv. 13, xlvii. 3; Hab. i. 8, etc.), and Job (xxxix. 19-25) pictures it as a wonder-work of divine creation.

I. Benzinger.

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Bibliography: J. G. Wood, Bible Animals, New York, 1883; F.oSchwally, in ZATW, viii (1888), 191; E. 0. A. Riehm. Handwartsrbuch die biblischen Altertume. Pp. 1197-1202, Bielefeld, 1894; G. Maepdro, nDawn of Civilization, P. 32, London, 1896; idem, The Sirwwle of the Nations, P. 51, ib. 1899; V. Hehn, %ulturpllanzen and Hausthiers, ed. 0. Schrader, Berlin, 1902; DB, ii 417-418; EB, 12113-16.