Friday, June 27, 2025

ʾArṣū Protector of Caravans

 

This bas-relief presents a rider - the god ʾArṣū, the protector of caravans - mounted on a camel with a saddle, and also shows part of a horse wearing a harness and reins, suggesting that it, too, has a saddle. The camel was used for transporting merchandise and was rarely mounted, but the opposite was true of horses. The earliest representations of animals being ridden date to about 2000 BC; they show people mounted directly on the back of asses without any saddle. During the second millenium, a saddle of sorts appeared. Shortly after 1000 BC, bas-reliefs show horsemen sometimes riding bareback and sometimes mounted on a saddle. From then on, the use of saddles spread rapidly. With the Persian empire, the saddle became established throughout Syria. 

Provenance: ǧabal Bilʿās.   
Substance: limestone. 
Dimensions: 49 x 38.5 x 10 cm. 
Era: circa 200 CE.
Text: Fortin (p. 179).
Photo credit: Jacques Lessard
Collection of the National Museum of Damascus


Michel Fortin, Syria, Land of Civilization. Les Éditions de l'Homme, Musée de la Civilisation de Québec 1999.

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