Equestrian Acrobatics in Archaic Greece

Abstract

This paper argues that the activity of equestrian tumbling (“acrobatic” feats on horseback) in Archaic Greece held elite connotations and that the participant was represented as a warrior–athlete. An early Panathenaic amphora (Paris, BN, 243) depicts an armoured figure standing on horseback, but it is debated whether his action occurs in an agon. A survey of other such acts in art and literature provides comparative evidence for the figure’s symbolism. An association with elites, heroes, and warfare is consistent throughout the survey. The possibility of an agon in equestrian tumbling is contextualized at the early Panathenaia.