In antiquity, the term "desultor" (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, "one who leaps down") or "apobates" (Greek, "one who gets off") has been applied to individuals skilled at leaping from one horse or

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...

to another. As early as the

Homeric Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

times, we find the description of a man, who keeps four horses abreast at full gallop, and leaps from one to another, amidst a crowd of admiring spectators. Eustathius on Homer's ''Iliad'', Lib. IV, assures us that riders might have up to six horses all abreast. In the games of the

Roman circus The Roman circus (from the Classical Latin, Latin word that means "circle") was a large open-air venue used for public events in the ancient Roman Empire. The circuses were similar to the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek hippodromes, although circus ...

, this sport was also very popular. The Roman desultor generally rode only two horses at the same time, sitting on them without a saddle, and vaulting upon either of them at his pleasure. He wore a hat or cap made of felt. The taste for these exercises was carried to so great an extent, that young men of the highest rank not only drove bigae and

quadriga A () is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. The four- ...

e in the circus, but exhibited these feats of horsemanship. Among other nations, this level of equestrian dexterity was applied to the purposes of war.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

mentions a troop of horse in the

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

n army, in which each soldier was supplied with a couple of horses, and in the heat of battle, and when clad in armor, would leap with the greatest ease and celerity from a horse which was tired or disabled, upon the back of the horse which was still sound and fresh.xxiii.29

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References and sources

*{{SmithDGRA, title=Desultor, url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D2%3Aentry%3Dsella-cn Horse-related professions and professionals Riding techniques and movements Ancient Roman occupations Cavalry