''Hipparchicus'' (', ''Hipparchikós'') is one of the two treatises on horsemanship by the Athenian historian and soldier

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...

Other common titles for this work include ''The cavalry commander'' and ''The cavalry general''. The other work by Xenophon on horsemanship is ', ''Perì hippikēs'', usually translated as ''

On horsemanship ''On Horsemanship'' is the English title usually given to ', ''peri hippikēs'', one of the two treatises on horsemanship by the Athenian historian and soldier Xenophon (c. 430–354 BC). Other common titles for this work are ''De equis alendis' ...

'', ''De equis alendis'' or ''The Art of Horsemanship''. The title ''De re equestri'' may refer to either one of the two works. ''Hipparchicus'' deals mainly with the duties of the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

commander (''

hipparchus Hipparchus (; el, Ἵππαρχος, ''Hipparkhos''; BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equi ...

''), while ''On horsemanship'' deals with the selection, care and training of

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s in general.

History

The treatises of Xenophon were written in about 350 BC, and were considered the earliest extant works on horsemanship in any literature until the publication by

Bedřich Hrozný Bedřich (Friedrich) Hrozný (; 6 May 1879 – 12 December 1952) was a Czechs, Czech Oriental studies, orientalist and linguist. He contributed to the decipherment of the ancient Hittite language, identified it as an Indo-European language and l ...

in 1931 of a Hittite text, that by

Kikkuli Kikkuli was the Hurrian "master horse trainer 'assussanni''of the land of Mitanni" (LÚ''A-AŠ-ŠU-UŠ-ŠA-AN-NI ŠA'' KUR URU''MI-IT-TA-AN-NI'') and author of a chariot horse training text written primarily in the Hittite language (as well as an O ...

of the

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...

Kingdom, which dates from about 1360 BC. A treatise on horsemanship by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

is believed lost, as was that by

Simon of Athens Simon of Athens was an Athenian writer on horses and horsemanship of the fifth century BC. He is the earliest known ancient Greek writer on the subject; Pliny described him as , "the first to have written on riding". His writings are quoted by ...

, which is twice mentioned by Xenophon in ''On horsemanship''. Some fragments of Simon's treatise survive, however; they were published by Franz Rühl in 1912.

Early editions

The first printed edition of ''Hipparchicus'' is that in the complete edition of Xenophon of 1516 from the Giunti press: * ''Begin. Ταδε ̓ενεστιν ̓εν τͅηδε τͅη βιβλͅω· Ξενοφωντος Κυρου Παιδειας βιβλια ηʹ ... Hæc in hoc libro continentur. X. Cyri pedias libri VIII. Anabaseos libri VII.; ... apomnemoneumaton; ... venatoria; ... de re equestri; ... de equis alendis; lacedæmonum resp.; ... atheniensium resp.; ... œconomica; ... hieron.; ... symposium; ... de græcorum gestis libri VII.'' ith dedication by E. Boninus(

editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand. For ...

). Florentiæ: In ædibus P. Juntæ, 1516 The earliest printing in Greek in England may be: * ''Ξ. Λογος περι Ἱππικης. Ἱππαρχικος. Κυνηγετικος. Accessere veterum testimonia de X.'' (Edited by H. Aldrich.)''Ἐκ Θεατρου ἐν Ὀξονιᾳ, ᾳχζγ'' xford: Clarendon Press 1693

References

Translations

Translations include: * (various translators) ''The whole works of Xenophon'' London: Jones & Co. 1832, pp. 717–728
full text
{{Authority control Works by Xenophon Horse management Classical horsemanship Horse training