Clippity Clop! - Ashmolean Museum

Clippity Clop!
Trot around the Ground Floor
discovering horses in the Ancient World!
Start on the Ground Floor, gallery 9: Ancient World.
This tour will take you through galleries 19, 18,
20,16,13.
Pick up a Floor Plan to help you find your way
1
Gallery 9: Ancient World (right in the middle of the
museum)
Look in the large flat case in the
centre of the gallery.
Find the toy chariot? It was made
from a recycled object! What do
you think it was made out of?
See the tiny charioteer (driver)?
His arms are stretched out as if he is
holding the reigns ready to race!
Did you know...
Horses have been tamed and ridden by people for
thousands of years. They were also trained to pull
chariots, the first horse-pulled vehicles.
2
Stay in gallery 9.
Turn around and look for the plastic
horse head.
This harness is from modern west Iran and
shows how we think horses might have
worn it.
Can you see the bridle or halter
on the horse? It was called a headstall. The nose guard, bell and
pendant were for
frightening enemies!
Draw your own harness on the horse above.
Is your horse a warrior’s horse or a farm horse used
for carrying people?
Trot round the corner to gallery 19: Ancient Near East
to find out more about horses and how people used
them.
3
Walk on to gallery 18: Ancient Cyprus
Enter from gallery 19 and look for these
tomb gifts in the case on the right.
People left gifts at tombs to either help
someone in the next life, or to show off
possessions owned by people in their
lifetime. Horses were expensive and
showed you were rich and important, and
that you could ride rather than walk!
Which objects would you choose
to tell someone about your life?
4
Trot on to gallery 20: Aegean World
Find this pot.
It is called the Maroni Krater and was found
in a tomb in Maroni, Cyprus. Rich and
important people owned horses and chariots
and paid charioteers to race them, a bit like
modern-day horse racing.
We think this pot was used for mixing wine
and water.
Draw your own decoration on this
pot. What might it tell us about your
hobbies?
Horses were popular animals, often
a symbol of wealth and status in the
Ancient World.
Walk on through gallery 16: Greece
spotting horses as you go!
5
Giddy up to gallery 13: Rome. You’re on the home
straight!
In the middle of the gallery find the
countryside case. Can you spot the
horse muzzle and the chariot
decoration?
Over thousands of years horses were important in trade, transport, communication
and war. They were a symbol of power
and wealth and everything about them,
including chariots, saddles and harnesses,
was decorated to show this.
Well done you’ve finished! Collect a
certificate at the Information Desk.