Humans and horses: An ages-old friendship

To conquer the city of Troy after years of siege, the Greek army pretended to withdraw, leaving behind a huge wooden horse as a gift to the goddess Athena. Greek soldiers hid inside its belly — the ruse worked, the horse was brought into the city, the soldiers stormed out and opened the city gates to let the Greek army in.

The Trojan horse is part of Greek mythology. Poets including Homer and Virgil kept the legend alive in their stories. The oldest representation dates back to 670 BC. Trojan horse replicas can be found all over the world. A large walk-in copy, at over 15 meters (49 feet), towers over the park of the Winckelmann Museum in Stendal and is part of the "The Horse in Antiquity" exhibition.

The museum displays numerous items that demonstrate the great appreciation society has had for horses. There are bronze horse sculptures, horses painted on vases, printed on coins and etched in stone. The photo shows a clay box that dates back to 775 BC.

Roman cavalry horses were relatively small animals — that's why the saddles had no stirrups. The mounted soldiers flanked the armies or circled the enemy soldiers to advance into gaps at just the right moment. Antiquity featured mostly mounted archers.

The ancient Olympic Games had horse and chariot races that were held in specially built stadiums, the hippodromes. The chariots were often driven by slaves and women. The Romans also held chariot races in the Circus Maximus stadium in Rome, and other athletic competitions they called "Greek-style games."

This bowl used to mix wine and water, called a volute crater, showcases the palace of the underworld gods Hades and Persephone. In Greek mythology, Hades rode in a chariot drawn by with four black stallions. Helios, the Greek sun god, moved across the sky with four white stallions. Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, was considered the creator and embodiment of all horses.

Legend has it that his birth was spectacular: After the hero Perseus decapitated the snake-haired Medusa, a winged horse sprang from her torso: Pegasus. Only the goddess Athena could tame him, with a golden bridle. The horse of heroes and gods is immortalized in numerous statues.

Centaurs are half horse, half man. They are considered lustful and barbaric. In mythology, only one of the hybrid creatures was considered wise and just, and that was Chiron. A skilled hunter and healer, he is said to have tutored many Greek heroes such as Achilles and Asclepius. According to legend, Zeus immortalized Chiron in a constellation. It shines south of the 25th parallel.

Unicorns symbolize purity, innocence and everything good. The creatures do not appear in Greek and Roman mythology, but became popular in the late Middle Ages, when Hildegard von Bingen and Albertus Magnus mentioned them in their pharmacopoeias, or books on the composition of medicines. Marco Polo claimed to have seen one on Sumatra. It is more likely that he encountered a rhinoceros.