[Illustration: FIG. 197.] Cattle-rearing played a very important part in Greek farming. In the time of Homer it even exceeded agriculture in importance; the wealth of great people at that time consisted chiefly in herds; to give cattle as a bridal gift was very common; in calculations of value cattle formed the basis instead of coined money, which was at that time unknown. The kinds especially cultivated in the historic period were horses, asses, mules, and oxen, and also sheep, goats, and swine. Except in a few districts, horse-rearing was of little importance. The mountainous nature of the country made the use of horses for driving difficult, nor do they seem to have been required for carrying burdens; they were chiefly used for riding purposes, for the cavalry, and also for travelling, racing, etc.; and in connection with racing horse-rearing became a favourite occupation of the aristocracy, and almost a mania at Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian war, when many young men were ruined by it. Horse-rearing was best developed in Thessaly, where the wide plains were suitable for the purpose. The Thessalian cavalry was always noted for its quantity and excellence. For domestic use mules and asses took the place of horses, especially as beasts of burden. The mules were used for drawing and for the plough, while the asses were chiefly employed for carrying burdens. Cattle-rearing seems to have been more important in the Homeric age than afterwards, when the needs of the population could not be satisfied by the home growth, and importation of foreign cattle from the Black Sea and from Africa was necessary. The small number of herds of cattle was probably due to the fact that in Greek antiquity very little cow’s milk was drunk, but chiefly goat’s milk. Sheep-rearing, however, was very general, and brought to great perfection, since they not only used the flesh and milk of the sheep for food, but in particular required their skin and wool for clothing. Linen was not much worn; the country people wore sheepskins, and the rest of their dress was almost entirely made of sheep’s wool. Excellent qualities of this were produced by Hellas proper, as well as by the Greek colonies in Asia Minor and Lower Italy, and a great deal of it was exported to foreign countries, where the woollen stuffs of Asia Minor, Attica, and Megara, were held in great repute from most ancient times. Goats were chiefly kept for the sake of the milk; the skins were used by the peasants for clothing. The goat’s hair was woven into stuff, not in Greece itself, but probably in Northern Africa and Cilicia, where a kind of coarse cloth was manufactured of it, which however was not often used for clothing. The facility of goat-rearing, which required no special care, and could be carried on even on rocky ground, where but little grass grew, enabled it to become very extensive, and we find it, in fact, throughout almost the whole of Greece in ancient times.