We have here a new proof how much people may be deceived, when they suppose that objects must be of great antiquity because they tend to common convenience and because they appear even so indispensably necessary and easy to have been invented, that one can scarcely conceive how they could at any time have been wanting. I cannot, however, deprive our ancestors of the merit of ingenuity and invention; for they must undoubtedly have possessed no small share of talents and ability, to perform, without the assistance of our arts, what perhaps would be difficult even for the present age to accomplish. And who knows but there are many things still to be invented, the discovery of which may give posterity equal reason to reproach us?
Stirrups are useful in two points of view; for they not only assist one in mounting, but also in riding, as they support the legs of the rider, which otherwise would be exposed to much inconvenience. No traces of any invention for this purpose are to be found in the old Greek and Latin writers; and though means to assist people to get on horseback were devised in the course of time, neither stirrups nor any permanent support to the legs were for a long period thought of. Nothing that could perform the same service as a stirrup is to be perceived on ancient coins which exhibit the representation of persons on horseback; on statues cast or formed with the chisel, or on any remains of ancient sculpture. In the excellent equestrian statues of Trajan and Antoninus, the legs of the rider hang down without any support whatever. Had stirrups been in use when these statues were formed, the artists certainly would not have omitted them; and the case would have been the same with those writers who speak so fully of riding, and of the necessary equipage and furniture. How is it possible, that Xenophon, in the two books which he wrote expressly on horsemanship and the art of riding, where he gives rules for mounting, and where he points out means for assisting old people and infirm persons, should not have mentioned stirrups had he been acquainted with them? And how could they have been passed over by Julius Pollux, in his Lexicon, where he gives every expression that concerns riding-furniture?
Hippocrates[1345] and Galen[1346] speak of a disease which in their time was occasioned by long and frequent riding, because the legs hung down without any support. Suetonius[1347] also relates that Germanicus, the father of Caligula, by riding often after dinner endeavoured to strengthen his ankles, which had become weak; and Magius explains this very properly by telling us, that as his legs hung down without stirrups, they would be continually moved backwards and forwards, and of course the circulation of the blood towards those parts would be increased.
Neither in the Greek nor Roman authors do we meet with any term that can be applied to stirrups, for staffa, stapia, staphium, stapha, stapedium, stapeda, and stapes are words formed in modern times. The last, as Vossius and others say, was invented by Franc. Philelphus, who was born in 1398 and died in 1481[1348], to express properly a thing unknown to the ancients, and for which they could have no name. The other words are older, as may be seen in Du Cange, and appear to be derived from the German stapf, which is still retained in Fuss-stapf, a foot-step.
The name of one of the ear-bones, which, on account of its likeness to a stirrup, has from anatomists received the same appellation, may occur here to some of my readers; and if that expression was known to the ancients, it might invalidate my assertion. That small bone, however, was first remarked at Naples in the year 1546 by John Philip Ingrassias, a Sicilian, who called it stapes. To the ancient anatomists it was not known[1349].
Montfaucon is of opinion that it is impossible there could be stirrups before saddles were invented, because the former, at present, are fastened to the latter. This conclusion, however, is not altogether just. Stirrups might have been suspended from leather straps girt round the horse. In mounting, it would only have been necessary that some one should hold fast the strap on the other side; and stirrups arranged in this manner would have supported the feet of the rider as well as ours. It is certain that mounting on horseback was formerly much easier than it has been since the invention of high saddles; and it is probable that stirrups were introduced soon after that period. The arguments which I have here adduced will receive additional force when one considers the inconvenient means which the ancients employed to assist them in getting on horseback; and which, undoubtedly, they would not have used had they been acquainted with stirrups.
The Roman manners required that young men and expert riders should be able to vault on horseback without any assistance. To accustom them to this agility there were wooden horses in the Campus Martius, on which practitioners were obliged to learn to mount and dismount, both on the right and the left side, at first unarmed, and afterwards with arms in their hands[1350]. In many public places, particularly highways, stones were erected, to which a rider could lead his horse in order to mount with more facility. Such stones Gracchus caused to be set up[1351]; and they were to be found at many cities, in the sixteenth century, especially near the council-houses, that they might be used by the members of the council, who at that time did not ride in coaches. A convenience of this kind was constructed at the Roman gate at Frankfort in 1502; and steps for the same purpose may be still seen in many parts of England, where they are employed principally by the ladies. If a certain ludicrous inscription be ancient, such a stone was called suppedaneum; but this word occurs nowhere else[1352].
People of high rank and fortune kept riding-servants to assist them in mounting, who were called stratores[1353]. It was usual also to have portable stools, which were placed close to the horse when one wished to mount; and this gave rise to the barbarous practice of making conquered princes and generals stoop down that the victor might more easily get on horseback by stepping upon their backs as upon a stool. In this ignominious manner was the emperor Valerian treated by Sapor, king of Persia[1354]. Some horses also were so instructed that they kneeled until the rider mounted[1355]; and warriors had on their spears or lances a step or projection, on which they could rest the foot while they got on horseback[1356]. Winkelmann has described a cut stone in the collection of Baron Stosch, on which a rider is represented in the act of mounting with one foot on the step of his spear; and it appears, by an ancient drawing, that a leather loop[1357], into which the foot could be put, was fastened sometimes to the lance also.
Of those who believe that traces of stirrups are to be found among the ancients, no one has erred more than Galeotus Martius[1358], who follows a wrong reading in Lucretius[1359], and translates still worse the words which he adopts. Magius and others consider as authentic an inscription, in which stirrups are clearly mentioned; and because the letters D. M. (diis manibus), usual in Pagan inscriptions, appear at the top, he places it in the first century of the Christian æra[1360]. Menage[1361], however, and others have already remarked that this inscription was forged in modern times, and in all probability by Franc. Columna, who lived in the middle of the sixteenth century, and who sometimes called himself Polyphilus[1362]. Gruter, therefore, reckons it among those which ought to be rejected as spurious: and of as little authority is the silver coin on which the Emperor Constantine is represented on horseback with stirrups.
Magius quotes from the letters of Jerome, who died in the year 420, the following words, “Se cum quasdam accepit litteras jumentum conscensurum, jam pedem habuisse in bistapia.” These words have been again quoted by several writers; and we may readily believe that the author when he wrote them alluded to a stirrup. Magius however quotes from memory, and says, “Si memoria non labat.” But these words are not to be found in Jerome; and it is probable that Magius may have read them in the works of some other author.