Dear all,
I really don't know, why recent English people unbendingly insist in
rejecting horse-goulash and my knowledges on mediterranean traditions
of hippophagy are limited to the fact, that "salsiccie asinine vere"
are simply irresistable.
But I have to comment a bit on Dale's mentioning of "horse eating
tribes of the steppe". I think that Gregory's prohibition was not
directed at Eastern peoples but at Northern, especially Germanic
tribes. Ritual hippophagy as well as sacrificial deposition of horse
(and other faunal) remains have been a very common pattern of
Germanic (including Saxon!) religion. Some still important references
as follows:
H. Jankuhn (1967): Archaeologische Beobachtungen zu Tier- und
Menschenopfern bei den Germanen in der Roemischen Kaiserzeit.
Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Goettingen, I.
Philologisch-historische Klasse 6, 117-147.
A. von den Driesch, J. Boessneck and N.G. Gejvall (1968): The
archaeology of Skedemosse III: Die Knochenfunde von Saeugetieren und
Menschen, Stockholm.
Maybe the leading role of Iro-British protagonists in doing
missionary work in Northern Europe has been partly responsible for
the strict horse eating taboo of British people, but, actually, I
think that the development of dietary taboos due to monocausal events
displays not a bit more of likelihood than that of other
socio-cultural patterns.
Yours
Gerhard
Prof.Dr. Gerhard Forstenpointner
Dept.of Anatomy, Archaeozoological Unit
University of Veterinary Medicine
Veterinaerplatz 1
A-1210 Vienna
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