LEGENDS
The nobility, beauty, elegance and strength of horses have fascinated man since time immemorial. Horses have permeated many myths, legends, fables and legends. Especially in the ancient period, they appeared alongside gods and heroes. The world's first ever horse was thought to be Pegasus, a snow-white horse with bird wings, under whose hoofbeats on the hill of the Muses a miraculous spring gushed forth, which inspired poets and artists to write verse. The golden-haired Helios, the personification of the sun, drove a horse-drawn chariot. Similarly, the god of the sea, Poseidon (Neptune), was inherently associated with a horse-drawn chariot with a fish tail. The mythical and mythical Centaur, an intelligent but ferocious creature with a human upper body and a horse lower body, also appeared on the scene.
The so-called Trojan Horse remains legendary to this day – a monstrous horse made of wood that hid Greek soldiers in its bowels and thus made its way to the long besieged Troy. Metaphorically, it is now a name for a person or thing used as a means of deception, trickery, or a malicious computer program.
Among Czech legends, let us highlight the tale of Horymír, the vladyk, who was saved by his horse Šemík with his courageous leap from the rock of Vyšehrad. The horse and its symbolic dimension also permeate the Christian world. The colours of horses played a significant role here, with the white horse representing purity, life and positive power (e.g. St. Martin on a white horse), while the black horse became a representative of pride, debauchery, lust and even death.
The horse has meant a great deal to man, so it is not surprising that it has also become an artistic model in the visual arts for all generations and across civilizations. The earliest evidence is a series of prehistoric cave paintings (e.g. the horse painting from the Lascaux cave), engravings and statuettes inspired by this noble ungulate, which were used in magical, cultic rituals to ensure successful hunting. The motif of the horse has permeated all subsequent artistic styles in different historical periods. Gradually, anatomically faithful representations of horses came to the fore, both on canvas and in the form of equestrian sculptures that emphasised the importance and significance of the persons on their backs. Scenes from battles depicting horses in dynamic motion or equestrian portraits were also popular. The depiction of a horse rearing over a precipice, contrasting with a calm Napoleon in the saddle crossing the Alps by the painter Jacques Louis David, became world famous.
In our country, the symbol of statehood is represented by the equestrian statue of St. Wenceslas on the square of the same name by the sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek or one of the largest equestrian statues in the world, located in Prague's Vítkov, by Bohumil Kafka, who depicted the majestic Jan Žižka on his steed (Jan Žižka is sitting on a horse, which was modelled by a Silesian Norwegian - Albin Theseus from Tlumačov).
The horse as a helper, a friend, a permanent part of human history has also been the subject of various literary works or dramatic and filmic treatments. Among the constantly repeated and popular television programmes in our country are the film by Karel Kachyna Už zase skáču přes kaluže (I'm jumping over puddles again) or František Filip's series Dobrá Voda (Good Water) from the racing environment.
The horse motif also appears in folk songs, often military or recruitment songs, but also love songs. It also forms an integral part of our fairy tales (Prince Bajaja), folk carvings (gingerbread moulds) and popular children's toys (from rocking to stuffed horses).