The horse has arguably been more important to human history than even the dog. Both have served as work animals, that is true, but the horse has altered the course of civilization.

Yes, the horse has drawn the plow. Certainly very important but oxen also were used to pull plows as well as other vehicles – carts, wagons and the like. But the major importance of horses, unlike any other animal, was their use in war.

I previously blogged about the Botai – the Eurasian nomads of the steppes. They have been credited with domestication of the horse and its gradual transformation from the wild genus to the domesticated one. The horse gave the steppe dwellers a tremendous advantage: mobility as well as an elevated position from which to rain down blows. They were fast and could travel great distances. And they did. Successive waves of these warriors swept into India and across Europe, right up to and including recorded time. Think Genghis Khan.

This culture had no arts to speak of. Their pottery, according to famed archaeologist Maria Gimbutas, was poor quality, especially when compared to the pottery of Crete. But they had weapons and with horses they were almost unbeatable.

What were the civilizations they swept across? Almost all were agrarian, peaceful and Goddess worshipping. They made sacrifices for good harvests and easy births. They didn’t have a chance. Crete ‘s culture survived because it was on an island. (And on the island it was peaceful- their cities were not walled.). A remnant survived in the British Isles. (the Picts – remember Hadrian’s Wall? Built by the Romans, it was designed to keep the Picts away.) And the Basques who still speak a non Indo-European language. And Scandinavia managed to hold on to their culture. They successfully resisted Christianity for hundreds of years, converting at the point of a sword, and then grafting their sacred pantheon on to the Christian God.

But I digress.

This is what these mounted nomads brought with them.

Language

Almost all of the languages spoken now, especially across Europe, is classed as Indo-European, although pockets of the earlier languages remain. Basque, for example, is still spoken today. According to Gimbutas, the Basques continue some of the traditions as well that stretch all the way back, probably to the Neolithic. In Crete and Anatolia place names from the early civilizations remain. Knossos, for example, is not Indo-European.

Written languages too were affected. The Cretans had three languages. A form of hieroglyphics (and yes, Crete and Egypt were neighbors and trading partners so probably there was some cross-fertilization), Linear A and Linear B. B is newer and was deciphered in the fifties. It is a form of early Greek, an Indo-European language. The other two remain mysterious.

With the Indo-European invasion, writing disappeared along with the fine pottery and many other examples of the civilization.