Animals

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When the Persian troops of king Xerxes broke through the pass of Thermopulai and invaded Greece in 480 BCE, the men of Athens sailed from her port of Piraeus to the island of Salamis, most of them to serve in the navy. Their dogs lined up on the shore and howled their sorrow, watching their masters leaving without them. (See p. 31) One dog, belonging to Pericles' father Xantippe, leaped into the Saronic Gulf and swam alongside his master's ship all the way to Salamis, some twenty miles away. When they arrived, the poor dog was so exhausted that he fainted away and died at the feet of his master. "The spot in the island, which is still called the Dog's Grave, is said to be his." (Plutarch, Lives, Themistocles) The dog earned the title of Man's Best Friend but the horse became man's best associate and model of courage and strength. After the young Alexander cleverly tamed the horse Bukephalus, they fought battles together across Asia for some fifteen years. The Horse was the perfect match of heroes not only in the battles of war but also in the peace of life, always for victory and glory, especially in the game of races.