Hunting in the ancient world
When I’d shot my first hind, and witnessed the gralloch, I dragged it (and another) across the slopes and down a seemingly endless mountain path. There, alone in the snow, I experienced a flash of kinship with our Greek and Roman forebears. This was how Romulus must have felt after he’d despatched a mighty stag with his bare hands. Though, I expect, he probably didn’t have a hangover like mine.
Eventually, I found the gillie and my companions waiting in the jeep. I was both exhausted and exhilarated. We loaded the carcasses into the back, I jumped up beside them and we drove home for a solid supper, with some much-needed cocktails.
No such handy vehicle was available in antiquity — not even, necessarily, horses. The ancients (mostly) hunted on foot
