Why do the horses on this vase have too many legs?

Question

Why do the horses have too many legs? They appear to have an extra set, why is this?

Perhaps it is a depiction of "my two horses are as fast as your four horses". — Jammin4CO, Apr 19 '16 at 13:57
Comments are for clarification from the author of the question/answer; not to make fun of them.... — CGCampbell, Apr 19 '16 at 14:15

Tyler Durden · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-18 01:21:46Z

65

The number of legs is correct. It's the number of heads that is wrong.

The chariot depicted is an Olympic quadriga which was driven by four horses.

The artist probably found it difficult to make a design that included all four horse heads, so he just drew two of them.

answered Apr 18 '16 at 1:21

Tyler Durden

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Or they are pairwise perfectly in sync, so two of the heads are hidden – vsz Apr 18 '16 at 7:26
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How about tails? – Alex Apr 18 '16 at 12:11
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I love how the reasoning is basically "because he was lazy". – David Grinberg Apr 18 '16 at 21:27
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The numberof torsoes is also wrong... – David Richerby Apr 18 '16 at 21:59
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This was the last vase of the run of 400 they were making for the olympics - hoping they'd be hot sellers. They were tired, in a rush, and knew the customers wouldn't notice until after the games. – Adam Davis Apr 19 '16 at 1:19

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Glorfindel · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-24 07:57:30Z

6

I think Tyler is right, but it's also possible that the horses were depicted running as fast as Marvin here.

Glorfindel

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answered Apr 20 '16 at 6:09

Michael

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I wonder what archeologists will say about that picture in the year 3016. "Gosh, in 2016, they were still too dumb to properly count feet..." – Annatar Feb 25 at 8:06

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