Why were horses called dragons in ancient times?

Due to the totem worship of the ancients

Horse totem worship originated from dragon totem worship, because ancestors' understanding of horses is closely related to dragon totem worship consciousness. Regarding the "dragon horse" in the negative picture, we either think that this horse has the characteristics of a dragon or compare it with a dragon. Either way, horses and dragons have a continuous relationship.

The horse's Mercedes-Benz jumping is light, healthy and fast, which is similar to the dragon flying in people's imagination. Therefore, since ancient times, it is very common to compare horses to dragons, or directly call the best among horses dragons. "Zhou Li Shimonoseki Ren Xun" says: "A horse is a dragon above eight feet, a horse above seven feet, and a horse above six feet." It can be seen that in ancient times, a good horse over eight feet was called a dragon. According to the Book of Rites and the Moon Order, when the emperor went to the suburbs to worship, there was a language of "driving the black dragon", and "black dragon" was the name of a good horse. Therefore, every time a good horse is met, it will be called "dragon", "elephant dragon", "dragon pony", "dragon seed" or "dragon horse".

The reason why ancient people raised horses to the same height as the totem worship of dragons is because horses occupy a very important position in human life. Farming people need horses for farming, driving and riding, nomadic people need horses for grazing, and human beings need horses for living space and political interests in war. In ancient times, owning horses was a symbol of wealth and power, and it was an important factor for national strength. According to the Biography of Ma Yuan in the Later Han Dynasty, Ma Yuan cast a bronze horse and presented it to the imperial court. The chapter on the table says, "A husband can walk like a dragon in the sky and a horse on the ground. Ma Naibing is the foundation of the country. " He has a profound insight into the role of horses.

Moreover, ancient people thought that horses were more spiritual than other animals, sometimes they could save people from danger, distinguish good from evil, and show their loyalty and loyalty to human reason. There are many stories about the horse savior and the boss of the horse newspaper in the official history and unofficial history's notes. The story of "Horse Silkworm" in Gan Bao's Searching for God is a typical reflection of the national cultural mentality with farming and weaving as its main mode of production and lifestyle. Horses represent farming, silkworms represent textiles, and the transformation of horses into silkworms reflects the close relationship between farming and textiles, so the silkworm god worshipped by people is also called "Matou Niang" or "Ma Ming Bodhisattva". There is a saying in "Li Zhouxia Guan Zhangzhi" that "the original silkworm is forbidden", and the predecessors noted that "if the astronomical examination is taken and the afternoon horse is the silk silkworm, then both the horse and the silkworm belong to the afternoon." Chen is the dragon, the horse is the dragon and so on, and the silkworm is the essence of the dragon, so the horse silkworm is also rich in Chen. "The relationship between silkworm, horse and dragon is clearly pointed out here, from which we can see that horse totem worship has very rich cultural connotation.

Whether the origin of the river map is a dragon or a horse, or whether a dragon or a horse is a dragon or a horse, these tangled problems are the reflection of the cultural phenomenon that the dragon totem worship and the horse totem worship in ancient China are interrelated and intertwined. River map is called both "Dragon Map" and "Horse Map", which is the product of loong culture.