In our time, audiences have been delighted by The Dancing White Lippenzaner Horses of Vienna, Austria.

But these were not the first dancing white horses! There were some in Ancient Greece, which played a historic role.

Greeks sailed from Greek Isles to the foot of Italy and established colonies.

One of the most famous of these was Sybaris, which was a natural port on the Mediterranean. Ships landed their goods there, to be transported to inner cities.

This made the Sybarites very rich. So rich that the word "sybaritic" has come down to us as "extravagant behavior".

The Sybarites were defended by cavalrymen rode beautiful white horses. And these white horses danced to a stone-flute melody. (Long before the beautiful white dancing Lippenzaner horses of Austria!)

These horses were "the death of the Sybarites". The Sybarite cavalry attacked their "enemies" in the nearby port of Crotona. Croton infantrymen, prepared with stone-flutes in the Sybarite model, played this known melody on their flutes. The horses rode out of control. And all the Cavarymen and their accompanyin infantry were killed. And the town of Sybaris was destroyed.