"A horse's mane and tail."
Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in
Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in
the fifth century BC (c. 484–c. 425 BC). He was the first historian known to treat
historical subjects as a method of investigation—specifically, by collecting
his materials systematically and critically, and then arranging them into a
historiographic narrative.
Here he is reporting what he was told about the
hippopotamus. He obviously never saw one himself.
The hippopotamus is held sacred in the district of Papremis, but not elsewhere. This animal has four legs, cloven hoofs like an ox, a snub nose, a horse's mane and tail, conspicuous tusks, a voice like a horse's neigh, and is about the size of a very large ox. Its hide is so thick and though that when dried it can be made into spear-shafts.
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