To be sure, the Greeks knew little of the "Transoxania" (the area east of the Oxus river, which today is called the Amu Darya). They did know the Scythians, whom the Iranians of the time referred to as the Sakka, and the Parthians -- the Greek historian Herodotis wrote a great deal about them, and they also knew, or at least, were aquatinted with, the Ywati/Ta Yüeh-chih, which, not having a "y" sound, they referred to as the Iaoitoi.

There had long been an enormous Greek presence in Central Asia. This came about by the usual means of war and trade but also in large part was due to Greek resettlement programs. If a town rebelled against the Greek empire, it was common practice to remove the entire town and resettle it in the east, either around the Black Sea or in Bactria. Herodotis tells of an "Egyptian City" reconstructed in Bactria by resettled Ionian Greeks.

Some of the Greek emperors, such as Seleucus and Antiochus, encouraged migration into the Central Asia, as a way of securing trade with China, about which very little was known. Greek cities, complete with theatres and gymnasia, have been excavated in Transoxania. The Athenians were also known to hire Scythian mercenary archers, who presumable would have brought their own horses. Hildinger notes that the Greeks depict the Scythians both mounted and on foot, shooting from behind a shield, and notes: "Perhaps the terrain in Greece was thought too inhospitable for Scythian warfare, though it may be that the Athenians simply did not want to modify their tactical system to accommodate a handful of specialists."

It would be almost beyond imagination to think that with such an extensive presence in ancient Turan, the Greeks did not obtain Turanian horses to bring back to Athens, Sparta and other points west. The Skyros pony bears some resemblance to the Caspian, and the Thessalian, as he is today, resembles the Goklan or Yabou. Accounts of Alexander's famous Thessalian horse Bucephalos show a horse who in conformation and temperament was very much like the Turkoman and Akhal-Teke of today. Indeed, the Greeks demanded tribute, in the form of some number of silver talents, or goods/livestock, or both, from the cities under their control; horses were required from the Sogdanians, who lived in northern Bactria, and from all the tribes of Anatolia (present day Turkey), which was home to many Sakka who had not been assimilated by the Parthians.

The Romans are another matter altogether. Unlike the Greeks, they maintained to presence in Central Asia and were no doubt quite familiar with their horses (in the photos, the Roman terra-cotta pegasi at left share many of the conformational traits of the modern day Tekke at right. Note too the neck bands (which were always used on Tekkes for good luck) and the typical tie of the tail into a long whip. The Romans dealt in turn with three different "keepers" of the Turanian horse -- the Scythians/Sakka, the Sarmatians (who may have been a Scythian tribe) and the Parthians. The Sarmatians were known by the Romans for armoring both themselves and their horses in scale armor, the scales being made from the pared hooves of mares, cleaned and split "until they resembled the scales of a dragon." ("For those who have never seen a dragon," Pausanius suggests thinking of a closed pine cone.) Such armor was said to be proof against both sword and arrow.

The Romans made extensive use of mercenary Sarmatian cavalry, as far away as England. Marcus Aurelius sent 5,500 of them to guard the Hadrian's Wall area. Whether the Sarmatians brought their own horses with them or rode the indigenous native ponies or other horses supplied by the Romans is uncertain. But if they brought their own horses this could certainly go far in explaining the excellence of native British racing stock throughout history.

The Romans also employed Sarmatian Cavalry in Egypt in the 4^th and 5^th centuries, where there being no water to cross, the Sarmatians would almost certainly brought their own horses.

Eventually the Romans became so impressed with the Sarmatian mercenaries that one emperor hired some to be his "household cavalry."