Donkeys in antiquity

[Duncan Head]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230116-how-donkeys-changed-the-course-of-human-history

At the site of a Roman villa in the village of Boinville-en-Woëvre, a team unearthed the remains of several donkeys that would have dwarfed most of the species we are familiar with today.

"These were gigantic donkeys," says Ludovic Orlando, director of the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse, at the Purpan Medical School in Toulouse, France. "These specimens, which were genetically linked to donkeys in Africa, were bigger than some of the horses."

[Erpingham]

They may have to revise the Christmas song for greater historical accuracy

Giant donkey, Giant donkey
On the dusty road
Gotta keep on plodding onward
With your precious load

Interesting though.  France remains one of the places with traditional donkey breeds approaching the size of the archaeological ones, which were used in mule breeding.  Whether there is any continuity, I wouldn't know.

[Mark G]

I thought we were about to invoke the no politics rule. 
But you actually meant ancient era donkeys, and not the House of Lords

[Justin Swanton]

I thought we were about to invoke the no politics rule. 
But you actually meant ancient era donkeys, and not the House of Lords

Quite right Mark. We should avoid any mention of donkeys, apes, chimpanzees, gorillas, snakes, cockroaches, sloths, snails, scorpions, sharks, hawks, albatrosses, lizards, tics, worms and the like. This is an apolitical forum. 

[Anton]

Big donkeys, somehow I find that very heartening.