is attested by how, in myth, the horses of Rhesus, described as "whiter than the feathers of the river swan," and by the two herds of white horses that Cotys gave to his daughter as dowry. Connected to this custom might be how the Thracians stole the sacred chariot of "Zeus" harnessed with eight horses that the Persian king Darius I had left with the Paeonians for safekeeping: the Thracians might have considered that chariot as a symbol of their Hero, or maybe their king took over it because he saw it as a traditional insignia of power. The hunt The hunt, which in Thrace was customarily carried out on horseback, held the status of being a test of valour for kings, therefore being a ritual character as part of the royal customs. The royal residence probably had reserves to provide supplies for the royal hunt, as is suggested by Plutarch's record of Cotys offering a lion to someone who had gifted him a panther. The hunt more generally was royal privilege among the Mycenaeans, the Thracians, and the peoples of Western Asia and was therefore part of the iconography of heroes: heroes were represented fighting real animals or mythical creatures in Hittite, Assyrian, and Achaemenian and Egyptian art, in which the hunt was also a popular theme. Thus, in this aspect the Thracians were closer to the ancient cultures of ancient Western Asia and North Africa, which is reflected in the Odrysian king Teres I's declaration that he did not feel different from his grooms when he was idle and not engaged in war, which echoes the words of Atys son of Croesus that it was a "great and noble pleasure" for him and his father to warring and hunting when he persuaded his father to allow him to go on a boar hunt. Gift-giving Thucydides was likely referring to the following custom, detailed by Xenophon and carried during feasts, when he wrote that noting could be accomplished among the Odrysians without gift-giving: during Seuthes II's banquet, a Thracian arrived leading a white horse, took a full horn and drank to Seuthes, and presented the horse; another Thracian brought a young slave and, similarly, drank to Seuthes and offered him the slave; a third Thracian again drank to Seuthes and offered him garments for his queen; Timasion of Dardanus also drank to Seuthes and offered him a silver cup