page_title: Lasso
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Lasso / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Series Title: FirdowsiÃs Book of Kings Creation Date: ca. 1575 Display Dimensions: 5 13/16 in. x 5 19/32 in. (14.8 cm x 14.2 cm) Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection Accession Number: 1990.264 Collection: &lt;a href="http://www.sdmart.org/art/our-collection/asian-art" rel="nofollow"&gt;The San Diego Museum of Art&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: A lasso, also called lariat, riata, or reata, is a loop of rope designed as a restraint to be thrown around a target and tightened when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the Spanish and Mexican cowboy, then adopted by the United States cowboy. The word is also a verb; to lasso is to throw the loop of rope around something. Although the tool has several proper names, such terms are rarely employed by those who actually use it; nearly all United States cowboys simply call it a "rope," and the use of such "roping".
context_section_description: Lassos are not only part of North American culture; relief carvings at the ancient Egyptian temple of Pharaoh Seti I at Abydos, built c.1280 BC, show the pharaoh holding a lasso, then holding onto a bull roped around the horns. Huns are recorded as using lassos in battle to ensnare opponents prepared to defend themselves in hand-to-hand combat around AD 370. They were also used by Tatars and are still used by the Sami people and Finns in reindeer herding. In Mongolia, a variant of the lasso called an uurga (Mongolian: уурга) is used, consisting of a rope loop at the end of a long pole.
  Lassoes are also mentioned in the Greek Histories of Herodotus; seventh book. Polymnia 7.85 records: "The wandering tribe known by the name of Sagartians- a people Persian in language, and in dress half Persian, half Pactyan, who furnished the army as many as eight thousand horse. It is not the wont of this people to carry arms, either of bronze or steel, except only a dirk; but they use lassoes made of thongs plaited together, and trust to these whenever they go to the wars. Now the manner in which they fight is the following: when they meet their enemy, straightway they discharge their lassoes, which end in a noose; then, whatever the noose encircles, be it man or be it horse, they drag towards them; and the foe, entangled in the toils, is forthwith slain. Such is the manner in which this people fight; and now their horsemen were drawn up with the Persians".
  Lasso is mentioned by some sources as one of the pieces of equipment of the Aswaran, the cavalry force of the Sasanian Empire.
  In the Americas, the method of roping cattle developed in Mexico as a way of managing and controlling individual animals (lassoing). The tool that was used was called a lariat. Furthermore, in order for this tool to be more productive, the Spanish war saddle evolved into the working saddle we know of today. Although a simple tool, many decades if not a century had to pass for this system to be perfected in Mexico.
  Before the lasso or lariat were successfully implemented in the Mexican style of work, the use of a hocking knife (crescent-shaped blade on a pole that was used to cut the ligaments in a cow's hocks) was used to stop and control the cattle. The hocking knife was similar to the Spanish spear (lansa) that was used to manipulate cattle as well as for combat.
caption: "Rustam Lassoes the Khaqan of China from His White Elephant", Persian miniature from Shahnama
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