The mule was well known to Homer in 800 BC Greece. He reported in the Iliad, the arrival of mules from Henetia in Asia Minor, where breeding them was a local specialty. Mules were also bred in Greece in Homer’s time to be used as draft animals and in farming. Later on, mules were raised in Peloponnesus and Arcadia, and harness races for mules began in Olympia in 500 BC. Such races were run throughout a period of more than 80 years.