the act of cattle-raiding is quite ancient, first attested over seven thousand years ago, and is one the oldest-known aspects of proto-indo-european culture, being seen in inscriptions on artifacts such as the norse golden horns of gallehus and in works such as the old irish "táin bó cúailnge" ("cattle raid of cooley"), the "paṇis" of the "rigveda," the "mahabharata" cattle raids and cattle rescues; and the homeric hymn to hermes, who steals the cattle of apollo. the theft of livestock are practiced in many pastoral cultures and are often paired with myths of the abduction of women (compare helen of troy, saranyu, sita, and the rape of the sabine women)..