There is also evidence suggesting that races also had a role in certain religious festivals. Like other peoples, it is likely that the Romans first began racing as part of burial rites. The Romans appear to have begun outfitting chariots for races beginning in the sixth century BCE. The favored place that chariot racing found with the early Romans no doubt owes much to the close relationship between them and their Greek and Etruscan neighbors. Moreover, depictions of chariots and racing have been found on Etruscan pottery, in metalwork, and in stone. The Etruscans, given the evidence of their tombs, were just as passionate about racing. In Italy, Greek colonists were not the only chariot enthusiasts. From as early as the Olympic Games, chariot racing remained a crowd-pleaser. While burial practices and rites changed, the Greeks never abandoned their love of the chariot. The most well-known example of that funerary custom is found in Homer's Iliad, which includes a chariot race in honor of the dead hero Patroclus.
The chariot played a role in the funerals of many Indo-European peoples, including the early Celts, whose chariot burials have been unearthed both in England and on the Continent. The earliest depiction of the chariot is on a 13th-century-BCE amphora from the Mycenaean city of Tiryns detailing a funerary scene.
Most scholars believe that chariot sports followed the use of the chariot for travel and war. Like the origins of the two-wheeled conveyance itself, the date of the first chariot race is largely a matter of conjecture. The Etruscans, however, were also fond of chariots, so it is possible that the Greek and Etruscan example led to later Roman traditions of charioteering. Greek influence in Italy was strong and thus may explain the existence of chariots among the Latin peoples. About the same time, the chariot was used in India and significantly in Mycenaean Greece. To date, literary and physical evidence suggests that the Egyptians and the societies of the Near East were among the first to use chariots around 2000 to 1000 BCE. Historians and archaeologists believe that the chariot, and very likely the domestication of horses, originated in what is present-day eastern Turkey. Not surprisingly, the popular nature of the races lent a particular kind of power to the fans and an influence great enough to periodically affect the cultural and political life of Roman and Byzantine society. Wherever the Romans went, chariot racing went, as evidenced by the tracks in North Africa, England, and elsewhere. The sport connected members of society from widely different backgrounds, cultures, and ranks. Most likely originating with pre-Roman funeral games, chariot races quickly became not only a way to honor the dead but also an opportunity to enjoy the breakneck speed and danger of racing, the skill of man and horse, and the company of friends and fellow enthusiasts. Please send us your comments.Few forms of entertainment among the Romans enjoyed the extent of popular devotion or the longevity that chariot racing did. This exhibit is a subset of materials from the Perseus Project database and is copyrighted. To read more about these topics, see Further Resources.
WHERE DID THE CHARIOT RACES TAKE PLACE DRIVER
As a result, the owner received the olive wreath of victory instead of the driver or jockey.Īristophanes, the comic playwright, describes the troubles of a father whose son has too-expensive tastes in horses: "Creditors are eating me up alive.and all because of this horse-plague!" (Aristophanes, Clouds l.240ff.) Only wealthy people could afford to pay for the training, equipment, and feed of both the driver (or jockey) and the horses. The course was 6 laps around the track (4.5 miles), and there were separate races for full-grown horses and foals. Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of Art Riding The course was 12 laps around the stadium track (9 miles). Another race was between carts drawn by a team of 2 mules. There were both 2-horse chariot and 4-horse chariot races, with separate races for chariots drawn by foals. Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of Art Side A: charioteer and chariot box at left Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of Harvard University Art Museums
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