Chariot racing is a sport with a long and varied history. Our earliest evidence suggests that the Hittites and Egyptians fought on chariots and used them in processions, perhaps also in competitive race events. Of all the sports in the ancient world, it by fars has the longest life, evidence in our earliest Greek sources and long surviving the fall of the Western Empire. Forms of chariot racing, such as the Kentucky Derby and Nascar continue to fascinate modern audiences and prove lucrative.
Greek Review While both Greeks and Romans loved chariot racing, they were different events in each culture. Our earliest evidence for Greek chariot racing comes for epic poetry in which the chariot race is the first event at the funeral games of Patroklos. While this might be reflective of Bronze Age sport, it is certainly evidence of Dark Age sport. We find images of chariot racing on many funerary vases from the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Chariot racing was added as an Olympic sport in 680 BCE and was immediately considered the prestige event. It was an event of the wealthy; owning horses in ancient Greece required land and thus large amounts of money. A wealthy Greek aristocrat would hire a driver, providing the horses and the chariot. Still, the victory went to the owner of the horses, not the actual driver. Greek tyrants from the west were especially keen to win such contests as it gave them great acclaim. The Athenian politician, Alcibiades, once entered 7 chariots in the Olympics, and 4 of them placed. Infamously, the Spartan princess Kyniska won the chariot race at Olympia in both 396 BCE and 392 BCE. Greek chariot drivers wore long tunics and generally kept the reins in their hands. They raced 2-horse and 4-horse chariots in venues known as hippodromes (Kyle, 2015).
Greek Vase with 4 horse chariot and armed jumper. 6th century BCE
Bronze Charioteer. Delphi. 5th century BCE
Greek vase with female driving a 4-horse chariot, possibly Kyniska. 4th century BCE
Roman Chariot racing is the oldest known sport in Roman culture. Livy tells the story of the Sabine Women being abducted during a chariot race at the very founding of Rome. And the Circus Maximus was one of the earliest public spaces laid out in the city of town, probably in the early 6th century BCE. The Romans seemed to have followed the Etruscan tradition of chariot racing, in which the drivers wear short tunics and wrap the reins around their waist, leaning to steer. Because of this connection, they also kept a short dagger in the belt to cut the reins if they fell and wore a soft helmet. Romans raced, 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, and even 10-horse chariots. The venues were known as circuses and had a number of unique architectural features. Chariot races continued to be popular in the Republic and the Empire. By the Late Empire, chariot racing was the only major spectacle to survive the economic upheaval. In addition to a rich material culture record that includes multiple circuses across the Roman world and numerous depictions of chariot drivers, we have the literary evidence of Ovid and others to describe these exciting races. Just like in Nascar, it seems that everyone’s favorite moment was waiting for the crash. A typical race was 7 laps around the circus. Chariot drivers were from the lowest rungs of society, but by being successful in the races, they were able to achieve of significant amount of wealth. We have many mentions from Roman aristocrats bemoaning the sudden rise and wealth of some chariot driver. We even hear of Roman emperors who befriended Roman emperors and were appointed in the imperial service (Bell, 2014).
Victorious charioteer Polydus. Mosaic. 3rd century CE
Circus with chariots at Carthage. Mosaic. 3rd century CE
Flask with Chariot driver. Terracotta. (Arnaud Fafournoux CC BY-SA 3.0)
Factiones One of the most important aspects of Roman chariot racing was the existence of factiones. As the name suggests, these were factions or teams for which Romans became die-hard fans. There were whites, reds, blue, and greens. Unlike local teams, these factions were empire-wide organizations that would identify potential talents, train drivers, raise horses, and be hired out for competitions. Each race would feature usually 3 chariots from each team, for 12 total. These factions were so popular that people reportedly kill themselves when their favorite driver or team lost; they were also able to garner some political power from the fan base (Futrell 2006, Epplett, 2014).