The sport was popular throughout the lands around the Mediterranean, but it was the Romans who really made it their own. It wasn't only the Greeks who liked chariot racing. The museum in Delphi, Greece, has a wonderful bronze statue of a charioteer dating from the 5th Century BC. The hippodrome where the chariot races took place was situated to the south of the running track, but there is no trace of it today - it has long since gone under the plough. The Olympic Games, founded in 776 BC, didn't originally include a chariot race, but this event was added in 680 BC. This particular race was won by Diomedes, the son of Tydeus. The chariots were two-horse models, and the riders stood in them, urging the horses on with whips. The race was held as part of the funeral of Patroclus, the charioteer of Achilles. The charioteer survived but the king was killed in the crash.Ī chariot race is also described in Book 23 of Homer's Iliad, one of the two oldest surviving works of Greek literature and possibly composed as early as 1000 BC. By bribing the charioteer with the promise of half the king's wealth, he persuaded him to take the axle pin out the king's chariot, causing the wheel to fall off during the race. If the suitor lost the race he was executed, and Oenomaus had so far sent 13 unlucky young men to their deaths. The king was a nasty piece of work, who insisted on all potential suitors competing against him and his charioteer, Myrtilus, in a chariot race (Oenomaus had a two-man chariot). The Ancient GreeksĬhariot racing is mentioned in several Greek myths, such as the story of Pelops, son of Tantalus: he wanted to marry Hippodameia, the daughter of Oenomaus, king of Elis. The rider may sit or stand, but for racing it was normal to stand and assist in steering by leaning the chariot, as well as directing the horses.
Horses are harnessed on either side of the pole to make a two-, four- or six-horse chariot. A chariot is a two-wheeled vehicle with a pole sticking out of the front. Chariots were the fastest method of travel in the ancient world around the Mediterranean, so it was inevitable that they would be used for racing.
0 kommentar(er)
