In ancient Rome, a city known for its spectacular and violent entertainment, there was a sport that was even more popular than gladiatorial combat. The chariot races, held in the huge Circus Maximus arena located between the Aventine and Palatine hills, gave spectators the opportunity to see daring charioteers and their horse teams racing seven laps around a 2,000-foot-long sand track, where they hit top speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour on the straights and jostle wheel-to-wheel as they rush through hairpin bends.
When the winning charioteer finally crossed the finish line, his victory was announced with the blast of a trumpet, and he ascended to the judges’ box, where he received a palm branch, a wreath and a cash prize. Then he took a quick victory lap, before the start of the next of the day’s 24 races, as described by archaeologist and art historian from Northern Illinois University Sinclair Bell.
It was the old version of NASCAR, except it was much more dangerous. Trolley crashes were frequent, with crews of attendants on hand to rush onto the track and clear wreckage and injured drivers as the race continued.
“Organized chariot racing had a lasting appeal to the Romans,” says David Matz, professor and chair of classics at Saint-Bonaventure University and author of numerous books on the ancient world, including Ancient Roman Sports, AZ: Athletes, Venues, Events and Conditions.
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The origins of chariot racing
A Roman mosaic depicting a chariot racing arena.
Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images
In legend, the sport dates back to the city’s founder, Romulus, who is said to have overseen the construction of the first racecourse, the Circus Maximus, in the eighth century BC. Contests became not only the most popular sporting event in ancient Rome, but a deeply ingrained part of Roman culture that lasted for centuries.
Over time, the races developed into an elaborate ritual that was steeped in Roman religion. According to Bell, the event began with a sacred procession through the streets of Rome, which included statues of a dozen different Roman gods, as well as dancers, musicians, temple attendants and the drivers themselves. Eventually the parade reached the Circus Maximus, when 200,000 or more spectators were already waiting.
Then the focus shifted to the 12 starting gates and the two- and four-horse chariot teams waiting to compete. The game sponsor, from a platform above the start line, dropped a white handkerchief onto the track. The doors opened and the racers burst onto the track and quickly began to fight for the inside position that would give them an advantage.
“A successful chariot race required a combination of physical strength and endurance, skill in implementing various racing strategies, and superb horsemanship,” says Matz. “Most of the races featured quadrigae – four-horse chariots, the horses being harnessed four abreast. These specially bred horses were powerful, skittish and sometimes unpredictable animals. Managing the team in a race was probably the greatest challenge of a tank driver.
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Chariot races weren’t as gruesome as the deathmatches between gladiators that the Romans staged for the public. Drivers had to be phenomenally skilled and athletic just to compete. As Bell wrote, they came from all over the Roman Empire – most were slaves, freedmen, or foreigners. It was rare for a driver to be a Roman citizen by birth. Chauffeurs had a lower social status, and a Roman who became a charioteer was barred from holding public office.
Even so, charioteers were celebrities and sometimes even became wealthy men. One of the sport’s top competitors was a racer named Gaius Appeuleius Diocles, who began his career in 122 AD, and over his 24-year career competed for all four factions and won 1,462 of 4,257 races in which he participated. During his career, Diocles won prizes amounting to more than 35,000,000 sesterces, a denomination of Roman coinage, which, based on the value of gold, would amount to more than 17 million dollars.
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Some viewers were probably drawn to the ever-present possibility of seeing a bloody fatality. But the massive crowds that packed the Circus Maximus found plenty of other compelling reasons to cheer. Matz says that some spectators were probably hardcore chariot racing junkies, who could appreciate the skill and courage of the drivers.
Others, like modern sports fans obsessed with Arsenal or the New York Yankees, were avid followers of one of the many racing teams, or factions, identified by their colors. This allegiance may also have been shaped by loyalty or fear of the current emperor. Some Roman rulers — Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, for example — were intense fans themselves, and they had their own favorite factions, Matz says.
Chariot racing as a Roman national pastime
Chariot race in antiquity with charioteers in starting position and a horse trainer.
Leemage/Corbis/Getty Images
“Chariot racing was a national pastime in which a large percentage of the population of all classes came together, by choice, for the thrill of the races,” says Casey Stark, assistant professor of education in the history department. from Bowling Green State University. . More than that, “It was also a place to see and be seen. The layout of the seats reinforced the disparities in Roman society. The best seats went to those of rank, such as Roman senators, and wealth, and often with the sponsor of the event or the emperor watching from a private box.
Additionally, “betting on chariot races was very popular,” says Matz. But unlike modern sports betting, there were no on-track betting windows or bookmakers and punters to arrange betting. Instead, Matz explains, “a spectator could simply turn to the fan sitting next to them and offer a bet for the next race.”
Some bettors tried to influence the outcome in a supernatural way. “Several curse tablets have been found near Roman hippodromes, likely by people with money at stake, which were used to give their team or driver a competitive edge,” Stark explains.
Others have come to the Circus Maximus for people watching, or even used it as the equivalent of a singles bar. “The Roman poet Ovid wrote a rather graphic account of a young man’s effort to get the attention of a young woman who was sitting next to him in the circus,” says Matz. “These types of interactions, whether pre-arranged or spontaneous, were undoubtedly very common.”
A riot precipitates the end of Roman-style chariot racing
Chariot racing was so popular that even after the fall of Imperial Rome in 476 AD, the sport continued for some time, with the new barbarian rulers of the city continuing to hold races. It also remained popular in the eastern empire that had split from Rome, although it eventually began to decline there after fanaticism reached unruly extremes. In a hotly contested race in Constantinople in 532 AD, fans of the runner faction of the Greens fought with adherents of the runner faction of the Blues.
When the authorities arrested and then attempted to hang a few of the offenders, all hell broke loose. The two factions joined forces and demanded the release of the captives, and when that didn’t happen, they set fire to the city’s hippodrome, the Hippodrome. The infamous Nika Riot, which lasted for days, killed up to 30,000 people according to one estimate.
This disaster “most likely hastened the end of Roman-style chariot racing in the eastern empire,” says Matz.
But even after the sport’s demise, chariot racing was not forgotten. In the 1880s it featured prominently in General Lew Wallace’s best-selling novel Ben Hurwhich was adapted into a play seen by 20 million Americans between 1899 and 1920, with live horses running on treadmills concealed on the stage to simulate chariot racing.
Several film versions were also made, including a 1959 Hollywood blockbuster starring Charlton Heston. This film’s epic chariot race required elaborate preparations, including dozens of horses that were trained to remain calm as the chariots crashed into each other. It took five days to film a simulated version of the sporting spectacle that once captivated Roman audiences.
