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Modern depiction (1876) by Jean Léon Gérôme of a chariot race in Rome's Circus Maximus, as if seen from the starting gate. The Palatine Hill and imperial palace are to the left. Chariot racing (Ancient Greek: ἁρματοδρομία, harmatodromía; Latin: ludi circenses) was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports.
The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: Circo Massimo) is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy.In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire.
Floorplan of Circus Maximus. This design is typical of Roman circuses. The performance space of the Roman circus was normally, despite its name, an oblong rectangle of two linear sections of race track, separated by a median strip running along the length of about two thirds the track, joined at one end with a semicircular section and at the other end with an undivided section of track closed ...
During the first century, people across Rome were obsessed with chariot races, which frequently produced horrific crashes.However, one charioteer steered his way to victory more than 2,000 times ...
The chariot race at the Circus Maximus as seen from the entrance gate, with the imperial box and the Palatine on the left (painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1876) Most likely the Romans borrowed the custom of organizing chariot races from the Etruscans, who in turn had borrowed it from the Greeks.
Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104 – after 146 AD) was a Roman charioteer.His existence and career are attested by two highly detailed contemporary inscriptions, used by modern historians to help reconstruct the likely conduct and techniques of chariot racing.
He was a chariot-racing enthusiast and began construction of the circus which was completed by Claudius (r. 41-54 AD). The privately owned circus and Horti were then inherited by Nero who made the circus public so he could invite them to cheer him on. [4] He also used both of these to lodge Romans made homeless by the great fire of 64.
Denarius depicting the helmeted head of Mars, with Victory driving a biga on the reverse (issued 88 BC by Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus). The Equirria (also as Ecurria, from equicurria, "horse races") were two ancient Roman festivals of chariot racing, or perhaps horseback racing, [1] held in honor of the god Mars, one 27 February and the other 14 March.