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Two straps that crossed high at the upper back prevented the xystis from "ballooning" during the race [30] The body of the chariot rested on the axle, so the ride was bumpy. The most exciting parts of the chariot race, at least for the spectators, were the turns at the ends of the hippodrome. These turns were dangerous and sometimes deadly.
The word derives from the Latin quadrigae, a contraction of quadriiugae, from quadri-: four, and iugum: yoke. In Latin the word quadrigae is almost always used in the plural [1] and usually refers to the team of four horses rather than the chariot they pull. [2] In Greek, a four-horse chariot was known as τέθριππον téthrippon. [3]
The earliest reference to a chariot race in Western literature is an event in the funeral games of Patroclus in the Iliad. [4] In Homeric warfare, elite warriors were transported to the battlefield in two-horse chariots, but fought on foot; the chariot was then used for pursuit or flight. [5]
One depicts a biga and the head of the driver. The second depicts a quadriga, with six-spoked wheels, and a driver standing up in a large chariot box. This chariot is being attacked. One figure, who is armed with a shield and a mace, stands in the chariot's path; another figure, who is armed with a bow and arrow, threatens the right flank.
Gaius Appuleius Diocles was born in 104 AD in the Roman province of Lusitania, in the Western Iberian peninsula.He made his racing debut in Rome at the age of 18, in 122 AD with the racing stable known as the Whites, but did not win a race until two years later.
Cimon was a well-known chariot race organizer, winning three consecutive times the chariot race, one of the most important competitions of the Ancient Olympic Games. In fact, the renown of the victory in the chariot race was given to the organizer of the team, who was funding the chariot, breeding the horses and hiring the charioteer. [3]
The name trigarium derives from triga, a three-horse chariot; compare the more common quadriga and biga, the four- and two-horse chariot. [10] In ancient Greece, three-horse chariots might be used for war, but are not known to have been raced. [11] The chariot of Achilles in the Iliad (16.
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 ...