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Images on pottery show that chariot racing existed in thirteenth century BC Mycenaean Greece. [a] The first literary reference to a chariot race is in Homer's poetic account of the funeral games for Patroclus, in the Iliad, combining practices from the author's own time (c. 8th century) with accounts based on a legendary past.
The hippodrome of ancient Olympia had a complex starting mechanism in order to avoid false starts. [1] The starting mechanism was designed by the statue maker Kleoitas and was later improved by Aristidis. According to Pausanias, the required energy for the movement of the mechanism came from the drop of a bronze dolphin and the rise of a bronze ...
At Iliad 17.474-8, Automedon, Achilles' charioteer, states that only Patroclus was able to fully control these horses. When Xanthus was rebuked by the grieving Achilles for allowing Patroclus to be slain, Hera granted Xanthus human speech allowing the horse to say that a god had killed Patroclus and that a god would soon kill Achilles too.
Horse racing has been practised in civilisations across the world since ancient times and archaeological records indicate that it was popular in ancient Greece, Assyria, Babylonia and Egypt. [19] It also figures in myth and legend, such as the contest between the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. [19]
[8]: 89 The saddle and the stirrup were unknown in ancient Greece, but the spur and a simple bridle were used. [8]: 89 The horse was associated with the wealth, prestige and nobility of its owner, as in texts such as the Iliad, where King Nestor equates captured horses with precious booty. [2]: 52 [8]: 89
Horse racing and chariot racing were the most prestigious competitions in the games, due to only the wealthy being able to afford the maintenance and transportation of horses. These races consisted of different events: the four-horse chariot race, the two-horse chariot race, and the horse with rider race, the rider being hand picked by the owner.
In Greek mythology, Automedon (/ ɔː ˈ t ɒ m ɪ d ə n /; Ancient Greek: Αὐτομέδων), son of Diores, [1] was Achilles' charioteer, who drove the immortal horses Balius and Xanthos. [2] He was born on the island of Skyros. [3]
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 (16.152) was drawn by two immortal horses and a third who was mortal. In Etruscan racing, the third horse served as a trace horse on the inside of the turn, and was not yoked. [12]