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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 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 noun merkavah "thing to ride in, cart" is derived from the consonantal root רכב r-k-b with the general meaning "to ride". The word "chariot" is found 44 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible—most of them referring to normal chariots on earth, [5] and although the concept of the Merkabah is associated with Ezekiel's vision (), the word is not explicitly written in Ezekiel 1.
The Greek word for chariot, ἅρμα, hárma, is also used nowadays to denote a tank, properly called άρμα μάχης, árma mákhēs, literally a "combat chariot". The Charioteer of Delphi was dedicated to the god Apollo in 474 BC by the tyrant of Gela in commemoration of a Pythian racing victory at Delphi .
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]
Diomedes first place prize is, "a woman skilled in all useful arts, and a three-legged cauldron". The chariot race is considered as the most prestigious competition in the funeral games and the most formal occasion for validating the status of the elite. [19] In this way Diomedes asserts his status as the foremost Achaean hero after Achilles.
Pallene's typical tale seems to have been modeled on the tale of Pelops, in which King Oenomaus kills several of his daughter Hippodamia's suitors after beating them in a chariot race; Pelops acquires a fast chariot, bribes a servant to sabotage the king's chariot and having emerged victorious he marries the princess. [22]
Agon (Ancient Greek: ἀγών) is the Greek personification for a conflict, struggle or contest, describing a concept of the same name.This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece.