|
|
| GENERAL INFORMATION | 
|
| ARCHITECTURE |
|
| Chariot races | 
|
THE CHARIOT RACES
The circus games were particularly popular. At the beginning of the IInd Century AD, the poet Juvenal exclaimed in Rome: "the common people only have two concerns, bread and the games". The races were organised by powerful rival factions (similar to clubs) which owned breeding farms and organised bets. People bet on the factions not on the horses. The factions employed professional charioteers. The colour of the charioteer's tunic told which faction they belonged to. Thus there were the Greens, the Blues, the Reds and the Whites. They drove chariots pulled by two, three or four horses (bigae, trigae and quadrigae). One to three chariots ran for each faction. The Circus Maximus had twelve starting boxes set out on an oblique curving line to compensate for the starting handicap. The chariots, running counter-clockwise, had to go round seven times (signalled by imitation eggs and dolphins that were lowered as the race went on). Fairly sophisticated mechanisms allowed the starting gates to be opened simultaneously on the signal of the magistrate giving the games. He dropped a piece of cloth on the race track from a loge above the starting boxes. All the chariots launched themselves towards the right-hand track and attempted to be on the inside at the first marker. The success of the race depended largely on the left-hand horse (or funalis) which was only attached to the chariot with thin straps. There were numerous accidents or "wrecks", all the more so since the charioteers wound the reins around their waists. Unpenalised "dirty tricks" were just as risky for the person playing them as for his opponent. The winner received palms and crowns as a reward but, above all, considerable sums of money changed hands, often making the best charioteers very rich.