Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Jacob
GV31 .G53 2000
Patron digitization request
Location: Stacks
Call Number: GV31 .G53 2000
Destination: Library Express
Request Type: Patron digitization request
Request Note:86-102 (On the Starting Line: please make sure to get all the pages)
On the Starting Line with Ben Hur:
Chariot-Racing in the Circus Maximus
86
()\ 111I S I\I\II\C, LI\F WITII BFN HUR: CHAI\IOT-RACINC IN THE CiIKUS MAXIMUS
the Roman tribune Messala in a public spectacle of alty of the public was in general to the factions rather
this nature is absolutely unthinkable. II would have tban the individual charioteers. This fanatical partisan-
ruined the man's military and publi: larper, not to ship, more marked in chariot-racing than in any other
mention his position in society, quite .ip.ut trorn the sport of classical antiquity, was regarded with particu-
fact that the governor would have forbidde-n his subor- lar disfavour by critics of the time:
dinate to indulge in such an escapade lor pr,1gmatic If thev were .utractcd by the speed of the horses or Ihe
political reasons: if Messala won, his vic torv would drivers' skill one could acc.ount for it, but in fdet it is the
have displeased the local population o( the province, racing-colours they really support and care about, dnd if
and if he lost they could have shown 1Il1desir,1iJleela- the colours were to be changed in mid-course during a
tion at his defeat. The appearance in Ill(' ,1Iena of his r.irc. they would transfer their favour and enthusiasm and
adversary Ben Hur is not much more lonvincing. He rapidly desert the famous drivers dl1d horses whose names
96
could indeed have taken part in til(' r,lling as a they shout as they recognise them from afar. Such is the
Sarcophagus panel
member of the Judaeo-Hellenistic upper cl,1ss, but not popul.iritv and importanc: of a worthless shirt lin the with Cupid chariot-race
as the adopted son of a Roman admiral. colour of the fdctionl - I don't mean with the crowd, which c. ,\Il 140
So who really were the aurigee, thl' !\om,lI1 chario- is worth less than the shirt, but with certain serious Marble
teers? Generally they were slaves or Irl'l'dl1wn, but in individuals. (Pliny the Younger, Epistu/ae 9,6) Musee du Louvre, Paris,
and wealth in their profession. 'That Srorpu-. .irn I, the enterprises. They were managed by domini factionis In the second quarter of the
glory of the clamorous Circus, thy applause, () Rome, (faction masters), usually of the knightly class. Their second century i\[) the custom
boast of victory in no less than 2,048 l'Vl'nls. hunts, so that the entire entertainment industry came on the spina. The childish
It was perfectly usual for profession.u ch.irioteers to under state control. The domini factionis of the private charioteers, unlike their human
Reds, 55 times for the Greens, 12 tilm's for the Blues no less than 35,863,120 sestertii and retired at the age
87
GLADIATORS AND CAESARS
to life and limb. Many tombstones bear the informa- THE HORSES
tion that the dead man was killed in a racing accident.
One such victim was Scorpus, mentioned above; Mar- The horses to which the charioteers owed their victo-
tial wrote that he himself earned little in a whole day, ries enjoyed no less fame. 'I, that Martial who am
'whereas in a single hour Scorpus, a winner of the known to the nations and to Rome's peoples ... am not
race, bears off fifteen bags of gleaming gold' (Martial, known better than the horse Andraemon.' (Epigram-
Epigrammata 10, 74), but that the charioteer's life matal 0,9.) Shockingly brutal as the Roman attitude to
ended at the turning point of the circus, 'that goal, animals could be, as we saw in the discussion of vena-
tiones (pp. 70-73), they were also capable of a posi-
tively sentimental love of animals for their own sake,
particularly horses, and even more particularly race-
horses. "vitices, non vincas, te amamus, Polidoxe'
('Win or lose, we love you, Polidoxus') runs the word-
ing on a mosaic from Constantine in north Africa
showing the racehorse of that name.
Nor were the horses forgotten when the victory
prizes were awarded. Many depictions show palm
branches stuck in the horses' harness. The equine
recipients probably felt more appreciative of the gilded
modii (measures for grain) containing a special portion
of barley. At the end of a successful career in the arena
a horse could expect not the knacker's yard - the'
Romans did not eat horsemeat - but retirement on a
pension: 'Lest the steed that has won many palms
should fall, dishonouring his victories, lazily now he
crops the meadow grasses.' (Ovid, Tristia IV 8, 19.)
And finally the horse had honourable burial: 'Sired on
the sandy plains of Gaetulia [an.area in north Africa]
by a Gaetulian stallion, fast as the wind, incomparable
in your life, you now, Spendusa, dwell in the realm of
Lethe' (inscription for the gravestone of the African
mare Spendusa - herself a rare exception, since most
racehorses were stall ions).
These expensive racehorses were bred and trained
on imperial and private stud farms. By far the most
successful horses in the circus came from North Africa
and Spain, but Cappadocia (an area of eastern Asia
Minor), Greece and Sicily were also outstanding
sources of animals for racing in the arena. The African
and Spanish horses probably resembled today's Libyan
and Iberian animals (Andalusians and Lusitanos). Con-
trary to a widespread myth, those modern and almost
identical types were not created by cross-breeding
with Arabian horses in the early Middle Ages, but had
already existed and were highly regarded in classical
97 whereto thy car sped ever in brief course' (ibid. 10, antiquity, when Arabs were still entirely unknown. The
lamp with quadriga 50). bedouin rode camels until Islam began to make tri-
First century An However, considering that many of these charioteers umphant headway; only then did they acquire horses
Pottery
had been on the starting line hundreds or even thou- from the old breeding regions of Syria, Asia Minor and
Antikensalllllllung,Staatliche
sands of times before they met with such a fate - and Egypt, where the Arabs known to us today originated.
Museen zu Berlin, TC 951
death in the circus was by no means certain - it is The myth of the Arabian desert horse also makes an
A quad,.;ga gallops towards the clear that by comparison with a gladiatorial career appearance in Ben Hur: the eponymous hero gets his
meta, the turning post with its chariot-racing may be considered quite safe. If we horses from the bedouin Sheikh Iiderim. In fact the
three conical finials. In the
compare the chances of survival of an auriga with horses in the film version are not Arabs, but Lipizzan-
background is the spina, with
those of a modern racing driver, the charioteer's pro- ers from Yugoslavia, and since Lipizzaners have been
several statues on columns,
fession was of course a good deal more dangerous, but much cross-bred with Iberian horses, the film did in
Augustus's obelisk and the
the difference can be described as one of degree rather fact use a breed of historically similar appearance to
apparatus with dolphin ligures
used to count laps.
than absolute. the originals.
88
()~ rur SI\~II~C LI'JE WITH BEN Hu~: Cij!\~IClT-R;\CII'C IN THE CiRCUS M/\XIMUS
Iberian horses today, however. .ur- rathe-r 1,1rger than THE CHARIOTS
their ancestors of the Roman period: \\'t' ~110\\ a great
deal about the size and physique III Roman horses from The standard vehicle in chariot-racing was the
finds of skeletons. They were storkv horst's ot medium quadriga adopted from the Greeks, with four horses
size standing 135-55 em high (till' ,1\Tragc' was about harnessed to it side by side, as shown on the starting
142 ern). and were thus large animals tor their time. By line in Ben Hur. Racing with the big, the two-horse
today's standards, most of the hlJl\l's were somewhere chariot, was also common. After the late republican
between a large pony and a snull rull-sizcd horse. In era the triga (three-horse chariot), much used under
98
Charioteer and chariot
First til third century ,\0
Bronz, gilded
l andosmuv-um Main?, 0,462
performance they were inferior to their modern counter- Etruscan influence in the early Roman period, ran only
parts only in their ability to jump, which depends very in a few chariot-races with religious connotations.
much on the length of the legs. However, jumping was a Occasionally chariots had six horses (seiugae), eight
minor consideration in classical antiquity, and need not horses (actaiugae) or ten horses (decemiugae), and
be considered at all in chariot-racing. there are even pictorial depictions of vehicles drawn
Hard, healthy hooves were 0/ great importance, by twenty horses. Since in all these cases the horses
since nailed horseshoes were not used at the time. were harnessed to the chariot side by side, the diffi-
None the less, frequent racing all the very hard track of culty of driving the team increased enormously with
the circus arena must have meant considerable wear the number of animals, particularly when taking the
and tear. In addition, the horses' joints were subject to bends. Racing with such large teams served mainly to
great stress on the sharp 180-degree bends at the tu rn- demonstrate the bravura skills of individual star chario-
ing posts (metae), There was also the risk of injury, teers, and did not by any means result in higher
which must have been greater tor the horses than the speeds.
charioteers in the frequent crashes. Above all, injuries Contrary to a commonly held opinion, the Romans
meant that losses of animals were high, since broken knew perfectly well how to harness several pairs of
bones in horses were practically impossible to mend, draught animals behind each other, but they used this
and a horse with a fracture usually had to be put method of harnessing a team only to transport heavy
down, None the less, many horses survived hundreds loads over the roads on carts. With chariots for cere-
of races and went into honourable retirement. monial display or sport, the aim was to make as strik-
89
GLADIATORS AND CAESARS
There is also a persistent prejudice to the effect that instead it can simply run horizontally between the two
riding and driving in antiquity was inefficient because middle horses and be loosely fixed to their chest girths.
the slave-owning mentality of the Greeks and Romans The chariot is actually pulled by the shoulder muscles,
discouraged innovation, and that the horse was not not the chest.
properly exploited until the Middle Ages, which saw There are other respects in which the copies of
the invention of the horseshoe, the stirrup, the horse racing chariots in classical antiquity built for Ben Hur
collar and other new introductions. On closer exami- (and indeed other productions) are so imperfect that
nation, such theories turn out to be greatly exaggerated they could not possibly function in a historically cor-
and in some cases pure fiction. The harness used on rect manner. The chariots built in Rome by the Danesi
horses in antiquity is a case in point. brothers for the race in the film of Ben Hur, several of
The harness of the Greeks and Romans is said to which still adorn the garden of a restaurant in Ostia
have consisted of a strap around the neck and a girth Antica, look more like heavy armoured vehicles than
around the belly, exerting a strangulatory effect on sports equipment. They are massive structures made of
draught animals and preventing them from pulling steel tubing and thick, carved wood. The high body
loads weighing more than half a metric tonne. Race- of the chariot has been brought down to make it sit
horses certainly had lighter loads to pull, but it is still lower over the iron axle, and its floor consists of a
claimed that at high speed the harnessing system had tangle of steel strips. With a total weight of around (\
the effect of slowing the teams down. metric hundredweight, it is not surprising that during
Practical experiments, in particular those carried out filming the teams could run only four races of a single
by Jean Spruytte, have shown that these claims are lap each in a day (as compared to the seven laps of a
inaccurate. These experiments proved that two horses, real Roman chariot-race), and even so some of the
harnessed in the girths they would have worn in classi- horses were spitting blood. As we shall see, Roman
cal antiquity, could pull loads weighing a metric tonne racing chariots weighed little more than half a metric
since the supposed 'neck strap' was really a broad girth as fitting hydraulic brakes for the scenes of accidents,
around the chest which did not affect the horse's the chariots built for the film are much too heavy
breathing or circulation in any way. because when the designers studied extant depictions
The girth around the belly met the chest girth on the of such vehicles they picked the wrong type as their
withers and stabilized it. At this point the two girths model: the triumphal chariot (currus triumphalis), not
90
()'; 1111SI.\~II~C; LI';E IVITli BE;~ HUR: CHARIOT-R,\C1.'<c IN THE CiI<CUS MAXIMUS
the racing chariot (currus circonsis: Both types did nature of the racing chariot. It certainly had a very
indeed originate in the two-wheeled war chariot of the long, straight axle, but the wheels were small and
second and early first millennia Ii( hut they held lost light, features that helped to stabilize the vehicle as
all military significance in the sixth cc-nturv IF in both it took sharp bends. The body of the chariot, which
Greece and Italy, and subsequcntlv dcvcloped in very unlike the war chariot or triumphal chariot had to
different ways. hold only one man, was small and low. It was not of
While the remains of over 2SI) origin,ll vehicles from massive construction and had no carved ornamenta-
the transitional phase between 11](' W,lr ch,uiot and the tion, but consisted of a kind of wooden framework.
impressive ceremonial chariot h.iv Iwen found in The spaces in this framework were filled in with
tombs of the Etruscan and Ital i.in nohi Iity of northern interwoven straps (for the floor) or with stretched
and in particular central Italy, 1](1 identifi,lhle I'l'm,lins fabric or leather (for the breastwork). The woven
of either triumphal or racing ch,HiIJts from the republi- floor was not only light in weight but provided a
can and imperial periods have hl'l'n found. We there- kind of springing.
fore have to depend entirely all ViSU,ll sources for the The miniature bronze big found in the Tiber (fig.
as might be expected, show triumph,ll ch,lriots. Since described above. If we take its proportions and those
100
Model of a two-horse chariot
(bigal
Fir,t to third ccnturvxr:
Bronze'
British ML"l'ufll. London.
CI< Iil'J4.10-311.1
these, too, were two-wheeled vehicles drawn by a of several other good depictions as a guide, then we
team of tour horses harnessedskk: hv side. at a fleeting can assume that the measurements of el typical racing
glance there is a danger of rni,t,lking them for racing chariot were much as follows:
chariots, and the film-makers promptly made that mis- Total length of axle: 180 cm
take. The triumphal chariot. however. was a com- Gauge: 155 ern
pletely non-functional development of the war chariot, Diameter of wheels: 65 cm
which became a vehicle used solely for purposes of Height of chariot breastwork: 70 cm
prestige, a kind of state coach ill which the Iriumpha- Width of chariot body: 60 cm
tor rode through the streets in ,111his iinorv. So did Depth of chariot body: 55 cm
other high officials on occasion. ,1nd natur.illv the Total length of pole: 230 cm
emperor himself during the imperial period. Triumphs The wheels had six or, more frequently, eight spokes; it
were processions, and the chariot. controlled by a sep- is probable, although not certain, that they had thin
arate driver, moved solemnly in time with the rest of iron tyres. Apart from that, the builders of chariots
the procession. would certainly have been sparing in their use of metal
Reliefs and mosaics showing chariot-racing in the components, which we may assume were most likely
circus present a completely different picture of the to be found in the region of the toe of the axle and the
91
GLADIMORS AND CAESARS
top speed on the stra ight, and the stall ions, harnessed
side by side, must have incited each other to a very
high degree.
92
o~ I ur SnRTIr-.,c LI,'iE WITII BEN HUR: CHARIOT-RACING IN THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS
103 (LEIT)
Charioteer
Imperial Roman period
Bronze
Musee du Louvre, Paris,
BR 714
although he stupidly takes off his helmet at the begin- Reeves Eason in 1926 - there are even photographs period in the fifteenth to
showing extras posing in the arena beside great piles of sixteenth centuries. The palm
ning of the race, in line with the ridiculous cinematic
branch held by the charioteer
convention of allowing the protagonist to defy danger dead animals - thirty-three years later, when the
shows that he has just won a
bareheaded. All the charioteers drl' driving in the arrangement of the race was supervised by Andrew
race.
Greek style with the reins in their h,lnds, and no one Marton and Yakima Cannutt, the filming passed off
has slung them around the body, SO it is rather surpris- without a single serious injury to either man or beast.
ing that in his fatal fall Messala nrver thinks of simply Most of the accidents during the race in Wyler's film
letting go of the reins, instead of clinging on and being are of a very realistic character, particularly the first,
dragged for some distance. when a bend is taken too tightly at one of the turning
The frequency of spectacular aecie/pnls in which the posts. However, the 'Greek' chariot driven by the vil-
chariot teams were a total write-ott W,1S of course lain Messala, with rotating blades on the axles
extremely high - the Roman lechnical term was intended to cut at the spokes of his adversaries' chari-
naufragium, shipwreck. While Fred Niblos 1926 film ots, is an unfortunate product of the imagination. In
version of Ben Hur was content with four l1allti'ai~ia out view of the carefully devised system of equal chances
of ten teams on the starting line, Wyler's film shows six that lay behind the whole concept of Roman chariot-
of nine teams totally written off, no! to mention a sol- racing, any man who turned up in such a vehicle
dier being run over. Surprisingly, tour teams still would have been disqualified by the referee or
manage to reach the finish, something the present lynched by the crowd as certainly as a modern foot-
author noticed only when repeatedly re-running the bailer who attacked the other team's goalkeeper with a
video of this scene, a possibility th.it could not have heavy club outside the penalty area.
been anticipated in 1959.
However, the actual filming W,1S considerably less THE CIRCUS
brutal in 1959 than 1926, since by the late!9S0s it
was necessary to bear in mind the protests of animal Of all large Roman buildings intended for mass enter-
protection organizations. While about a hundred tainment, the circus was by far the most expensive, and
horses died in the filming of the race arranged by B. consequently the one least often found outside Rome
93
CLAI)IATOI,S AND CAESARS
104 itself. The arena of the Circus Maximus had an area of wood and then of stone. Until the later part of the first
Relief with chariot crashing about 45,000 square metres, making it twelve times century AI), moreover, the circus was not just the scene
First half of the first century M) larger than the arena of the Colosseum, the biggest of chariot-racing but also of athletic contests and
Terracotta Roman amphitheatre, while the tiers of the cavea animal hunts, since it was not until the Flavian period
Kunsthistorischcs Museum
would accommodate at least 150,000 spectators, as (AD 69-96) that special buildings were erected for
Wien, Antikensammlung,
against a maximum of 50,000 in the Colosseum, these events.
ASV 49
The Circus Maximus served as the model for other The form of the circus arena resembled that of the
Terracotta reliefs of this kind sporting venues of its kind. They did not reach their stadium, with two parallel long sides, one curved
were used \0 face the eaves of definitive form until the beginning of the second cen- narrow side and one straight narrow side, but the long
houses or as wall decoration,
tury AD, under the emperor Trajan, but the crucial step sides of the circus were of considerably greater extent.
This panel \V(1S part of a series,
from provisional racetrack without permanent build- In the state it achieved under Trajan, the arena of the
together with that shown In fig.
ings to a self-contained architectural work was taken in Circus Maximus was 550-580 metres long and about
105. The example above, now
the late republican period (first century BC). The monu- 80 metres wide, The smallest public circus known to
in Vienna, shows an accident at
the turning post. The driver has mental circus was a Roman innovation. The Greeks, us (at Gerasa in Jordan) had an arena measuring 244 x
fallen backwards out of his Etruscans and indeed the Romans of the early period 51 metres.
chariot, and must now try to ran their races on improvised tracks (hippodromes), The straighter narrow side, which did in fact have a
cut through the reins to avoid preferably laid out in broad valleys that could be over- slight concave curve, contained the twelve starting
being dragged by the horses. looked by spectators sitting on the slopes, Once it had boxes (carceres), flanked by towers. The larger part of
been drained, the valley between the Palatine and the arena was divided down its length by a double
Aventine hills in which the Circus Maximus lay ful- wall forming a barrier (spina or euripus), In the Circus
filled these conditions ideally. From the fourth century Maximus it was 335 metres long and 8 metres wide. It
BC onwards the Romans began to equip their most was around the spina (literally, backbone) that the
important racetrack with permanent buildings, first of teams raced after their starting spurt. The metae, or
94
()\ 1111SI\~llc;(, LI,F \\HH BE, HlI~: CHA~I()J-RACI,C I, THE Ci~cUS MAXIMUS
turning posts, stood at its two ends; thr-v were plat- teams would travel the same distance before reaching 105
forms with a semi-circular ground plan. each of which the white chalk line marked on the ground between Relief with chariot-racing
the fi rst of the metal' and the right-hand outer wall Earl), first century ,Ill
bore three pillars tapering up to an egg-shaped finial,
rerracolta
The spina was richly ornamented lJl'twel'n the niet.u: (podium) of the arena, In this way none of the contes-
British Museum, London,
with statues of gods (although not OJ such monstrous tants was at a disadvantage,
GR 18ih7-LB7
dimensions as in the film of Ben Hurl dnd with palms When the chariots reached this line, after a starting
spurt along the straight, it can be assumed that most of A four-horse team IC{uadriga)
and obelisks (cf. figs 106, 1(7), The empty space
them were still approximately level, forming a broad approaches the three cones of
between the two walls forming the harrier was some-
the turning pOSI (metal,
times filled with water, hence the naml' euripus, canal. front The architects therefore did not position the
which a tiort.nor (a rider who
Platforms with frames containing seve egg shapes and spina precisely down the lengthwise axis of the arena
encouraged the contestants) has
seven dolphin shapes also stood 011 the spina; these but gave it a slight bias, so that the distance between
already passed, The turns were
devices were used as counters, sign,lliing the number the podium and the metae to the right of the spina, a
the point of maximum danger,
of laps that had been driven, A Sl'cond set of eggs width of 42 metres, was considerably greater than on where the charioteer and the
stood at the edge of the arena, where it probably the other side, a width of 30 metres, In this way the inside lead-horse played a
relayed information to the charioteers, teams were guided into a racecourse narrowing like a critical role, and the maker of
The distance from the carceres to the nearest meta funnel, for it was to be expected that the field would the plaque has skilfully
was 170 metres in the Circus Maxilllus, The chario- string out in the course of the first lap, and less space captured the tension of the
95
GL\DtATORS AND CAESARS
106
If we are to calculate the actual distance of a race of
Circus beaker with chariot-
seven laps in the Circus Maximus, the position of the
racing
finishing line must be determined. John H. Humphrey
First century AD
Glass has convincingly shown that it was probably on the
British Museum, London, right-hand side of the track, just before the end of the
PRB 1870.2-24.3 spina, where one of the two referees' boxes was
placed. The teams therefore drove around the two
This mould-blown glass beaker
from Colchester shows four
metae seven times, and the race symmetrically ended
quadriga teams racing in the with a repeat performance of the distance covered in
circus. The middle Lone depicts the spurt at the start. A good charioteer who kept close
the central barrier (spina) with to the spina and took the bends around the metae as
obelisks, lap-counters and other tightly as possible had to drive 5,200 metres at the very
monuments, while the least. Modern racetracks (for mounted horses) are usu-
inscribed upper zone records ally 2,000-3,000 metres.
that the charioteer Cresccs beat
The consistency of the surface in the arena was of
his opponents Hierax,
the utmost importance for a good race. It has been
Olympaeus and Antilocus.
ascertained that the circus at Aries had a foundation of
stamped mud, covered with a layer of coarse gravel
(diameter of the stones 2-4 em) to a depth of 10-20
ern, The circus at Sirrniurn had a 30-em layer of fine
gravel over a foundation of lime mortar with a thin
107
Relief with Cupid chariot-race
Mid-second century AU
Marble
Museo Archeologico Naziona!
di Napoli, 6712
96
()~ IIIf SrWII,c, LI~E WITH BF~ HL:R: CHAR!OT-RNJc.lC IN HIE CiRCUS M;\XIMUS
108
layer of crushed brick on top. The VCIV top l.ivcr may
Lamp with lap counter
be assumed to have been of sand, proiJ,liJly 110t l.iid First cellturv ,,\U
been preserved. Of course the subsoil, 1\l'11 lewlled, Musecn LU lJerlin. TC 7481
must have had some kind of provisior lor dr,lin,lge, or The .ipparatu- r ont.uns the
the arena would very soon have turned into ,1 Sl\,lmp. dolphin figures used to count
Traces of drainage devices have indeed Ill'l'n tound in laps during a race.
97
GLADIATORS AND CAES/\RS
basically correct apart from the monumental sculp- boys standing around the edge of the arena trying to
tures, which are badly miscalculated in both style and refresh the horses and drivers of their own teams with
dimensions. The lap counter device with the dolphins water. Several reliefs show them going under the char-
is pretty, although the eggs were ignored. However, the iot wheels. Other members of staff included referees,
function of the starting boxes and therefore the whole officials to count the laps, trumpeters and so on.
beginning of the race are entirely misrepresented. The function of the hortatores or iubiJatores is not
quite clear: they were individual horsemen wearing
ORGANIZATION AND STAFF protective clothing similar to that of the aurigae. They
appear in many depictions, and each seems to have
In the imperial period there were normally twenty-four been assigned to a particular team. They probably rode
races a day during the Judi (games) of the city of Rome. ahead to act as guides, showing the charioteers the
The organizational expense involved was enormous way in the dust and confusion of the race, indicating
and was mainly borne by the circus factions. If all good opportunities ahead and warning of dangers.
twenty-four races had the maximum number of Except round the bends, they were no faster than the
entrants, twelve quadrigae, there would have been teams themselves, but they could move with much
1,152 horses a day racing. But since as a rule some of more agility, making use of gaps, and since they had to
the races were run with bigee, and it was quite usual concentrate on managing only a single horse they had
for four or eight teams to be on the starting line instead a better view than the drivers. We do not know
109 of twelve, the actual number will have been more like whether they were present in all races or at all phases
Relief with chariot-racing 700-800 horses, still a very large number, particularly of a race. In any case, they were purely auxiliaries; the
Third century AD
as additional horses, probably 200-300 of them, had teams alone determined victory or defeat.
Marble Unlike the activity of the hortatores, the perfor-
to be available for the use of the staff and the acrobatic
British Museum, London,
riders. mances of the desuJtores were a separate part of the
GR 1805.7-3.134
The horses were well prepared and groomed for the programme performed between chariot-races. The
The front of a child's race in the stables belonging to the factions, which desultores were acrobatic riders, clothed in loincloths
sarcophagus, showing four were 1-2 km away from the Circus Maximus on the and conical caps and carrying long whips, who raced
charioteers racing in bigae around the arena at a full gallop, each leading a
Campus Martius. Hundreds of stable lads and grooms
(two-horse chariots) in the
were employed, as well as cartwrights and saddlers to second horse beside him and leaping from one horse
circus at Rome. Each charioteer
look after the chariots and harness, not to mention to another in a certain rhythm - probably after each of
is accompanied by a mounted
doctors and veterinary surgeons. the seven laps. Acrobatic horsemen jumping on and
escort (!Jorlalor). The spersores,
A great many more staff were needed in the circus off their mounts at high speed, often carrying weapons,
who watered the horses and
tended the track, can be seen itself. The starting boxes and in particular the mecha- are known to us from Greek and Etruscan culture, but
Iyi ng or kneel ing on the nism for unbolting them had to be serviced, the arena only the Romans rode with two horses each. The
ground. had to be tidied up between races, and there must be Greeks and Etruscans did use an additional horse
men ready to clear wrecked chariots and move injured in military operations, but it was the Romans who
men and horses away from a naufragium (collision) as seem to have made a sporting performance out of the
quickly as possible and give first aid - a very danger- practice.
ous task while a race was still running (the realistically It is a remarkable fact that the simplest and most nat-
presented operations of the recovery team in Ben Hur ural form of horse-racing, with mounted jockeys racing
provide several exciting episodes in the race). Another each other on single horses, does not seem to have
risky activity seems to have been that of the spersores, been practised by the Romans at all in publ ic competi-
98
tion. Among the Greeks such races wel'e as common their opponents. Allocation of the boxes was by draw- 110
as chariot-racing, but pictorial depictions show that ing lots, a process conducted publicly in full view of Relief with tense
Third century AD
they fell out of fashion with the Etru .ins in the course the audience. A ball for each team was placed in a
Marble
of the sixth century Be. As lean-Paul Thuillier has revolving urn. The charioteers then chose starting
British Museum, London,
demonstrated, this is one of the cle.tr indications that boxes in the order in which their balls were picked out
eR 1805.7-3145
Roman equestrian sports developed under Etruscan of the urn, and only the outcome would show whether
rather than Greek influence. a decision had been good or bad. A section 0; the lid-panel of a
Once the positions of the teams had been deter- sarcophagus, restored in the
eighteenth century. showing
THE CONDUCT OF THE RACE mined, they entered the boxes (carceres). As the name
part of the ceremonial circus
(meaning 'prisons') indicates, these were closed, cell-
procession at the start of the
In the city of Rome chariot-racing W,lS the most spec- like areas. The gates (ostia, meaning 'mouths') opening
games. The lema, a chest for
tacular part of the Judi, the games in honour of specific on to the arena were over 6 metres wide in the Circus
sacred objects which is
deities usually lasting several days ,JIlel reguLlrl,1 held Maximus, so that even teams of eight horses could get depicted here as a shrine witb
on certain fixed elates. Chariot-races (ould ,llso be held through. In other circuses the ostia generally measured images of Jupiter, Castor and
independently of the festive calenddr on special OCCil- only 3-3.5 metres, providing space for teams no larger Pollux on Ihe sides, is being
sions. for instance to celebrate a triumph. than the quaclriga. It has been worked out that each taken on a four-horse cart from
The pompa circensis, the great prot ('ssion preceding horse needed about 67.5 cm. the Capitoline Hill to the Circus
the competition, was the feature most cle.ulv illustrat- The ostia had double swing doors, closed under ten- Maximus.
ing the religious context in which till' r,Killg had origi- SiOIl, that would suddenly spring out towards the arena
nated. Accompanied by musicians and dancers, when unbolted. The tension was produced with the aid
members of youth organizations, men carrying the stat- of twisted bundles of sinews, a system adopted from
ues of gods, and many other groups, the holder of the torsion artillery weapons. They were unbolted centrally
event stood in a triumphal quaclrig.l. the r,King teams with the aid of cords pulled back so that all twelve
and the athletes entered the arena, and then prepara- gates opened at the same moment, and it was as if the
tions for the racing itself could begin. 'mouths' were actually spitting the teams out into the
First the factions had to have their starting boxes arena (figs 111, 112). Thanks to this ingenious method,
assigned to them, a matter of considerable importance devised by the Romans in the late republican period
for the conduct of the whole race, since depending 011 (first century BC), there could be no false starts. The
their situation teams could shelter their favourites, and famous starting signal given by the holder of the games
block or impede the progress of those favoured by when he threw down the meppe, a piece of cloth, was
99
_--.-..-~~~~~~JJ
GLADIATORS AND CAESARS
100
(J" I HI STYRTI,C LL\JEWITH BtN HUR; CHARIOT-R,\C1NC IN THE CiRCUS MAXIMUS
in their track. The drivers, while they wield the reins, ply 113
the lash; now they stretch forward over the chariots with lamp with circus victory
by any classical author of a chariot-race is in a poem everywhere the sweat of drivers and flying steeds falls in
by Sidonius Apollinaris, writing in the titth century ,YI). drops on 10 the field. The hoarse roar from applauding
It describes an amateur race in the court circus won by partisans stirs the heart, and the contestants, both horses
Consentius, the poet's friend, but til(' coneluct of the and men, are warmed by the race and chilled by fear. Thus
race differs only very slightly from that of a profes- they go once round, then a second time; thus goes the third
sional event. There are only four qu,nlrig,/c at the start, lap, thus the fourth; but in the fjfth turn the foremost man,
with the corours White and Blue racing together unable to bear the pressure of his pursuers, swerved his car
against Red and Green, as was often thl' C,lse; aside, for he had found, as he gave command to his fleet
Brightty gleam the colours, white and hluo. grl'l'n .ind reel, team, that their strength was exhausted. Now the return
your several badges. Servants' hands hold moull) ami reins half of the sixth course was completed and the crowd was
and with knotted cords force the twisted 111,1Ill',10 hide already clamouring for the award of the prizes; your
themselves, and all the while they incill' 111(',tl'l'lb, l',lgerly adversaries, with no fear of any effort from you, were
rapturous frenzy. There behind the barlll'r, ch,lIe those suddenly you tautened the curbs all together, tautened your
beasts, pressing against the fastenings, "hil(, a vapOWI' chest, planted your feet firmly in front, and chafed the
blast comes forth between the woodeu h.irs .inr l oven mouths of your swift steeds ... Hereupon one of the others,
before the race the field they have not wt "Iltl'rec! i, Iii led clillging to the shortest route round the turning post, was
drag, they struggle, they rage, they jUlll!" thev 1",11 ami are by their onward rush, could no more be wheeled round in
feared; never are their feet still, hut rE'sllc'"lv Ilwy 1,1shthe a harmonious course. As you saw him pass before you in
hardened timber. At last the herald w;lh loud hl,m' of disorder, you got ahead of him by remaining where you
trumpet calls forth the impatient teams "ndldunl hes the were, cunningly reining up. The other adversary, exulting
fleet chariots into the field ... The groulld gil'(" way under in the public plaudits, ran too far to the right, close to the
the wheels and the air is smirched with Ihe dUSIthat rises spectators; then as he turned aslant and all too late after
101
GLADIATORS AND CAESARS
114
Jar with chariot-race
Second century AD
Pottery
British Museum, London,
PRB1857.8-6.1
long indifference urged his horses with the whip, you sped BASUTHATEO ALEO SAMABETHOR ... Bind the horses
straight past your swerving rival. Then the enemy in whose names and images on this implement I entrust to
reckless haste overtook you and, fondly thinking that the you; of the Red [team]: Silvanus, Servator, Lues, Zephyrus,
first man had already gone ahead, shamelessly made for Blandus, Imbraius, Dives, Mariscus, Rapidus, Oriens,
your wheel with a sidelong dash. His horses were brought Arbustus; of the Blues: Imminens, Dignus, l inon, Paezon,
down, a multitude of intruding legs entered the wheels, Chrysaspis, Argutus, Diresor, Frugiferus, Euphrates,
and the twelve spokes were crowded, until a crackle came Sanctus, Aethiops, Praeclarus. Bind their running, their
from those crammed spaces and the revolving rim power, their soul, their onrush, their speed. Take away their
shattered the entangled feet; then he, a fifth victim, flung victory, entangle their feet, hinder them, hobble them, so
from his chariot, which fell upon him, caused a mountain that tomorrow morning in the hippodrome they are not
of manifold havoc, and blood disfigured his prostrate brow. able to run or walk about, or win, 01' go out of the starting
(To Consentius, Letters 13, 305-4260.) gates, or advance either on the racecourse or track, but
The other text is from a lead curse tablet probably of may they fall with their drivers, Euprepes, son of
the third century AD found in a tomb in Carthage. Such Telesphoros, and Gentius and Felix and Dionysios 'the
tablets, bearing texts in which charioteers or their fans biter' and Lamuros. Bind their hands, take away their
invoke demons, asking them to bring misfortune on the victory, their exit, their sight, so that they are unable to see
horses and drivers of the other factions, were found in their rival charioteers, but rather snatch them up from their
considerable numbers in many parts of the Roman chariots and twist them to the ground so that they alone
empire: fall, dragged along allover the hippodrome, especially at
I invoke you, spirit of one untimely dead, whoever you are, the turning points, with damage to their body, with the
by the mighty names SALBATHBAL AUTHGEROTABAL horses whom they drive. Now, quickly.
102