10 Facts About Chariot racing

In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from a very early time.

Chariot racing was the most popular of Rome's many subsidised public entertainments, and was an essential component in several religious festivals.

Chariot racing faded in importance in the Western Roman Empire after the fall of Rome.

Chariot racing teams were costly to own and train, and the case of Alcibiades shows that for the wealthy, this was an effective and honourable form of self-publicity; they were not expected to risk their own lives.

Chariot racing celebrated the fact on his coinage, claiming it as divine confirmation of his legitimacy as Greek overlord.

Related searches

Chariot racing races were a part of several Roman religious festivals, and on these occasions were preceded by a parade that featured the charioteers, music, costumed dancers, and images of the gods.

Investors were often wealthy, but of low social status; driving a racing chariot was thought a very low class occupation, beneath the dignity of any citizen, but making money from it was truly disgraceful, so investors of high social status usually resorted to negotiations discretely, through agents, rather than risk loss of reputation, status and privilege through infamia.

Chariot racing preferred chariot racing to gladiatorial combat, which he considered a vestige of paganism and a waste of useful manpower.

Chariot racing took severe measures to restore order when a citizen was murdered in the church of Hagia Sophia.

Chariot racing declined in the course of the seventh century, with the losses the Empire suffered at the hands of the Arabs and the decline of the population and economy.