- Outstripped any other kind of public entertainment
- Bread and circuses
- Chariot races were held in the circus (circuit)
The Circus Maximus- largest in Rome, one of the oldest
- Rudimentary seating all around the race track but it kept getting renovated until it became the largest building
in the Roman empire - 600 m x 150 m; arena area 550 m x 80 m (six football fields long; 25 storeys tall)
- Circus was a Roman invention found mostly in the western half of the empire
- 80 m High
- Seated 150,000: similar to the amphitheatre in terms of graded seating
- Standing room on top
- 250,000 people in the building for the most important races (1/4 of the population of Rome)
- Surrounded by hills, so people would watch from the hills too
- The Spine (335 x 8 m): a long, extended trench or border to separate the horses as they went about; some had water in it, at Rome they had statues
- Turning Posts: semi-circular turning posts at the end; three obelisks (Egyptian) and on top of each was an egg
- Decorations: eggs on top of the obelisks; each lap was counted by eggs; 7 inverted dolphins and after each lap it would be flipped (dolphins are associated with Poseidon/Neptune and is associated with horses; water in the spine)
- Could stage arena events: animal hunt or execution or amphitheatrical event in the circus
- Smaller cities who didn’t have a circus or an amphitheatre, just used their theatre for gladiatorial combat
Parade: Pompa
- All the charioteers come out with their horses, and the fellow who is paying for everything gets cheered too
- All theatre in the Roman empire coincided with some religious festival (in honour of some god; you didn’t have Broadway)
- Theatre was part of religion and so were chariot races (always part of some larger religious event)
- 200 days out of the Roman calendar were holy days
- To honour a dead relative you could hold gladiatorial combat; in your will you could say “and to Naples I give five days of gladiatorial combat”
Factions
- You need someone to supply everything, chariot racing is getting so big
- Businesses arose that would supply everything- horse, charioteers, carpenters, wain-rights to make the saddles, vets, doctors, slaves etc
- Expensive!
- Businesses would rent you stuff- only 4 businesses could rent to you chariot and teams
o Blues, Greens, Reds, Whites
o Owned by equestrians
o These four businesses came to be seen as teams and people kept track of who won or loss
o As an editor, you could rent specific horses and charioteers to compete
o Stud farms, talent scouts etc
o Each team had to be represented equally (16 teams was the maximum)- always had to be multiple of fours
o Emphasis on the team as a whole not a chariot group but who won (the Whites or the Greens?)
- Emperors gradually said private businessmen couldn’t own it- too important to politics
- Emperors became primary people that ran the chariot races
o State run
o Suspicious that it could be rigged
- Solid 12-13 hours of racing and nobody left
24 chariot races per day (held on Ludi)
- 4, 8, or 12 teams; usually slaves or freedmen
- Half hour for each race (cleanup included)
- Ludi: festivals
- If there was a delay, they would send out entertainment (horse tricks)
- Sunrise- sunset in order to get 24 races in per day
- Charioteers were like gladiators
- Infames from the point of view of the aristocracy
Miliarii (‘The1,000 Men’)
- Select group
- If you won 1,000 times you could become a miliarii
- Could probably race 300 times a year
- Didn’t have to just race at Rome- could go anywhere
- Lots of money could be made- more than any other performer
Quadriga (4 Horses) 25-50 kg
- Four horses side by side (most difficult, requires the most skills)- true test of skill
- Light-weight chariot with animal skin/leather stretched on the front, wooden wheels, oil deposited on the axels (worried about friction)
- Clothing
- Helmet
- leather strips around chest and legs
- small knife-
o tie the reins around your waist and if you crashed you would be dragged so you would have the knife to cut yourself free
- minimize weight for the horses
Starting Gates
- tried staggered starts
- just had a series of gates with tension spring-loaded release- with a jerk of a cord a pin would be released and the gates would open at the same time
- Hermes in between the gates
Counter-clockwise seven times 8-9 minutes long 5200 m in total
- Had to stay in your lane until you got to a white line and then you could break to the inside lane
- Something like 35 km/hour
Collisions; ‘the Shipwreck’
- Couldn’t strike an opponent but you could cut them off
- Work together in factions
- Horses have delicate bone structures- editor would often have to pay complete loss fee
- Shipwreck happened most frequently around the corners
- Frenzy
Wreath and Palm Branch
- Money: 18x soldier’s yearly salary- this is for one victory!
- Victory lap
- Romans were fanatic about this
Athletics in Rome
- Longstanding in Rome
- Held in the circus, forum, stadium
- Never as popular as chariot racing or gladiatorial combat
- Spectator events (for the Greeks it was identification)
Boxing
- Slaves, freedmen
- Infames
- Boxing glove: the caestus: almost like brass knuckles- leather wrapped around to increase potential; long, protective mitts
- Most popular
- Rarely Romans- slaves or foreigners
- Seems African
- Some Romans practiced it as a hobby but very few
Wrestling
- Least spectator appeal
Pankration
- Never caught on with the Romans
