The Horse and Chariot Races of Greece in the Age of the Polis

Like the traditional nude races, horse and chariot races were another main athletic event during the four Panhellenic festivals, and had an extensive and long-lasting impact on ancient Greek sports history.The article examines various original historical sources, e.g.Xenophon's On Horsemanship, Isocrates' The Team of Horses, Pindar's Odes, Pausanias' Description of Greece, as well as legendary stories in Homer's epic, paintings on stones and vases, combining them with the latest Olympic archeology reports, that reconstructed the competition ground structure and functions of some equipments in Olympia for the 5th century BC, the racing rules for starting, turning-back and prize-giving.Together with the reconstruction of the victory list of Panhellenic horse and chariot races, all sources reveal the event's historical trends in the Age of the polis.As the dangerous and expensive athletic event, horse and chariot races were the privilege of Greek nobles and eminent persons, whose depiction of victory in horses and chariots competitions sometimes pointed to an all-around personal power and a political interest besides and beyond the public sports.