Roman Chariot Racing

Summary

Among all the different forms of competitive sports held in public spaces in the Roman world, chariot races were the earliest, the longest-lived, and among the most popular. These competitions typically involved races with teams of either two (biga) or four (quadriga) horses driven by professional athletes in purpose-built arenas (circuses) capable of hosting large crowds of spectators.

Chariot races took place very early on in Rome’s history, but the exact date and circumstances of their emergence remain unclear—the first horse races were organized by Romulus shortly after the founding of Rome. Chariot races were held in a building known as a circus: a monumental, multipurpose arena that took the form of an elongated horseshoe. The Circus Maximus in Rome was the oldest, largest, and most famous of all such racing arenas in the Roman world. The architectural design of the Circus Maximus served as the prototype for circuses elsewhere in Italy and around the Mediterranean (more than 50 other circuses are currently known).

While the exact frequency of the games across the empire and over time cannot be established, the enormous burden of their cost and organization fell upon the four racing teams (factions) that served as the contractors. Charioteers (aurigae, agitatores) were generally slaves or freedmen and were the most socially visible members of the factions. Racehorses were supplied by large stud-farms from across the empire, especially in Spain and North Africa.

The number of races on any given day would have varied over time and location based upon several factors, including the occasion for the games and the wherewithal of the game sponsor. The largest circus in the Roman world, the Circus Maximus, could accommodate a very large number of spectators (perhaps 250,000). Seat selection was determined by social class (senators, knights, plebeians, etc.). It seems that, from the Augustan period onward, there was no place specially reserved for the emperor in this building.

Racing enthusiasts and spectators were almost always the subject of disparaging judgment in ancient literature for several centuries. At the circus, as the supporters cheered on one of the factions, they bore the name of the stable they supported: the Venetiani were the supporters of the Blue faction, the Prasiniani those of the Green faction, and the Russatiani those of the Red faction. Roman emperors showed varying degrees of interest in chariot racing. From the middle of the 2nd century ce onward, spectacles in general were the target of repeated criticism from Christian authors, but their diatribes initially focused mainly on stage plays and gladiatorial combats.

The chronology of the end of spectacles in late antiquity remains difficult to establish. Chariot races are still attested to by textual sources in Rome, but also in Gaul in the 6th century, and even in Italy in Ravenna and Milan in the 7th century, not to mention Constantinople, where they continued for several more centuries.