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To the public, circuses were no less important than bread, and the fortunes of their favorites were followed obsessively by a huge fan base. If the Senate, the imperial palace, and the Christian cathedral stood for the legislative, executive, and religious power of the eastern Roman Empire, the Hippodrome represented the power of entertainment. The Hippodrome was one of the four buildings framing the central square of Constantinople.
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330, the year he re-founded Byzantium as Constantinople, he remodeled the Hippodrome to make it one of the capital’s most prominent buildings. The HippodromeĬonstantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, took interest in charioteering.
#Ancient chariot races driver
Bets were placed on which team or driver would win, and although the charioteering was top billing, there was plenty of activity to keep the crowd amused between races: Food vendors, acrobats, dancers, and animal tamers, all were a part of the noisy scene at the Hippodrome. There were several categories of race, typically broken up by the age of the driver: teenagers, charioteers in their early 20s, and very experienced pilots ages mid-20s and older. The number of laps varied, but a seven-lap race could last as long as 15 minutes. In the quest for victory a charioteer faced plenty of hideous fates: crashing his vehicle, becoming tangled in the reins and being throttled or maimed or falling out and being crushed under stampeding horses’ hooves. The number of races might range from eight to 25 in the course of a day, giving viewers the chance to see many of their favorite racers risk their lives. The typical events at the Hippodrome promised nonstop spectacle and excitement for the fans of chariot racing. While not as large as Rome’s Circus Maximus, it was still huge historians disagree on its capacity, putting it somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000. Even after Rome’s importance began to fade, the new eastern imperial power center, Constantinople, built a monumental racetrack, the Hippodrome. From provincial outposts such as Jerusalem, the setting of Ben-Hur, to Rome-whose Circus Maximus was the biggest arena in the empire-chariot racing packed in the crowds with its spectacle. The fervor of the races led to tensions that occasionally simmered over into full-scale revolt. If anything, the emotions on the big screen pale in comparison to the passions of ancient Romans.Ĭhariot racing stoked fanaticism in the Roman world, and fans flocked to see their favorites compete. For all its artistic license, the movie’s creators were not exaggerating the danger of the races nor the excitement of the arena. Before a frenzied crowd of thousands, horse-drawn chariots hurtle around a track as each pilot tries to avoid catastrophic crashes to win the day. There is only the enormous terrace that keeps the form that it had in its day, which often causes disappointment for tourists who visit it hoping to find at least the ruins of the precinct.Perhaps the greatest action sequence caught on film is the chariot race from the 1959 Hollywood blockbuster Ben-Hur. The importance of using your imaginationĬurrently, the ruins of what was once the Circus Maximus barely remain. The spectators would bet on the winners, making the competitions even more exciting. There were also foot races that lasted for several hours. These were a simulation of various famous battles carried out by young Roman aristocrats.
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The competitors, mounted in small chariots drawn by horses, gambled much more than their prestige or large prizes in the races, since many of them were slaves fighting for their liberty.ĭuring the public games, equestrian exhibitions, known as "Ludus Troiae", also took place. In the Circus Maximus several competitions were carried out, standing out among them chariot races, in which participants tried to complete seven laps of the Circus Maximus. The arena, which measured 600 meters in length and 225 meters in width, made the Circus Maximus the largest in Rome, ahead of the Circus of Flaminius and the Circus of Maxentius. The Circus Maximus in Rome (Circo Massimo), located between the Aventino and Palatine Hills, was an extended precinct with space for 300,000 spectators. They were extended precincts in which the public games were held, consisting of chariot races and different spectacles. Roman circuses were the most important centres of entertainment in the Roman cities, apart from the theatres and amphitheatres. Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins