Chariot Races

Chariot racing is one of my favorite entertainment spectacles, as well for the Roman people, which was adopted from the Greeks, and performed in more than 100 holidays. Additionally, there were private races where it included prizes. This game happened in the Circus Maximus, which I rebuilt to contain 250000 Romans and vowed after the Etruscan King Tarquin. It was a 3 miles long large stadium located between Palatine hill and Aventine hill. Men and women cheered for their favorite teams, as well as they took advantage of meeting each other.

There were different types of Chariot racing such as the Biga which contained two-hours chariots, the Quadrigae that involved four-horse, as well as others that included odd numbers. A standard race included 12 chariots where three played against each other every time to finish two long tracks and two 180-degree turns. The game would start when emperors or presiding magistrates dropped a cloth. Each player started the game as fast as possible, where the hardest part for them was to turn around the central divider. The chariots often moved close together and crashed in at turning points due to taking short paths when turning around the central point divider, which resulted in a very competitive game. There were 24 races per day, meaning that one could spend an entire day at the Circus. The winning charioteer received a crown of palm leaves and prize money. The prizes ranged between 5,000 and 60,000 sesterces for first place; there were also lesser prizes for second, third, and fourth place

Fans went to the Circus Maximus and cheered their teams by dressing with appropriate colors and singing in unison. There were also instances of abuse and booing to others teams, however riots were not infrequent.