They were typically limited to 10 laps due to the size and sustainability of the hippodrome. Although the 12 laps were mentioned they were highly doubted due to the ground structure of the fields at Olympia.
However, on page 79 (n.4) of Sport and Society in Ancient Greece, there is mention of 12 laps around the course in a single race. Swaddling mentions that a typical Olympia race consisted of 7 laps around the course. During my presentation I had mentioned that a single race consisted of 6 laps, which is typically a Roman number. The last thing I would like to discuss is the number of laps that were involved in a single chariot race. It is believed that during the Mycenaean period, in order to sustain their nobility after death they would bury or cremate the chariot and horses along with the owner’s body. According to Swaddling, there is evidence, from excavations, that have shown remnants of chariots horses and humans together in the same area. Only wealthier people could typically afford to have chariots and horses, it was seen as noble. In their mentions that chariot racing was one of the events associated with the passing of the dead into Hades. The earliest record of the chariot race is in the description of the funeral games in Homer’s iliad. There has been an ongoing debate of whether or not gods were involved or influenced the Olympic games. In the same figure you can see that the line for the race comes up to the altar, but the area of surrounding ground level shows that two stadiums could not have been that close to one another, proving Mallowitz’s idea of stadium 1 being underneath stadium 2. Sansone implies that the hippodrome was beneath the plain of the Cirrha at Delphi, which corresponds to figure 1(b), the reconstruction of the earliest stadium by Drees’s. On page 22 of Sport and Society in Ancient Greece, by Mark Golden, there are illustrations of the stadiums in relation to the Altar of Zeus and Altis. There has also been debate of the location of the Olympia Hippodrome. However,there was no evidence nor trace of the pillars being part of the actual palace, which leads us to believe that they were simply used as the finishing post during these races. These pillars were also believed to be part of the building structure itself, according to the Pausanians who had only seen these pillars.
#Where did the chariot races take place portable#
In Olympia this was a permanent structure and was on top of bronze statues that represented Hippodameia crowning Pelops, whereas the pillars in the Roman hippodrome were portable and wooden. Pausanians had discovered the two pillars erected on the course that were used to mark the turns and the one in the west also served as start and finish. This is supporting that there were, in fact, no spina present in Olympia race courses. On page 63 of Swaddling there is a statement that says “Surviving representations of Greek horse events do not illustrate the barrier that extended between the pillars marking the turns on Roman race courses”.
The Olympia hippodrome measured 600 metres in length and 200 metres in width, which estimated about forty chariots racing at a time. The starting gate for the horses were known as the aphesis and was shaped like the prow of a ship with the tip being towards the course, different from the rounded end of the Roman hippodrome. However, in Swaddling there was mention of a different starting set up as well as no mention of a spina. There was also mention of a stone barrier down the middle of the arena, also known as a spina. One end had stables and starting boxes and the other rounded end was the spectator entrance. The Roman hippodrome is described as a long oval-shaped arena that contained two long parallel sides with rounded ends. During my in class presentation I had compared the Olympia Hippodrome to the Roman Hippodrome and had mentioned the structural differences of each. The hippodrome (aka stadium) was where the chariot races were held. Although there is evidence proving that the races occurred there are still some doubted and questioned details regarding the overall event, specifically the hippodrome. Throughout the readings there have been many discussions as well as references to different equestrian events, especially the chariot race.
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