Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-02
Contest of the Characters in
Old Olympic Games.
VEHICLE OF WAR LORDS
Was Driven to Battlefield-Chief
tain Dismounted.
PRIZES FOR SPEED IN ARENA
Homeric Bets That Were Laid.
Starting Gate Used by the Greeks.
Ancient Athletics.
From the London Mail.

From the London Mail.
The most brilliant. certainly the most
thrilling. of all the events i'm the old oiym-
pic games was the chariot race.
The chariot used was light racing car
with only room for the driver to stand up
right, drawn by four horses harnessed
abreast The chariot had already ceased 10
be used i'm war, but the chariot race goes
back to the days when the Homeric chiet-
tains like Boadiceas warriors. went 10
battle in chariots.
The old war chariot was. of course
far more substantial vehicie-a two-horse
chariot The chieftain was accompanied
by a friend or young kinsman as chari-
oteer In whose charge he left his chariot
when he dismounted to fight. remounting
again either for flight or pursuit. Such
were the chariots In which the earliest
races were run.
The chief occasion of a chariot race
would be the funeral of some great chieI-
tain All the neighboring chieftains were
hidden to the gathering. and the dead
mans sons or friends offered rich prizes
for their competition. Homer has left
us an immortal picture of such race
at the sports held by Achilles in honor OF
his dead friend, Patroclus. The description
Is too long to quote, too great to mutt
late, but one or two points may De OIL
interest.
Prizes for Contestants.
Five prizes were offered. including
slave woman skilled i'm fair handiwork.
a sx-year-old mare. and various tripods
or caldrons of metal. For the five prizes
there were five competitors. In Homeric
sports there is always prize for every
one The course was a sort of double
point-to-point. from the funeral pyre to
withered tree-stump in the distance ana
back The track like most Greek roads.
was not of the best. In one place 1t fol-
lowed the course of dried-up stream, ana
part of the road had crumbled away ana
here a disagreeable incident occurred \
youthful competitor adopted the tactics Of
a modern omnibus driver. who forces the
omnibus in front of him on to the curb.
BY thus boring the veteran Menelaus.
he forced him to check his horses from
passing him. But Homeric warriors were
true gentlemen; the young man apoio-
gized for his youthful impetuosity and the
older man generously forgave him.
Then we have the first and. as Tar as !
know only instance Of betting on the
Greek turf AS the chariots came In sight
two of the spectators quarreled as TO
which was leading. and one of them Of
fered to back his opinion by wagering
tripod or caldron. The bet. however. was
not taken.
The Hippodrome, where the horse races
took place. was a bare sandy stretch
some half mile long and 200 yards broad
surrounded by an embankment on whicn
the spectators sat or stood. At one end
was the starting place and down the
middle Of the course were two pillars
about four hundred yards apart. which
alone marked the track round which the
chariots and horses raced. In the later
Roman circus these pillars were joined
by a low wall, but such an arrangement
was not known in Greece. 1t is a curious
instance of Greek conservatism in sport,
due perhaps to its connection with reli-
gion. that the Greeks never improved
on this straight course. with Its sharp
awkward turns at each end. either for
the foot race or the horse race. The idea
of an oval course never occurred TO them.
The Starting Point.
In early days the chariots had started
in a line. but in the fifth century a most
elaborate form Of starting gate was in
troduced 1t consisted of a triangular
structure, the sides of which were 400 feet
long. with the apex pointing down the
course. Along two sides at even inter-
walls were a number Of boxes or stalls.
with a rope stretched in front OF each.
In these boxes the chariots or horses
were placed, the places being decided by
lot When the trumpet sounded for the
start the ropes in front OF the pair OF
drawn. AS the first pair drew level
with the pair in front the next ropes
were withdrawn, and so on TIL the
whole field was fairly started.
Then the excitement began The char-
lots had to race twelve times round the
course, turning at either end round the
pillars Everything. of course. depended
on obtaining an outside place and secur-
ing the lead at the turn. The fields were
large; ten chariots was quite a usual
in
though we can hardly suppose they all
ran in one heat. What sight II must
have been to see them as they dashed
away from the start and rushed down the
straight, all eager to obtain the advan-
tage at the turn at the farther end. And
then as they neared the pillar excitement
grew yet more intense.
Turn in the Course.
If from the point of view Of times and
records the old Greek course was unsat-
isfactory, from the spectators point Of
view it left nothing to be desired. Tat
tenham Corner is an awkward turn, and
it is a grand sight to see a large field
sweeping round it into the straight But
Tattenham Corner is child's play to the
turn of the Greek course. and the Greek
two times in a race. 1t is no simple mat
ter to drive a team of four horses round
4 pillar at any time without losing pace
or making an over-wide sweep. The
Greek charioteer practced with movable
posts like those used by the artillery in
the military tournament. and in their pic
lures we often see these pillars upset.
But what skill and nerve 1t must have
required to negotiate such corner I'm
race with ten or more other chariots,
Naturally. disastrous collisions were fire.
quent. In the field of forty which men
toned only one chariot IL said to have
survived: at which one is hardly sur