In the 4 th to the 3 rd centuries BCE, from Pella to Egypt, the synoris and tethrippon were the most revered hippic contests, since King Philip’s victory Īs Plutarch describes in his Phokion, the quasi-synoris race of apobatai, was run over twelve laps of the hippodrome. The distance run by two-horse chariots was shorter by three laps, i.e., nine laps, or a total length of nine km (six miles). The first synoris race was won by Evagoras of Elis. 2.įor teams of two adult horses, this discipline was introduced into Olympia later than the tethrippon, at the 93 rd Olympia (408 BCE).
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More than ten thousand spectators could sit or stand on the slopes of the Kronion hill alongside the track. The hippodrome itself was 212 m wide, and the distance between the start and finish lines was 193 m. Since each lap of the racetrack measured about 1150 m, the actual length of a tethrippon race was around 14 km (9 miles). The designated length of the race was a dodekagnamptos according to Pindar. In Homeric times, chariots were driven by their owners, but in the contests at Olympia charioteers were usually hired professionals. The fastest, bravest horse was normally yoked on the right-hand side, a position requiring the most intelligent or fastest horse when the track turns to the left. The horses were yoked in a single line, with two in the middle, and two on the outside. It rested on an axle, to the ends of which were fastened two strong wooden wheels with four spokes. The chariot was a small wooden vehicle, wide enough to hold two standing men and open in the back. The hippodrome became gradually a showcase for wealth and political power and many distinguished Hellenes took part in this spectacular event at Olympia and other Greek hippodromes. The chariot had its roots in the war-like tradition of the Achaians and preserved its ‘aristocratic’ status throughout the classical period. According to Pindar, a tethrippon race was held as early as 740 BCE and the victor was Samos of Mantineia. Intended for teams of four horses yoked to a two-wheel chariot, it is the most ancient equestrian sport, introduced at the 25 th Olympia (680 BCE) and won by Pagondas of Thebai. In contrast, the modern Olympics accommodate three rather meagre competitions of which only one, the Three-Day Event, is worthy of our history. Two out of nine events, the apene (mule-cart race) and the kalpe (race for trotting mares) were dropped two generations after their introduction by decision of the Eleans The fact is that Greeks held nine equestrian contests (see below) as early as 27 centuries before our times. Unsurprisingly, the most ancient event was the tethrippon dating from 680 BCE or earlier, and the youngest was the keles polon (flat race for colts), introduced in 256 BCE. The evolution of the Olympic program was straightforward. The taurotheria was held at Larissa, in the Thessalian plains, and was a rodeo-like event in which the competitors leapt from their horses to grapple galloping bulls into submission.
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The taurotheria, for example, was a sport similar to the Minoan taurokathapsia. In Athens, boy riders threw the javelin at a target, men rode horses at carousels or drove chariots with a companion who had to run on foot - an old military sport also practiced in the neighboring cities of Thebai and distant ones in Thessaly. Hippic events held elsewhere, such as at the Panathenaia, are beyond the scope of this book. They were introduced at Olympia as early as 680 BCE, and by 400 BCE the Olympic program was the richest of all. Hippic contests in both horse and chariot races were prominent features of all four Pan-Hellenic festivals (Olympia, Pythia, Isthmia, Nemea) and also at the Panathenaia.