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SECOND CHAPTER.
Horse and Chariot Races. Their names. Their ancient use. Four-horse chariots. Loose horses. Two-horse chariots. Women's fondness for them. Nero's ten-horse chariots. Naming and training of the horses. A proper race without a charioteer. The honor given to horses. They received new names. Races with foals, mules, and she-asses. Drawing lots for charioteers. Their ride from the starting stalls to the turning post. Charioteers made vows at the altar of Taraxippus.
§ I.
The most knightly of the games was the horse and chariot race: which we must now discuss further. We will first dwell for a moment at the Olympic field, but mostly at the great Circus Maximus in Rome, because the horse races there, which the Greeks imitated, are more perfectly and clearly visible. (Faber, book 1, chapter 32, at the end)
§ II.
The horse game was usually called horse running, or more broadly, the horse running game; and the place where it happened, the horse arena, which was four stadia large, according to Paschalius. The Romans called such a contest a horse game, and also a circus game. The chariots were in general, according to the same, called chariot races. (Paschalius, book 6, chapter 15)
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§ III.
Racing with horses in a contest is of very ancient use, as is doing so with chariots and horses together, and thus the chariot race. ERICHTHONIUS (Marsham, table 2 & page 133), the fourth Attic king, who lived around the exodus of Israel (Apollodorus, Library, book 3), is said by some to have invented the chariot first (Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 2), that is, to have taught this to the Greeks to cover his dragon feet. However, he was the first to teach them to harness four horses to the chariot, or rather to hold a racing game with the four-horse chariot, as he would then also have achieved the victory as the very first. Of this Virgil sings: "The first, Erichthonius, dared to drive chariots and four horses and stand as victor on the swift wheels." (Virgil, Georgics, book 3, verse 113) Vondel: The witty Erichthonius was the first who took pleasure In harnessing four horses to the chariot; To run along the track, to contend for the prize. The chariot contest also later had OENOMAUS, as has been said before, make his daughters' suitors play with him. So Homer also lets the Greek heroes (Homer, Iliad) run the chariot race before Troy in honor of PATROCLUS, in which MENELAUS, with the help of AGAMEMNON'S horse or mare AËTHA, harnessed with his own horses to the chariot, won. For the ancients considered borrowed horses to be the best and luckiest for this activity. Therefore, IOLAUS, the companion and servant of Hercules, is also said to have borrowed the mares of his master for the chariot running game and thus to have won, (Pausanias, book 5) as can be seen in Pausanias. Let us, however, handle these races, with regard to the Olympic game, somewhat more circumstantially and clearly.
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§ IV.
On the Olympic field, most races happened with chariots that were pulled by four horses, which the Romans called four-horse chariots. They were not harnessed in front of, but next to each other, as will appear more clearly from the Roman chariot race below. Such a chariot team and their running, says Pausanias, would have been introduced during the twenty-fifth Olympiad (Pausanias, book 5), namely after the restoration by IPHITUS. And so this introduction of the chariot teams also indicates nothing other than a restoration thereof; a restoration of what had been in vogue at least since the time of OENOMAUS and HERCULES, but had sometimes been neglected and abandoned. At this restoration, PAGONDAS, a Theban, won. Also renewed on the eighth Olympiad thereafter were the races with loose horses, which they call loose horses, the Romans jumpers, also jumper horses, because the rider in their full run jumped from one horse to another, which the Greeks called leaping over. Homer shows someone who drove four such horses next to each other and jumped from one to another. (Homer, Iliad 15) Although the Romans usually drove no more than two. Eustathius believes that Homer has spoken of this racing game in advance (Feithius, Homeric Antiquities, book 4, chapter 6), as being of a later invention than the destruction of Troy. Meanwhile, at the said restoration, this one won the prize, a certain CREUSIDAS, with the help of a Crannonian mare, according to the testimony of Pausanias at the same place. (Pausanias, at the cited place) But at the ninety-third Olympiad, the two-horse chariots, two-horse chariots the Latins say, we two-horse teams, that is, carts with two horses, were introduced. The victor was EUAGORAS, an Elean. However, was...
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this introduction also more of a restoration. For long before, CYNISCA, daughter of King ARCHIDAMUS, had won the chariot contest, which chariot was undoubtedly a two-horse team, for at her statue, according to the testimony of Pausanias (Pausanias, book 3, 5 and 6), such a chariot and a charioteer were seen. The magnanimity of CYNISCA had led her to acquire horses and compete for Olympic glory. When she succeeded in this, she was a beacon of imitation for other, and in particular Macedonian, women, who now from then on bred, taught, fed Epirian horses and diligently practiced the Olympic race instead of the distaff. However, NERO introduced the ten-horse chariots in the Olympic game. "He also drove in many ways, and at the Olympic Games even with a ten-horse chariot, although he had criticized that same thing in one of his poems at King Mithridates. But when he had fallen from the chariot and had been put back on, he could not hold out and stopped before the end of the race; nevertheless, he was crowned." He, says Suetonius, also practiced the chariot race many times, and (Suetonius, in Nero, chapter 24) also himself on the Olympic field one of ten-horse teams, although he had disapproved of such a thing by his own poem in King Mithridates. However, thrown from the chariot and put back on, because he could not bear it, he got off before the end, and was nevertheless crowned. This then remained without imitation. Meanwhile, it remains that the four-horse chariot run was the usual one, proper to the Olympic field. Therefore we will not speak of the others anymore.
§ V
Now that we have talked about the horse breeding and training by women, it is necessary to add that especially the men, who thought to take a chance at the Olympic palm, have been extraordinarily diligent in this. They showed how much love and pleasure they had in it, (Paschalius, book 6, chapter 15) not only when they released the horses from the slave labor of others and only exercised them in the knightly race in preparation for the world-famous Olympic journey, but also when they gave them lovely names: and again not just general ones like athletes and combat horses, but also special, proper names; either namely according to the color of their hair the Yellowhair, the Black, the Palm-colored; or according to their speed, like the Tiger, the Flyer; or according to their nationality, like the Cappadocian, the Parthian; or from a congenital or branded mark, like the Oxhead, and so on. See Salmasius. (Salmasius, Plinian Exercises at Solinus) And moreover they exercised and taught them so perfectly, that they knew all the tricks of the race and did everything as if with skill: and that their masters dared to send them, only provided with a charioteer, for the prize to the Olympic field. As CHROMIUS thus did with regard to the Nemean game, and found that they brought him silver jugs home with the victory. So the high-flown (Pindar, Nemean Odes, 9) lyric poet sings of it:
That is: He waves with silver goblets The tremendous grape juice, which the swift horses quickly brought to Chromius.
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So also did PHILIP the Macedonian, who among three glad tidings on one day received this one in second place; that he had won in the Olympic games with the race of loose horses, as Plutarch testifies. (Plutarch, in Alexander the Great) But they especially showed their learning, if I may speak so about the horses, and their art, when without a charioteer (who had fallen from the chariot due to the terrifying speed) they could turn around the turning posts, and then as victors went to stand on the place where the prize was awarded, as it were to claim and collect it. Because of this we read in Pausanias about PHIDOLAS the Corinthian (Pausanias, book 6) and his mare, that she, after she had already lost the charioteer at the beginning, continued the previous run, as if she still had the driver, and turned around the turning post, being encouraged only more by the sound of the trumpet: and that she, having rushed on to the men who led the game, stood still, as if she understood that she had earned the prize. So Pliny also recounts that the horses of Emperor CLAUDIUS, (Pliny, book 8, chapter 42) mainly through the skill of one of them, whose name was CORAX, after they had also thrown off the charioteer at the beginning, continued the run, cleared all opposition out of the way and kept the lead: then setting themselves up on the place of the prize-giving, as if they were claiming it, according to the account of Solinus, who speaks of it as follows: "The circus games of Emperor Claudius have also proven the cleverness of the horses, when, after the driver was thrown out, the four-horse teams outpaced the rivals no less by cunning than by speed; and after completing the prescribed distances of their own accord stopped at the place of the palm, as if they were demanding the reward for victory." (Solinus, chapter 47)
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by cunning as by speed, have outpaced; and after the end of the proper distance have placed themselves, as if by themselves, at the place where the palm was given, as if they were demanding the reward of victory. So also Xiphilinus recounts about the (Xiphilinus, in Pertinax) horse named PERTINAX, and very much loved by COMMODUS, that it won in Rome, namely without a charioteer: it won, he says, in Rome. Because of this, this PERTINAX was in such value with COMMODUS, that he also, when it had now become old, brought it into the race, decorated with golden hooves, manes, and so on. From this skill of the horses two things arose. 1. that they were also made to share in the fame and prize of the victory. Therefore Plutarch says: "The horse has of all animals as the only one a share in the prize and contest." (Plutarch, Symposium 2, problem 5) So also Strabo: "if the horses have started the run, then that horse that is judged as victor has the prize." (Strabo, book 17) So also Virgil: "The palms of Elis from the mares of Epirus" (Virgil, Georgics, book 1, verse 59 and there Servius) That is: Epirus' region gives good mares, Who strive for the victory palm on the Olympic field. Because of this, also the mentioned PHIDOLAS (when his horse had won, and he therefore had been proclaimed victor) was allowed, that he could erect a statue for the horse: as again appears from Pausanias: (Pausanias, at the cited place) and how much COMMODUS honored his PERTINAX, has just been said. To this also belonged the honor of burial, which was done to the horse that had won three times on the Olympic field, as appears...
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from the mares of CIMON the Athenian. See here (Faber, book 2, chapter 28) more broadly at Faber. No wonder then, that ALEXANDER (Plutarch, in Alexander) honored his BUCEPHALUS with an excellent funeral, according to the testimony of Plutarch. (Codex Theodosianus, on the racehorses, book 15, title 10) And before their death, if they were old or sick, they may have been treated as such racehorses, who were treated by imperial command for recognition and reward, namely that they were richly provided with fodder from the country's warehouse. 2. That they were almost attributed a human mind, at least ingenuity and judgment (Pliny, book 8, chapter 42). About which one can read more broadly (Solinus, chapter 45) in Pliny, Solinus, (Faber, book 2, chapter 28) Faber, Paschalius and (Paschalius, book 6, chapter 13) others.
§ VI.
The horses, who with their swift run and art earned their masters the prize and crown, were called the very best, and the most wonderful, but moreover also the prize winners, prize bearers. And they were a special delight and pleasure for the people, who often (Paschalius, at the cited place) called them by name and pointed to them with their fingers. Such horses were, among others, XANTHOTHRIX, PHERENIKOS, ALPHEOS, and the like.
§ VII.
However, the chariot races were also held with the help of foals, mules, and she-asses, as appears from Pindar: (Pindar)
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That is: But Phintis, cleverly, harness The strength and core of noble mules: So that we may soon come To the best of the pious. For these know the path, As they have been accustomed for a long time On Olympus, to everyone's delight, To carry away the crowns. One can also see from this what Julius Pollux has noted. (Pollux, book 7, chapter 30)
§ VIII.
With these chariot racers, just as with the runners, of which was spoken in chapter 1 at the beginning, a drawing of lots took place to be the first. This is clearly shown by what Sophocles says about the Delphian chariot races, (Sophocles, Electra) especially with regard to ORESTES:
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What the Dutch poet renders as follows: After they are ready with their swift wheels, Each in his place, according to how the lots fell, Drawn without envy by those who are appointed As guardians over the game, so the trumpet is lit. With that pulled forward, and each the harness tense, The neighing of horses mixes with the shouting of men: One shakes the reins firmly: one rages with impatience: So that the war-spirit fills the entire racetrack, Wind-swept dust in the air.
§ IX.
After the drawing of lots, these also then had to line up at the (Pausanias, book 6) starting line, the starting place, in the required starting stalls and wait there for the falling of chains and doors, and also for the trumpet cry, which latter again appears from the foregoing of Sophocles. (Sophocles, at the cited place) Thereupon they then flew with a roar to the end of the run, the turning post, and its pole or stone, around which the turning happened, which was called swinging around and (Paschalius, book 6, chapter 13) turning. What art and what danger was in that, will appear below from the Roman chariot runs. Their run in the arena was equal to the long-distance run in length (for that is why it also seems to have been called by the name horse run), and they had to swing around the turning post several, seven, twelve, or also twenty-four times. However, outside the enclosed arena the run was made very long, with two extreme ends very far from each other, one for the starting place, the other for the turning post, being demarcated. So in the chariot contest between OENOMAUS and his daughters' suitors, the river CLADIS was ordained as the starting place, and...
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the ISTHMUS as the end post. The race track and the run in between were therefore long and far.
§ X.
Meanwhile, the Olympic chariot racers made vows at the altar of TARAXIPPUS. TARAXIPPUS means as much as horse terror. About this Pausanias (Pausanias, book 6) gives a very extensive report: "On the other side of the chariot racetrack," he says, "so about at the end of the bank, is a round altar; at that altar a god is served, whom they call TARAXIPPUS, because he instills fear in the horses. For the horses tend at this altar, by a sudden fright, to be so violently frightened that, uncertain where the excitement comes from, the charioteers are crushed with the smashing of the chariots. So that the charioteers may have TARAXIPPUS favorable and merciful, they make vows at this altar." The opinion of the Greeks about this TARAXIPPUS is very different. There are those who believe that it is a grave of a native, who excelled in the art of horse driving, with the name OLENIUS; from which the rock on the borders of the Eleans would have been named OLENIUM. Others say that it was DAMCON, a companion of HERCULES, when he fought against AUGEAS, who, however, was killed by CTEATO, the son of ACTOR, with his riding horse, whereupon the Eleans showed him and the horse the honor of an empty grave. There are also not lacking those who believe that this empty hero's grave is the same that PELOPS built for MIRTYLUS, when he, after killing him, showed him the funeral rites, so that he would reconcile his wrath, and that he called it TARAXIPPUS, because by the deceit of MIRTYLUS the horses of OENOMAUS have been frightened. Most also say that it is OENOMAUS himself, who in the chariot contest with that...
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terror amazes horses and charioteers. "I have also heard from those who said that it was ALCATHOUS, son of PORTHAON, who was killed by OENOMAUS among the suitors of HIPPODOMIA and was buried there, and who, because of the injustice he had suffered in the run, shows himself with such a cruel and terrible revenge to the chariot riders. But a certain Egyptian said that PELOPS had received I do not know what from AMPHION and had buried it in that place; by whose hidden power the horses of OENOMAUS would have been brought to a gallop, and after that all other horses would likewise get to a gallop. --- But in my opinion, the most plausible is the opinion of those who say that TARAXIPPUS is the nickname of the horse god NEPTUNE. There is also on the Isthmus a TARAXIPPUS, who was GLAUCUS, son of SISYPHUS, torn apart by mares during the funeral games that ACASTUS celebrated for his father. At the Nemean games of the Argives there is no hero spirit that frightens the horses. Only at the turning of the racetrack a large stone protrudes of a red-glistening color, by whose shine the horses are so frightened, as if the amazement had been thrown on their bodies with thrown fire. But the fear that emanates from the Olympic TARAXIPPUS is by far the greatest." So far Pausanias' argument about TARAXIPPUS, or the horse-bogeyman.