Vast outdoor arena in rome where chariot races
The Circus Maximus was the Roman home of chariot racingĪnd it supplied it all on a vast scale that only racecourses can now manage. There are notable exceptions, Arsenal’s Emirates for one, but the Circus Maximus combined the beauty of Arsenal’s old home Highbury – the sculptures and obelisks on the spina in the middle of the track, the overlooking temple – with the comforts and catering of the new. Most modern football grounds look the same, towering identikit functional structures designed to pack in as many people as efficiently as possible. Elitism underpinned the Roman Empire but no one was priced out of the consolatory entertainment.
#Vast outdoor arena in rome where chariot races free#
Then contrast it with the admission price for a day at the Circus Maximus – free entry for the common people, each seat offering a striking view of 24 drama-filled races. 2 Sport for all, rich or poorĬonsider the £30 minimum you would have to pay to watch a Premier League football match or the £60 for a day at the Test match, £99 for a visit to the British Grand Prix if you can stomach the traffic jams, or £130 for a seat at the Derby with a chance of seeing the horses unimpeded by your neighbour’s top hat or sky-scraping fascinator. Think motor racing in the immediate post-war era when jeopardy was not incongruous with the danger everyone had just endured. Instead of the slaughter at the venatio (hunts), at public executions and in the gladiatorial arena, spectators were treated to displays of daring courage, mesmerisingly skilful horsemanship and ingenious tactical cunning as a charioteer and his team strove for victory through a combination of raw speed, strength, positioning and combat.įorcing other riders to crash was a legitimate and necessary strategy fraught with risk for both instigator and victim, as the racers were roared on by a crowd whose bloodthirsty tastes are alien to ours but tame by ancient standards. To the Romans, chariot racing was one of the most thrilling and least brutal of the many games staged in an age when mass gratification could be stimulated by savage and sadistic titillation. 1 Drama, courage and tactics on another level With stadiums that made Old Trafford look like your local park, skilful charioteers pulling off mesmerising feats of skill, and big money up for grabs, Roman chariot racing might just have been the greatest sport ever.