Saturday, February 01, 2014

Chariot driving details

Some interesting points about charioteering, and about the sport that became the panacea of the masses, panem et circenses, according to Juvenal, in this article noted on rogueclassicism:
Roman drivers steered their chariots using their body weight. They would tie the reins around their torso and lean to whichever side they desired to turn. This was done in order to free up their hands in order to use a whip or whatnot. 


Another good piece about the sport here.



More about chariots here.


2 comments:

ane pixestos said...

What a wonderfully informative set of links. Such fascinating details: the waist-reigns; dolphin counters, naufrages; the meta as a point of particular danger, and what surprised me most of all, the auriga constellation also seen as a chariot in Chinese astronomy.
This post spurred me to read further(specifically regarding the meta) and I found this link which also gets the wheels turning... Thank you!

Tom Matrullo said...

Thanks for the very rich link - much in that little word!