chariot with four horses
Chariot with four horses, marble bas-relief from the ancient agora of Athens.
chariot racing
ancient sport
chariot racing, in the ancient world, a popular form of contest between small, two-wheeled vehicles drawn by two-, four-, or six-horse teams. The earliest account of a chariot race occurs in Homer’s description of the funeral of Patroclus (Iliad, book xxiii). Such races were a prominent feature of the ancient Olympic Games and other games associated with Greek religious festivals. They were the main events of the Roman public games (ludi publici) that took place...