The Chariot – history’s first personal transport concept

The important home-coming of the victorious warrior-kings of history was almost always ceremonially performed by public parade in a chariot because it offered a mobile raised platform that could negotiate crowds and give everyone a chance to get close to the hero of the day.

The chariot was accorded a special place in history, having carried countless notable warriors in their triumph across the ages from Ramesses II to Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar. Whether it was a returning hero or a famous general entering his newly claimed territory, the winner of the battle and the war arrived by chariot, so the chariot added some impressive brand values across two thousand years of bearing the victor – winning was one of them and it carried on to create the most potent spectator sport of all time.

Any cursory glance over historical writings will find may references to chariot racing. Homer’s The Iliad, written in the 8th century BC, refers to a race with five chieftains driving two-horse chariots as the first event in the funeral games in honor of the warrior Patroclus. Chariot races were often held at funeral games and on public holidays related to the relevant chariot-riding Gods.

In the ancient Olympic Games, which ran from 776 BC, the four-horse chariot race was the first and most important of all events.

Chariot racing had all the hallmarks of a perfect spectator sport, and the fans and competitors it drew helped it become the most notoriously corrupt sport in history as well as the most spectacular and highest crowd-pulling form of public entertainment ever known.

Colors throughout history have come to signify different “camps” – originally, racing was originally divided into four camps – signified by the four colors – red, blue, green and white. Quite soon people began barracking for a particular alliance and quite soon a rivalry developed between the factions which was not always healthy. Violence was never far away and as each team attracted enthusiast supporters from all walks of life, the sport readily networked all levels of society and afforded many like-minded but socially unlikely alliances, a goodly proportion of them of doubtful intent. Like modern day motorsport and horse racing events that come under the patronage of royalty, the events became one of the few places where the common man could attend the same place as society’s elite. These events became a social occasion for every member of society, where opposing factions from any walk of life could meet, do business and inevitably settle debts and disputes. Betting also became a massive part of the spectacle, and the Romans had organized public betting at Circus Maximus in biblical times.

Emperor Nero drove his own ten horse chariot in the roman games of 67 AD, falling out of the chariot in what must have been one of history’s most embarrassing moments.

The famous Hippodrome racetrack in Constantinople (now Instanbul) had a direct tunnel running from the adjacent royal palace directly to the Emperor’s private box from which he could watch the races and entertain.

...continued