Ancient World Review

Chariot Racing At The Circus Maximus

Like gladiatorial contests, horse and chariot races were originally religious in nature. The chariot race apparently originated in ancient Greece. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD, 3rd ed. revised), "in the funeral games for Patroclus [described by Homer] the chariot race is the premier event. The heroes drive two-horse chariots normally used in battle over an improvised cross-country course, round a distant mark and home again. Similar funeral games for other heroes are recorded, and heroes as well as gods were remembered at the Panhellenic festivals."

According to Wikipedia, "[t]he Romans probably borrowed chariot racing [and the race tracks] from the Etruscans ... who themselves borrowed it from the Greeks, but the Romans were also influenced directly by the Greeks." The races eventually developed into a fantastically popular sport and circuses -- chariot-racing arenas -- were built all across Italy and "in many parts of the empire," according to the OCD. "In the east, those of Antioch and Alexandria were famous, while Spain provides notable examples such as Merida (Emerita Augusta) and Urso, the latter famous for its racing stables."

The Circus Maximus was probably the most important arena of any kind in Rome, even after the construction of the Colosseum. Chariot racing was apparently even more popular than the gladiatorial shows and the races drew huge numbers of fanatical fans.

"The drivers were the sports superstars of their day," according to UNRV. "They could win greater name recognition across the Empire than even gladiators. One celebrity driver was known as Scorpus. He supposedly won over 2000 races before being killed in a collision ... at about 27 years old. Gaius Appuleius Diocles had perhaps the most recognition of all. He was a quadriga charioteer who drove in over 4200 races. His record included 1437 second place finishes and 1462 wins."

According to the University of Chicago, "[c]harioteers could win fabulous wealth, at least those who were freedmen, who always could threaten to drive for another faction. Prize money ranged from fifteen to thirty thousand sesterces to as much as sixty thousand for a single victory. Juvenal complains that a chariot driver could earn a hundred times the fee of a lawyer ... and Martial writes of Scorpus winning fifteen bags of gold in an hour. Diocles, a charioteer from Lusitania who competed during the reign of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, won prize money totaling 35,863,120 sesterces before retiring at age forty-two."

The Wild Beast Spectacles In Ancient Rome (Updated)

"Venationes -- 'hunts' involving the slaughter of animals, especially fierce ones, by other animals or human bestiarii (fighters of wild beasts) -- and sometimes of criminals by animals -- were a major spectacle in Rome from 186 BC." Source: "Venationes," Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD, 3rd edition, revised).

These popular spectacles featured a wide variety of hunts and animals, and the difference between "hunters" and "fighters of wild beasts" basically revolved around whether they were there to be punished or to entertain:

"Although bestiarii (beast fighters) and venatores (hunters) both fought wild animals, there are distinctions. The bestiarii often were wretched creatures, condemned criminals or prisoners of war, who had little chance against the animals they fought [according to Seneca, who regarded the games in general as 'pure butchery.']. With no real training and often no defense, they were thrown to the beasts as punishment and spectacle." Source: University of Chicago. Basically, the hunters were there to slaughter animals and in many cases the bestiarii were there to be slaughtered for the entertainment and edification of the Mob.

News report from 2015.

The hunts weren't just for entertainment, though; they also had a political purpose. According to the OCD, the venationes "displayed the ingenuity and generosity of the governing politician and the reach of Rome, and its power over nature, in procuring exotic species (lions, panthers, bears, bulls, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, elephants); they admitted a privileged city-audience to the glories of traditional aristocratic hunting. Along with gladiatorial fights, they were a principal reason for building amphitheaters."

Ambitious Roman politicians were expected to sponsor games to win support from the plebs, who were admitted free of charge. The more exotic and expensive the games, the better. The costs of putting on these spectacles, not to mention the expenses involved in electoral bribery and maintaining their lifestyles, frequently drove the nobility into massive debt which could only be paid off through war and corruption (the governorships of rich provinces were especially sought after for this reason).

The emperors, being emperors, put on the best shows. For example, "5,000 wild and 4,000 tame animals died in the inauguration of Titus' Collosseum in 80 [AD], and 11,000 at Trajan's Dacian Triumph," according to the OCD. Trajan was celebrating his victories in the Dacian Wars and his triumph is said to have lasted 123 days. I've always wondered if everyone in Rome attended the entire series of triumphal games like these. If so, the city must have come to a near standstill for a third of a year.

Supplying the beasts for these hunts was an expensive, difficult and dangerous business which led, among other things, to the development of a wild-animal trade and the stockpiling of exotic animals in various locations around the empire. Transporting these animals for long distances, sometimes under harsh conditions, would have been particularly difficult. This is an obscure area in Roman history and I wish that some of these beast hunters had written accounts of their adventures. I can only imagine the scenes that must have taken place in caravans and on ships transporting animals like lions, bears, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes and rhinoceroses across sea and land back then.

"Available ancient textual and artistic data point to a number of groups who presumably captured these wild beasts during Roman times. Representations in mosaics show a mix of soldiers and what appear to be professional hunters undertaking these tasks. Soldiers were probably utilized; in fact, capturing wild beasts could be regarded as a military exercise of sorts. Exotic goods, including items such as ivory, spices, precious gems, and so forth, were often demanded from subject states of the Roman Empire, sometimes procured as tribute, and Roman soldiers stationed in these areas could help in the capture and transport of any requisitioned animals. No doubt some civilians and 'native' peoples were also recruited (or coerced) to assist as required..." Source: "Supplying Exotic Animals For The Roman Ampitheatre Games," Michael MacKinnon (2006) (PDF), The Alexandria Archive Institute.

Note: There's at least one glaring error in this clip. Trajan didn't build the Colosseum. Construction was started by Vespasian and finished by his son Titus in 80 AD, eighteen years before Trajan became emperor.

Everyone's familiar with the stories (many fictional) about criminals and Christians being fed to the beasts in the Colosseum, but the story of the soldiers and professional hunters who actually had to collect these animals, keep them alive and transport them across the empire is much more obscure and interesting. The logistical problems they had to deal with must have been mind-boggling.

Related: Could You Stomach The Horrors Of "Half-time" In Ancient Rome?

The Amphitheater Of El Jem In Tunisia

"El Djem or El Jem ...  is a town in Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia ... It is home to some of the most impressive Roman remains in Africa, particularly the world-famous 'Amphitheater of El Jem.'" Source: Wikipedia.

"The amphitheatre was built around 238 AD in Thysdrus, located in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis ... It is one of the best preserved Roman stone ruins in the world, and is unique in Africa. As other amphitheatres in the Roman Empire, it was built for spectator events, and it is one of the biggest amphitheatres in the world. The estimated capacity is 35,000 [1], and the sizes of the big and the small axes are respectively 148 metres (486 ft) and 122 metres (400 ft). The amphitheatre is built of stone blocks, located on a flat ground, and is exceptionally well conserved." (Wikipedia)

[1] If this estimate is accurate, the amphitheater could hold about as many people as Cajun Field in Lousiana and other smaller football stadiums around the US.

Ancient Roman Dice Unearthed In Cremation Pit In Norway

"On a cliff overlooking a narrow strait in western Norway, archaeologists have discovered rare game pieces, including odd-looking, elongated dice inside a burial mound dating to the Roman Iron Age, between A.D. 1 and A.D. 400." Source: Live Science.

"The game pieces, with bulls-eye-like markings that stood for various numbers and 18 circular pieces, may have been made from rare material such as antlers. 

"The pieces were likely used in a board game inspired by the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum, precursor to the famous Viking board game Hnefatafl, which was played hundreds of years later, according to a statement from the University Museum of Bergen."

Note: These game pieces were discovered during the excavation of a "small Early [Roman] Iron Age grave cairn at Ytre Fosse, Western Norway," according to the university's statement:

"The location is spectacular, overlooking Alversund and the 'Indre Skipsleia', a part of the old shipping lane, Nordvegen, – which gave Norway its name. The whole area is dotted with monumental grave mounds on both sides of Alversund, symbols of an Iron Age political landscape and the power and control of goods and travels along the Norwegian coast."

Tang Dynasty Noblewoman Buried With Donkeys Because She Loved Playing Donkey Polo

"A noblewoman from Imperial China enjoyed playing polo on donkeys so much she had her steeds buried with her so she could keep doing it in the afterlife, archaeologists found." Source: Science Daily.

"...The research provides the first physical evidence of donkey polo in Imperial China, which previously was only known from historical texts. It also sheds light on the role for donkeys in the lives of high status women in that period.

"Researchers found donkey bones in the tomb of Cui Shi, a noblewoman who died in 878 AD in Xi'an, China. The presence of work animals in a wealthy woman's tomb was unexpected, the researchers said."

Note: Donkey polo, known in China as Lvju, is a safer form of regular polo, which is pretty dangerous. The conclusion that the donkey remains found in Cui Shi's grave were used for polo is based on an analysis of  "the size and patterns of stresses and strains on the donkey bones from Cui Shi's tomb. Their findings suggest that these small and active donkeys were being used for Lvju."

Comment: Donkey polo may be OK for medieval Chinese noblewomen, but it's nothing compared to the great American sport of donkey basketball.

Video from 2016.

Senet: The Ancient Egyptian Game Of Death

"Senet (or senat) is a board game from ancient Egypt, whose original rules are the subject of conjecture. The oldest hieroglyph resembling a senet game dates to around 3100 BC. The full name of the game in Egyptian is thought to have been zn.t n.t ḥˁb, meaning the 'game of passing.'" (Wikipedia)

"Senet is one of the oldest known board games. Fragmentary boards that could be senet have been found in First Dynasty burials in Egypt, c. 3100 BC. A hieroglyph resembling a senet board appears in the tomb of Merknera (3300-2700 BC). The first unequivocal painting of this ancient game is from the Third Dynasty tomb of Hesy (c. 2686–2613 BC). People are depicted playing senet in a painting in the tomb of Rashepes, as well as from other tombs of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties (c. 2500 BC). The oldest intact senet boards date to the Middle Kingdom, but graffiti on Fifth and Sixth Dynasty monuments could date as early as the Old Kingdom."

Related: Eleven Ancient Board Games.

Bloody Gladiator Fresco Unearthed In Pompeii (2019)

"Rich, vibrant hues in a fresco recently uncovered at Pompeii illustrate the brutal finale of a violent battle between two gladiators." Source: Live Science (Oct. 2019).

"The unknown artist was generous with the color red; the upright victor is bleeding from several gashes, and the losing fighter's body is striped with gore as bloody drops spray from multiple wounds on his arm and upper body.

"Officials with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced the find Oct. 11 on the park's website. The fresco was found on a wall in the ruins of an ancient tavern in Regio V, a zone in the northeastern part of Pompeii, park representatives reported. "

Britain's Lost Roman Circus

The Roman circus at Colchester is apparently the only known circus in Britain. It first came to light in 2000 when the Colchester Archaeological Trust "observed three parts of one or two Roman foundations in the sides of a narrow trench which was dug for electric cables to provide new lighting" around a football pitch. More remains were uncovered over the following years and the discovery was confirmed in 2004.

Background: Colchester was occupied by the Romans after they conquered Britain under Claudius in a gradual process that began around 43 AD. People were living in the town as far back as the Stone Age and I'm not sure what it was called before the Romans took over and named it Camulodunum.

According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed. revised), the Romans built a fortress for Legio XX Valeria beside the town and founded a colony on the site in 49 AD. "This became the first provincial capital, with the temple of Divus [Deified] Claudius and a theater with an adjacent forum."(The legionary fortress was decommissioned when the Romans turned the town into a colony).

Camulodunum was sacked and burned during the relatively short-lived Boudican Revolt in 60/61 AD, a revolt which was triggered in large part by a heavy-handed Roman tax-collector. The brilliant Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, crushed the revolt that same year and Camulodunum was rebuilt.

Around 70-85 AD, a "defensive town wall [was] built around the town" and the Roman circus was constructed outside the wall," according to the Colchester Archaeological Trust. The circus was in use until the "end of the 3rd century" when it "went out of use and deteriorated. During the following centuries, [it] was demolished and people removed its materials for re-use in other buildings, even digging trenches to 'rob' the stone of its foundations below ground."

Related: The Colchester Roman Circus Mosaic.

Two-Horned "Rook" Might Be Oldest Chess Piece On Earth

Closed-captions helpful. Sort of.

"In the game of chess, a rook can move as many spaces as it can in one direction. Or, it can sit stone-still and guard the pieces around it, potentially holding its ground for an entire match — or thousands of years (whichever comes first)." Source: Live Science.

"John Oleson, an archaeologist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, believes he and his colleagues may have found one such rook that has been lying in the sand below an ancient trading post in Jordan since the seventh century. The stout sandstone figure, excavated from the ruins of an early Islamic settlement in 1991, has a rectangular body with two horn-like protrusions on top. While this may look far from the crenellated castle towers we call rooks today, it's spot-on for rooks in the earliest known chess sets, where those swift-moving pieces were shaped to evoke horse-drawn chariots. (The word 'rook' comes from 'rukh,' the Persian word for chariot.)"

Comment: I was kind of skeptical when I first saw the picture of this supposed rook, but it does look a lot like the 12th century rook in the Iranian chess set on display at the Met Museum.

Hnefatafl - A Viking War Game

"At first glance, Hnefatafl (prounounced 'nef-ah-tah-fel') might just look like a knock-off version of chess with Norse helms and impressive beards, but the game is at least 600 years older—already well-known by 400 A.D.—and is perhaps a lot more relevant to the conflicts of the 21st century." Source: Medium.com.

Note: Hnefatafl is one of many Germanic/Celtic tafl strategy board games.

"Tafl games (also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum [next video]. Names of different variants of Tafl include Hnefatafl, Tablut, Tawlbwrdd, Brandubh, Ard Rí, and Alea Evangelii. Games in the tafl family were played in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Britain, Ireland and Lapland. Tafl gaming was eventually supplanted by chess in the 12th Century, but the tafl variant of the Sami people, tablut, was in play until at least the 1700s." (Wikipedia)