The Hippodrome of Olympia housed the equestrian contests (horse racing and chariot racing) of the Ancient Olympic Games. According to Pausanias, [1] it was situated to the south of the Stadium and covered a large area four stadia (780 meters) long and one stade four plethora (220 meters) wide. The hippodrome was a wide, flat, open space where the starting point and the finish line were designated with a pole and a second smaller pole called nyssa designated the turning point.
Horse and chariot races were one of the most popular and spectacular sports of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece. The equestrian sports of the time were the tethrippon, the apene, the synoris, the tethrippon for foals, the synoris for foals, the perfect keles race, the kalpe and the pole horse race. According to mythology, the first chariot race took place in Olympia between King Pelops and King Oenomaus of Pisa. In the ancient Olympic Games the jockeys were not the owners of the horses. The owners of the horses were declared winners, they were awarded the wreath and enjoyed all the honors although they did not take part in the race. The jockeys won only a small portion from the glory of the winner, such as a wool band that the owner would tie on their head.
The hippodrome of ancient Olympia had a complex starting mechanism in order to avoid false starts. [1] The starting mechanism was designed by the statue maker Kleoitas and was later improved by Aristidis. According to Pausanias, the required energy for the movement of the mechanism came from the drop of a bronze dolphin and the rise of a bronze eagle.
Today, the hippodrome does not exist. Some claim that it was washed away by the river Alfeios while others claim that its location is to the southeast of the Stadium.
Mount Lykaion is a mountain in Arcadia, Greece. Lykaion has two peaks: Stefani to the north and St. Ilias to the south where the altar of Zeus is located.
Equestrianism, commonly known as horse riding or horseback riding, includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the use of horses for practical working purposes, transportation, recreational activities, artistic or cultural exercises, and competitive sport.
The Pythian Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo at his sanctuary in Delphi every four years, two years after the Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were founded sometime in the 6th century BC. In legend they were started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the Oracle at Delphi. They continued until the 4th century AD.
Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances".
In Greek mythology, Pelops was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region. He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus.
In Greek mythology, King Oenomaus of Pisa, was the father of Hippodamia and the son of Ares. His name Oinomaos denotes a wine man.
Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate religious festivals held in ancient Greece that became especially well known for the athletic competitions they included. The four festivals were: the Olympic Games, which were held at Olympia in honor of Zeus; the Pythian Games, which took place in Delphi and honored Apollo; the Nemean Games, occurring at Nemea and also honoring Zeus; and, finally, the Isthmian Games set in Isthmia and held in honor of Poseidon. The places at which these games were held were considered to be "the four great panhellenic sanctuaries." Each of these Games took place over a four-year period, starting with the Olympics. Along with the fame and notoriety of winning the ancient Games, the athletes earned different crowns of leaves from the different Games. From the Olympics, the victor won an olive wreath, from the Pythian Games a laurel wreath, from the Nemean Games a crown of wild celery leaves, and from the Isthmian Games a crown of pine.
The Nemean Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, and were held at Nemea every two years.
Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from a very early time. With the institution of formal races and permanent racetracks, chariot racing was adopted by many Greek states and their religious festivals. Horses and chariots were very costly. Their ownership was a preserve of the wealthiest aristocrats, whose reputations and status benefitted from offering such extravagant, exciting displays. Their successes could be further broadcast and celebrated through commissioned odes and other poetry.
The Panathenaic Games were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece from 566 BC to the 3rd century AD. These Games incorporated religious festival, ceremony, athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium.
The year 680 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 74 Ab urbe condita. The denomination 680 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Cynisca was a wealthy Spartan princess. She is famous for being the first woman to win at the Olympic Games; her horse teams competed in the sport of chariot racing, driven by male charioteers. Cynisca first entered the Olympics in 396 BC, where she won first prize competing with a team of horses she had trained herself. In 392 BC, Cynisca entered her horses in the Olympics for a second time and was awarded another victory in the same event.
In Greek mythology, the Taraxippus was a presence, variously identified as a ghost or dangerous site, blamed for frightening horses at hippodromes throughout Greece. Some taraxippoi were associated with the Greek hero cults or with Poseidon in his aspect as a god of horses who brought about the death of Hippolytus. Pausanias, the ancient source offering the greatest number of explanations, regards it as an epithet rather than a single entity.
Bilistiche or Belistiche was a Hellenistic courtesan of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and winner of the 264 BC Olympic Games in tethrippon and synoris.
Diaulos was a double-stadion race, c. 400 metres , introduced in the 14th Olympiad of the ancient Olympic Games . The length of each foot race varied depending on the length of the stadium. This was because the Greek foot varied widely from one locality to another, for example the stadium at Olympia was 192.27 metres but at Delphi it was 177.50 metres (582.35 ft) long. Scholars debate whether or not the runners had individual "turning" posts for the return leg of the race, or whether all the runners approached a common post, turned, and then raced back to the starting line. Although at Delphi an inscription referenced "turning-posts" as opposed to "turning-post", which suggests each runner had their own turning post, to prevent an outside runner from losing 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft). These were called kampteres. Archaeological evidence at Nemea also shows that there were individual turning posts.
The ancient Olympic Games, or the ancient Olympics, were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary of Olympia, in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The originating Olympic Games are traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. These Olympiads were referred to based on the winner of their stadion sprint, e.g., "the third year of the eighteenth Olympiad when Ladas of Argos won the stadion". They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule in the 2nd century BC. Their last recorded celebration was in AD 393, under the emperor Theodosius I, but archaeological evidence indicates that some games were still held after this date. The games likely came to an end under Theodosius II, possibly in connection with a fire that burned down the temple of the Olympian Zeus during his reign.
Euryleonis was a celebrated woman, owner of a chariot-winner of Olympic games.
The biga is the two-horse chariot as used in ancient Rome for sport, transportation, and ceremonies. Other animals may replace horses in art and occasionally for actual ceremonies. The term biga is also used by modern scholars for the similar chariots of other Indo-European cultures, particularly the two-horse chariot of the ancient Greeks and Celts. The driver of a biga is a bigarius.
The statues of Cynisca were two ancient Greek statues which commemorated Cynisca of Sparta’s Olympic victory in chariot racing at the 396 B.C. and 392 B.C. Olympic Games. Cynisca was the first woman to win at the Olympic Games. According to Pausanias of the 2nd century A.D., two statues were erected to commemorate her victory.
Almaty hippodrome is a hippodrome opened in 1930 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is the oldest active sports facility for equestrian sport in the country.
Media related to Hippodrome of Olympia at Wikimedia Commons