THE CIRCUS: ROMAN CHARIOT RACING

The first-century CE satirist Juvenal wrote, "Long ago the people shed their anxieties, ever since we do not sell our votes to anyone. For the people""who once conferred imperium, symbols of office, legions, everything""now hold themselves in check and anxiously desire only two things, the grain dole and chariot races in the Circus" (Satires 10.77-81). Juvenal's famous phrase, panem et circenses ("bread and circuses") has become proverbial to describe those who give away significant rights in exchange for material pleasures. Juvenal has put his finger on two of the most important aspects of Roman chariot races""their immense popularity and the pleasure they gave the Roman people, and the political role they played during the empire in diverting energies that might otherwise have gone into rioting and other forms of popular unrest. The image above bears witness to the popularity of the races; found in the imperial baths in Trier (Germany), this centerpiece of a large mosaic floor depicts a charioteer for the Reds, holding in his hands the palm branch and laurel wreath, symbols of victory. Both the driver, Polydus, and his lead horse, Compressor, are identified by name, as though they were great state heroes. We can deduce something of the political role of chariot racing from the fact that the same word, factiones, was used to designate the four racing stables as had been applied to the political factions (the populares and the optimates) that had such large followings in the Republic.

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