chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek and Roman sports. Often dangerous to both drivers and horses, who frequently suffered serious injury and even death, the sport generated strong spectator enthusiasm comparable to modern-day interest in motor sports. Some of the organizational aspects of chariot racing also paralleled current practices in professional sports. In the Roman form of chariot racing, teams represented different groups of financial backers and sometimes competed for the services of particularly skilled drivers. These teams became the focus of intense support among spectators, and occasional disturbances broke out between followers of different teams. The conflicts sometimes became politicized, as the sport began to transcend the races themselves and started to affect society overall. This helps explain why Roman and later Byzantine emperors took control of the teams and appointed many officials to oversee them. The sport faded in importance after the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, surviving only for a time in the Byzantine Empire. A form of the sport exists today as harness racing.
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