Perhaps it is unusual to follow up my first post on the Byzantine Empire with a post on Byzantine chariot racing. However, sports are an area in which this medieval empire appears quite modern. Plus, they’re fun, and in the Byzantine world they were a big deal.
But a major difference existed between the sports of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Empire. Notably, the Byzantines lacked gladiator contests. The sport for which the Romans are best known didn’t exist in Constantinople. So, what was so special about its replacement, Byzantine chariot racing?
Byzantine Chariot Racing – The Leader in Byzantine Sports
For most of the empire’s history, chariot racing was the most popular entertainment. The races took place in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Other large cities, especially Antioch, had racetracks as well. Do not confuse the Hippodrome with modern horse racing, however. The track was nearly 400 meters on each side! (So, if you’ve watched the classic movie Ben Hur, the racetrack in that movie may have been undersized.) Seven laps was the length of a typical race. Up to 25 races might take place in one day.
The Hippodrome itself was among the wonders of the medieval world. Located in the heart of Constantinople, the track and stands were about 500 meters in length and 200 meters in width. Estimates of seating vary from 40,000 to 80,000 spectators, although women typically could not attend. But there was more to the Hippodrome than a huge racetrack.
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The Hippodrome attached to the Imperial Palace, and the emperor had a special passageway from the palace to the Kathisma, the imperial box. The center of the track, known as the spina, had a slew of monuments, any one of which might have made an entire city famous. There were bronze statues of heroes such as Hercules or the Homeric beast Scylla. It held the Serpent Column, a column of three intertwined bronze serpents. The spina also featured the Plataian Tripod, looted from the Greek temple at Delphi, and a massive Egyptian obelisk from Karnak carved during the reign of Thutmose III in the 1400s BCE. Finally, overlooking the gate from which the charioteers emerged was the sculpture of four bronze chariots. (The Venetians looted this treasure from Constantinople during the 4th Crusade and it’s now at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice.)
Chariot Racing Teams in Byzantium
There were four chariot racing teams, or factions, each identified with a color—green, blue, white, and red. Over time, it appears the Greens and Blues were the most important, the Reds and Whites less so. These teams, or factions, also played a role in the politics of Constantinople. Although historians have tried to identify the factions with certain characteristics—social class, religious belief, etc.—there appears to be no definite tendencies of what people tended to support each color.
But the factions were a big deal. They oversaw the entertainment between the races (more on that in the next post). They had cheerleaders (men rather than scantily-clad women) who not only led the crowd in cheers, but on occasion communicated the desires of the factions to the emperor. The emperors ignored the factions at their peril. On multiple occasions, the factions led riots that damaged huge sections of the city. More rarely, the crowds made and unmade emperors, or at least tried to. The famous Nika Revolt of 532 is one such occasion.
But emperors could also use the crowd. Theodosius II loved the Green faction and rearranged the seating in the Hippodrome so that the emperor always faced the Greens. Anastasius, angered by the behavior of both the Greens and Blues, announced he would favor the Reds instead.
Faction Behavior
What kind of behavior might the Greens or Blues engage in to earn imperial favor or disfavor? Besides leading the riots already mentioned, they could form street gangs. This was especially true of younger faction members. And if an emperor supported a faction, the street gangs often got away with robbery and other crimes. For instance, the emperor Justinian was a major supporter of the Blues. His critics charged him with allowing them to commit depredations without fear of punishment. At times, those critics were probably correct.
But they also served civil functions. They might guard sections of the city walls. The leaders and mid-level members of each faction were on the imperial payroll because the entertainment they provided helped to keep people from rebelling. And since the factions existed in most major cities of the Byzantine Empire, they could also provide information that came from outside the imperial spy network.
In the next post, we’ll examine the Byzantine chariot races themselves and other popular sports in the empire.
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