Only
the very rich could afford to train the horses and to hire the riders
and drivers for horse and chariot races. Such races were the
centerpiece events at the major Panhellenic festivals. Philip II of
Macedon's horse won the Olympic flat race in 356 BC, supposedly on
the day of his son Alexander's birth. Philip went on to win in the
four-horse chariot event at a number of Olympiads.
The four-horse chariot event carried the greatest prestige in the world of Greek athletics. The running distance for teams of full-grown stallions was extremely long by today's standards: 12 laps or over 9 kilometers. Eight-lap events were staged for teams of colts. The emphasis was on the animals' endurance and their driver's skill at avoiding collisions.
The chariots were light two-wheeled carts with flimsy rails across the front and down the sides. Since they had no springs, they must have bounced around when driven at speed. The drivers wore no protective headgear. While the starting fields were large - in later times consisting of as many as 40 teams - the risks were huge and many did not finish.
