CHARIOTS

Greek. The racing chariots in use at the public games require especial mention. These preserved the form of the war-chariots of the heroic age, made to carry the warrior and his charioteer (see cut). They were also used at Rome in the games of the circus and in festal processions. The chariot had two low wheels, usually with four spokes each. On these rested the car (see cut), elliptically shaped in front, protected by a board rising to the knees of the driver in front, and sloping off to the rear, where the chariot was open. In the triumphal chariot of the Romans this board was breast high. At the end of the pole was fastened the yoke. This consisted either of a simple arched piece of wood, or of two rings connected by a cross-beam, and was fixed on the necks of the two horses or mules which were next to the pole. Sometimes a third and fourth horse were attached by means of a rope passing from the neckband to a rail forming the top of the front board. It was indeed the universal custom in antiquity to make the two principal horses draw by the yoke. It was only the extra horses that drew by traces, and this always at the side of the others, never in front of them. Carriages in ordinary use sometimes had two, sometimes four wheels. They were used mostly for carrying burdens. Only women, as a rule, travelled in carriages; men usually either walked or rode, thinking it affectation to drive except in case of old age or illness. It was, however, customary at Athens and elsewhere for a bride to be drawn to the house of the bridegroom in a carriage drawn by mules or oxen, sitting between the bridegroom and his friend.