H 



was added to wrestling- and pugilism, that is not until the twent y -third 

 Olympiade. In the subsequent races only equestrians made their ap- 

 pearance, each horse being ridden by its owner who was compelledto train 

 himself and horse thirty days previous to the race. The horses wer 

 classified in such, having the full a<re, and others, 'whose acre ranged be- 

 low this standard ; but the Historians give no information as to what 

 this meant, nor do they speak of the weight of the riders. The race- 

 course measured over four English miles. In one of the races, called 

 "Kalne," only mares were entered, and toward the end of the course 

 the riders had to dismount and with the bridle in hand, run along side 

 of their mounts to the pole. 



In the twenty-fifth Olympinade, chariot races were introduced- 

 The chariots were placed in one line at the starting post, and their places 

 assigned through allotment. On. each side stood an altar, upon one of 

 which stood an Eagle consecrated to Jupiter ; upon the other a dolphin 

 in honor of Keptune. Through a certain mechanism, the eagle was 

 elevated into the air, and the dolphin disappeared in the depth, which 

 was the sign for the start of the chariots. The Hippodrome was about 

 one-third of an English mile in length, and at its end was a pillar, 

 around which the chariots had to go and come back to the starting 

 post. Six. tim°s + his had to be repeated, so that the whole course may 

 be said to have covered a little over four English miles. The turn 

 around the pillar was the first test for the agility of the charioteers 

 and the training of the horses; hardly had this been overcome, 

 when they had to pass a statue of enormous size, called Traxippus 

 (the terror of horses.) A little further and in the middle of the course 

 there was a projecting rock, which left only little space to drive by, 

 and where the ability of the driver was severely tested, the more so as 

 the discordant sounds made by the trumpeters on the rock served to 

 frighten the horses. It is to be imagined, that at the end of the race the 

 number of chariots had decreased considerably, as some ran against the 

 end post, others could not get their horses to pass the statue, and still 

 more were smashed against the rock, so that the passage for the follow- 

 ing ones were greatly obstructed. The victors in such chariot races, 

 as can readily be seen, had to work hard for their laurels and the honors 

 which finally awaited them. To learn how the qualities of a horse were 

 judged at that period, we should hear Xenophon, who lived 355 to 445 

 B. C, and by whom a book on the art of riding has been preserved to 

 the present age; "above all" he says "one must look at the feet, as a 

 house of which the upper parts are handsome, but which has not suf- 

 ficient foundation would be worthless, so a horse would not be fit to 

 use in war, if his feet were weak, even though it had all the other good 

 qualities; because no good could come from them." The Romans, in 

 their earliest days, laid great stress upon the breed and care of 

 the horse, but then it had already been introduced in Greece for seven 

 centuries, and its importance there generally recognized. Races both 

 with horses and chariots became common in Rome at an early period, 

 but the chariot races were gradually abandoned, while the others con- 



