Chariot Races
According to myth, Tantalus, the son of Zeus, was having a feast and invited the Gods to attend. He wanted to make a sacrifice to his guests and offered his son, Pelops, as the main course. The Gods did not approve of this and punished Tantalus and gave Pelops his life back. He was given many gifts including fast horses.
The story of King Cenomaus and his beautiful daughter Hippodameia is used to tell
the origins of chariot racing. King Cenomaus wanted only the best husband
for his daughter. So in this effort, he dared any suitor to a chariot race
against him. King Cenomaus intended this to be a race to the death. Each
suitor was pursued by the king and was killed by the king's spear. After
thirteen suitors died at the hand of the king, Pelops came and
challenged the king to this chariot race that would win him the hand of
fair Hippodameia. Pelops was smarter than the other suitors and was not
going to die trying. So he bribed the king's charioteer to make the linch
pins of the king's chariot out of wax, so they would break. During the race, Pelops and King Cenomaus
were racing and the king hit a rock that broke the axle, killing the king.
Pelops had won the hand of Hippodameia and got rid of his soon to be father-in-law
all in one day. (See Myths for other cool myths.)
In the games, the chariot race was one of the later events added. Aristocrats
owned the chariots and often had professionals race them in the games.
The owner was the one that was crowned the victor rather than the person
who actually raced. The charioteer (the racer and maintainer of the chariot)
was paid a substantial amount of money as compensation for his time.
The chariot race seemed to be not as important as the foot races or
boxing to the Greeks, because it did not actually test the strength of
the athlete, rather the strength of the equipment and the horses.