The
Chariot Race in Roman Art:
Motif of a popular sport or a transcendental symbol for the course of
life?
Renate Thomas
As Gerhard Horsmann has pointed out in Die Wagenlenker der römischen Kaiserzeit. Untersuchungen zu ihrer sozialen Stellung (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1998), charioteers in the Roman period were exposed to infamia, despite the high esteem of chariot racing by common people and some rulers, especially Caracalla. The profession of the charioteer was clearly restricted to slaves and liberti, with one exception, the famous charioteer Gutta Calpurnianus, the only ingenuus. Nevertheless we have the epigraphic evidence for a great number of statues, some even made of gold, that were erected for charioteers in various locations throughout Rome. Furthermore we know that victorious charioteers could gain a considerable amount of money through winnings and thereby obtain noticeable wealth.
Chariot races are represented frequently in numerous works of art, including mosaics, wall paintings, terra sigillata, glass cups, gems, terracotta reliefs, grave reliefs and sarcophagi. By contrast, statues and small bronze and terracotta figurines are only scarcely found. This paper addresses the question of who ordered these subjects and who their clients were. A special case are the representations of charioteers in tomb paintings and on sarcophagi. Most of the sarcophagi depicting chariot races were intended for children, some of them showing children disguised as charioteers. Are they represented playing their favourite game, or has the representation of the chariot race here the transcendental meaning of the course of life?
Römisch-Germanisches Musem, Roncalliplatz 4, 50667 Köln.
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