This book is the second instalment in a series by C.d.R. examining horse racing and chariot racing in Greece, Etruria and Rome. This particular volume focuses on the mounted horse race (the keles) in ancient Greece. The keles and other ridden races are a topic deserving of scholarly attention, as the majority of publications on equestrian athletics in the ancient world have focused on chariot racing. Thus C.d.R. seeks to fill a somewhat sizable gap with this volume by providing an introduction to the subject and an overview of its history.
The text is, for the most part, divided into a chronological analysis of horse racing, from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period. C.d.R. begins with a brief section of references to riding (as opposed to driving) in Homer. He then moves on to depictions of equestrians in Mycenaean and Geometric art. C.d.R.’s specific focus here is not athletic competition, but rather the evolution of the ridden horse motif. The majority of these representations can be categorised as martial in nature, but they are nonetheless useful to C.d.R.’s purpose as they emphasise the fact that riding occurred concurrently with driving, while at the same time reminding the reader that all equestrian competition had military origins.
From the Geometric period we progress to what C.d.R. calls ‘The Age of Myth’, which corresponds with the foundation of the Olympic Games. It is in this period that we get the earliest representations of what can definitely be classified as horse sports in the artistic record. Once again C.d.R. provides a series of examples depicting the keles race. He focuses on the body language and positioning of both horse and rider to determine the moment of the race that has been captured (pre-race, the start, the final rush to the finish etc.). C.d.R. applies this style of analysis to the artistic evidence throughout the volume.
C.d.R. then moves on to introduce literary descriptions of mounted races. He begins, interestingly, with Quintus Smyrnaeus, before falling back into his chronological organisation with references to the keles race in Archaic lyric poetry, a period in which horse sport, and particularly the keles race, was quite popular. This popularity is reflected in both its literal and metaphorical use by Archaic poets. C.d.R. provides a few brief examples, but it would have been useful to have a bit more space devoted to the topic, particularly given the amount of attention C.d.R. gives to Posidippus and the Palatine Anthology later in the volume.
It is perhaps to be expected that a large portion of this book deals with the keles race in the fifth century. C.d.R. focuses on equestrian victories at both the Panhellenic and local competitions, recounting the names of horses and owners, as well as touching on the question of whether the owners themselves also rode as jockeys, particularly in local events. C.d.R. makes excellent use of artistic, epigraphic (both commemorative monuments and victory lists) and other literary sources (particularly Pindar and Pausanias) to present a succinct analysis of equestrian competition and its chronology, while also providing insight into the notion of an ancient Greek ‘show circuit’. C.d.R. applies the same methods of analysis and description to the fourth century, a period of extensive development with regards to equestrian athletics.
From there, C.d.R. moves on to an analysis of Posidippus’ keles epigrams. These epigrams are a valuable source for our understanding of equestrian competition in the Hellenistic period. As such, C.d.R. devotes a considerable amount of space to them, providing in-text quotations in the original Greek as well as an Italian translation for each of the epigrams used, followed by a brief discussion of its significance.
The volume ends with a look at equine related epigrams in the Palatine Anthology. Here we return to the realm of the racehorse as metaphor, rather than a literal discussion of the keles and its victors. C.d.R. does an admirable job of using these epigrams to show the familiarity of their authors with keles terminology, thereby indicating the ongoing popularity of the keles race.
There is no conclusion provided at the end of the book, or even a summary discussion of the evolutionary trajectory of mounted horse racing in ancient Greece. Instead we have a rather abrupt ending after a tantalising suggestion of the influence of Greek racing on the Roman circus. It appears that this will be the subject of the next volume in the series.
This slim volume provides a useful introduction to and overview of the topic at hand. C.d.R. makes generous use of footnotes; indeed, at times the footnotes seem to take up more of the book than the actual text. The extensive number of primary source quotations, a tavole of black and white figures at the end of the book as well as several thematic indexes make this volume a very useful reference for scholars of the subject.
