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Ancient Mediterranean + Europe
Course: Ancient Mediterranean + Europe > Unit 6
Lesson 1: A beginner's guide to ancient Greece- Ancient Greece, an introduction
- Introduction to ancient Greek art
- Contrapposto explained
- Classic, classical, and classicism explained
- Introduction to Greek architecture
- The classical orders
- Greek architectural orders
- Black Figures in Classical Greek Art
- Greek sanctuaries as artistic hubs
- Olympic games
- Victorious athlete: The Vaison Daidoumenos
- Prize amphora showing a chariot race
- A competitor in the long jump
- Sprinter on a vase from Rhodes and a bronze running girl
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Prize amphora showing a chariot race
Chariot-racing was the only Olympic sport in which women could take part, as owners of teams of horses. Kyniska, a princess of Sparta, was the first woman to win the Olympic crown in this sport.
British Museum curator Judith Swaddling describes the amphora.
© Trustees of the British Museum
Want to join the conversation?
- Why were they allowed to be clothed?(3 votes)
- Well as the video said they usually had colored belts I assume like Jackson that the color was for teams. If dust picked up then it would easier to dust off with some kind of cloth under neath.(2 votes)
- Could somebody participate in more than one event?(3 votes)
- The concluding statement, atto 1:08, "and that was what the crowd loved" must come from somewhere beyond 20th century stock car racing (people love the crashes). If not, it's reading a modern proclivity back into classical antiquity, isn't it? 1:09(1 vote)
- Rather, stock car racing is a modern example of a classical proclivity.(4 votes)
- I read that the prize Amphora held 40 liters of olive oil. 40 liters! It must be enormous! Does anyone know what it's dimensions are?(2 votes)
- 40 liters is about 10.5 gallons ... this Panathenaic amphora in the Metropolitan Museum (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/14.130.12/) stands to just over 24 inches or 62 cm.(1 vote)
- I like the painting on the amphora.(1 vote)
- Did the artist scratch the pottery before firing to create the illusion of speed or it was after the firing ?(1 vote)
- how come the chareot rasers wore cloths but the other sports thay did not?(1 vote)
- Why was Chariot-racing the ONLY sport?(0 votes)
- No, it was not the only sport. It was the only sport that females could participate in however.(4 votes)
- Isn't this called invert colors black is inversed with gold?(0 votes)
- The styles were red figure (on black) and black flgure (on red).(1 vote)
- Way where the Olympics started(0 votes)
Video transcript
this is a wonderful rods it shows a chariot force child at full gallop and you can see the charioteer in his traditional long white robe in fact charities were the only sports people who actually competed clothed and they would end the race with this long white eunuch absolutely drenched with sweat and as you can see this man's hair is flying and he's just coming up to the finishing post so he's the winner sometimes the charioteers were shown with a broad belt around the torso to which the reins were attached and this was to help stop the charity from falling out of the chariot but it also helped him to control the reins especially when you had four horses the horse race chap just at the running track was oblong with the turning post at either end you could have up to 40 chariots in a race and so you can imagine with all those chariots trying to get round the post as near to it as possible that was where there was the most likelihood of mishaps and crashes and disasters and that was what the crowd loved