Roman Games
Roman Games (Ludi Romani)
A grand procession to the Circus Maximus, a huge arena just outside Rome, signalled the beginning of the festival. Along with the athletes, the procession included charioteers, dancers, musicians playing flutes and lyres, men dressed in goatskins to look like satyrs, images of the gods, and the animals who were to be sacrificed came last.
Events included boxing, running, and wrestling contests, occasional mock battles, and two- and four-horse chariot races. Sometimes the drivers were accompanied by partners on foot, who, after a chariot crossed the finish line, had to race each other back to the other end of the arena to decide the entire contest.
See also Apollonian Games; Ludi
DictRomRel-1996, p. 134
FestRom-1981, p. 183