1st Edition

The Running Centaur Horse-Racing in Global-Historical Perspective

Edited By Sinclair W. Bell, Christian Jaser, Christian Mann Copyright 2022
216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

This book surveys the practice of horse racing from antiquity to the modern period, and in this way offers a selective global history. Unlike previous histories of horse racing, which generally make claims about the exclusiveness of modern sport and therefore diminish the importance of premodern physical contests, the contributors to this book approach racing as a deep history of... Read more

1. Introduction: Towards a Global History of Horse Racing

Sinclair W. Bell, Christian Jaser and Christian Mann

2. Horse Races and Chariot Races in Ancient Greece: Struggling for Eternal Glory

Christian Mann and Sebastian Scharff

3. Horse Racing in Imperial Rome: Athletic Competition, Equine Performance, and Urban Spectacle

Sinclair W. Bell

4. The Emperor and His People at the Chariot Races in Byzantium

David Alan Parnell

5. Horse Racing at the Ottoman Court, 1524–1728

Tülay Artan

6. Urban Palio and Scharlach Races in Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Italy and Germany

Christian Jaser

7. Spectacular Spanish Horses in New Spain

Isabelle Schürch

8. The Sport of Kingmakers: Horse Racing in Late Stuart England

Richard Nash

9. Capitalist Horse Sense: Sports Betting and Option Trading during the English Financial Revolution, 1690–1740

Christiane Eisenberg

10. ‘A Horse-Race is the Same All the World Over’: The Cultural Context of Horse Racing in Native North America

Peter Mitchell

Biography

Sinclair W. Bell is Professor of Art History and Presidential Teaching Professor at Northern Illinois University. One of his primary areas of research is sport and spectacle in the Roman period, about which he has published numerous articles and books and which he discusses in a recent documentary, ‘Rome’s Chariot Superstar.’

Christian Jaser is Professor of Medieval History and Historical Auxiliary Sciences at the University of Klagenfurt. His research interests encompass the history of premodern sport cultures in the context of urban and courtly settings. His book on urban horse racing in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Italy and Germany is forthcoming.

Christian Mann is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Mannheim. His research interests include sport and spectacle in antiquity, Greek athletes as well as Roman gladiators. He is co-editor of the journals Klio and Nikephoros.