A chariot is a type of carriage driven by a charioteer using primarily horses to provide rapid motive power. Chariots were used in militaries as transport or mobile archery platforms, for hunting or for racing, and as a conveniently fast way to travel for many ancient people. The word chariot comes from the Latin carrus, itself a loanword from Gaulish. A chariot of war or one used in military parades was called a car.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot
It is known from artistic evidence on pottery that the sport existed in the Mycenaean world, but the first literary reference to a chariot race is the one described by Homer, at the funeral games of Patroclus. ... ... A chariot race was also said to be the event that founded the Olympic Games.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080325105604AAM2PVa
The most popular sport in Rome was chariot racing. It was so popular that larger and larger stadiums had to be built. It is claimed that the Circus Maximus in Rome had room for more than 350,000 spectators. Chariots were usually pulled by four horses but it could be by as few as two or as many as ten. Four rival groups (Romans called them factions) took part. These factions were known by the colours that their drivers wore (white, green, blue or red).
http://spartacus-educational.com/ROMchariot.htm
The earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca. 2000 BC. The use of chariots peaked around 1300 BC (see Battle of Kadesh). Chariots had lost their military importance by the 1st century AD, but chariot races continued to be popular in Constantinople until the 6th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot
Like many other aspects of the Roman world, chariot racing continued in the Byzantine Empire, although the Byzantines did not keep as many records and statistics as the Romans did. Constantine preferred chariot racing to gladiatorial combat, which he considered a vestige of paganism.
http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Chariot_racing
He was a driver himself, and won the chariot racing event at the Olympic Games, which were still being held in the Roman era. Under Nero the major racing factions began to develop. The four most important factions were the Reds, Blues, Greens, and Whites.
http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Chariot_racing
In the Olympics, as well as the other Panhellenic Games, there were both four-horse (tethrippon) and two-horse (synoris) chariot races, which were essentially the same aside from the number of horses. The chariot racing event was first added to the Olympics in 680 BC (but was not, in reality, the founding event).
http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Chariot_racing
Chariot racing is known to have existed as early as the 6th century. They were associated with funeral games and had religious ties to the deities Sol (the sun) and Luna (the moon) and to a God called Consus, an agricultural deity.
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Roman chariot racing. The Romans probably borrowed chariot racing from the Etruscans, who themselves borrowed it from the Greeks, but the Romans were also influenced directly by the Greeks especially after they conquered mainland Greece in 146 BC.
http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Chariot_racing
Tomb of a Roman official and his wife showing a chariot race (c. AD 130) Before the race started the driver would wrap the reins around his waist and then hold them with his left hand. In his right hand he would carry his whip.
http://spartacus-educational.com/ROMchariot.htm
how did the chariot racing begin
The chariot racing began with the driver would wrap the reins around his waist and then hold them with his left hand. In his right hand he would carry his whip.