Standing on a marble step placed at the front of his box, Emperor Leo raised a fold of his gold and purple robes and made the sign of the cross three times; facing first the center tier of seats, and then those to the right, and finally to the left, he blessed all those in the Hippodrome. Then reaching into his robes, he drew forth a white handkerchief which, Aspar whispered to Cailin, was called a mappa. Dropping the white silk square would signal the beginning of the games. The mappa fluttered from Leo’s fingers.
The stable doors of the Hippodrome wall were pulled open, and the first of the four chariots to race drove out onto the course. The audience exploded into cheers. The charioteers, each controlling four spirited horses, were dressed in short, sleeveless leather tunics, which were held firmly in place by crossed leather belts. Around their calves were leather puttees. All were physically well-formed, and many handsome. The women called out to them, waving the colored ribbons of their favorite teams, and the charioteers, laughing with exuberance, grinned and waved back.
“Women should not be allowed at the games,” the patriarch was heard to mutter darkly in his box. “It is immodest of them to be here.”
“Women attended the games in Rome,” a young priest rashly said.
“And look what has happened to Rome,” the patriarch replied grimly, while around him the other clerics nodded and agreed.
“Has either of you ever been to the races before?” Arcadius asked Cailin and Casia, and when they replied in the negative, he said, “Then I will explain all to you. In which order the chariots line up is chosen by lot the day before. Each driver must circle the course seven times. See the stand down by the spina where the prefect in the old-fashioned toga is standing? Do you see the seven ostrich eggs upon the stand? They will be removed one by one as each round of the race is run. Usually a small silver palm is awarded the winner of each race, but because today commemorates the founding of our city, a golden crown of laurel leaves will be given the winning drivers of all but the last two races. There will be a fierce competition between the Greens and the Blues to see who takes home the most crowns. Look! They’re off!”
The chariots thundered off around the race course. Within moments the horses were frothing at the mouth and sweat was flying off their shining flanks. Their drivers drove with a reckless abandon such as Cailin had never seen. At first it appeared that the race course was wide enough to accommodate all four vehicles, but Cailin shortly saw that in order to win, the drivers had to steer their chariots all over the course, this way and that, struggling to get ahead of their competitors. Sparks flew as wheels from opposing chariots clanged together gratingly, and the drivers used their whips not only on their horses, but on the other drivers in their path as well.
The crowd screamed itself hoarse as the Green team’s chariot spun around the final turn on one wheel, almost tipping over but quickly righting itself, only to be cut off by the Blue team’s chariot, which leapt ahead suddenly, crossing the finish line first by just a nose. Both chariots came to a halt, and the drivers of the Blue and Green teams immediately engaged in a violent fistfight. Pulled apart, they left the track shouting curses at one another as the chariots for the next race queued up and dashed off.
Cailin was delighted by the chariot races. A Celt in her soul, she had always admired good horseflesh; and the horses racing were the finest she had ever seen. “Where do those magnificent animals come from?” she asked Aspar. “I’ve never seen better. They are finer-boned than the horses in Britain, and they look high-spirited. Their speed and surefootedness is commendable.”
“They come from the East,” he told her, “and are highly prized.”
“Does no one raise them here in Byzantium, my lord?” she wondered.
“Not to my knowledge, my love. Why are you so curious?”
“Could we not take some of your land, and instead of growing grain, put it into pasture in order to raise these horses? If they are so prized here, then certainly these animals would bring you a fine profit. The market for these beasts would be great, as it would be far more accessible to and