Art Institute of Chicago

Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting Quadriga with Bearded Charioteer

Greek, minted in Syracuse, Sicily

Date

485-478 BCE

Medium

Silver

Culture

Ancient Greece

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The official record of quadrennial games honoring the supreme Greek god Zeus at a sanctuary dedicated to him at Olympia began in 776 BCE. With few interruptions, they took place every four years for about 1,100 years. In 394 CE, the Christian emperor Theodosius I (reigned 379–395) abolished them as pagan rites. The most prestigious competition remained the footrace, but eventually it was supplanted in popularity by the horse races. Horses were symbols of socioeconomic status, since only the privileged could afford to buy, feed, and train them and transport their teams and trainers to Olympia every four years. In time, many of the victors in the horse races included kings and tyrants. Gelon of Syracuse minted this coin to commemorate his victory in the four-horse chariot race in 488 BCE. Three years later he became ruler of the city.

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