Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CURRUS. CURRUS.:379
lished two drawings of chariots with three horses, called trigag; and by the same analogy a chariot
from Etruscan vases in the collection at Vienna. and four was called quadriqae; in Greek. rerpaoThe'7nrros irap7opos is placed on the right of the pta or'rOpur7ros.
two yoke horses. (See woodcut.) We also observe The horses were commonly harnessed in a
traces passing between the two lvi'Uyes, and pro- quadriga after the manner already represented, the
ceeding from the front of the chariot on each side two strongest horses being placed under the yoke,
of the middle horse. These probably assisted in and the two others fastened )n each side by means
attaching the third, or extra horse, of ropes. This is implied in the use of the epithets elipa7os or oelpaipdpos, and funalis or funarius, for a horse so attached. (Isid. Orig. xviii.
35.) The two exterior horses were further distinguished from one another as the right and the left
w,~.)e btrace-horse. In the splendid triumph of Augustus
<i: Ap_ id> A tafter the battle of Actium, the trace-horses of his car
I111~~ ~~were ridden by two of Ihis young relations. Tibe1i \t' k rius rode, as Suetonius relates (Tib. 6.) sinisteriore
finali equo, and Marcellll s deteriorefi nali equo.
As the works of ancient art, especially fictile vases,
abound in representations of quadrigae, numerous
instances may be observed, in which the two
middle horses (6 E'aos eSlbs Kal 6 to'ooS a&piTe-.... —-.... pbs, Schol. in As4istoph. Nub. 122) are yoked together as in the bigae; and, as the two lateral
The Latin name for a chariot and pair was ones have collars (XEiras;a) equally with the yoke-.bigae. When a third horse was added, it was horses, wve may presume that from the top of these
7 —.
proceeded the ropes which were tied to the rim of and an attitude whiclh seem not unfrequently to be
the car, and by which the trace-horses assisted to intended in antique representations.
draw it. The first figure in the annexed woodcut The currus, like the cisium, was adapted to
is the chariot of Aurora, as painted on a vase found carry two persons, and on this account was called
at Cmimosa. (Gerhard, iiber ichtgottlheiten, pl. iii. in Greek 8ippos. One of the two was of course
fig. 1.) The reins of the two middle horses pass the driver. I-Ie was called i7{voxos, because he
through rings at the extremities of the yoke. All held the reins, and his companion 7rapalze7s'
the particulars which have been mentioned are still from going by his side or near him. Though in all
more distinctly seen in the second figure, taken respects superior, the 7rapalaTr?ls was often obliged
from a terra-cotta at Vienna. (Ginzrot, vol. ii. to place himself behind the 7{vfXos. He is so repp. 107, 108.) It represents a chariot overthrown presented in the bigae at p. 101, and in the Iliad
in passing the goal at the circus. The charioteer (xix. 397) Achilles himself stands behind his chahaving fallen backwarcls, the pole and yoke are rioteer, Automedon. On the other hand, a perthrown upwards into the air; the two trace-horses sonage of the highest rank may drive his own carhave fallen on their knees, and the two yoke- riage, and then an inferior may be his wapatCaTrIs,
horses are prancing on their hind legs. as when Nestor conveys Machaon (Trdp' Be Maxacwv
If we may rely on the evidence of numerous /3zgve, I. xi. 512, 517), and Hera, holding the
works of art, the currus was sometimes drawn by reins and whip, conveys Athena, who is in fill
four horses without either yoke or pole; for we see armour (v. 720-775). Ill such cases a kindness,
two of them diverging to the right hand and two or even a compliment, was conferred by the driver
to the left, as in the cameo in the royal collection of upon him whom he conveyed, as when DionyI3erlin, which exhibits Apollo surrounded by the sius, tyrant of Sicily,'"himself holding the reins
signs of the zodiac. If the ancients really drove made Plato his 7rapatCdw7/s." (Aelian, V. H. iv.
the quadrigae thus harnessed, we can only suppose 18.)
thlie charioteer to have checked its speed by pulling Chariots were frequently employed on the field
up the horses, and leaning with his whole body of battle not only by the Asiatic nations, but also
backwards, so as to make the bottom of the car at by the Greeks in the heroic age. The &Aosrrles,
its hindermost border scrape the ground, an act i. e. the nobility, or men of rank, who were comr
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