The letter “U”, 21st letter and ultima vowel of the Latin alphabet, phonemetically one-half of the letter “W” (“double-U”). “U” derives from the Semitic waw, as does F, and later, Y, W, and V. Pictorially its oldest ancestor goes to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and is probably sourced from a hieroglyph of a mace or fowl, representing the sound [v] or the sound [w]. This was borrowed to Phoenician, where it represented the sound [w], and seldom the vowel [u]. The bulk of the U-words that follow reveal the extent of the debt of their Latin roots.
Ubicity: whereabouts [L. ubi (“where”) + -icity] (cf. Ubique: everywhere)
Ucalegon: neighbour whose house is on fire [eponym from ancient Greek. ~ an Elder of Troy, Ucalegon’s house was set afire by the Achaeans during the sack of Troy (the Iliad; the Aeneid]
Ultraist activism: the upsurge in far-right politics (photo: ft.com)
Ultramontane: south of the Alps; other side of the Alps; a Catholic Church belief that supports the pope’s supreme authority [L. ultrā + -mont-, -mons (“mountain”)]
Ultramontane: the Papal cross-keys, symbolising the Papacy
Ultroneous: pertaining to a witness who testifies voluntarily [L. ultroneus, from ultro (“to the further side, on his part, of one’s own accord”)]
Unasinous: equally as stupid as each other [L. ünus (“one”) + -asinus (“ass”) + -ous]
Undecennial: occurring every eleven years [L. undecim (“eleven”) + –ial]
Undinism: the trait of having erotic thoughts when viewing or contemplating water; an awakening of the libido caused by viewing running water or urine [L. unda (“wave”) -ism]
Undinism (image: theseamossharvest.com)
Unicity: the fact of being or consisting of one, or of being united as a whole; the quality of being unique [L. ūnicitās, ūnicus (“uniqueness”) + -ity]
Unigeniture: the state of being the only begotten (ie, fathering a child into existence) [L. unigenitus (“only-begotten”), from unus (“one”) + –genitum (“to beget”)]
Unipara: a woman who gives birth only the once [unus, unius + –parus (“to produce”)]
Unsinew: to take the strength from [un- + from Old Saxon. sinewa]
Untreasure: to despoil [un- + Gk. thēsaurós, (“treasure house”)]
Unwithdrawing: not withdrawing or retreating”; “lavish or liberal” [un- + MidEng. from with from + drawen (“to draw”)]
Upaithric: roofless; open to the sky [Gk. hypaithros, from hypo- + aithēr (“ether”; air”)]
Upas: poisonous or harmful institution or influence [Indon. Malay pohon upas (“poison tree”)] 🌳
Upas: the highly toxic Upas tree (source: naturespoisons.com)
Uraniscus: roof of the mouth; the palate [Gk. ouranískos, (“ceiling”)]
Uranism: male homosexuality [Gk. ouránios, (“heavenly”; “spiritual”)]
Urinator: a diver, especially someone who searches for things underwater [L. ūrīnātor (“diver”), from ūrīnor (“to plunge under water”; “dive”), poss. from ūrīna (“urine”; water(?))]
Urinator (source: Southeast Texas Scuba)
Ursine: of, like or pertaining to bears [from L. ursus (“bear”)] (cf. Ursiform: having the shape or appearance of a bear)
Urticant: (Path.) causing a stinging or itching sensation; irritating [MedLat. urticant-, urticans, from L. urticare (“to sting”)]
Usance: (orig.) habit; custom; firmly established and generally accepted practice or procedure; use, employment; (obs.) interest [L. ūsant-, from ūsāre (“to use”)]
Usitative: signifying a usual act [L. usitari (“to use often”)]
Usufruct: (Civil Law) the right to use and enjoy something; a limited real right which unites the two property interests of usus (usage of or access to) is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directly and without altering it) and fructus (the right to derive profit from a thing possessed: eg, by selling crops (the “fruits” of production), leasing immovables or annexed movables, taxing for entry, and so on [L. uses et fructus (“use and employment”)] 𓍝
Uxorial: of, like or pertaining to a wife [L. uxōrius (“of or pertaining to a wife; overly fond of one’s wife”) from uxor (“wife”) + -al ] (cf. Uxorious: excessively fond of one’s wife) (cf. Uxorodespotic: morbid domineering by one’s wife; wifely tyranny of her husband ➲ (cf. Maritodespotism: tyrannical rulership of a wife by her husband)
The letter “T”/“t”, in English pronouncedtee, numeroventi (20) in the Latin alphabet, like many of its letters owes its advent to the Phoenicians et al. It derives from the Semitic Taw 𐤕 and Paleo-Hebrew script (Aramaic and Hebrew Taw ת/𐡕/, Syriac Taw ܬ, and Arabic ت Tāʼ) and once again the linguistic go-between is the Greek letter τ (tau). Unlike the English “T”, Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets. The T-words that follow consist of lexemes and morphemes of all shapes and sizes, including the unholy trinity of the trim, the taut and the terrific, not to forget the terras, the teles, the technos, the thermos, the tachys, and a whole lot more!
Tabellary: auditor; carrier of letters [L. tabellārius from tabella (“letter”) + -ārius]
Tabellion: (Hist.) a scrivener under the Roman Empire with some notarial powers; an official scribe or notary public especially in England and New England in the 17th and 18th cent. [from L. tabella + -ion] 🪶
Tabellion: a Roman scribe 📜
Tacenda: things not to be mentioned [from [L. tacëo (“silent;” “shut up”)](cf. Tacent: (“to be silent”; “hold one’s tongue”)
Tachyphrasia: the act of talking very fast [Gk. takhús, (“swift”) + -phrasia (“talk”; “say”)] (cf. Tachyphagia: fast eating) (cf. Tachygraphy: shorthand; literally, “speedy writing” ✍️
Taliped: with a club-foot; with a foot twisted out of shape or position [L. talus (“ankle”) (?) + –ped (“foot”)]
Tambour: (Arch.) sloping buttress wall or fortification [Fr. tambour (“drum”), from Arabic ṭunbūr]
Tantième: share of profits or royalties [Fr. tantième (“percentage”;“proportion”)]
Tapinosis: use of degrading or diminutive diction regarding a topic; undignified language that debases something or someone; deliberately using a base word to diminish a person or thing’s dignity [Gk. tapeinós, (“low”)] (cf. Meiosis – using a euphemism to depreciate an object or thing’s size or significance)
Tarantism: (Psych.) an extreme impulse to dance, esp to overcome a feeling of melancholy [It. tarantismo (from Italian city of Taranto (during (15th-(17th. a spider bite from the tarantula was believed to trigger the dancing mania)] 🕷️
Tarantella, the frenetic dance inspired by Tarantism (source: britannica.com)
Tauromachy: the art or practice of bullfighting [Gk. taurus (“bull”) + –machia (“fight”)] 🐂
Tautochronous: lasting the same amount of time [Gk. tauto (“the same”) + –khrónos (“time”) + -ous]
Tautonym: word composed of two identical words/spellings/sounds (in repetition) eg, paw-paw, yo-yo 🪀[Gk. tautó, (“the same”) + –onuma (“name”)]
Technopole: place where high-technology industries are located; tech hub [Gk. tékhnē, (“skill”) + –pólis (“city”)] (cf. Tectiform: shaped like a roof) (cf. Tectonic: structural component of a building/construction)
Technopole (image: mixcloud)
Telegenic: having an appearance and exhibiting qualities thought to be attractive to televisionviewers [Gk. têle, (“at a distance”; “far off”; “far away”; “far from”) + -genḗs, (“offspring”; “kind”)]
Telekinetic: (Psychic.) supposed skill to move objects at a distance by exercising your mental power only [Gk. têle + –kinēsis (“motion”) from -kinein (“to move”)]
Telos: ultimate object or aim; provides the moral justification [Gk. télos, (“end”; “purpose” or “goal'”)]
Temporality: (Philos.) linear projection of past, present and future; existing within or having some relationship with time; temporal [L. temporālis (“of time”) + –itāt, itās]
Tempore: in the time of; in historical literature, denotes a period during which a person whose exact lifespan is unknown, was known to have been alive or active, or some other date which is not exactly known, usually given as the reign of a monarch [L. tempus (“time”; “period”)] (cf. Temporise: to delay; to procrastinate) 🕰️
Teratology: study of monsters, freaks, abnormal growths or malformations [Greek terat-, téras– (“sign sent by the gods”; “portent”;“marvel”; “monster”) + –logie (“-logy”)] (cf. Teratoid: resembling a monster) (cf. Teramorphous: of abnormal or monstrous form)
Teratology (credit: GregLuzniakArt/Etsy)
Terdiurnal: three times per day [L. ter (“thrice”) + LateLat. –diurnalis “daily”)
Terebration: a pain that feels as though a drill is boring through some body part [L. terebro, (“to bore”) + -ion]
Tergal: of, like or pertaining to the back; (Zool.) relating to the terga of an arthropod [L. terga (“the back”)]
Termagant: a violent, nagging, brawling woman; a shrew [MidEng. termagaunt, earlier tervagaunt, alteration of OldFr. tervagan (“name of the imaginary deity”)]
Terraneous: of, like or pertaining to the earth [L. terrenum (“land”; “ground”), from terra (“earth”) + -ous] (cf. Terrigenous: produced on land; produced by the land)
Terremotive: (Geology) relating to an earthquake; seismic [L. terra (“earth”) + –mōtus (“movement”)]
Terremotive (Diagram: worldatlas.com)
Terrisonant: having a terrible sound [L. terrëo (“frighten”; “terrify”; “scare away” + -ant]
Tessaraglot: a person who is capable of speaking in four languages [Gk. téssara (“four”) + –glôssa (“tongue”)] 👅
Tessellation: fitting together exactly; leaving no spaces; surface tiling with no gaps or overlays [L. tessella (“small square”) from Gk. tessera, (“four”)]
Tessellation (source: tilewizards.com.au)
Tesserarian: of, like or pertaining to games of dice [Gk. tessera + -ian] 🎲
Testicond: having the testes concealed within the body [L.testis (“testis”) + –condere (“to hide”)]
Thalassic: marine; of seas; of inland seas [Gk. thalassa (“sea”)] (cf. Thalassography: science of the sea) 🌊
Thaumaturgic: performer of miracles, esp a magician or a saint [Gk. thaumatourgós (“performer of wonders (as an acrobat”) + -ia– y]
Theandric: divine and human at the same time [Gk. theandros (“God-man”)]
Thelemite: one who does as he or she pleases; libertine [Fr. thélémite, from L’Abbaye deThélème, imaginary abbey with the motto “Do as you please” in Gargantua (1535) by François Rabelais (1553) + -ite] (cf. Thelemic: allowing people to do as they wish [Gk. thelema (“will”) + -ic)
Thelemite: L’Abbaye de Thélème, Rabelais’ fictional “anti-monastery”
Thelyotokous: having only female offspring [Gk. thêlus, “female”) + –tókos, (“birth”)]
Theologaster: petty or shallow theologian [Gk. theológos, (“one who talks about the gods”; “theologian”) + L. –aster (“inferior”; “shallow”, etc.)
Theotherapist: faith-healer; treatment of illness or disease by prayer and other religious exercises [Gk. theó, (“god”) + -therapeía, “(service”; “medical treatment”)]
Thereology: the art of healing; therapeutics [Gr. therein=therapeuein, (“totendthesick”) + -logy]
Theriacal: (Medic.) of, like or pertaining to antidotes [Gk. thēriakḕ, “of or related to poisonousreptiles”), from thēríon, “littlebeast”) from thḗr + -al]
Therianthropic: combining human and animal forms [Gk. thērianthrōpos (“beast-man”)]
Theriatrics: the science of veterinary medicine [Gk. thḗr, (“wild beast”) + iatrós, (“doctor”)]
Thesmothete: law-giver; (Hist.) a juniorarchon or magistrate responsible for legislation in Ancient Greece [from Gk. thesmothétēs]
Thirdborough: petty provincial constable [MidEng. thridborro, probably by folk etymology, from frithborg (“frankpledge”)]
Thooid: resembling a wolf; (Zool.) relating to an obsolete group of carnivores including wolves, dogs and jackals [Gk. thōs jackal + -oid]
Threnody: a lament for the dead (poem, speech, song) [Gk. thrēnōidia, from thrēnos, (“dirge”)]
Threpterolagnia: A lust for female nurses [Gk. threptero(?) + –lagnia (“coitus”; “lust”)]
Thyestean: cannibalistic [from Greek mythology, Thyestes, a king of Olympia, was served his own children’s flesh by his vengeful twin brother Atreus as revenge for adultery]
Thygatrilagnia: an incestuous desire by a father for his own daughter [Gk. thygatro (“daughter”) + –lagnia]
Tibialoconcupiscent: having a lascivious interest in watching women put on stockings [L. tibia (“shinbone”?) + -lo (?) + –concupiscēns, –concupiscere (“to conceive an ardent desire for”)]
Timbromaniac: an avid stamp collector; a passionate philatelist [Fr. from timbre (“postage stamp”) + -o- + -mania]
Timbromaniac (credit: istockphoto.com)
Tirocinium: a soldier’s first battle; military baptism of fire [L. tirocinium (“first military campaign”; “inexperienced raw recruit”; “first attempt”]
Tmesis: a word compound that is divided into two parts, with another word infixed between the parts for emphasis, thus constituting a separate word compound, eg, “Absar—bloody—lutely!”; “in—fucking—credible!” [Gk. tmēsis (“a cutting”) from temnō, (“I cut”)]
Tolutiloquent: pertaining to a smooth talker, characterised by fluency or glib utterances [L. tolutim, “trotting along”) + –loqui (“speak”)]
Tomecide: the act of “murdering” or destroying a book, esp by the act of book burning [Gk. tomḗ + -cide]
Tomecide: Book burning by the Pinochet regime after the 1973 coup in Chile
Toponym: (Onomastics) a name by which a geographical place is known or a word derived from a place name or from a topographical feature eg, cashmere from Kashmir, lima beans from Lima [Back-formation from toponymy Gk. topos (“place”) + -nym] (cf. Toponymics: the study of place names)
Toxophilite: archer; fond of or an expert in archery [Gk. toxon, (“bow and arrow”) + -phil + -ite]
Toxophilite (source: allkpop.com)
Tranch: a portion (literally: slice) of something [OldFr. trenche, (“slice”)]
Tritavia: (Ancient Rome) the female ascendant in the sixth degree; the great grandmother of one’s great grandmother; the mother of either an atavus or atavia [L. trēs (“three”) + –avus (“(“grandfather;” “uncle”)] (cf. Tritavus: great grandfather of one’s great grandfather)
Tropoclastics: the science of breaking habits [Gk. trope᷄ (“a turning”) + -klastos (“shattered”) from –klan (“to break”)
Tuism: apostrophe; reference to or regard to a second person [L. tu (“thou”) + -ism]
Turgescence: act or process of swelling; swollenness [L. turgescent-, turgescens, turgescere (“to swell”)] (cf. Tumefy: to swell)
Turnverein: (Hist.) (19th-(20th. German-American association of gymnasts (members called “turners” promoted German culture, physical culture, and liberal politics); athletic club [Ger. turnen (“to practice gymnastics”) + verein (“club”; “union”) ]
Djibouti is a moderately populated mini-state in the turbulent Horn of Africa region§, it’s contiguous neighbours, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia (including Somaliland), are all countries which tend to experience ongoing conflict and instability, as is Yemen, less than 30km away by sea across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Tiny Djibouti, comparatively, is open for business, and an oasis of stability, or so it seems to many interested foreign onlookers.
République de Djibouti 🇩🇯Size 23,200 sq km. Pop (est. 2023) 976,000 (image: Pinterest)
Position A, geopolitically speaking: Djibouti’s attraction to the US and other Western powers and more recently, to China, is location. The tiny African republic’s prized geo-strategic location intersects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, plumb in the middle of the vital shipping lane between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, which caters for the transit of 20,000 ships annually and accounts for 30% of world trade [Bereketeab, Redie. “Djibouti: Strategic Location, an Asset or a Curse?” Journal of African Foreign Affairs 3, no. 1/2 (2016): 5–18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26661713.]🇦
Bab el-Mandeb, oil containers (source: Morocco World News)
Watching the “bad guys”, protecting the West’s interests: Since the 1991 Gulf War and especially since the 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attack, Djibouti’s importance to the military and security objectives of the US and other world powers has grown exponentially. The imperatives of the “War on Terror” and the upsurge in Somalia-based piracy turned Western eyes to Djibouti, situated ideally at the choke-point on the Suez to Indian waterway as the optimal spot to monitor activity in the Middle East and “the Horn” [‘Port in the Desert: Djibouti as International Lessor’, Jessica Borowicz, Aether: Journal of Strategic Airpower and Spacepower, Vol. 1, No. 3, Fall 2022, www.airuniversity.af.edu]. Today, foreign navies utilise Djibouti’s ports as part of the EU’s anti-piracy operations in the region, the US has a semipermanent base at Camp Lemonnier, with around 4,000 military personnel. France, Germany, Italian, Spain and Japan also maintain bases on Djibouti soil under Djibouti’s “rent-a-space program”. China opened its first base in the country in 2017.
Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti (photo: Facebook)
The rentier state – the Guelleh regime as “big bickies” landlord: Acting as lessor of foreign bases has proved a particularly lucrative earner for the Djibouti government, dominated by authoritarian president Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and his PRP🇧regime. Rents of the bases yield Djibouti an estimated US$119–128m per annum. As noted, “for a country that produces nothing, the income from the military bases has been a lifeline” (Bereketeab), turning round the dire economic prognosis facing the country in the early 1990s.
Ethiopian trade, mutual interest and port leases: An added windfall for the government is the revenues it collects from port leases (Djibouti has seven major ports and terminals). Landlocked Ethiopia is one of its customers, having lost its coastal territory after Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Ethiopia then became further dependent on Djibouti cooperation following the Eritrea-Ethiopia War (1998-2000). Ethiopia since this time has been required to lease port facilities from Djibouti, with 90% of total Ethiopian trade channelled through this route. With a shared major railroad and a shared water pipeline Djibouti’s relations with Ethiopia have generally been good (cf. those with Eritrea which have been less harmonious).
Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port (photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)
Djibouti’s prized non-tangible resources: A third source of revenue for Djibouti is the development aid it receives from donor countries, especially the US, France, other European countries and China. All of this cash inflow (rents + aid + loans) amounts to Djibouti having the largest per capita income in the Horn of Africa region (according to the IMF’s reckonings)🇨and a healthy 6.5% annual economic growth rate (Bereketeab).
French foreign legionnaires in Djibouti (photo: Julien Hubert/Armee de Terre)
Djibouti, a stamping ground for the US, France…and the PRC: US military analysts by and large see Djibouti as the best current option in the region for staging military bases, an “anchor of stability in a volatile region” (Borowicz), with some observers even viewing Djibouti as a “front-line state” of America (Bereketeab), so its clearly happy to pay the high tenancy fees. France, with its “small but mighty force” on-site [‘Inside France’s Small But Mighty Force in Djibouti’, Frédéric Lert, Key.Aero, 01-Aug-2022, www.key.aero] and an involvement with the East African microstate that stretches back over 130 years, no doubt agrees.🇩 And the Guelleh regime is certainly happy with its cut of the deal…with China entering the scene, suggesting a potential new theatre for US v PRC rivalry, Guelleh can play one patron off against another for increasingly higher stakes, he has “agency” in the game, which J-P Cabestan defines simply as “the ability of any country to make independent decisions and strengthen its bargaining power” [CABESTAN, JEAN-PIERRE. “African Agency and Chinese Power: The Case of Djibouti.” South African Institute of International Affairs, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep29586.]
China’s Djibouti military base (source: adr1682305408 Thanh, Flickr)
Djibouti a haven of stability?: But is Djibouti really as stable a state as many in the Pentagon seems to believe? President Guelleh for now keeps a tight rein on things internally in Djibouti, effective opposition to the PRP has been neutralised,🇪but what of the future? Below the surface there are a raft of variables that might threaten the status quo. The great mass of Djiboutians have gained virtually nothing from the massive injection of money into Djibouti’s treasury which remains firmly in the hands of Guelleh and his fellow Somali subclan cronies in the political elite. Ordinary citizens wallow in various stages of poverty with unemployment conservatively estimated at 60% but really higher. Disenfranchised, predominantly illiterate, facing the ever-likely possibility of food shortages and drought, for the young Djiboutians a future with little prospects, the further erosion of basic rights and freedom of expression by an authoritarian regime, a combination of these factors might propel the unprivileged masses to demand a real improvement in their lot and failing that, ultimately regime change [EELCO KESSELS, TRACEY DURNER, and MATTHEW SCHWARTZ. “Front Matter.” Violent Extremism and Instability in the Greater Horn of Africa: An Examination of Drivers and Responses. Global Center on Cooperative Security, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20264.1.]
Horn of Africa (map source: Nystrom Herff Jones Education Division)
Potential external destabilisers, a war-prone region and radical Islam: External factors could equally impact Djibouti’s stability, prompting a rethink by the lessees of the bases as a long-term option. Conflicts and civil wars emerging in Somalia, Eritrea or Ethiopia could spillover into Djibouti, eg, emanating from a sudden surge in refugee numbers.🇫 The affinity of Djibouti’s Issa Somalis and the Afars with their ethnic brothers and sisters respectively in Somalia and Eritrea could worsen this occurrence (Kessels et al).🇫It should also be remembered that Djibouti’s track record in avoiding conflict and violence is not a clean slate…in its relatively short existence the country has experienced civil war (1991-94) and a brief border conflict with Eritrea (2008), and the cause of the 1990s civil war—uneven power sharing by the Issa powerbrokers with the Afars—is an unresolved issue that continues to fester. A further threat of instability to Djibouti lies in the terrorist agenda of Al-Shabaab,🇬a jihadist fundamentalist organisation based in southern Somalia, which perpetrated a suicide bomber attack in Djibouti City in 2014 and has called on jihadists to target French and U.S. interests in Djibouti [Ahram Online (Egypt), 27-March-2021].
Djibouti women and children (source: aho.org)
A “Trojan Horse” for both sides? Maintaining full sovereignty amongst the mega-powers?: With both the US and China now heavily invested in Djibouti and each using it as a conduit to spread its geo-strategic influence, will an escalation of neo-Cold War rivalry played out here upset the balance in Djibouti? While foreign military forces being based indefinitely on Djibouti territory might provide reassurance to the country, there is a downside to Djibouti being completely dependent on big power external support and large foreign forces within its borders for it’s security and survival: Djibouti’s sovereign status as a free and independent nation is questionable…with a host of foreign patrons holding a significant share of the firmament the regime risks becoming compromised and losing support (Bereketeab). Most worrying (in US eyes) is the danger of Djibouti falling prey to “debt-trap diplomacy” due to it becoming over-dependent on China. Beijing is bankrolling many of Djibouti’s major infrastructure projects (water and gas pipelines, railroads, port upgrades, etc) big time! As a result, China has rapidly become the tiny African country’s major creditor (holding 91% of its external debt)(Borowicz; Cabestan). The upshot in the longer term is that the Guelleh PRP regime may end up being viewed by its own citizens as lacking legitimacy, a further pathway to internal turbulence and instability and enforced change.
Xi Zinping hosting Pres. Guelleh (“let’s do business!”) (photo: chinadaily.com.cn)
§ “Djibouti” in the native Afar language means “boiling pot”, an apt name for the country’s hot and arid, sub-tropical desert climate
🇦 around 6.2 million barrels of crude oil per day passed thru the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in 2018 (Borowicz)
🇧People’s Rally for Progress, which has provided both presidents of Djibouti since independence from France in 1977 – Guelleh, preceded by his elderly uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon
🇨in an impoverished “Horn” that is of itself not saying a lot
🇩to the tune of a hefty US$720m injection annually
🇪although opposition parties are now legal, all the political cards are stacked in PRP’s favour, opponents has been ruthlessly suppressed, driven into exile or co-opted into the ruling camp
🇪unfortunately it’s always on the cards that Yemen given its perpetual state of civil war could see upsurges in refugee numbers fleeing across the strait
🇫a revival of the earlier Somali “ethno-nationalism”—an attempt to unite all ethnic Somalis from the different East African countries into one Pan-Somali state—could also have a destabilising outcome
People tend to associate the sport of chariot racing with the ancient Romans, thanks in part to Hollywood and movies like Ben-Hur…chariot racing was a fundamental part of ludi circenses (circus entertainment) for the Roman public, together with gladiatorial combats, mock hunts and wild animals pitted against each other. Chariot racing however wasn’t an activity that originated with the Romans, the ancient Greeks and the Etruscans were right into the sport long before them𝔸. It emerged in the Hellenic world at least as early as 700BC with contests taking place in stadia known as hippodromes (“horse course”). The sport features in the Iliad and by 684BC it was so popular it debuted as an event in the proto-Olympic games. In Greek chariot races the competitors were the owners of the rigs and horses, and with Spartan women entitled to own property, this allowed some women to participate in the popular sporting spectacle. Success in the four-horse races was well remunerated, with prizes for the winner such as 140 ceramic pots of olive oil (‘Ben-Hur: The Chariot Race’, A Historian Goes to the Movies, 16-Sep-2016, http://aelarsen.wordpress.com).
Spartan woman winning a chariot race (vase decoration)
The premier venue for Roman chariot racing, the epicentre of the sport in antiquity, was the massively-proportioned Circus Maximus, a specially-constructed race course located between the Aventine and Palantine hills in Rome. The course was an extended oblong shape along a 2,037-foot-long sand track (spatium) with sharp 180° turns at each end (a race comprised seven laps with the top speeds nudging 40 mph) (Encyclopedia Romana, Upd. 21-Nov-2023, www.penelope.uchicago.edu). The rage for currus circenses (chariot racing) as a spectator sport was such that the Roman went from having 10-12 races a day on 17 days of the year only in Emperor Augustus’ time to 100 races per day during the reign of Domitian. The standard “horse power” for racing chariots was four horses—called a quadriga or quardigae𝔹—piloted by older, more experienced horsemen called agitatos, whereasnovice drivers (auriga) were usually assigned a bigae (two-horse vehicles). Less common but not unheard of were six, eight and ten-horse chariots. The best horses for currus circenses were sourced from the Roman provinces of Lusitania and Hispania and from North Africa (‘Chariot Racing: Rome’s Most Popular, Most Dangerous Sport’, Patrick J Kiger, History, Upd. 17-July-2022, www.history.com).
All that remains today of Circus Maximus
To the Roman masses, the chariot drivers were above all entertainers, just like actors or musicians of the day, but there was a duality to how they were viewed by society. The elite drivers were lauded and lionised by the public (just like elite sportsmen today), but at the same time they were cursed as witches or magicians (this conclusion was drawn because how else could you explain their repeated victories?)(Kiger). Not all social elites in Rome were as gung-ho about the sport as the populus Romanus, although the egregious and unstable emperors Caligula and Nero were both big fans.
To the victor, laurels…and “big bucks”
Charioteers faced a high danger of injury or death from their profession, but the lure was the prospect of fabulous wealth…for the best race drivers. The prize money for a single victory ranged from 15-30 thousand sesterces up to 60,000 sesterces. If you were successful on the track and survived, you could earn a fortune and set yourself up for life…one such ace driver was Portuguese-born Gaius Appeuleius Diocles whose 24-year career netted him upward of 36,000,000 secterces from 1,462 victories. Diocles’ race winnings, valued today as equivalent to US$17 bn, would place him far above the superstar earnings of the Michael Jordans and Novak Djokovics of the modern era in sport (Kiger).
Diocles, champion of the Red team (source: earlychurchhistory.org)
Charioteers competed in teams under the aegis of factiones (factions) which like Formula One racing today, were under the control of team bosses/owners – these were different associations of contractors. The four principal factions, each one associated with a particular season and god, were known as the Reds, Blues, Greens and Whitesℂ. Each faction team had its own talent scouts whose job it was to find the most promising charioteers and horses, and each team had its own passionate tribal supporters base, much as we see today in professional football𝔻 (‘Chariot Races’, The Roman Empire in the First Century, www.pbs.org).
The four “colour” factions
The faction bosses bankrolled the whole operation of their teams, including the engagement of medical and veterinary staff, in return they took a cut of the drivers’ winnings. With customarily 12 charioteers in a race (three drivers from each team), teams pursued a stratagem of using their two lesser drivers to try to manoeuvre and block their opponents to maximise the chances of success of their team’s star driver (Formula One and contemporary professional cycling adopt similar team tactics in races) (‘Chariot Racing’, Travels Through Greco-Roman Antiquity, http://exhibits.library.villanova.edu).
A Roman mosaic of two famous race horses (source: earlychurchhistory.org)
Chariot racing revolved around money, not just for the drivers and factiones, betting on the outcome by the race-going “punters” was big business too. The Circus Maximus didn’t have on-course bookies or the TAB or Ladbrokes but betting was widespread on an individual basis. Prior to a race spectators in the seated areas or in the refreshment arcades would make private wagers with each other on the upcoming race.
Footnote: Hollywood does currus circenses ⟴⟴⟴ Most movie-watchers would have seen the 1959 biblical era blockbuster Ben-Hur, the Charlton Heston version immortalised for its epic 20-plus minutes chariot race. The race is a thrilling climax to the movie, accurately capturing the danger and drama of a real chariot contest in Ancient Rome, however much of what is shown veers away from historical verisimilitude…there are nine bronze dolphin lap counters, not seven, though the chariots are comparatively light as they needed to be. In Roman charioteering the race drivers were formed into teams (as outlined above), whereas in the film this is completely ignored with each competitor singularly representing different ethnicities (Jew, Roman, Arab, etc). Roman chariot races had staggered starts and starting gates (carceres) to negate the advantage to drivers nearest the inner wall or barrier (the spina), the movie is again historically out-of-kilter. First, the contestants line up one abreast, backing on to the the spina which seems to be borrowed from the way Formula One car races used to start in the 1950s, then they wheel round and start in a straight line across the sand-strewn track. Having Ben-Hur’s antagonist the elite Roman soldier Messala as a charioteer, is also all wrong…chariot drivers were recruited from the lower orders, slaves, freedmen, foreigners, they were infamis, the disreputable in society, men with a black mark against them. Lastly, Ben-Hur and Messala and the other drivers all hold the reins of their horses during the race, unlike what the Romans actually did, which was to tie the reins around the charioteer’s waist during the race (‘A Historian”).
‘Ben-Hur’, the iconic chariot race scene
𝔸 and the Byzantines continued the sport after the fall of Rome
𝔹 the quadriga races were the main event of the ludi circenses race day
ℂ the Blues and the Greens, the two largest factions, engaged in a fierce rivalry
𝔻 there were also occasionally spectator riots, as in football
