Running Centaur

Sinclair W. Bell is Professor of Art History and Presidential Teaching Professor at Northern Illinois University. One of his primary areas of research is sport and spectacle in the Roman period, about which he has published numerous articles and books and which he discusses in a recent documentary, ‘Rome’s Chariot Superstar.’Christian Jaser is Professor of Medieval History and Historical Auxiliary Sciences at the University of Klagenfurt. His research interests encompass the history of premodern sport cultures in the context of urban and courtly settings. His book on urban horse racing in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Italy and Germany is forthcoming.Christian Mann is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Mannheim. His research interests include sport and spectacle in antiquity, Greek athletes as well as Roman gladiators. He is co-editor of the journals Klio and Nikephoros.

• 1. Introduction: Towards a Global History of Horse Racing 2. Horse Races and Chariot Races in Ancient Greece: Struggling for Eternal Glory 3. Horse Racing in Imperial Rome: Athletic Competition, Equine Performance, and Urban Spectacle 4. The Emperor and His People at the Chariot Races in Byzantium 5. Horse Racing at the Ottoman Court, 1524–1728 6. Urban Palio and Scharlach Races in Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Italy and Germany 7. Spectacular Spanish Horses in New Spain 8. The Sport of Kingmakers: Horse Racing in Late Stuart England 9. Capitalist Horse Sense: Sports Betting and Option Trading during the English Financial Revolution, 1690–1740 10. ‘A Horse-Race is the Same All the World Over’: The Cultural Context of Horse Racing in Native North America