Hippodrome

The Hippodrome of Olympia housed the equestrian contests of the Ancient Olympic Games. According to Pausanias, it was situated to the south of the Stadium and covered a large area four stadia long and one stade four plethora wide. The hippodrome was a wide, flat, open space where the starting point and the finish line were designated with a pole and a second smaller pole called nyssa designated the turning point.

Horse and chariot races were one of the most popular and spectacular sports of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece. The equestrian sports of the time were the tethrippon, the apene, the synoris, the tethrippon for foals, the synoris for foals, the perfect keles race, the kalpe and the pole horse race. According to mythology, the first chariot race took place in Olympia between King Pelops and King Oenomaus of Pisa.