The Hippaphesis of Kleoitas

The hippaphesis invented by Kleoitas, a sculptor and engineer of the 5th c. BC, was an ingenious device used in ancient Olympia that enabled the non-synchronous, but fair start of chariots and horses in the respective equestrian events.

The chariots were positioned in a gradational arrangement, one after the other, behind barriers at the starting line of the hippodrome that took the form of a ship’s prow (Λ shaped), pointing towards the track. At the apex of the prow, a bronze dolphin was affixed onto a pole of a wooden mechanism. This mechanism was connected to a second contrivance installed inside a podium in the shape of an altar behind the prow, to which a bronze eagle was attached. The starter inside the “altar” activated the mechanism, the eagle was raised so that everyone in the stadium could see it, while the dolphin was lowered. Simultaneously, the ropes that functioned as barriers were gradually released starting with the stalls at the flanks; as a result, the horses in these compartments started running first. When these reached the point occupied by the horses in the second position, the respective barriers were removed and so on, until all horses were found level with each other at the ram of the prow.

Now victory depended on the horses’ speed and the charioteers’ skill.