Chariot races were difficult and sometimes dangerous. There was much opportunity for skill and cunning, and fair play was ensured by judges and by making competitors swear that they would compete fairly. The following passage comes from Homer's Iliad (circa eighth-seventh centuries B.C.E.), with Achilles presiding over a series of competitions to honor his slain comrade Patroclus:

They stood in line for the start, and Achilleus showed them the turn-post far away on the level plain, and beside it he stationed a judge, Phoinix the godlike, the follower of his father, to mark and remember the running and bring back a true story.

Then all held their whips high-lifted above their horses, then struck with the whip thongs and in words urged their horses onward into speed . . . presently after this battle-stubborn Antilochos saw where the hollow way narrowed. There...