Quadriga. A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast.
The four-horse abreast arrangement in quadriga is distinct from the more common four-in-hand array of two horses in the front and two horses in the back. Quadriga was raced in the Ancient Olympic Games and other contests.
It is represented in profile as the chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief. The quadriga was adopted in ancient Roman chariot racing.
Quadrigas were emblems of triumph; Victory or Fame often are depicted as the triumphant woman driving it. In classical mythology, the quadriga is the chariot of the gods; Apollo was depicted driving his quadriga across the heavens, delivering daylight and dispersing the night. The word quadriga may refer to the chariot alone, the four horses without it, or the combination.
Modern sculptural quadrigas are based on the four bronze Horses of Saint Mark or the Triumphal Quadriga, a set of equine Roman or Greek sculptures, the only representation of a quadriga to survive from the classical world, and the pattern for all that follow.Their age is disputed. Originally erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, possibly on a triumphal arch, they are now in St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Venetian Crusaders looted these sculptures in the Fourth Crusade and placed them on the terrace of St Mark's Basilica. In 1797, Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris,
The four-horse abreast arrangement in quadriga is distinct from the more common four-in-hand array of two horses in the front and two horses in the back. Quadriga was raced in the Ancient Olympic Games and other contests.
It is represented in profile as the chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief. The quadriga was adopted in ancient Roman chariot racing.
Quadrigas were emblems of triumph; Victory or Fame often are depicted as the triumphant woman driving it. In classical mythology, the quadriga is the chariot of the gods; Apollo was depicted driving his quadriga across the heavens, delivering daylight and dispersing the night. The word quadriga may refer to the chariot alone, the four horses without it, or the combination.
Modern sculptural quadrigas are based on the four bronze Horses of Saint Mark or the Triumphal Quadriga, a set of equine Roman or Greek sculptures, the only representation of a quadriga to survive from the classical world, and the pattern for all that follow.Their age is disputed. Originally erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, possibly on a triumphal arch, they are now in St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Venetian Crusaders looted these sculptures in the Fourth Crusade and placed them on the terrace of St Mark's Basilica. In 1797, Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris,
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