New Find By German Archaeologists Reveals Nero's Chariot Course

German archaeologists take credit for a most special find with the help of radar technology. They said they found the Olympic course where Emperor Nero raced chariots.

German archaeologists using radar technology believe they may have discovered the ancient horse racing track at Olympia where Roman Emperor Nero bribed his way to the Olympic laurels. Nero was a capricious ruler of great cruelty and tyranny, who went past the tradition and participated in the Olympics in AD 67 and took part in a chariot race (of four horses) with a team of ten speeds. Despite of the fact that he did fall from his car, Nero was declared winner. Olympia is the sacred site where, in the eighth century BC, the early Greeks laid the foundation for the celebrated Olympic games. The whereabouts of the racecourse is one of the last-remaining mysteries of Olympia. The largest structure of ancient Olympia, the kilometre-long course, has been lost for more than 1,600 years since the Christian emperor Theodosius strictly banned the games (known to have done so due to their pagan past). "By means of geomagnetic investigation... the first clear indications of the localization of the Hippodrome were found," according to Norbert Muller of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz helped fund the all-important search.