Finish Line

circus model

The Latin is linea alba. Half-way down the right-hand side of the barrier, a white line extends across the track; to win a race, a team must be the first to cross this line at the end of the seventh lap. In front of the finishing line a temple is built into the stands on the Aventine hill, presided over by deities with a professional interest in chariots--the Sun (Sol, whose quadriga is pulled by four horses) and the Moon (Luna, whose smaller biga is pulled by two).

Barbara F. McManus
bmcmanus@cnr.edu