[7] In the Iliad, Achilles kills Hector in retribution for the death of his friend Patroclus, then drives his chariot around the funeral pyre three times, dragging the Trojan prince's body.
This magical encircling may originally have been a binding propitiation of the dead, to assure their successful passage into the afterlife and keep them from returning.
Commemorative art in Greece, the Etruscan civilization and ancient Rome often depicts a chariot scene or the deceased riding a horse into the afterlife.
[10] The turn of a racetrack is the most likely spot for a crash, and so the natural dangers of a sharp curve combined with the sacral aura of a tomb or other religious site led to a belief in a supernatural presence.
"[16] The comic playwright Aristophanes makes a joke in The Knights calling Cleon Taraxippostratus, "Disturber of the Horse Troops.