Originally published by Prentice-Hall, 1972.

"Conceived as a companion volume to Porphyrius the Charioteer, this study traces the history and significance of what are generally known as 'circus factions' from the principate of Augustus to the eve of the Crusades, dealing mainly with the late Roman to early Byzantine periods. Other historians have analysed the activities of the factions, particularly the urban riots, in social, political, and religious terms, ignoring their sporting allegiances. Cameron offers a thorough-going criticism of the 'traditional' presupposition 'that racing was a thin façade for social and religious conflict'. In its place he presents what is essentially the history of chariot racing, its organization, participants, and spectator supporters. He shows how circus entertainments developed from privately mounted games to publicly funded entertainments; he examines the role of the hippodrome and theatre within political life; and he studies the changing nature of factions--from sporting rivalry, through 'partisan' gangs and hooliganism, to their incorporation in the games' imperial ceremonial and consequent decline." -- Provided by publisher

The classicist and historian Alan Cameron (1938-2017) was one of the scholars who most contributed to the refoundation of late-antique studies. In this tribute fourteen new studies, which range from the first century AD to the ninth, pay him homage.

"Porphyrius Calliopas was the greatest of all the heroes of the sixth century Byzantine hippodrome, celebrated in the Anthology and in monumental reliefs. Only two bases of monuments to Porphyrius survive, the second found in 1963. This book, first published in 1973, presented the first published study of this second base, elucidating the iconography and explaining the inscriptions, and also reassessing the first base in the light of the new evidence. Matching the epigrams of the bases to those in the anthology, Cameron infers that there were a further five monuments to Porphyrius and contemporary charioteers, now lost, and reconstructs the careers of the charioteers, their fame and material rewards. He also discusses the changing fortunes of the hippodrome under the emperors Anastasius and Justinian, the vexed issue of faction violence, and the important way in which the victorious charioteer was seen as a reflection of the victorious Emperor." -- Book jacket