CIRCUS MAXIMUS

Once upon a time there was a huge arena in Rome. It was called Circus Maximus. Nowadays you will only find a lot of grass and cipresses and the remaining parts of the royal box and the parts where the spectators used to sit. This Circus measured approximately 2035 feet in length and 460 feet in width (620 . 140 meters) and could seat 300,000 spectators. All this is now a national park.

A "circus" was a circle or course for chariot racing. Apart from the Circus Maximus, the largest and oldest, there were three other circusses in Rome: the Circus Flaminius (221 BC), which actually was not a circus at all but a public square; the Circus Gaii et Neronis (circa AD 40), where much of the Christian martyrdom occured and on which St. Peter's basilica was built (the oblisk brought to Rome by Caligula to adorn its "spina" still stands in the square); and the Circus Maxentius (AD 309), built as part of his villa on the Via Appia and the best preserved.

The Circus Maximus was a track used primarily for chariot-racing, although it was used on occasion for wild animal hunts or mock battles. But there were also other racing events in the Circus: "pedibus ad quadrigam" in which the drivers, after the teams had finished, dismounted from their chariots and raced once around the track, themselves; the " equorum anaponum" for horses that were competing for the first time; and a race in which the rider vaulted from one horse to another. Curiously, there seem to have been no races in which a jockey rode the horse. The Circus was famous throughout the ancient world. Built in the 6th century B.C. during the time of the Tarquin , the history of the Circus Maximus is troubled. It was twice destroyed by fire and on at least two occasions the stands collapsed, killing many people.

There was a long barrier (spina) that ran down the middle of the track, in the area of the place where you'll now only see grass. On the Spina were for example two temples, one with seven large eggs and one with seven dolphins. The dolphins came later in 33 B.C. to join the seven wooden eggs.

In the Circus Maximus, unlike the amphitheaters of the day, men and women could sit together, an opportunity for flirtation and dalliance of which Ovid was not un aware, he has written about it. The Circus had also the ancient equivalent of the skyboxes you see nowadays in stadiums for professional sports.

On the "spina" ,that divides this arena in two tracks, we find two obelisks..

helthouCircus was designed for chariot racing, other events like wild animal hunts were held there. They were transferred to the colosseum when, in 63 A.D., it was filled in by Nero to provide space for additional seating, so it was no longer safe to have animal fights in the Circus.

Outside the Circus there were entrances and ascents for the spectators at every shop, so that the countless thousands of people might enter and depart without inconvenience. It was in this arcade of wooden shops that the disastrous fire of AD 64 broke out during the reign of Nero. After another fire, Trajan restored the Circus in AD 103 to its greatest splendor. Three stories high, with arches and engaged columns in the first story, the seating areas were divided into zones by the walkways of each story. The seats in the first tier were of marble and aside from those in the front-row, along a portion of the podium wall that were reserved for senators, and others for the equites who sat behind them, were not segragated as they were in the Coloseum and the Theatre.

The Emperor had a reserved seat, as did senators, knights, those who financially backed the race, those who presided over the competition, and the jury that awarded the prize to the winners.

Under Totila's reign was the last race held. The last race in the Circus Maximus was recorded to have occurred in Ad 549.