A Roman circus (from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word that means "circle") was a large open-air venue used mainly for

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

races, although sometimes serving other purposes. It was similar to the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

. Along with

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

s and

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

s, circuses were one of the main entertainment venues at the time. Similar buildings, called '' stadia'' were used for Greek-style athletics particularly in the eastern, Greek speaking, part of the empire, but these were typically smaller than circuses. According to

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

the Roman people, at the start of the 5th century AD:

Architectural design

The performance space of the Roman circus was normally, despite its name, an oblong rectangle of two linear sections of

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

, separated by a median strip running along the length of about two thirds the track, joined at one end with a semicircular section and at the other end with an undivided section of track closed (in most cases) by a distinctive starting gate known as the '' carceres'', thereby creating a circuit for the races. The

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian language, Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot racing, chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine Hill, Avent ...

epitomises the design. The median strip was called the ''spina'' and usually featured ornate columns, statues and commemorative

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

s. The turning points on either end of the ''spina'' were usually marked by conical poles, called the ''metae'' (singular: ''meta''). The track of the circus was normally surrounded by ascending seating along the length of both straight sides and around the curved end, though there were sometimes interruptions in the seating to provide access to the circus or the seating, or to provide for special viewing platforms for dignitaries and officials. One circus, that at Antinoöpolis (Egypt), displays a distinct gap of some 50m between the ''carceres'' and the start of the ascending seating where there is apparently no structure. This appears to be an exception. The great majority of circuses fit the description above. Those that do not display two different variations: that at Emerita Augusta (Mérida, Spain), where the ''carceres'' end is substituted by a slightly curved 'straight' end joined to the straight sides of ascending seating by rounded corners of ascending seating; and a few in which the ''carceres'' end is substituted by a second semi-circular end to produce an oval shaped arena. These latter circuses are normally small ( Nicopolis (Greece) and Aphrodisias (Turkey)), and should probably be considered ''stadia''.

Common characteristics

Dates

Differently from other major Roman structures circuses frequently evolved over long periods of time from a simple track in a field, through generations of wooden seating structures (frequently destroyed by fire or rot), before they finally began to be converted to stone. Although circuses such as the

(Italy) may have existed in some form from as early as around 500 BC, circuses were mainly constructed during the 400 years between 200 BC and 200 AD. Circus Maximus#History of Construction.

Dimensions

The comparative dimensions of a circus may be measured in two basic ways: by the length of the track, and by the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

. Other dimensions, such as the external dimensions of the structure may vary considerably depending on the location, the site, and on specific architectural characteristics. The simplest comparative measurement of a circus is its track length. This is the most easily measured dimension, as it only requires small excavations at either end of the centreline. It is very probable that this can be done even when the circus is buried under subsequent constructions. Track lengths may vary from the 245 m of the circus at

Gerasa Jerash (; , , ) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman. The earliest evidence of settl ...

(Jordan), to the 621 m of the

(Italy). The alternative comparative dimension is that of seating capacity. This is much more complex to measure as it requires that the dimensions of the original vertical and horizontal extent of the inclined seating be re-established. In many cases the full structure of the inclined seating has been destroyed beyond the point where this can be measured, or at the least would require a great deal more excavation than that required for the measurement of the track length. Seating capacity may vary from around 15,000 people at Gerasa (Jordan), to 150,000 (some estimates put it up to 250,000) at the Circus Maximus (Italy).

Orientation

Circuses do not appear to have been constructed with any special compass orientation. Those that are well identified can be found with their round ends oriented around the compass. Examples include: N.

(Jordan); NE. Antinoöpolis (Egypt); E. Circus of Maxentius (Italy); E.

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

(Britain); SE.

(Italy); S. Tyrus (Lebanon); SW. Gortyn (Greece); W.

Circus of Nero The so-called Circus of Nero or Circus of Caligula was a circus (building), circus in ancient Rome, located mostly in the present-day Vatican City. It was first built under Caligula. History The ''Ager Vaticanus'', the alluvial plain outs ...

(Italy).

Relative location

Circuses can be found at three distinct locations relative to the towns to which they belong: * outside the city walls at anything up to 1.5 km distant, as at:

(Jordan) (c300m), and

Leptis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by #Names, other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Established as a Punic people, Puni ...

(Libya) (1.5 km). * simply within the town walls, as at:

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

(Greece). * inside the walls, in the heart of the town, and an integral part of the architectural power structure of the town, as at: Rome,

Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous province of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians ...

(Serbia) and

Tarraco Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of Hispania Tarraconensis following the latter's creation during the Roman Empire ...

(Spain).

Carceres

The ''carceres'', or starting gates, had a distinctive, slanted, slightly curved, plan form, designed to compensate for what would otherwise be significant differences in the distances from the individual starting gates to the start of the first section of straight track on the right hand side of the ''spina'' (as seen from the ''carceres''). The ''carceres'' were designed for the races to be run round the ''spina'' in an anticlockwise direction. The form of the ''carceres'' appears to have been standardised throughout the Roman world. The similarity in form among the ''carceres'' of circuses of many different sizes suggests that ''carceres'' were constructed according to a series of proportional mathematical relationships or formulas. It is not clear when the earliest ''carceres'' of the standardised form was constructed, nor whether there exists documentary evidence for the existence of such formulas. Some of the best examples of ''carceres'' can be found at:

(Jordan) and the Circus of Maxentius (Italy).

Best preserved

The best preserved circuses include: Emerita Augusta (Spain), Caesarea Maritima (coastal) (Israel), Circus of Maxentius (Italy),

(Jordan), Tyrus (Lebanon),

(Libya).

List of Roman circuses

Unless otherwise indicated the coordinates in the following list are of a point that lies within the space of a circus. For the remaining circuses (those whose detailed location is not known) the point is for a location within the space of the historic nucleus of the associated town, or for a location within the associated archaeological site. These points are probably within 1.5 kilometres of the site of the circus, as a circus was almost always within this distance from its associated town. (ordered initially by country; number of circuses at latest count (2012-04-01): 63)

References

External links

Cyrene

Ondernemen.in: List of circus-hippodrome structures

Google Earth file containing several locations
{{Ancient Roman architecture lists 01 Ancient chariot racing Ancient Roman architecture Horse racing venues Sport in ancient Rome