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6 Facts about the Circus Maximus

 |  Rolling Rome

Interesting facts about Rome’s oldest stadium and the greatest and largest Stadium in mankind history – the “Circus Maximus”.

  1. The Circus of Maxentius is considered the largest stadium in ancient Rome and the first stadium built by the Romans. It was designed for chariot races (ludi cercenses), but also other events were held there including gladiatorial combats (ludi gladiatorii) and animal hunts, some of which were exotically spectacular in the extreme, such as when Pompey organized a contest between a group of barbarian gladiators and 20 elephants. The popular chariot races were held here for almost a millennium.
  2. It was first constructed in 6 century BC. and various improvements were made to the design of this massive arena. The stadium was surrounded with rows of seats all around, 3 stories high. The lowest were made of concrete and stone and wood for the rest. The lower part of the seating area was built in marble. Shops outside the circus would have served the needs of the spectators. ). A decorated barrier (spina or euripus) ran down the centre of the track, so that chariots ran in a circuit around conical turning posts (metae) placed at each end. The spina also had two obelisks added over the centuries, one in the centre and one at the end.
    1. First excavations were during the papacy of Sixtus ˅ in 1587 and the two obelisks of the spina were recovered. Nowadays they can be seen in Piazza del Popolo and Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano.At its largest during the 1st century CE following its rebuilding after the fire of 64 CE, this large arena with length at 621m.(2,037ft.) and width at 118m.(387ft.) had a capacity for more than 250,000 people (one quarter of Rome’s population at that time).The spectators were seated on banks 30m. wide and 28m. high.
    2. The Circus is situated between the Palatine and the Aventine hills. Due to the fact that the Palatine Hill was the home of the royal families and the Emperor, an imperial box was built high up for them in the palace area on the hill. Private boxes were made also for politicians, important military personnel and senators. Admission to the Circus Maximus was free and all levels of Roman society, from the emperor to the urban poor, came to see the chariot races.
    3. Chariots were very light, probably made of leather, so they could go as fast as possible. It would have been like driving a basket on wheels. The chariots themselves were colour-coded (red, white, green and blue) and could be pulled by teams of 4, 6, 8 or 12 horses. Charioteers wore leather helmets and jerkins in the colors of their faction (green, blue, red or white). They had to circle the Spine 7 times- a total distance of about 11km. (7miles). Chariot racing was the most popular spectator sport in ancient Rome, even more popular than the gladiators combats. The crowd was placing huge bets on the games and the victorious charioteers not only become rich, but they also became the darlings of the crowd. The most famous winner of all, with more than 2,000 race victories, was Scorpus. A charioteer (or horse) who had won more than a thousand races was called a militaries.
    4. Today the sight of the circus is a large public park. People often use it as a place to hold meetings and concerts. The bands who had performed in Circus Maximus included The Rolling Stones with 71.527 people audience and Genesis, who performed in front of 500,000 people. The Circus has also hosted victory celebrations, following the Italian World Cup 2006.

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