Circus Maximus In Ancient Rome

It’s all about the gods, from sacrifice to entertainment. Circus Maximus was the largest chariot racing stadium built in all of Ancient Rome. Its original purpose was to hold religious ceremonies, chariot races, and other various events which were in honor of Jupiter. The stadium was one of the most popular places to be; enjoyed thoroughly by many ancient romans. Throughout history and many different emperors; there have been multiple reconstructions, and expansions of Circus Maximus. Initially, the stadium was built of wood and later on would be replaced by marble. In modern day the stadium has become a public park full of grass and broken structures. In Ancient Rome, it was a destination everyone saw; even Jupiter was watching.
Circus Maximus
was constructed in the 7th century BC by the last of the seven kings, Tarquinius Priscus. The track was built in between the Palatine and Aventine hills, formally known as the Murcia Valley. He wanted to build a track to hold events to honor Jupiter; originally Zeus from the Greek gods. The entire stadium was made out of wood, including the seats in a mass seating area. In time it will be changed to stone, then marble, but I guess wood was the best material to use at the time. Since the track was built on an unsteady valley, it wasn’t completely proportional. Some parts of the stadium were longer or shorter than others but everything was in its own unique place. The building was a stretched oval shape with a flatter end that held the chariot openings.
Since there was a fire in 31 BC that destroyed most of the stadium, some thought that was the end of it. The entire stadium caught fire and burnt to a crisp, Priscus clearly didn’t think of all the possibilities. Julius Caesar rebuilt, remodeled, and expanded the building. He made most of the stadium out of stone, but some parts were still wood. He added a canal in the middle of the track that was 10 feet deep and 10 feet wide; formally known as the euripus. He also fixed the clash between Patricians and Plebeians by installing separate areas for Patricians to sit; as well as an imperial box for the royal family upon the Palatine hill. At this point in time is when the games were rising in popularity and there was a demand for more space.
The huge oval track had a divider down the middle called the spina decorated in obelisks. The obelisks symbolized immortality, the sun, pillars and images of the gods. At each end of the spina were column like structures called “metae” which prevented any damage to the spina during a race or event. Seven wooden eggs and seven bronze dolphins were hung up at each metae. During the chariot races it was traditional to have seven laps in a race; after each lap a single egg and a single dolphin would be removed to show the status of the race. This was for the crowd’s convenience and to let them know the status of the race. The eggs were symbols of two patron Roman saints, Caster and Pollux. The dolphins were attributed to Neptune, who also happened to be the God of horses.
In 64 AD, a second fire took Circus Maximus by surprise as well as Rome. The fire started in the wooden shops on the ground of the stadium and burned up most of the empire during Nero’s reign. The next reconstruction and expansion of the stadium was done by Emperor Trajan; who decided to cover it all in marble this time around. After, the stadium could hold up to approximately 250,000 people. The expansion reached approximately 2,000 feet long and 660 feet wide which was the largest it ever became. The circumference of the entire stadium was a mile.
At this time, the circus was used for more than just chariot races. Some events that took place were gladiator fights, wild animal hunts, and even public executions. General “Pompey even had a troop of barbarian gladiators in pitched battle against twenty elephants which almost managed to break out into the public” (Mariamilani.com). Depending on which emperor was in power, there were different events at different times and at different levels of severity. For example, at one point in Julius Caesar’s rule, he had the chariot races held in September for 15 days. Whereas during Caligula’s reign, there were chariot races, executions, and many more that took place multiple times a day for consecutive days.
On the subject of chariot races, there were many rules and regulations.
Typically the charioteer’s were sectioned into factions or classes; they were distinguished by dress and societal placement. In the beginning of the races there were only four which were whites, reds, blues, and greens. After some time, Emperor Domitian added the purples and the golds. Spectators had their favorite colors or groups, similar to how modern day cultures support their favorite team. Bets “were laid on one of the factions and supporters of the different factions often clashed, sometimes resulting in deaths among the spectators” (aviewoncities.com). These events were so important to the romans that they often broke out into violent fights in the streets of
Rome.
The significance of Circus Maximus to the roman people was their source of entertainment. The general population of Ancient Rome during this time period was mostly concerned about marriage, reproduction, and surviving their circumstances. One of the only things that the people looked forward to, entertainment wise, were these games or any other random event. When there isn’t much to do in your space time, humans minds will wander off and start to think for themselves. Anything to keep their minds off their daily lives was appealing and intriguing.
Eventually, the largest entertainment center in all of Ancient Rome, came to its end. The last race was held was in 549 AD by Totila. The story behind the last race is blurred, but we do know that it wasn’t ruined forever. After its last race the structure was left to decay and just sat there for a long time. It endured years of wear and tear damage and was physically manipulated by the elements such as floods. Bits and pieces were torn off and used for various other projects and was forgotten about it for a long time. Some tried to preserve what was left, but not everything is worth trying to save.
Fortunately the structure does still stand today, but completely different than it was in the ancient world. It stands in the middle of the city of Rome as a beautiful public park. Over the past few centuries, experts have tried to reconstruct the outer portion of the stadium but due to many floods couldn’t find the bottom. The entire bottom of Circus Maximus is now completely covered in grass. Although it will never be Circus Maximus again, it takes on an entirely new form now. Today it is a public park but it is often used for concerts and various meetings. The space is very convenient for local farmer’s markets and outdoor activities. There are no restrictions on who can visit, since it is a public park.
After learning about Circus Maximus, I thought I knew the stadium inside and out.
This project was a lot harder than I expected; little details take so long to recreate. For the base of the model I used a block of wood, I used two types of Styrofoam and self-drying clay for other various parts. On the block of wood, I used clay to reconstruct the track but it kept cracking and pulling away from the wood. I painted everything with either spray paint or acrylic paints. I found that most Styrofoam melts and distorts itself when it comes in contact with super glue or spray paint. The pieces were built and painted before the model was assembled.
This project was very time consuming, demanding and very challenging. I would recommend this for other students. It allows them to see in depth what the architecture looks like and contemplate just how the ancient romans pulled it off. I chose to do this structure because it was hard and I thought I could make it easy; I was so very wrong. After countless tears, I finally managed to pull it together and get everything worked out. Circus Maximus must have been one of the most popular places to be in this time, there was so much excitement and
energy.
Overall, I am proud of the work and effort I put into this project. All the time, money, and tears made it worth it in the end. I would like to go visit the site where Circus Maximus stood someday. I don’t know what it is about sports that draw people together but the chariot races that took place back then, could be justified and compared to our football games now. Circus Maximus started as a chariot racing track, and found its way to a public park.