Description
The Circus Maximus is the ancient hippodrome of Rome, a long track in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine, where the Romans watched chariot races. Today it is a large open lawn, with traces of the stands and the curve, which hosts concerts and festivals.
The circus covers about 85,000 square meters. At first it was made of wooden structures, already in the 6th century BC under Tarquinius Priscus, but in 329 BC the first permanent starting gates appeared. The last race on record was organized by the Gothic king Totila, in 549.
Today you can mainly make out the circus's southern curve, with the medieval Torre della Moletta, and a stretch of the side toward the Palatine. The other traces are foundations, which you can read in the pattern of the ground.
On the central spine stood two Egyptian obelisks, now moved: one to Piazza del Popolo and one to St. John Lateran. Excavations continue: in 2015 the remains of the Arch of Titus came to light.
Legend has it born with the city: during the games proclaimed by Romulus for the god Consus, the abduction of the Sabine women is said to have taken place. But the track also had its tricks. The twelve starting boxes were arranged along a curve, so every chariot started on equal terms.
Julius Caesar gave it its first masonry seats, in 46 BC. Augustus planted the obelisk there, and Trajan rebuilt it in AD 103, after a fire. Eggs and dolphins on the spine marked the laps for the public.
In the following centuries the valley filled with vegetable gardens, a Jewish cemetery and even a gasworks, until in the 1900s the area was cleared. Since the 1980s it has hosted large public events.
In 1959 the chariot race of Ben-Hur was to be filmed here, but the Superintendency said no. You get here by Metro line B (Circo Massimo stop) or tram 3.
The circus covers about 85,000 square meters. At first it was made of wooden structures, already in the 6th century BC under Tarquinius Priscus, but in 329 BC the first permanent starting gates appeared. The last race on record was organized by the Gothic king Totila, in 549.
Today you can mainly make out the circus's southern curve, with the medieval Torre della Moletta, and a stretch of the side toward the Palatine. The other traces are foundations, which you can read in the pattern of the ground.
On the central spine stood two Egyptian obelisks, now moved: one to Piazza del Popolo and one to St. John Lateran. Excavations continue: in 2015 the remains of the Arch of Titus came to light.
Legend has it born with the city: during the games proclaimed by Romulus for the god Consus, the abduction of the Sabine women is said to have taken place. But the track also had its tricks. The twelve starting boxes were arranged along a curve, so every chariot started on equal terms.
Julius Caesar gave it its first masonry seats, in 46 BC. Augustus planted the obelisk there, and Trajan rebuilt it in AD 103, after a fire. Eggs and dolphins on the spine marked the laps for the public.
In the following centuries the valley filled with vegetable gardens, a Jewish cemetery and even a gasworks, until in the 1900s the area was cleared. Since the 1980s it has hosted large public events.
In 1959 the chariot race of Ben-Hur was to be filmed here, but the Superintendency said no. You get here by Metro line B (Circo Massimo stop) or tram 3.