CIRCUS (Lat. circus, ring, circus, alluding to the shape of the arena ). The Circus of an cient Rome corresponds to the Greek Stadium (q.v.). it was a large, oblong space. with curved end (whence the name), surrounded by tiers of seats and adapted for chariot-races and horse-races. and used also for the exhibition of athletic exercises, mock contests, and conflicts of wild beasts. sports originally held in the Forum were afterwards given in the Circus. During the entire republican period it wrs here and in the Forum that the contests took place which after the time of Casar were given in the amphitheatres. The Cireensian were alleged by tradition to have originated in the time of Romulus, when they were dedicated to Census or Neptune, and (-ailed ronsualia. After the first War undertaken by Tarquinins Priscus, in which he captured the Latin city of Apiohe, his victory was celebrated by games. A space. Was marked out for a circus around the Altar of Census in the l•allis Murria, between the Aventine and the Palatine, and the senators and knights were allowed to erect scaffoldings round it for themrsel•es. The games continued to he held annually, and the tiers of wooden seats were made permanent and periodically renewed. This was distinguished, subsequently to the erec tion of the Flaminian and other eirci, as the Circus )1aximus. It was altered and enlarged at various times. Aecording. to com putations, it was capable of holding 150,000, 260.000, or 4'45,000 persinis, Its extent has been variously estimated. In the time of ;Wins C:esar it was three stadia. or 1875 feet, long and one stadium. or 6•5 feet, wide, while the depth of the buildings surrounding the open space was half a stadium, or about 312 feet. The lower tiers of seats were. fur the first time, built of stone in the time of Julius Ca.sar: even after that the upper tiers were of wood, until the time of Domitian, when it was all of stone and marble, though its stage of greatest magnificence was reached under Trajan. who erected there a triumphal arch. The exterior was formed of three stories of arches, like the Coliseum, hut built of white marble. Next in date (lime the Circus Flaminius, built in B.C. 221 in the Cam pus :Martins, and a favorite ousting-place. It measured about 1000 by 401) feet. There was a Circus of Caligula and Nero, near the Vatican: a Circus of lladrian near his mausoleum; a Stadium of Domitian at the Piazza Navona; a Circus in the gardens of lleliogabalus: awl a Circus of Alaxentius on the Via Appia, two miles from the city. All these served as
quarries down to the close of the Renaissance, so that few traces are left of any of them. ex cept that of "Alaxent ins. which is merely stripped of its surface decoration. Its construction is believed to have differed very little from that of the large Circus. Along the sides and at the curved end were ascending ranges of wooden or stone seats for the spectators. forming the ea reit. divided into bands (three in the Circus nixi mus) or narniona by horizontal passages called am 7,u/cwt.'s or prirci netiones. Each m n in num was cut into mine; by numbered flights of steps, as in the theatre or amphitheatre, and each line of seats was numbered: but there were no indi vidual seats, each person being allowed so much space by lines marked. The vaults and piers sup porting the receding lines of seats were like those of the Coliseum. Light columns were erected, supp)rting temporary or permanent cov erings for the spectators. Boxes of especial beauty were erected for the emperors, magis trates. etc.—some of them alcove the VareCirs. At the end opposite the curve-end were the car eercs, or stalls, whieb were covered. and fur nished with gates, and in which the horses and chariots remained until. on a given signal. the gates were simultaneously flung open. In the centre is the spina, a long and broad wall round which the eharioteers drove, terminating at both ends at the au or goals—three cones which marked the turnings of the course. At each extremity of the ear•eres is 11 tower. From its gates and eastellated appearance, the whole of this side received the name of oppOlum, or `town! Over the eareercs were seats for the president of the games, the consuls, or other tinguished persons. There were four entrances, of which the most important were the porta pomper and the porte trinmploalis. The games were inaugurated by a procession from 1 he Capitol, in which those bearing the images of the gods went first, and were followed by the performers in the games, the consuls, and others, 'this procession entered through the porta pom tar, while the porte t riu ',hubs was that by which the victors left the circus.