The Ager Vaticanus, the alluvial plain outside the city walls on the west bank of the Tiber, was developed at the end of the first century BC,[2] allowing patrician families to construct luxurious private residences (Horti).

The circus was abandoned by the middle of the second century AD, when the area was partitioned and given in concession to private individuals for the construction of tombs in the necropolis.

The obelisk at the centre of this circus's spina always remained standing, until it was re-erected in Saint Peter's Square in the 16th century by the architect Domenico Fontana.

The Via Cornelia ran parallel with the north side of the Circus, and its course can be traced with precision, for pagan tombs have been discovered at various times along its edges.

Sante Bartoli's memoirs record that when Alexander VII was building the left wing of Bernini's colonnade and the lefthand fountain, a tomb was discovered with a bas-relief above the door representing a marriage-scene ("vi era un bellissimo bassorilievo di un matrimonio antico").