Roman circus

A Roman circus (from the Latin word that means "circle") was a large open-air venue used mainly for chariot races, although sometimes serving other purposes.

Similar buildings, called stadia were used for Greek-style athletics particularly in the eastern, Greek speaking, part of the empire, but these were typically smaller than circuses.

According to Edward Gibbon the Roman people, at the start of the 5th century AD:[1] ...still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic.The performance space of the Roman circus was normally, despite its name, an oblong rectangle of two linear sections of race track, separated by a median strip running along the length of about two thirds the track, joined at one end with a semicircular section and at the other end with an undivided section of track closed (in most cases) by a distinctive starting gate known as the carceres, thereby creating a circuit for the races.

The median strip was called the spina and usually featured ornate columns, statues and commemorative obelisks.

One circus, that at Antinoöpolis (Egypt), displays a distinct gap of some 50m between the carceres and the start of the ascending seating where there is apparently no structure.

Differently from other major Roman structures circuses frequently evolved over long periods of time from a simple track in a field, through generations of wooden seating structures (frequently destroyed by fire or rot), before they finally began to be converted to stone.

This is much more complex to measure as it requires that the dimensions of the original vertical and horizontal extent of the inclined seating be re-established.

Seating capacity may vary from around 15,000 people at Gerasa (Jordan), to 150,000 (some estimates put it up to 250,000) at the Circus Maximus (Italy).