Circus Maximus, Rome

Situated between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the largest circus in Rome and it held some events like chariot races. It was first used around 600 BC by Etruscans but Trajan emperor rebuilt it with concrete bricks and marble at 100 BC. It could accomodate up to 200.000 spectators. Today, the place is a park and eventually holds some concerts.

Considered one of the seventh ancient wonders of Rome.

Once one of Rome's greatest structures, this one is quite disappointing to visit as the structure is almost completely gone and all that is left is a dirt track that roughly follows where the old track use to be.

We walked down the middle of the large grassy expanse that once was Circus Maximus, once Rome's largest stadium where horse and chariot races were held. To the left up on a hill was Palatine Hill, the oldest part of Rome. There are traces here of Iron Age huts dating from the 9th cen. BC. The palatine was a very desirable place to live and it became home to some of Rome's most famous people such as Cicero. Augustus was born here and lived here when he was emperor. The ruins of the area are very well preserved.

The Circus Maximus is where chariot races and other Roman spectacles took place. I wasn't planning on coming here, but I got lost trying to find my way out of the maze that is the Palantine and Forum area (maybe I was just tired!) It was a lovely place and at one point I was the only person walking across it except for a local man walking his dog! It was incredible! Even cooler (well, maybe not for the grass) is that I heard that Bob Geldolf will be holding one of the Live8 concerts there in Summer 2005. The emporers would be....covering their ears, I'm sure....

This 600 metre track used to be the place Romans would gather to watch chariot races - no it ain't so grand.

It is a bit of a dirty suburban park, but when I went, I and my mates ran around the entire length in the pouring rain and had a great time - something to certainly tell our kids about.

Like I always say - well worth the visit.

On my first visit to Rome I enjoyed sitting up on a bench and watching the activity below. People walking dogs, a chariot racing round the oval track, soldiers doing drill , and children playing. It seemed so nice that the place was still giving pleasure to the inhabitants, though on a less public manner.
And it is easy to imagine the face of the palatine filled with people cheering on the competitors racing their chariots.

Today there is hardly anything left of the biggest horse circuit of ancient Rome, lying between the Palatine and Aventine mountain. The Circus Maximus first housed horse runnings in the 4th century BC. The great Circense Games sometimes took 60 days with 12 races a day!.

In Caesar´s time the Circus Maximus got the shape we imagine at this time. In those days it offered a place to 150.000 people. Later other emperors expanded it further and made it 600 metres long and 200 metres wide, offering place to about 300.000 people!

The spina is the backbone of the circuit, dividing the two halfs. It was 214 metres long and 6 metres wide. There were a lot of statues at the spina, and August placed a 23 metres high obelisk here. But these decorations were not always safe. Once there fell a column on the tribunes, causing thousends of deads. And one times a tribune collapsed, asking 13.000 people´s lifes.

The races were spectacular. There were 12 starting docks. The cars were pulled by 2 to 4 horses. There was a lot of money to be earned in the race. In euro´s this would be amounts of over the million euro´s. And there were a lot of casualties: cars smashing against the tribunes or racers falling of the cars.

At the stands it always was restless. There was a lot of wine and big fights between hostile fanclubs. There often were people killed on the tribunes and at one occasion over a thousend people got killed.

Nowdays it is a lot more peaceful in the Circus Maximus. It´s a large lawn that gives a good image of how big the Circus once was. The Romans come here to picknick, play with their kids or dogs or to sport. It´s a nice place to look around and get some rest.

The Circus Maximus was once ancient Rome’s largest stadium, and its grandstands could held up to 250,000 spectators. It is set between the Palatine and Aventine hills. The Circus had a central dividing barrier with seven large egg-shaped objects on it used for counting the laps of a race, and were then joined in 33 B.C. by seven bronze dolphins that served a similar purpose.