Circus
（
κίρκος). A building used by the Romans for chariot races
and other amusements, the general form of which was borrowed from the
ἱππόδρομος of the Greeks. (See
Hippodromus.) Its name is derived from the circuit made by the racing chariots (Varr.
L. L. v. 153).
The Circus Maximus in Rome was for a long time the only building of the kind, and appears to
have been the model from which all later
circi were copied. Vitruvius
does not mention the circus in his treatise on Roman architecture. According to the legend,
Romulus held the Consualia, or games in honour of the Latin deity Consus (see
Consualia), in the Vallis Murcia, a long, narrow
depression between the Palatine and Aventine hills. It was during the celebration of these
games that the rape of the Sabine women is said to have taken place (Val. Max. ii. 4). The
long, level bottom and sloping sides of the Vallis Murcia made it a naturally convenient place
for races to be held and seen by a crowd of spectators, who probably stood or sat on the
grassy slopes of the two hills long before any architectural structure was erected. See Ovid,
A. A. i. 107.
Wooden seats (
fori) for the people are said to have been first
constructed by Tarquinius Priscus (
Liv.i. 35), and these were
frequently burnt and rebuilt in the same material: restorations in B.C. 327 and B.C. 174 are
mentioned by Livy (
viii. 20, and
xli.
27). In the time of Iulius Caesar some of the seats were for the first time constructed
of stone, but even then and many years later the upper tiers and galleries were still of wood.
Very serious accidents are recorded to have happened under many of the emperors, owing to the
failure of the wooden seats when crowded with people. No less than 1000 persons are said to
have been killed in this way during the reign of Antoninus Pius. Dionysius (iii. 68), who
describes the Circus Maximus as it was after Iulius Caesar's improvements, says that it then
held 150,000 people. A destructive fire in B.C. 31 was followed by important restorations, and
Augustus added a magnificent marble
pulvinar or imperial box, and placed
in the centre of the
spina the Egyptian obelisk which now stands in the
Piazza del Popolo (
Suet. Aug. 43-45). In A.D.
36, another fire destroyed the upper tiers of seats on the Aventine side, and a great part of
the Circus was soon restored and enlarged by Claudius, who rebuilt in white
marble the
carceres, which were then of tufa, and replaced the old wooden
metae by new ones of gilt bronze (
Claud. 21). After this
restoration the Circus contained seats, partly of marble and partly of wood, for 250,000
spectators, showing that it had been much enlarged since the rebuilding of Iulius Caesar
(
Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 102). In the reign of
Domitian the marble seats were carried still higher, and thenceforth the danger of fire was
much diminished, though wooden galleries (
maeniana) appear to have
existed at the top of the
cavea for many years later.
Great additional splendour was given to the Circus Maximus by Trajan, as is recorded on the
reverse of some of his first brasses; and from his time the building must have been among the
most magnificent structures of the Roman world. The whole
cavea with its
tiers of seats, the
carceres, the emperor's
pulvinar, and the central
spina were then of gleaming white
marble, decorated with gold and colours, studded with jewel-like glass mosaics, and adorned
with long lines of columns made of richly-tinted Oriental marbles and rows of large statues in
marble and gilt bronze, together with costly metal screens and richly
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Circus Maximus. (Restoration by Benvenuti.)
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sculptured thrones for officials of rank (
Paneg. 51). Still further
accommodation was added by Constantine; and Constantius set on the
spina
a second obelisk, which his father had transported from Thebes (
Aurel. Vict. Caes. 40), and which now stands in the piazza of the Lateran. After
this final enlargement the Circus held, according to the
Notitia, the almost
incredible number of 385,000 people. The best MS. of the
Notitia gives 485,000
as the number of possible spectators in the Circus, which probably includes the crowds of
people outside the Circus on the upper slopes of the two hills, who would have a distinct
though distant view of the whole arena. It is impossible to discover with absolute accuracy
what the size of the Circus Maximus was when complete; it cannot, however, have been less than
2000 feet long, by more than 600 feet wide, measuring outside.
In spite of its enormous size very little now remains of the Circus Maximus; but the
excavations of recent years have brought to light some very interesting portions of the
substructures; and these, with the help of some drawings made in the sixteenth century, when a
considerable portion of the Circus was still very complete, enable us to form a fairly
accurate notion of its plan and general construction. Additional help is given by the
well-preserved remains of the Circus of Maxentius, of which a plan is given on the following
page. Though quite different in ground-plan, yet in the arrangement of the seats and in its
external façade the Circus once closely resembled the
Colosseum (q.v.), except that the general effect must have been much more
splendid, since in the Circus nothing but marble and gilt bronze was visible. Part of the
exterior façade of the Circus is fortunately shown in the great oil-painting in the
museum at Mantua, giving a bird's-eye view of Rome as it was in the fifteenth century. A
fac-simile of this is shown in De Rossi's
Piante di Roma anteriori al
XVI<
hi rend=superscript>mo<
/hi>
Secolo
(Rome, 1879). See also Middleton,
Anc. Rome in 1885, p. 287, and
fig. 10 on p. 83; id.
Remains of Anc. Rome (London, 1892), vol.
ii. pp. 40- 60; and the article
Roma. There is an
interesting etching of the sixteenth century which shows a large portion (now destroyed) of
the concrete vaults which supported the long line of the
cavea seats.
Excavations made a few years ago at the foot of the south western slope of the Palatine have
exposed a long series of chambers, which formed part of the immense substructures of the
Circus. These chambers were used for brothels (
Juv.iii. 65), for
refreshment stalls (
Dionys. vii. 72), and other purposes. They open
upon a road, paved with flint blocks, which appears to have run at the foot of the Palatine
along the whole northeastern side of the Circus, and led from the Forum boarium to the Porta
Capena.
Owing to their lofty positions, the palace of Augustus and the other imperial buildings on
the Palatine must have commanded a very complete view of the races in the Circus; and some of
the emperors built special additions to their palaces to enable them to see the games without
leaving their residences (
Calig. 18). See
Palatium.
Arrangements of the Circus.—The drawing of the Circus of
Maxentius given on the next page will serve to give an idea of the arrangements of the Circus
Maximus, from which it was copied.
According to Livy , the Roman senators from a very early period had the privilege of special
seats at the Circus. Augustus arranged a complete classification of the spectators. He
reserved the
podium for the Senate and persons of high rank, and allotted
special seats to soldiers, married plebeians, boys and their
paedagogi,
women, etc. (See Suet.
Aug. 44;
Nero, 11; and the
Mon. Ancyranum, ed. Mommsen, Berlin,
1883.) Until
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Plan of the Circus of Maxentius. AA. Carceres. Porta Pompae, entrance in centre of the
carceres. CC. Gradus, seats of the spectators. D. Tribunal Iudicum. E. Pulvinar, seat of the
emperor. F. Porta Triumphalis. HH. Entrances between the carceres and gradus. II. Towers. K.
Alba linea, starting line. LL. Metae. MM. Spinae. N. (See p. 353.)
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this classification, the fact that men and women sat together in the Circus had been
one of its peculiarities as a place of amusement—a fact often alluded to by Ovid.
Cushions (
pulvini) were used, especially by ladies, on the hard marble
seats, and footstools (
scabella) were sometimes introduced, though each
gradus was so low—only thirteen to fourteen inches
high—that these can have been of but little use. See Ovid,
A. A. i. 160-162.
A large number of interesting inscriptions have been found at different times, which throw
much light on the way in which the seats were apportioned in the
circi
and amphitheatres of Rome. (See Lanciani,
Inscriz. d. Anfit. Flav., Rome,
1884.) The
cavea was divided into bands called
maeniana by the horizontal passages,
ambulacra or
praecinctiones; there were probably three of these divisions or
maeniana in the Circus Maximus, without counting the gallery at the top. The lowest of
these divisions was called
maenianum primum, and the highest was called
summum; each of these bands of seats was also divided by flights of
steps into
cunei, which were numbered; each line of seats (
gradus) in each
cuneus was also numbered; and as there were no
divisions to separate one place from the next, each
gradus was measured,
and allotment was made to various classes of a fixed number of feet measured from one end.
Thus, for example, the space allotted to a
collegium of priests might be
described as follows: “In the first
maenianum, in the twelfth
cuneus, nine feet of
gradi 4 and 5.”
In addition to the
cavea proper and its
podium,
various state boxes were constructed of marble, with columns and arches to support the
entablature and roof of each. One series of these (
cubicula or
suggestus) was over the
carceres, and appears to have
been occupied by the giver of the games (
editor spectaculorum) and his
friends. Another elevated box (the
tribunal iudicum, D) was placed at one
side for the umpires, who decided which chariot first crossed the line chalked on the arena in
front of them. See Henzen,
Acta Fratrum Arval, p. 37
(Berlin,
1874).
A separate
pulvinar or state box (E) for the imperial family, of great
size and magnificence, was erected on the Palatine side of the Circus Maximus
(
Claud. 4). An interesting relief of the third century A.D., found at Foligno,
represents the presiding magistrate or
editor of the games seated in
his box over the
carceres; he holds in his hand a bag of money,
which he is about to give to the winning charioteer, who has driven up and is saluting him
from below. A similar scene is represented on several of the ivory consular diptychs of the
fourth and fifth centuries. (See Gori,
Thesaur. Vet. Dipt., Florence, 1759).
The chief of these is the celebrated leaf of a fourth century diptych in the Museo Quiriniano
at Brescia. On this the presiding consul sits in his
pulvinar; in the
arena below four
quadrigae are racing round the
spina, which, like that on the Lyons mosaic, is a long tank of water. The way in which
the reins were looped round the body of the driver (
auriga) is clearly
shown; each holds in his hand what seems to be a combination of whip and goad; and they all
wear
fasciae round their legs and bodies. The horses' legs are also
closely bound about with thongs. See Fröhner,
La Verrerie
Antique (Paris, 1879).
On the ivories the consul, or other president of the games, is usually represented in the
pulvinar, magnificently robed in the
toga picta and
pallium, and in some cases holding in his hand the
mappa or napkin with which he gave the signal for the start.
The starting end of the Circus was formed by a row of small vaulted chambers (
carceres, A A), each large enough for one chariot and its horses. Of these
carceres there were at the most twelve. Each had two doors—one
behind, by which the chariot entered, and one in front, opening into the arena. This latter
doorway was closed by folding doors, with open work (
cancelli) in the
panels. These doors were thrown open at the start by slaves (
tentores),
two to each doorway (as in the accompanying illustration), who flung them open simul
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Doors of Carceres opened by Slaves. (Museo Borgiano, Velletri.)
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taneously at the signal. In early times the races appear to have begun at the
carceres; but later, the actual start took place at a line marked on the
arena with white chalk or lime (
alba linea), and hence sometimes called
creta or
calx (K). A similar white line for the
finish was drawn opposite the judge's box (D), at a point unequally distant
from the two
metae. The starting-line was drawn opposite the
metae that were nearest the
carceres. The
carceres received no light except what came
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Doors of Carceres. (British Museum.)
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through the grating. Their narrow openings are called
fauces.
The lofty state-boxes above the
carceres, with their colonnades and
arches, towered to an imposing height, and the whole structure was known as the
oppidum, from its resemblance to the gate and towers of a city (Varr.
L.
L. v. 153).
A brass of Caracalla shows the external façade of the
oppidum, and a sort of bird's-eye view beyond of the interior of the Circus, with its
spina, central obelisk, and
aediculae, and statues
in
quadrigae set at the top of the wall surrounding the
cavea. It will be seen from the typical plan given above that the
carceres (A A) are slightly curved on plan, and are constructed on a segmental line,
the centre of which is struck from a point midway (N) between the line of the
spina and the side of the
cavea. Thiś plan was adopted
in order that the chariots in all the
carceres might have as nearly as
possible a position of equal advantage at the start. The special
carcer
occupied by each chariot was fixed on by drawing lots.
The
spina (back-bone) was a long, low wall, or rather platform, of
marble (M M), set in the middle of the arena to separate the going and returning course of the
racers. The line of the
spina is not parallel to that of the
cavea, but is slightly inclined so as to leave a wider space at K than that
near the semicircular end. The object of this seems to have been that the chariots might have
more space where they were crowded together at the start than at other points where some would
have begun to tail off.
Various mosaics and reliefs show the
spina (M M) covered with a series
of statues and ornamental structures, such as obelisks, small
aediculae
or shrines, columns surmounted by statues, altars, trophies, and fountains. In addition to
these were two sets of seven marble eggs (
ova) at each end of the
spina—each set mounted on a small
aedicula,
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Race in the Circus, showing the Spina, with the Dolphins, Obelisk, and Ova. (Ancient
relief in the Vatican.)
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to which access was given by a ladder. One of these eggs was removed after each lap
(
curriculum) was run (Varr.
Re Rust. i. 2, 11), there
being usually seven laps to each race (
missus). According to Livy (
xli. 27), these
ova were first set on the
spina by the censors in B.C. 174; but Dio Cassius attributes their
introduction to Agrippa, in the reign of Augustus. He is, however, probably confusing them
with another series of ornaments—seven dolphins, which were set on a similar
aedicula and served a similar purpose (
Juv.vi.
590). These dolphins must have been too heavy to take down, and were probably merely
moved in some way to indicate the number of laps.
In some ancient representations, as in a mosaic found at Lyons and figured on page 355, the
dolphins form fountains—water spouting from the mouth of each fish. This shows that
they could not have been wholly removed. The eggs had some sacred connection with the
Dioscuri, and the dolphins with Neptune (or Consus)—deities who were the patrons of
horses and racing (Tertull.
De Spect. 8). The Lyons mosaic, which no doubt
represents the local circus, has what appears to have
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Metae. (Relief in the British Museum.)
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been a common form of
spina, consisting of a long tank of water
instead of the marble
podium; statues and other ornaments stand on
pedestals in the water. Two sarcophagi in the Sala della Biga in the Vatican have reliefs
which represent a chariot-race of Cupids in the Circus Maximus, and show clearly the
spina and its ornaments, among which are statues of Apollo Helios,
Cybelé, Victory, a quadriga, and an obelisk, as well as the eggs and dolphins. The
metae are shown at each end; a similar relief is given in the
illustration above.
The
metae (L L), the goals, were three tall, conical objects (Ovid,
Met. x. 106;
Hor. Carm. i. 1,
5) set on a semicircular plinth, at a short distance from each end of the
spina. From the time of Claudius, they were of gilt bronze decorated with
bands in relief, as is shown in the above illustration from a relief in the British Museum.
These formed the turning-points for the chariots. The
primae metae are
not, as might be expected, the ones nearest to the start, but those near the semicircular end
of the Circus, round which the chariots made their
first turn. Tertullian (
De Spect. v. 8) mentions that the ancient altar
of Consus in the Circus Maximus was
ad primäs metas; it appears
to have been in the
spina, and was only exposed to view during the
progress of the games.
Remains of the
spina, stripped of all its rich marble decorations,
exist in the Circus of Maxentius, at Vienne in France (
Bull. Inst. 1861, p.
143), and in the circus of Carthage (Falbe,
L'Emplacement de Carthage, p. 40).
The arena, or sandy floor of the Circus, like that of the Colosseum, was on some occasions
strewn with glittering particles of mica, red lead, or perfumes, by the ostentatious
extravagance of the emperors (
Suet. Cal. 18).
That part of the arena which formed the course for the chariots was known as the
spatium (
Juv.vi. 582). The space near the
carceres was known as the
circus primus, while that on
each side of the
spina was the
circus interior
(Varr.
L. L. v. 154).
Before the construction of amphitheatres in Rome, the Circus Maximus was used for
gladiatorial fights with wild beasts and other scenes of butchery. The Ancyraean inscription
records that Augustus had no less than 3500 wild beasts slaughtered in the Circus, Forum, and
amphitheatre, in twenty-six exhibitions.
In order to keep the beasts from reaching the spectators on the
cavea,
Iulius Caesar constructed a canal (
euripus) ten feet wide and ten feet
deep all round the arena; this was supplied by a stream which still runs through the site of
the Circus, near the modern Via de' Cerchi (
Iul. 39). After the erection of the
amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus in the reign of Augustus, the Circus Maximus appears to have
been no longer used for fights with beasts, and the
euripus was therefore
filled up by Nero (
Plin. H. N. viii. 21). It
was, however, again introduced in later times (Lamprid.
Heliog. 23).
Other Circi at Rome.—Few remains of other
circi exist to-day above ground at Rome. The important edifices of this sort were as
follows:
1.
The Circus Flaminius which gave its name to the Campus Flaminius, an important part of the
Campus Martius (q.v.). It was founded in
honour of the censor C. Flaminius Nepos, killed at the battle of Lake Trasimenus, B.C.
217.
2.
The Circus of Caligula and Nero in the Horti Agrippinae, at the foot of the Vatican Hill
(
Claud. 21). No traces of this circus are visible at the present time.
3.
The Circus of Hadrian in the Campus Vaticanus, near the emperor's Mausoleum. No traces of
it now remain.
4.
The Circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, two miles from the walls of Rome, is sufficiently
well preserved to show its original form, though it is completely stripped of its marble
seats, columns, and other rich decorations. Till 1825 it was thought to be a circus built by
Caracalla, but three inscriptions which were then found showed that it was dedicated in A.D.
311 to the memory of Romulus, who died in A.D. 309, by his father Maxentius. The plan of this
circus is shown on page 352; the greater part of the external wall is still standing, but the
concrete vaults which supported the seats have mostly fallen in.
5.
The Circus of Sallust, called after the historian.
The Circus Games.—The games in the circus (
Ludi
Circenses) opened with a grand procession (
pompa), which
gathered on the Capitoline Hill, passed down the Clivus Capitolinus into the Forum, along the
Via Sacra, then branched off along the Vicus Tuscus, and so through the Velabrum into the
Forum Boarium, where was the entrance into the Circus at the Porta Pompae. It then passed
once round the
spina, pausing to offer sacrifices and to salute the
imperial
pulvinar. The gorgeous procession which opens a modern
bullfight in Spain bears much resemblance to the Roman
pompa circensis:
it winds round the arena, and then pauses to salute the presiding official, who gives the
signal to begin by throwing a key to the chief
espada. The Roman
procession was headed by the presiding magistrate, or in some cases by the emperor himself,
in a
biga or
quadriga, wearing the dress and
insignia of a triumphant general; probably a survival from the time when the
ludi circenses were celebrated in honour of victorious generals. A gold wreath was
held over his head by a slave (
Liv.v. 14;
Juv.x. 35-46;
Dionys. vii. 72). Next came a crowd of
noble citizens on foot and on horseback; then the chariots and horsemen who were to take part
in the games, accompanied by musicians. Next in order were priests, grouped in their various
collegia; bearers of holy water, incense, and sacrificial implements;
and statues of deities in chariots (
tensae) drawn by horses, mules, or
elephants, or else borne in litters (
fercula) on men's shoulders, and
attended by noble Roman youths (
Dionys. vii. 72). Statues in
litters and in a car drawn by four elephants are shown in an ancient sarcophagus relief
figured in the
Ann. Inst. 1839, tav. o. The games mainly consisted of
chariot-races; the cars (
currus) being drawn by various numbers of
horses, from two up to ten, and called
bigae, trigae, quadrigae, seiuges,
septemiuges, and so on according to the number attached to each car. In early times
bigae and
quadrigae were mostly used; but under
the later Empire wonderful skill was displayed by some of the drivers in managing a large
number of horses. In a
biga both horses were under a yoke (
iugum), and were called
equi iugales; in chariots with
four or more horses, only the two in the middle were yoked; those at the sides were merely
attached by traces (
funes), and were therefore called
equi funales.
The chariots were light structures of wood bound with bronze, high in front and open
behind. The Sala della Biga in the Vatican is so named from an ancient (restored) marble
chariot, possibly a votive offering for victory in the Circus. See
Currus.
Aurigae.—The drivers (
aurigae or
agitatores) were usually slaves or men of low class. They wore a short tunic
laced round the body with leathern thongs (
fasciae); other thongs bound
their thighs. The accompanying illustration shows the statue of an
auriga, no doubt some distinguished winner; it is now in the Vatican by the marble
biga; the arms and legs have been restored, as well as the head. That
shown in the cut does not belong to it. The
aurigae wore a low,
closefitting cap—not a bronze helmet. Though belonging to a despised class, the
favourite
aurigae in the degraded times of the Empire were much honoured
and fêted, and their society was sought after by the dissolute Roman youth. Very
great skill, courage, and coolness were required to guide a chariot
successfully round the sharp turns of the
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Statue of an Auriga. (Vatican.)
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metae, among a jostling crowd of other horses and chariots, especially
as each driver tried to upset his rivals. Constant accidents must have happened, for almost
every ancient representation of a circus race shows one or more chariots overturned; and this
was especially dangerous, as the
auriga drove with the reins looped
round his waist. That he might have a chance of cutting himself free in case of accident, he
wore a curved knife (
falx) stuck in his waist-bands; this is shown in
the Vatican statue here given. No doubt one of the chief attractions of the Circus to the
brutal Romans must have been the sight of the crushed limbs of an unfortunate driver among
the struggling hoofs of his fallen horses, or under the wheels of a luckier rival. In spite
of these dangers some drivers lived to win an enormous number of victories. The monument of
the
auriga Diocles (
circ. A.D. 150) records that
he defeated Scorpus, the winner of 2048 races; MusclosusPomp. , the winner of 3559; and
EpaphroditusPomp. , who had won 1467 times. Diocles himself, when he retired from his
profession at the age of forty-two, had won 3000 races of
bigae, and
1462 with more than two horses. The victorious
auriga received a prize
of money; or in some cases, if a slave, he won his freedom. The prize was sometimes called
the
brabeum or
bravium (
βραβεῖον, Prud.
Peristeph. v. 538; cf. St. Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 24),
and the giver of the prize was known as the
brabeuta (
Suet. Nero, 53). The winners of important races, on
which there was heavy betting, sometimes received enormous sums of money from patrons who had
backed them (
Juv. vii. 113,
Juv. 243;
Claud. 21; Capitol.
Ver. 6). Martial (x. 74, 5) mentions one named Scorpus, who, in the
reign of Domitian, won no less than fifty purses of gold
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Circus Games. (Lyons Mosaic.)
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in one hour's racing. M. Renan in November, 1878, read before the
Société des Inscriptions in Paris a paper on an interesting inscription
found in Rome, which recorded that a Moorish
auriga named Crescens had
during ten years (A.D. 115-124) won 1,556,346 sesterces with four horses called Circus,
Acceptus, Delicatus, and Cotynus. Under the Empire, wealthy Roman citizens were not ashamed
to act the part of
aurigae, especially after Caligula and Nero had set
the example.
Race-horses.—The horses used for racing purposes were mostly bred
in Spain, Sicily, Mauritania, northern Greece, and, in late times, in Cappadocia. No expense
or trouble was spared in their training, and the Romans were careful not to spoil the horse
(in the way the modern English racer is ruined) by using it too soon. As a rule the Roman
racer was not broken in till the age of three, nor allowed to run in a race till five.
Consequently some of the horses won a surprising number of victories. A horse which had won
100 races was called
centenarius; in the inscription of Diocles a horse
called Tuscus is mentioned as the winner of 429 races; a horse belonging to Diocles himself
was a
ducenarius. Like the modern Romans, the ancients seem to have
disfigured their horses by branding on the flank the initial or badge of the owner; which is
shown on several mosaic pavements. Stallions were used, and apparently but few mares were
trained for races. Almost all the names of race-horses which exist in mosaic pictures or in
inscriptions are those of males. See Friedländer,
De Nominibus Equorum
Circensium (Königsberg, 1875).
The public training-stables of Rome consisted of six or more groups of buildings in Regio
IX in the Campus Martius, and near the Circus Flaminius (see Jordan,
Topogr. der Stadt
Rom, ii. 554). In 1878, in the village of Oued-Atmenia in Algeria, some elaborate
mosaic pavements were found in the villa of Pompeianus, proconsul of Africa under Honorius,
who appears to have been a great breeder of Moorish horses for the Circus. Perspective views
of the training-stables are represented on these mosaics, and other pictures show the racers
in their stalls, carefully clothed from head to foot. The name of each horse is placed by
it—e. g. Altus, Pullentianus, Delicatus, Polydoxus, etc., and an
auriga named Cresconius is also depicted. Large coloured drawings of these by M.
Martin were exhibited in Paris, in 1878, and afterwards published by the
Archéol. de Constantine, in 1879. The training-stables seem to have been centres
of intrigue and villainy of all kinds: bribes were given, and horses were often
“hocussed.” Caligula, who spent much of his time in the stables of his
favourite
factio, is said to have poisoned the cleverest drivers of his
rivals' horses. See Dio Cass. lix. 5 and 14.
Large sums of money were lost and won on the races (
sponsio,
“betting,”
Juv.xi. 202, with Mayor's note;
Plin. Ep. xi. 1Plin.
Ep., 15). Race-cards (
libelli) were sold with lists of the
horses and names of the drivers; and these were also given in the advertisements of the
games, which were painted in large letters on conspicuous walls: examples of these have been
found at Pompeii. In addition to the chariots and their drivers, men on horseback appear to
have galloped with the racers, exciting them with shouts; after the race these
iubilatores, as they were called, seem to have called out the name of the
winner. In some cases these attendants were on foot (
cursores).
In early times only four chariots ran in each race (
missus), one for
each colour (see below); in later times eight or even ten chariots started together. The
starting signal was given by the presiding magistrate, who waved a
mappa
(
Liv. viii. 40, 2;
xlv. 1, 6;
Mart.xii. 29Mart.,
9); and hence Juvenal (xi. 193) calls the circus games
spectacula
mappae. Seven laps or circuits (
curricula) of the
spina appear to have been the usual length of each
missus. (See
Varro, quoted by Aul. Gell. iii. 10.) On one occasion Domitian reduced the number of laps to
five, in order to get 100
missus into one day. In early times very few
races were run in a day; even in the time of Iulius Caesar they did not usually exceed ten or
twelve. Caligula increased the number to twenty, or on very grand occasions twenty-four; but
in later times a long succession of races was run throughout the whole day from sunrise to
sunset.
Intervals between sets of races were filled up by exhibitions of rope-dancing, tumbling,
and feats of horsemanship, very like those of a modern circus. See
Desultor.
In addition to these races and games, the young Romans sometimes held reviews and assaults
of arms (
armaturae) in the Circus Maximus; these were sometimes on foot
(
armaturae pedestres) and sometimes on horseback (
equestres). One variety of this was called the
Ludus Troiae (
Tac. Ann. xi. 11;
Suet.
Aug. 43, and
Suet. Nero,
7). Various other entertainments, such as feasts, were sometimes given in the Circus
(
Stat. Silv. i. 6, 28); or money was
flung among a crowd in the arena. On one occasion Probus planted and stocked an artificial
forest with wild animals and birds in the Circus Maximus, and finally let in the people to
kill and carry off what they could (Vop.
Prob. 19).
The
factiones were companies or organizations of contractors who
provided horses, drivers, and all other requisites for the games. The
factio system was not developed till the time of the Empire; under the Republic a few
citizens of knightly rank provided all the requisites. The giver of the entertainment (
editor spectaculorum) only found the money, the whole business being managed
by the
factiones. Each
factio was distinguished by
a colour, which was worn by the
aurigae and other performers in the
ludi. At first there were only two
factiones,
distinguished by the colours red and white,
russata and
albata; next blue (
veneta) was added, probably in the
time of Augustus; and a fourth, green (
prasina), came in soon after
(
Juv.xi. 196; and Tertull.
De Spect. 9). Lastly,
Domitian added purple and gold—
purpureus et auratus pannus
(
Suet. Dom. 7). Under the later Empire each
factio consisted of a sort of
collegium, carefully
organized and ranked in classes of every kind, such as the methodical and bureaucratic Romans
delighted in. At the head of each was a
factionis dominus, and under him
were employés, slaves, and artisans of every sort required for the whole
management of the
ludi. The number and classes of a
familia quadrigaria (a division of a
factio) are given in an
ancient inscription published by Gruter, 336-339. The
familia consists
of twenty-five
decuriones—that is, at least 250 people, who
are classified as follows:
aurigae, agitatores, and
quadrigarii, drivers of four-horse chariots;
conditores and
succonditores, grooms and helpers;
sellarii, saddlers;
sutores, cobblers;
sarcinatores, tailors;
margaritarii, pearl-embroiderers;
medici, surgeons;
magistri and
doctores, perhaps trainers and
instructors;
viatores, messengers;
vilici,
farm-servants to supply fodder;
tentores, probably the men who pulled
the ropes to open the doors of the
carceres; sparsores, water-men: these
probably watered the dry arena to prevent clouds of dust from rising, and also brought water
to refresh the men and horses.
The rivalry between the different colours of the factions and the heavy betting on the
races often led to scenes of riot and bloodshed. Even in Rome, faction fights frequently took
place towards the declining period of the Empire, but it was not till after the transference
of the Roman capital to Constantinople that these disturbances reached their highest pitch.
In the sixth century, the great circus at Constantinople was frequently the scene of the most
hideous slaughter, and on one occasion in the reign of Justinian the tumult was not
suppressed till about 30,000 of the rioters had been killed (see Gibbon,
Decline and
Fall, cap. xl.). A great part of this circus is still well preserved, though
stripped of all its rich marble linings and columns.
For the various festivals that were celebrated by circus games, see the separate articles
on the
Cerealia,
Consualia,
Equiria,
Floralia, and under
Ludi.
For further information the reader should consult Tertullian,
De
Spectaculis; Panvinius,
De Ludis Circensibus (Venice,
1600); Bulengerus,
De Circo Romano, printed by Graevius,
Thesaur. Ant. Rom. ix.
(Lyons, 1694); Bianconi,
Descrizione dei Cerchi (Rome, 1789); Bianchini,
Circi Max. Iconographia (Rome, 1828); Canina,
Roma
Antica, vol. i.
(Rome, 1830); Nibby,
Circo detto di
Caracalla (Rome, 1825); Magnin,
Origines du
Théâtre (Paris, 1838); Hodgkin,
Letters of
Cassiodorus (London, 1886); and articles in the
Ann. Inst. Arch.
Rom. for 1839, 1863, and 1870.
