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The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: Circo Massimo) is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy.In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire.
Images on pottery show that chariot racing existed in thirteenth century BC Mycenaean Greece. [a] The first literary reference to a chariot race is in Homer's poetic account of the funeral games for Patroclus, in the Iliad, combining practices from the author's own time (c. 8th century) with accounts based on a legendary past.
Denarius depicting the helmeted head of Mars, with Victory driving a biga on the reverse (issued 88 BC by Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus). The Equirria (also as Ecurria, from equicurria, "horse races") were two ancient Roman festivals of chariot racing, or perhaps horseback racing, [1] held in honor of the god Mars, one 27 February and the other 14 March.
During the first century, people across Rome were obsessed with chariot races, which frequently produced horrific crashes.However, one charioteer steered his way to victory more than 2,000 times ...
Floorplan of Circus Maximus. This design is typical of Roman circuses. 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 ...
At both ends of the hippodrome were posts (Greek termata) that the chariots turned around. This was the most dangerous part of the track and the Greeks put an altar to Taraxippus (disturber of horses) there to show the spot where many chariots wrecked. It was built on the slope of a hill if possible and the ground taken from one side served to ...
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The Tyre Hippodrome, located in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, is an ancient sporting arena and UNESCO World Heritage site dating back to the second century AD. Built during the Roman era, the hippodrome was primarily used for chariot racing. [1] [2] It is considered the second-largest hippodrome in the ancient world. [3]