Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Modern depiction (1876) by Jean Léon Gérôme of a chariot race in Rome's Circus Maximus, as if seen from the starting gate. The Palatine Hill and imperial palace are to the left. Chariot racing (Ancient Greek: ἁρματοδρομία, harmatodromía; Latin: ludi circenses) was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports.
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 ...
Once out of the gates, the chariots would race down the track, the full 503 metres (550 yd) length of which can still be seen. The track was excavated in the 19th century by Antonio Nibby , whose discovery of an inscription to the 'divine Romulus' led to the Circus being positively identified with Maxentius. [ 5 ]
Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104 – after 146 AD) was a Roman charioteer. His existence and career are attested by two highly detailed contemporary inscriptions, used by modern historians to help reconstruct the likely conduct and techniques of chariot racing. He has been described in some modern sources as the highest-paid athlete of all time. [1]
A total of up to eight chariots (two chariots per team), powered by four horses each, competed on the racing track of the Hippodrome. These races were not simple sporting events, but also provided some of the rare occasions in which the emperor and the common citizens could come together in a single venue.