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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.
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 ...
It was erected near the Egyptian obelisk called the Flaminio, which had stood since 10 BC where it was installed by Augustus to decorate the spina of the Circus Maximus. map There they both remained, until after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century the Circus Maximus was abandoned and they eventually broke or were taken down ...
The Cerealia were celebrated in ancient Rome with a ceremony and then with the ludi cerealici in the Circus Maximus (painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1894).. The spectacles in ancient Rome were numerous, open to all citizens and generally free of charge; some of them were distinguished by the grandeur of the stagings and cruelty.
Afterward, one was sent to Rome and erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus, and is today known as the Lateran Obelisk. The other one, known as the Obelisk of Theodosius , remained in Alexandria until 390 CE, when Emperor Theodosius I had it transported to Constantinople (now Istanbul ) and put up on the spina of the Hippodrome of ...
The Obelisk of Theodosius, originally erected by Pharaoh Thutmose III at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, was brought to Constantinople by Theodosius the Great for adorning the spina of the Hippodrome. Another emperor to adorn the Hippodrome was Theodosius the Great , who in 390 brought an obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track.
It was brought to Rome in 1 BC by command of Augustus, together with the Obelisk of Montecitorio, and placed on the spina of the Circus Maximus, followed three centuries later by the Lateran Obelisk. Like most Egyptian obelisks, the Flaminio Obelisk was probably one of a pair, but no trace of its companion has been found.
The other obelisk was erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus in Rome in the autumn of that year, and is now known as the Lateran Obelisk. The obelisk that would become the obelisk of Theodosius remained in Alexandria until 390; when Theodosius I (379–395 AD) had it transported to Constantinople and put up on the spina of the Hippodrome ...