Long after, Augustus, the lord of the world, raising his works to the same high level as his power, built a building marvellous even to Romans, which stretched far into the Murcian Valley. This immense mass, firmly surrounded with hills, enclosed a space which was fitted to be the theatre for great events. Twelve ostia [19] at the entrance represent the twelve signs of the zodiac. These are suddenly and equally opened by ropes let down by the hermulae.
Thus, throughout the spectacle we see a determination to represent the works of nature. The two-horse chariot is made in imitation of the moon, the four horse chariot of the sun. Thus it came to pass that while they deemed they were worshipping the stars, they profaned their religion by parodying it in their games. A white line is drawn not far from the starting gate to each podium , so the race begins when the four horse chariots pass it, in case they should interrupt the view of the spectators by their attempts to get before each other.
There are always seven laps round the turning posts in one race, matching the days of the week. The goals themselves have, like the constellations of the zodiac, each three pinnacles, round which the swift four horse chariots circle like the sun. The wheels indicate the boundaries of East and West. The channel which surrounds the Circus presents us with an image of the glassy sea, whence come the dolphins which swim here through the waters.
The tall obelisks lift their height towards heaven; but the upper one is dedicated to the Sun, the lower one to the Moon: and upon them the sacred rites of the ancients are indicated with Chaldean signs for letters.
The spina [22] represents the lot of the unhappy captives, inasmuch as the generals of the Romans, marching over the backs of their enemies, reaped the joy which was the reward of their labours. Hence it became a custom that the display of a napkin gave a certain promise of future circenses. We observe, too, that the rule of this contest is that it be decided in twenty-four heats, the same numbers as the hours of day and night.
Nor let it be accounted meaningless that the number of circuits round the goals is expressed by the putting up of eggs, since that emblem, pregnant as it is with many superstitions, indicates that something will be born from there.
And in truth we may well see that the most fickle and inconstant characters, well typified by the birds who have laid those eggs, will spring from attendance on these spectacles. It would take too long to describe in detail all the other elements of the Circus, since each appears to arise from some special cause.
The Green charioteer flashes by: part of the people is in despair. The Blue gets a lead: a larger part of the City is in misery. They cheer frantically when they have gained nothing; they are cut to the heart when they have received no loss; and they plunge with as much eagerness into these empty contests as if the whole welfare of a threatened fatherland were at stake. No wonder that such a departure from all sensible behaviour should be attributed to a superstitious origin.
We are compelled to support this institution by the necessity of humouring the majority of the people, who are passionately fond of it; for it is always the few who are led by reason, while the many crave excitement and oblivion of their cares.
Therefore, as we too must sometimes share the folly of our people, we will freely provide for the expenses of the Circus, however little our judgment approves of this institution. Cassiodorus , Variae 3. A ludus may refer to any type of school, including a gladiatorial one.
Ludi also refers to games, the public games held as part of religious rituals. The second most senior position in the cursus honorum, there was originally only one, but the number expanded to 8 and then 16 as the needs of the administration demanded more and more magistrates. The first rank on the cursus honorum, the course of public offices, these magistrates were in charge of maintaining public buildings and space and supervised and organized the public festivals.
There were two types of aedile, curule, and plebeian. A canal was also dug between the track and the seats to protect spectators and to better drain the track from rain water. Front seats were reserved for aristocracy while the other were populated by plebs — common people. Seats were still built of wood and could accommodate around , people but during the build or short after, in 31 BC, they were damaged by fire. Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, had the seats fixed and built an obelisk and pulvinar - an "empty throne" for gods.
Improvements were made in many places but mainly in wood until Trajan, after many fires and many dead, decided to rebuild the Circus entirely in stone. Games Ludi held at Circus Maximus were sponsored by Romans aristocracy or the Roman state and were held as an entertainment for Roman citizens and Roman gods. The importance of using your imagination Currently, the ruins of what was once the Circus Maximus barely remain. Location Via del Circo Massimo. Transport Metro station: Circo Massimo , line B.
Mouth of Truth Castel Sant'Angelo. Men and women could sit together, an opportunity for flirtation and dalliance of which Ovid was not unaware. Although the Circus Maximus was designed for chariot racing ludi circenses , other events were held there, including gladiatorial combats ludi gladiatorii and wild animal hunts venationes , athletic events and processions. By the time of Augustus, seventy-seven days were given over to public games during the year, and races were run on seventeen of them.
There usually were ten or twelve races a day, until Caligula doubled that number and, from the end of his reign, twenty-four races became typical Dio, LX. The number of festivals in which racing occurred also increased, with Circus games instituted in honor of Caligula's mother and sister, and Tiberius. Still, Domitian once had one hundred races a day but reduced the number of laps to five to fit them all in Suetonius, IV.
These numbers are exceptional and not likely to have been repeated, if only because the horses had to be transported from the Campus Martius, where they were stabled, over a mile away.
The chariots started from twelve gates carceres , six on either side of an entrance that led from the Forum Boarium. Above sat the presiding magistrate at whose signal the races began. Far at the other end, along the sweeping curve sphendone of the track, was another gate by which processions entered the Circus.
In AD 80, it was rebuilt as a triumphal arch to commemorate the conquest of Judea by Titus. On the spina , itself, were various monuments and shrines, including one to Consus and another to Murcia, who may have been the divinity of the brook over which the Circus was built. At either end were the metae or turning posts, comprised of three large gilded bronze cones grouped on a high semicircular base. There were thirteen turns, run counter-clockwise, around the metae for a total of seven laps spatia , a distance just over three miles approximately twice that of a modern track , depending upon how close to the inside the driver could stay.
It could have been run in eight to nine minutes, just about the length of the race in the movie Ben Hur. To ensure a fair start, the starting gates were built along a slight curve so that the distance to the break line, before which the chariots were not allowed to leave their lanes, was the same for each.
Drivers were required to stay within a marked lane until that point was reached, after which they could jockey for position. Lots were drawn to determine which gate was selected, and it was from the gates that the race actually began.
The presiding magistrate either a praetor or consul dropped a white starting flag mappa , the gates to the stalls flew open, and the race began. The quadriga was pulled by four horses, two outside horses, which were not yoked but harnessed only by a rein or trace, and a yoked pair in the center, the right horse of which was considered to be the more important.
The inside trace horse funalis also had to be the strong to set the pace and take the turns around the metae and, of the horses in the team, likely was the one named in inscriptions. The number of sharp turns and the hard surface of the track even though there was a covering layer of sand meant that it was the one which was most at risk for concussions and strains or even broken bones, given its position between the spina or metae and the yoke horses.
There were other dangers, as well, which Pelagonius, a fourth-century practitioner, enumerates in his Ars Veterinaria. They included blows to the eyes from an opponent's whip XXX. The horse's tail also could tangle in the reins, and usually was bound or even cut XXI.
Race horses were carefully bred and their conformation and pedigree a matter of importance. They did not begin racing until they were five years old although Columella says that three-year olds could begin training but should have a year's training before competing, VI.
The best horses came from stud farms in North Africa and Hispania, and were transported to Rome on special ships hippago designed for the purpose. Most often, those that competed in the Circus were stallions, which also were in demand for breeding. If the horses were well bred, the charioteers aurigae who drove them were not.
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