Large open-air venue used for public events in the ancient Roman Empire
'Circus (building)' redirects here. For the British English use of circus to describe circular housing projects, see crescent (architecture).
A Roman circus (from the Latin word that means "circle") was a large open-air venue used mainly for chariot races, although sometimes serving other purposes. It was similar to the ancient Greek hippodrome. Along with theatres and amphitheatres, circuses were one of the main entertainment venues at the time.
Similar buildings, called stadia were used for Greek-style athletics particularly in the eastern, Greek speaking, part of the empire, but these were typically smaller than circuses.
According to Edward Gibbon the Roman people, at the start of the 5th century AD:[1]
...still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic.
^Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776, Chapter 31 - Games and spectacles, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decline/files/volume1/chap31.htm#game
A Romancircus (from the Latin word that means "circle") was a large open-air venue used mainly for chariot races, although sometimes serving other purposes...
The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: Circo Massimo) is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome...
the lineage of the circus does go back to the Romancircuses and a chronology of circus-related entertainment can be traced to Roman times, continued by...
hippos (ἵππος; "horse") and dromos (δρόμος; "course"). The ancient Roman version, the circus, was similar to the Greek hippodrome. One end of the ancient Greek...
The Circus of Carthage is a Romancircus in Carthage, in present-day Tunisia. Used for chariot racing, it was modeled on the Circus Maximus in Rome and...
The Romancircus of Toledo is an Ancient Romancircus site of Hispania. It served the city of Toletum, the present-day Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain...
cheer him on. He also used both of these to lodge Romans made homeless by the great fire of 64. The circus was used in 65 to carry out mass executions of...
circus, or for information regarding the ancient Romancircus, see Circus Maximus. History of Indian circus Abuhadba Circo Internacional Aerialize - Sydney...
medal (out of three). The picture recreates a despoiling scene in a Romancircus where dead gladiators are stripped of weapons and garments. Together...
Circus skills are a group of disciplines that have been performed as entertainment in circus, carnival, sideshow, busking, variety, vaudeville, or music...
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In addition, it's possible to suppose a Romancircus in another sector of the city. The leading proponent of the hypothesis...
aqueducts, baths, bridges, circuses, dams, domes, harbours, temples, and theatres. According to Gottfried Semper, Roman architecture was "the idea of...
answers". TheGuardian.com. 15 November 2013. Humphrey, J.H. (1986). RomanCircuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing. University of California Press. p. 446....
The Circus Flaminius was a large, circular area in ancient Rome, located in the southern end of the Campus Martius near the Tiber River. It contained a...
faded in importance in the Western Roman Empire after the fall of Rome; the last known race there was staged in the Circus Maximus in 549, by the Ostrogothic...
project Meta (Assemblage 23 album), 2007 Meta (Car Bomb album), 2016 Meta (Romancircus), a pole marking racetrack turns Metagame (clipped to meta), an approach...
monument of the Romancircus and near to another aqueduct built in the 16th century, partly composed of material reused from the Roman aqueduct. This temple...
The Circus of Maxentius (known until the 19th century as the Circus of Caracalla) is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy, part of a complex of buildings...
is no direct link between the Romancircus and the circus of modern times. ... Between the demise of the Roman 'circus' and the foundation of Astley's...
structures called "stadium"; Romans built structures called "circus". Greek stadia were for foot races, whereas the Romancircus was for horse races. Both...
Juvenal here makes reference to the Roman practice of providing free wheat to Roman citizens as well as costly circus games and other forms of entertainment...
the circus band, as well as waltzes, foxtrots and other dances. Although circuses have been in existence since the time of the ancient Romans, circus music...
obelisk originally stood at the centre of the spina (median) of the Romancircus. The circus became the site of martyrdom for many Christians after the Great...
modelled on the Circus Maximus in Rome and other circus buildings throughout the Roman Empire. The Circus, measuring more than 490 m in length and 30 m of...
Greco-Roman World. Routledge. pp. 282–287.; D'Ambra, Eva (2007). "Racing with Death: Circus Sarcophagi and the Commemoration of Children in Roman Italy"...