Otherwise, it would have made a convenient corral for the animals traded in the nearby cattle market, just outside the starting gate. On many other days, charioteers and jockeys would need to practice on its track. By the late Republic, ludi were held on 57 days of the year an unknown number of these would have required full use of the Circus. Īs Rome’s provinces expanded, existing ludi were embellished and new ludi invented by politicians who competed for divine and popular support. A venatio held there in 169 BC, one of several in the 2nd century, employed “63 leopards and 40 bears and elephants”, with spectators presumably kept safe by a substantial barrier. Others were enlarged at enormous expense to fit the entire space. In 167 BC, “flute players, scenic artists and dancers” performed on a temporary stage, probably erected between the two central seating banks. Some Circus events, however, seem to have been relatively small and intimate affairs. The most costly and complex of the ludi offered opportunities to assess an aedile’s competence, generosity, and fitness for higher office. Photo by Pascal Radigue, Wikimedia Commonsĭuring Rome’s Republican era, the aediles organized the games. The Circus lies between the Aventine (left) and Palatine (right) the oval structure to the far right is the Colosseum. Model of Rome in the 4th century AD, by Paul Bigot.

The greater ludi ( meaning sport or game in latin) at the Circus began with a flamboyant parade (pompa circensis), much like the triumphal procession, which marked the purpose of the games and introduced the participants. Ludi ranged in duration and scope from one-day or even half-day events to spectacular multi-venue celebrations held over several days, with religious ceremonies and public feasts, horse and chariot racing, athletics, plays and recitals, beast-hunts and gladiator fights. In Roman tradition, the earliest triumphal ludi at the Circus were vowed by Tarquin the Proud to Jupiter in the late Regal era for his victory over Pometia. Others might be given to fulfill a religious vow, such as the games in celebration of a triumph. Most were held annually or at annual intervals on the Roman calendar. Ludi were sponsored by leading Romans or the Roman state for the benefit of the Roman people ( populus Romanus) and gods. The Circus was Rome’s largest venue for ludi, public games connected to Roman religious festivals. Map of Rome during Antiquity / Wikimedia Commons

Human chariot races