Circus Maximus first built 329 BC Ludi Circenses

Circus Maximus – first built 329 BC.

Ludi Circenses • Factiones – 4 companies Red, White, Blue, Green • Chariots – light, 4 -hours rigs • Aurigae – drivers (slaves or freedmen) • Pompa began the ceremonies magistrates + band + dignitaries+band+ drivers & chariots + band+images of gods • Races- 24 per day/ each 7 laps • Fans - rabid

The races were on, a type of spectacle which has never had the slightest attraction for me. I can find nothing new or different in them: once seen is enough, so it surprises me all the more that so many thousands of adult men should have such a childish passion for watching galloping horses and drivers standing in chariots, over and over again. . When I think how this futile, tedious, monotonous business can keep them sitting endlessly in their seats, I take pleasure in the fact that their pleasure is not mine. And I have been very glad to fill my idle hours with literary work during these days which others have wasted in the idlest occupations. -Pliny the Younger

As Robert B. Kebric describes in his Roman People, Inside its four-story facade, the Circus was a maze of shops, rooms, stairways, and arcades. Throngs of people moved about the great interior corridor that provided access to any part of the structure. Vendors hawked their wares and sold refreshments and souvenirs; and, of course, there were always prostitutes, gamblers, pickpockets, girl watchers, and drunks. Kebric also notes that, unlike today, the Empire had trouble conveying information to an illiterate public without mass media at its disposal. The Circus Maximus allowed emperors an opportunity to announce new laws or taxes; likewise, the populace frequently aired its dirty laundry when horses weren't running. Contemporary historian Dio outlined a typical episode in 196 A. D. : "The populace, however, could not restrain itself, but indulged in the most open lamentations. . . they shouted: 'How long are we to suffer such things? ' and 'How long are we to be waging war? ' And after making some other remarks of this kind, they finally shouted, 'So much for that, ' and turned their attention to the horse race. "

Charioteers

View of Circus