2024-08-01 16:00:13
Let’s clear up a common misunderstanding right away: In Rome, the term “circus games” (circus games in Latin) primarily referred to chariot races, rather than the famous gladiatorial combats, which were known as gifts. Therefore, they were more like Ben-Howstarring Charlton Heston, than Gladiatorfeaturing Russell Crowe. Regardless, two millennia before the rise of such Hollywood stars, the Eternal City already had its own stars, who competed in a discipline set up as the forerunner of the sports industry.
The activities would differ, and so, too, did the venues: Gladiators competed in amphitheaters – in Rome, this was the Colosseum – and races took place on elongated racecourses. “Rome’s Circus Maximus is 600 meters long and 150 meters wide. It is distinguished from a Greek stadium by the presence of an axial barrier wall, around which [racers] turn,” said Jean-Paul Thuillier, a professor emeritus at the Ecole Normale Supérieure university and ancient sports historian. “At each extremity, this wall ends in a bollard, which is the crucial point of the race, as the chariots squeeze towards it as tightly as possible, with the risk that their wheels might smash into it” – a bit like in a Formula 1 Grand Prix, where drivers push up against the safety rails to get the best trajectory.
A quick trip to Rome (or, failing that, to Google Maps) confirms it: The Circus Maximus lives up to its name. Under the Roman Empire, it could accommodate 150,000 spectators, which is more than any currently-existing stadium; by comparison, Paris’ Stade de France “only” has an 80,000-person capacity. The Roman passion for chariot racing was inherited from the Etruscans, and it later spread throughout the Roman world. In North Africa, for example, the Circus of Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia) is barely visible today, but the one at Leptis Magna (Libya) is well preserved. “In Gaul,” added Thuillier, “there was a circus in Arles, one in Lyon and another in Vienna, of which only a pyramid remains.”
While the most popular racing event featured four-horse quadriga chariots, there were also other formats such as team (two horses) and triga (three), which were favored by the Etruscans. Ancient texts and iconography have enabled us to reconstruct the course of a race in which four factions, i.e. four clubs, took part: the Reds, the Blues, the Whites and the Greens. Depending on the situation, each faction would field one, two or three team. Up to 12 chariots could therefore compete at once.
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