Circus Antiochiae

About

One of the largest circuses in the Roman world, over 490 meters long with room for up to 80,000 spectators, modeled on Rome's Circus Maximus. Cassius Dio records that Trajan himself took shelter here during Antioch's catastrophic earthquake of 13 December 115 CE, escaping through a window as aftershocks shook the city for days. Antioch — one of the empire's four largest cities — was still rebuilding from that quake when Trajan died less than two years later.

What happened here

Two hundred thousand people can watch, and on race days most of them do. Four stables — Red, White, Blue, Green — supply the teams, and supporters wear the colour, bet on it, and brawl about it. Seven laps, twelve chariots, the tightest turns at either end of the central barrier where the crashes happen. Between races there are acrobats, and the barrier itself carries obelisks, statues and the lap-counting eggs and dolphins that are tipped one by one. Seating is mixed, unlike the theatre, which makes the circus the best place in the city to meet someone. Drivers start as slaves and the successful ones die rich and famous. The track is watered and raked constantly; the smell is horse, dust and food.

In ancient writing

• Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.25

  Describes how Trajan, present in Antioch during the catastrophic earthquake of December 115 CE, escaped his lodgings and then lived out of doors in the city's hippodrome (circus) for several days as aftershocks continued.

Sources

• Cassius Dio Roman History 68.25
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_of_Antioch
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/115_Antioch_earthquake