Roman Circus of Arles
About
Built around 149 CE on the west bank of the Rhone to host chariot races, this circus stretched 450 meters long and seated roughly 20,000 spectators. Its builders drove some 30,000 wooden piles into the marshy riverbank just to keep the structure from sinking. Its central spina later held the granite obelisk now standing across the river in the city's main square. In 117 CE this stretch of riverbank was still open ground — the circus wouldn't be built for another three decades, under Antoninus Pius rather than Hadrian.
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.
Sources
Nearby
%20Thermes%20de%20Constantin%2007.JPG?width=800)
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →