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Colchester Roman Circus
About
Britain's only known Roman chariot-racing circus stretched about 450 meters long and up to 74 meters wide just south of Colchester's walls. Archaeologists found its buried foundations by accident in 2004 during redevelopment of a former army barracks, making global headlines as the first circus ever confirmed in Roman Britain. Dating evidence points to construction around 120-130 CE, roughly a decade after Trajan died in 117 CE, so the circus had not yet been built at this map's snapshot moment; its outline is preserved beneath a housing estate today.
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
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 →