Stadium of Nicopolis
About
Built into a hillside with unusual rounded ends at both extremities, this stadium held the athletic and equestrian contests of the Actia games that Augustus founded in 27 BCE to rival the Olympics in prestige. Its north bank alone seated an estimated 10,000 spectators every four years when the Panhellenic-tier games came around. By 117 CE it had hosted roughly 36 celebrations of the Actia.
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 →