Circus of Trier
About
The circus stretched roughly 450 meters, long enough for chariot teams to grind out seven laps before crowds banked on the embankments. It took monumental form in the second quarter of the second century, so the building that spectators would recognise postdates the 117 CE snapshot. A plainer racetrack may have marked the same ground from the city's earliest years. Constantius Chlorus rebuilt the whole thing after 293 to serve his imperial residence.
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 →