CIRCUS OF TARQUIN

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 16 June 1928, Page 11

CIRCUS OF TARQUIN

JN the valley- that, lies between the Palatine and the Avcntine, Tarquinius Prise us, King of Rome in the fifth century-, BjC., built a magnificent area for chariot races, in order 'to celebrate, his conquest of the Latin city of A pjolae. If you stand among the ruined -palaces of the Caesars on the Palatine to-day, you can still see the outline of Tarquin’s circus; here 1 and there a 'fragment of wall or a stray column that marks 'the .boundaries of a well-proportioned, oval-shaped construction. The cavity r between the stands on either side of the arena has long ago been filled up with earth, and wooden sheds, vegetable plots, and small brick houses have sprung up all over the site. The excavation of the circus has been delayed for many years, chiefly because of the Jewish cemetery which occupies. one side of the 'site. An arrangement has now been made with rhe Jewish authorities, and the Italian Government has decided to excavate the site in the course of this year (writes a 'Rome correspondent in the “Manchester Guardian”). As in the case of the work in the .Eorurn of Augustus (where the excavations are already very advanced), the supervision is entrusted to an aehaeologieal commission, among Whose members are several well-known names, like those of Professor iParibcne, the director of the National Museum in Rome, Professor Ricci, part author of Ricci and Springer’s “History- of Ancient Art,” and 'Com. Beneivcnga, director of the Italian Excavations Office.

The method of excavation will be the s'ame as that following in the case of the Forum. As fragments of statues, columns, or walls are unearthed, they are put together on the spot, no 'that the work of reconstruction goes on side by side 'with the excavations.

Borne remains of this circus have, in past years, been found. They consist principally of marble bas-reliefs, which portray scenes of game -and races. But 'the most interesting material relating to. Tarquin’s circus is to be found in the chroniclers of the kings and emperors of Rome, who describe not only the spectacles which took place there, but also the useful and ornamental additions which the circus owed to each successive monarch.

A MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURE

In the early- days, there was only-, the arena, with its long wall (spina) in the 'centre, round vvihich The chariots used to race; the spectators brought their stools with them, or 'found some spot on the grasS-covercd slopes of the Palatine, from which to view; the whole performance. By- 329 8.C., high walls had been erected, anil from the top of these down to the edge of the arena was row upon row of stone seating accommodation. In Julius Caesar’s time, the circus was enriched with sculptured marble work, and the Em-' peror Augustus 'continued Caesar’s work. He it was who erected an obelisk from Heliopolis in the circus, and thus started the fashion of bringing these massive Egyption monuments into Europe. Constantine ('the son of the Great), in 347 A.D., erected a similar obelisk at the other end of the spina, and Pope 'Sixtus V. had both these obelisks removed from the circus in the sixteenth century-, and had them erected in two famous squares in Rome.

The competitors entered the arena by the Pompeian Gate, and the victors marched out under a triumphal arch set up by the Emperor -Domitinn about the year -S5 A.D. The long low wall, round which the races were run, had goals, or metae, at each end. Between the metae .were columns supporting the dolphins, seven in number, one of which was put up for each circuit made in the race. At intervals along the wall were .small temples and votive .altars' set up by the various emperors. Linder Trajan t'he circus was greatly enlarged and enriched, so that it was believed at ‘that time to be able to accommodate something like 300,000 spectators. 'They came in from the surrounding cities of -the Ca mpa gun to see the finest entertainment that Romo could offer. Perhaps the most magnificent games were those in the reign of Oarinus (283 A.D.), when the circus was transformed into an artificfal forest, in which hundreds of wild beasts and birds were slaughtered. -Ca-ssiodorus describes the spectacles which took place in the circus Maximus in the t*ime of Theodorie, some time after the fall of the Empire, but when 'the Goths left Rome, the circus fell into disuse, and evonfunllv info ruin.