[German version]

A. Definition

The circus was the biggest of all Roman places of leisure and was initially and mainly used for races with chariots drawn by teams of four or two (quadrigae or bigae). The canonical circus consisted of a long, comparatively narrow racetrack (c. 450 × 80 m; arena, from harena-, ‘sand’), on both ends of which three cones (metae) on a platform served as markers for turning. The track led round a barrier that marked the central axis (euripus, Greek εὔριπος (eúripos), ‘water ditch’; later also spina-, ‘ba…