Behind the scenes at the Circus Maximus
by Trey Nosrac
Chariot racing was big business for a long time. The Circus Maximus began around 600 BC and endured for approximately 1,100 years. The first spectators attended races before the birth of Socrates; the last spectators attended races after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
There were other, smaller circuses throughout the Empire, including the Circus at Maxentius, Circus at Antioch, Circus at Alexandria, and numerous provincial tracks. But the Circus Maximus dominated the racing scene.
The popularity and longevity of the sport are interesting. Putting on the races, and they often raced daily, was a complex task that required scores of people. Perhaps a modern-day equivalent would be the New York Yankees baseball organization or, in our little racing world, the Burke racing stable.
Each elite racing stable required an entire team: horse trainers (magistri) who were highly respected, grooms (strigiles), feed specialists, stable managers, horse doctors (mulomedici), and a business department.
Other occupations differed from today’s racing. One of these jobs was the spartor; his job was to prevent horses from choking or getting tangled in the harness equipment.
There were Roman officials called agonothetes, whose duties were arranging and starting the races, resolving disputes, enforcing rules, maintaining order, drawing for post position, and awarding prizes.
Another interesting occupation was that of counting laps during a race. In effect, they were a scoreboard operator. At the Circus Maximus, a giant-sized bronze dolphin with eggs was used to count laps. After each lap, the dolphin was lowered and rotated as the race progressed.
The illustration with this text shows the carceres, the starting gates of the Circus Maximus. To call them mere gates understates the innovation. Occupying the entire flat end of the immense racing arena, the carceres consisted of a series of individual stalls where horses and chariots waited anxiously for the signal to begin.
Roman engineers arranged these stalls in a shallow curved arc, with the outer positions set slightly forward, ensuring that every competitor had the same distance to the first turn. More than 2,000 years before modern racing adopted staggered starts or the starting car, the Romans recognized the importance of fairness at the start of a race and devised an elegant solution.
The start of a Roman race was normally triggered by the dropping of a mappa, a white cloth or napkin-like signal visible to both the drivers and the crowd. The official presiding over the games would drop the mappa from an elevated position above the carceres. Once the cloth fell, an attendant engaged a mechanical system that released the gates simultaneously. With fortunes wagered and factional loyalties running high, a fair start was essential.
As many as 12 starting horses stormed towards the first curve of the spina. The length of a standard race at the Circus Maximus varied slightly over the centuries, but a typical race was seven laps. Each race was slightly over two miles.
As for speed, it was important, but not as important as it is in modern racing. Roman chariot races were more of a tactical and endurance event. The races had more action and were more unpredictable than modern harness racing. The turns were tight, the risk of collision was high, and pacing the horses was crucial. Sheer speed alone didn’t guarantee victory; strategy, handling, and avoiding disaster mattered just as much.
The finish line was located at the same end of the Circus Maximus as the starting gates. The chariots would begin their race at the carceres, complete the required laps around the spina (the central barrier with monuments), and then finish in front of the carceres.
Fairness, danger, drama, pageantry, and large personalities – it was quite a package.
