Album: By Country | By Date Italy | February 2001 < Prev Image | Palatine Hill Ruins | Next Image >
Travelogue: By Country | By Date Italy | February 2001  

 

Looking from the palace, where the emperor had a private box, out to the Circus Maximus. The cedar on the left side of the picture is on the end of the spina, a low wall running nearly the length of the Circus. The Circus was 621 meters long and 118 meters wide. It could hold 250,000 spectators. Supposedly a collapse of the stands once killed 13,000. According to our guidebook, chariot races didn't have many rules. Knocking over competing charioteers or squeezing your opponent against the spina was just part of the game.

© Monica & Mark Hughes 2000-02