| Description The fragment was part of a slab edge; a clamp hole is visible on the side. A large inscribed C takes up roughly half of the surface area. Above, traces of the legs of another letter are visible. To the right, two straight, vertical lines traverse the fragment. A third line, parallel to these two, perhaps runs very close along the edge. Between them, two separate staircases are represented by sets of short, parallel lines.
Identification: Circus Maximus The C on this fragment is the second C of the label CIRCUS MAXIMUS which was inscribed vertically down the arena of the circus Maximus. Other parts of the building and the inscription are visible in frs. 7abcd, 7e,
8bde,
8c,
8fg,
and 9. Situated in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine Hills, the circus Maximus played a central role in Rome's earliest history. Sources attribute its conception to the Etruscan kings and relate it to the rise of the ludi Romani (LTUR I, p. 272). For centuries, the Circus was nothing but an open space with wooden partitions and seating; more permanent walls were not constructed until the 2nd c. BCE. Julius Caesar is credited with giving the building the shape and enormous size it was to retain for centuries: According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (3.68.1-4), the Circus had a length of 421 m. and a width of 118 m., and the cavea held 150,000 spectators (LTUR I, p. 273). The structure was destroyed by fire several times and it collapsed occasionally, but it underwent several reconstructions by various emperors and remained in use until the 6th c. In Medieval times, the area was mainly used for agriculture, and in the following centuries it was gradually encroached upon by various forms of construction until it was cleared in the beginning of the 20th c. (LTUR I, pp. 274-75).
Evidence gathered from excavations, written sources, coins, and standing remains reveals the architecture of the Circus Maximus in the imperial period: Raised above the surrounding area, the building measured 600 m. in length and 140 m. in width. The long sides of the structure were not precisely parallel; one side, facing the Aventine, was slightly inclined, as is usual for Roman circuses (LTUR I, pp. 275-76). The exterior facade was divided into three sections, the bottom section being as tall as the two above combined. The walls of the two upper sections were solid but decorated with pilasters and windows. The bottom section was perforated by arches that led to a covered walkway that surrounded the entire building. Behind the covered passageway, radial walls created a series of rooms, every third of which served a different purpose: One room led directly to the lowest seating area, the next room contained stairs that gave access to the corridors and seating areas above, and the third room functioned as a shop (LTUR I, p. 275). The seating area, the cavea, was divided into three sections: the ima, media, and summa cavea. The start gates, the carceres, occupied the N end of the Circus; these were placed on a curve and on a slightly oblique angle in relation to the central axis of the building. The arena itself was divided along the central axis by a spina or a euripus (LTUR I, p. 276, with references and reconstruction in fig. 158). Nothing remains of this divider, but numerous representations on coins and other sources suggest it was decorated with a variety of features: Tricuspid metae marked the two ends of the divider and flanked an array of statues, columns, altars, and small temples. Here was also placed the device, consisting of sculpted dolphins, that counted the completed rounds.
The lines to the right in this fragment are part of the architecture of the long S side of the Circus, i.e. closest to the Aventine (on its position, see AG 1980, pl. 5). Of those lines, the second from the left must represent the inner wall of the cavea, as it lines up with fr. 8c. The line to the left would then belong to a feature with very wide staircases that protruded into the arena, immediately opposite the imperial box (see fr. 8fg). Certain representations of the Circus Maximus on coins show a temple protruding slightly into the arena from the seating area, and it has been suggested that the structure with the staircases depicted on this fragment is that temple (PM 1960, p. 66). The temple is generally identified with that of Sol (LTUR I, p. 276; see also LTUR IV: Sol [et Luna], aedes, templum [P.C. Rossetto], pp. 333-334).
Significance The location of this fragment in relation to fr. 8bde, which depicts the imperial box in the Circus, seems to confirm the thesis that a protruding structure, perhaps the Temple of Sol, was located exactly across from the pulvinar.
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