4 Notes From Today's Class

The Circus Maximus

• The origins of the Circus Maximus go back to the sixth century BC when Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, created a track between the Palatine and Aventine hills.
• The first permanent starting gates were created in 329 BC. In 174 BC the gates were rebuilt and seven wooden eggs were placed on top of the spina, the central wall in the arena. 
• The Circus Maximus was the largest stadium in ancient Rome. 
• At one point the Circus could seat 250,000 people, one quarter of Rome's population.
• http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/circusmaximus.htm

Colisseum

• Located just east of the Roman Forum, the massive stone amphitheater known as the Colosseum was commissioned around A.D. 70-72 by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the Roman people.
• Measuring some 620 by 513 feet (190 by 155 meters), the Colosseum was the largest amphitheater in the Roman world.
• Inside, the Colosseum had seating for more than 50,000 spectators, who may have been arranged according to social ranking but were most likely packed into the space like sardines in a can (judging by evidence from the seating at other Roman amphitheaters). 
• The Colosseum saw some four centuries of active use, until the struggles of the Western Roman Empire and the gradual change in public tastes put an end to gladiatorial combats and other large public entertainments by the 6th century A.D. Even by that time, the arena had suffered damaged due to natural phenomena such as lightning and earthquakes. 
• http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/colosseum

Aqueducts

• The Roman aqueducts not only provided drinking water for the Romans but indoor sewer systems that carried water away from the city and also supplied the bath houses with ample water, where the inhabitants of Ancient Rome spent so much of their leisure time. 
• The bulk of the Roman water system ran below the city, burrowed through 260 miles of rock, and about 30 miles of above ground bridges and cross ways (the arches).
•  The entire system relied on various gradients and gravity to maintain a continuous flow.
• Maintenance of the ducts was a constant job being tended to by first, a paid curator, and then often labor slaves.
• http://www.rome.info/ancient/aqueducts/

Roman Forum

• They built a sewer, the 'Cloaca Maxima', to drain water from the marshlands of the valley between the Palatine, Capitoline and Esquiline hills to the Tiber river which became the Roman Forum.
• From then on the area became a center of activity and it was the political heart of Rome until the fall of the Roman Empire more than one thousand years later.
• It was the site of the first forum. Here, triumphal processions took place, elections were held and the Senate assembled.
• Until 509 BC, when Rome became a republic, the city was reigned by an Etruscan dynasty of Tarquin Kings which built the Roman Forum.
• http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/forumromanum.htm