Circus Varianus Rome's greatest racetrack?

[caesar novus]

Every time I hear about Circus Maximus, I remember Darius Arya walking thru remains of a bigger one (in some measure) SE of Rome's central train station. Little remains and it was reduced in size long ago. It took me tremendous effort to even retrieve the name of it which is Circus Varianus, but I may post from time to time here about more findings. It is an area with some little museums like for infantry and musical instruments. The archeology has been tidied up with traces of an amphitheater, etc. Wiki sez:

Quote

Circus Varianus was a large Roman circus, started during the reign of Caracalla (r. 198–217) and located in the palatial villa complex known as the Horti Spei Veteris (later the Sessorium), which included the Amphitheatrum Castrense. This circus was where Elagabalus (r. 218–222) raced chariots under the family name of Varius, giving the site its name. The circus was later restructured by Elagabalus, who removed the western end to create more space for the palace by moving the starting gates (carcares) back and building two towers at the end.  Remains of the circus survive to the south of Porta Maggiore, next to the Aurelian Walls, near the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. The dimensions of the circus were 565 x 125 m, only slightly smaller than the Circus Maximus (600 x 150 m).

 

Edited August 23, 2025 by caesar novus

[caesar novus]

4 hours ago, caesar novus said:

I may post from time to time here about more findings

 

 

See these, but I haven't found the video claim of max size. Some maps show C. V. as having a divider of similar length, but C. M. has a longer start/merge extension. The extension is only traveled once, then laps around the divider. Look at Circus Maxentius for well preserved structure. So far my clear memory of Maximus being secondary in seating or something isn't looking likely. 

Edited August 24, 2025 by caesar novus

[guidoLaMoto]

There were many circi in Rome. The Maximus was first built by Tarquinius Priscus,  fifth king of Rome. It was originally used as a venue for the ludi (funeral games) and later for gladiatorial matches (no funerals needed), races & religious rites. Triumphal parades wound thru there too.

Today's stylish Piazza Navonna is built on the foundation of the Circus Agonalis, also called the circus of Domitian. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/49192 This is a nice synopsis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahttps://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/49192

[caesar novus]

3 hours ago, guidoLaMoto said:

also called the circus of Domitian

Thanks, I was aware of Navona with it's underground as well as others, but Wiki claims "most track-athletes competed at the purpose-designed Stadium of Domitian, though long-distance foot races were still held at the Circus" and "The Stadium was used almost entirely for athletic contests."

My root concern is that the Roman's reputation maybe should be based on uplifting circus activities rather than depravity at the amphitheater. The latter went unused for decades at a time and had less seating capacity. Cir. Max. was in use about every other day for festivals or horse practice etc.  On the other hand, both that and Dom. stad. apparently used their arcades as brothels off hours. And the Romans were awfully quick to downsize Circus Varianus.

Edited August 26, 2025 by caesar novus

[guidoLaMoto]

Put the Flavian Amph. (Colosseum) on the list of public edifices that had secondary uses, shall we say. The Latin word for arch is fornix, fornicis m...Use your imagination to see what English word is derived to describe what regularly took place under those arches 

Edited August 27, 2025 by guidoLaMoto

[caesar novus]

On 8/23/2025 at 1:27 PM, caesar novus said:

I may post from time to time here about more findings

 

Things to research: what did the Romans call either of these racetracks? Was "Maximus" a modern misnomer? Why was the Roman wall built in a way to cut thru and reduce Varianus size? I don't think the wall interfered with adjacent Baths of Caracalla (built later?), and tombs of the baker and the pyramid were incorporated and not obliterated by wall. I was unable to rediscover the claim Varianus was larger than Maximus, but haven't tried youtube's new beta ai search that occasionally is offered to me. Also look forward to more coverage of Romans in the ai maintained encyclopedia tool "Grokipedia" which is supposed to eliminate manipulated entries (is there a maximus lobby?). Included videos slightly mis portray the tracks.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2025 by caesar novus

[guidoLaMoto]

 

Writing "Ab Urbis Condita" in the 1st century BC, Livy says "the Circus, now called Maximus...." and goes on to describe seating platforms 12 ft high. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0151%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D35

[caesar novus]

On 10/3/2025 at 10:20 PM, guidoLaMoto said:

1st century BC, Livy says "the Circus, now called Maximus...."

Thanks, that same encylo implies Varianus came centuries later, part of a complex rivaling sprawl of Tivoli. I need to pin down the date of the wall there, which I think cut thru the Circus shortly after construction. Quote: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=roma&highlight=varianus :

Quote

On the extreme E part of the Caelian, Heliogabalus (A.D. 218-222) built a villa which in size and type was comparable with Nero's Golden House or Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. The Amphitheatrum Castrense, the Circus Varianus, and the Thermae Helenae belonged to it.

Quote

Aurelian began, between 270 and 272, the construction of a new wall which was completed by Probus (A.D. 276-82). This wall enclosed not only the city of the seven hills but also the Campus Martius with the left bank of the Tiber, transtiberim, and part of the Ianiculum—areas which had been left outside the Servian fortification. The new imperial wall frequently incorporated already existing structures such as the Castra Praetoria, the Amphitheatrum Castrense, the Pyramid of Cestius, the retaining walls of the Horti Aciliorum (Muro Torto), and private houses.

 

Edited October 5, 2025 by caesar novus

[guidoLaMoto]

http://www.circusmaximus.us/varianus.html

If we assume the width of the modern streets, from building to building, is 10m, then it looks like the length of the superimposed circus varianus in the aerial photo paces out to be ~ 600m...just about the length of the C Max. ...judging by the size of the cars in the photo, that's probably a good estimate.

 

For comparison, the Stadium Domitianum (now Piazza Navona) was https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadium_of_Domitian 275m x 105m, and the Circus Flaminius (3rd cent BC) was 300m. https://books.google.com/books?id=couetXBQO9AC&pg=PA543#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Another comparison for perspective-- the Piazza Del Popolo, sight of Sienna's famous biennial horse race is about 150m x 250m.

Edited October 5, 2025 by guidoLaMoto

[caesar novus]

7 hours ago, guidoLaMoto said:

.just about the length of the C Max.

So maybe they vainly built C Var a Roman foot larger, and were punished with a wall crossing a few decades later. Interesting restoration proposal of C Max:

[guidoLaMoto]

I had to smile looking at the pic you posted above-- that tan area to the right of the circus is Mons Palatinus (Mons = mountain). Looks pretty flat. Probably an ambitious, ancient real estate agent's idea for good advertising. Maybe "collis" (hill) or even "collinus" would be more accurate.

 

That's an interesting site....it was footnote ref on the Wiki article about the circ var....It has an aerial shot of The Vatican with the superimposed plan of Vatican circus, which looks to be about 500m long. http://www.circusmaximus.us/vatican.html  I thought the Vatican was built on an old cemetery. It was the site of St Peter's execution-- apparently a spectator attraction at the circus?

In regards the Aurelian wall cutting thru the circus-- you know how quickly new emperors often disregarded their predecessors. Maybe Elagabulus, already gone for a half century, was just old news and had to move over to make room for progress. Was the circus still in use by then of had the domus & track been abandoned?

 

[caesar novus]

14 hours ago, guidoLaMoto said:

.it was footnote ref on the Wiki article about the circ var

Another footnote (A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome p87) lists C Var at only 565m. Back on p83 it describes short life of C Vat before being "invaded" by tombs. Also rich coverage of C Max in it's various modifications.

https://books.google.com/books?id=K_qjo30tjHAC&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q&f=false

P.S. Some key facts can only be found in the general "circus" writeup of that book p82.

Edited October 6, 2025 by caesar novus

[caesar novus]

On 10/6/2025 at 11:06 AM, caesar novus said:

A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome p87

I liked that book so much I bought the hardback. Brutally fine print, some nice diagrams. I wish google books would sell me entire pdf version but I think they offer limited preview.

Google books referred me to a great "similar" book I already have: "Rome and Environs - An Archaeological Guide" By Filippo Coarelli translated from Italian. It has a bunch of Varianus discussion that I don't yet have time to follow, so will make page refs here: 209, iii, 21, 210, 211, 549

[guidoLaMoto]

I like that that book gives copious references to the sources of their info. Following up on several that go back to Livy, it's remarkable how much they extrapolate from what are actually very scant references in the original sources. Eg- They give us the impression that Tarquinus Priscus built an elaborate stadium when Livy merely says in effect that he assigned places to the senators and equities and some built platforms 12 ft tall from which to view the games.

 

[caesar novus]

On 10/11/2025 at 3:39 AM, caesar novus said:

"Rome and Environs - An Archaeological Guide" By Filippo Coarelli

Ok, Coarelli estimates C-Max at 200m x 600+ vs C-Var only 125m x 565. He notes C-Var is only a modern name, and riffs about the 4 horse chariot races. There was possibly something about the aqueduct serving C-Var being longer than the one for C-Max that may have gotten me mixed up, but these hardcopies have too fine print for me to want to drill further.