Circus Gai et Neronis

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The Circus Gai et Neronis (red) is shown on a map from 1888.

The Circus Gai et Neronis (also circus Vaticanus ) was a venue on the Vatican Field ( ager Vaticanus ) in ancient Rome.

The emperors Caligula , Claudius and Nero are considered to be the founders of the circus , although the complex was not completed until the Neronian era. Caligula already organized circus games on the Vatican Field, had the Vatican obelisk brought from Alexandria to Rome on a ship specially designed for the occasion and placed on the spina , the middle partition wall of the racetrack. Claudius is said to have continued the tradition of circus games at this location. The obtained findings, which could be verified under St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square , point to Claudius and especially Nero as the commissioner of a monumental expansion of the venue. Remains of the outer wall and traces of the spine are present. A 17.80 m long, 3.23 m high and 1.5 m wide section of opus latericium was proven to be of the outer wall . The spine, at least individual monuments with the function of a spine, has also been proven. Castagnoli concludes from this that the circus Gai et Neronis might have had monumental dimensions of 300 to 560 m in length and 85 m in width. Long-term use of the circus is not considered likely, since various necropolises were established as early as the 2nd century AD, which speak against the continued use of the circus.

The name circus Gai et Neronis passed down from Pliny , also called circus Vaticanus by him , probably goes back to the fact that Caligula, whose real name was Gaius, was the first to hold games at this location and Nero gave the complex a monumental shape. Claudius and Nero are known to have personally participated in chariot races.

From the field of Mars one reached the circus in the ager Vaticanus via the vada Tarenti .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , p. 138 f.
  2. ↑ Pliny , Naturalis historia 16,201 ; 36.74.
  3. ^ Suetonius , Claudius 21.2.
  4. ↑ a b c John H. Humphrey : Roman Circuses. Arenas for Chariot Racing. University of California Press, Berkeley / Batsford, London 1986, pp. 547-552.
  5. ^ Ferdinando Castagnoli: Il circo di Nerone in Vaticano. In: Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Rendiconti. Volume 32, 1959-1960, pp. 97-121.
  6. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 36,74.
  7. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 16,201.
  8. ^ Suetonius, Claudius 21.
  9. ↑ Tacitus , Annales 15:44 ( online ).
  10. ^ Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A new Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 298 sv Pons Neronianus.

literature

  • Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , p. 138 f.
  • Ferdinando Castagnoli: Il circo di Nerone in Vaticano. In: Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Rendiconti. Volume 32, 1959-1960, pp. 97-121.
  • John H. Humphrey : Roman Circuses. Arenas for Chariot Racing. University of California Press, Berkeley / Batsford, London 1986, ISBN 0-520-04921-7 / ISBN 0-7134-2116-9 , pp. 547-552.
  • Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A new Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 298 sv Pons Neronianus.

Coordinates: 41 ° 54 ′ 6 ″  N , 12 ° 27 ′ 15 ″  E