DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0155
CIRCUS GAI ET NERONIS
113
of the Piazza Margana (Bull. d. Inst. 1870, 48 ff. ; cf. Fulvius, Antiqui-
tates urbis p. l(x)v ; LR 453 ; LS ii. 64-66). If so, the length of the
circus was about 260 metres, and its width about IOO.
The few remains (cf. Canina, Edifizi iv. pls. 186, 187) and drawings
of the sixteenth century architects (LR 454-456 ; HJ 551, n. 122 ; JRS
1919, 187) show that this circus was built on the general plan adopted in
later structures of a similar character, and that its lower story opened
outwards through a series of travertine arcades, between which were
Doric half-columns. In the Middle Ages the arcades on the north side
were converted into dark shops, and gave the name to the street on that
side, the Via delle Botteghe oscure ; cf. the churches of S. Lucia de
calcarario or de apothecis obscuris (HCh 300-301 ; cf. 306, and v. Domus
Aniciorum, 2) and of S. Salvator in Pensulis (ib. 449) J and the memory
of the rope makers who plied their trade in the arena is preserved in the
Via dei Funari and the churches of S. Nicola and S. Caterina dei Funari
(HCh 399; Arm. 551-568). See HJ 548-551; RE vi. 2580-2581;
Marchetti-Longhi in Mem. L 5. xvi. 621-770.
Circus Gai et Neronis : built by Caligula as a private course for chariot
racing in the Horti Agrippinae (q.v.). It was called circus Gai et
Neronis (Plin. NH xxxvi. 74) and circus Vaticanus (ib. xvi. 201), and was
a favourite place for the sports and orgies of Claudius and Nero (cf. Suet.
Claud. 21 ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 14 (?) ; Suet. Nero 53 (?) ). On the spina
Caligula erected an obelisk (Obeliscus Vaticanus (q.v.) ) from Heliopolis
(Plin. NH xvi. 201 ; xxxvi. 74 ; CIL vi. 882 = 31191).
In the fourth century the north side of the circus was destroyed to
make room for the first basilica of St. Peter, and the south wall and the
two southernmost rows of columns of the church were built on the three
parallel north walls of the circus (see plan in Lanciani, Pagan and Christian
Rome 129). In the fifth century two mausolea were erected on part of
the spina, one of them being the tomb of the wife of the Emperor Honorius
(see Lanciani, op. cit. 198-205 ; Mel. 1902, 388). One of these was destroyed
about 1520 (see Sepulcrum Mariae), but the other stood until the
eighteenth century (DuP 38 ; Cerrati, cit.). For the mediaeval name Pala-
tium Neronianum, see HCh 259 (S. Gregorii de Palatio). Some remains of
the circus were visible in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and in the
seventeenth, when the new church of St. Peter was being built, the ruins
were described by G. Grimaldi, whose notes are extant in several MS.
copies (see Hiilsen, Il Circo di Nerone al Vaticano, in Miscellanea Ceriani,
Milan 1910, 256-278, and also Tiberii Alpharani De Basilicae Vaticanae
Structura, published by M. Cerrati, Studi e Testi fasc. 26 (1914) xxxiv.-
xxxvii.). Cerrati points out that the reason of the collapse of the old
basilica was that its walls were built, not on the centre of the walls of the
circus, but slightly to one side. The axis of the circus ran east and west,
'We may add S. Lorenzo in Pensulis (HCh 293), which is probably the same as
S. Lorenzo in Pallacinis (see Pallacinae).
a.d.r.
H
113
of the Piazza Margana (Bull. d. Inst. 1870, 48 ff. ; cf. Fulvius, Antiqui-
tates urbis p. l(x)v ; LR 453 ; LS ii. 64-66). If so, the length of the
circus was about 260 metres, and its width about IOO.
The few remains (cf. Canina, Edifizi iv. pls. 186, 187) and drawings
of the sixteenth century architects (LR 454-456 ; HJ 551, n. 122 ; JRS
1919, 187) show that this circus was built on the general plan adopted in
later structures of a similar character, and that its lower story opened
outwards through a series of travertine arcades, between which were
Doric half-columns. In the Middle Ages the arcades on the north side
were converted into dark shops, and gave the name to the street on that
side, the Via delle Botteghe oscure ; cf. the churches of S. Lucia de
calcarario or de apothecis obscuris (HCh 300-301 ; cf. 306, and v. Domus
Aniciorum, 2) and of S. Salvator in Pensulis (ib. 449) J and the memory
of the rope makers who plied their trade in the arena is preserved in the
Via dei Funari and the churches of S. Nicola and S. Caterina dei Funari
(HCh 399; Arm. 551-568). See HJ 548-551; RE vi. 2580-2581;
Marchetti-Longhi in Mem. L 5. xvi. 621-770.
Circus Gai et Neronis : built by Caligula as a private course for chariot
racing in the Horti Agrippinae (q.v.). It was called circus Gai et
Neronis (Plin. NH xxxvi. 74) and circus Vaticanus (ib. xvi. 201), and was
a favourite place for the sports and orgies of Claudius and Nero (cf. Suet.
Claud. 21 ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 14 (?) ; Suet. Nero 53 (?) ). On the spina
Caligula erected an obelisk (Obeliscus Vaticanus (q.v.) ) from Heliopolis
(Plin. NH xvi. 201 ; xxxvi. 74 ; CIL vi. 882 = 31191).
In the fourth century the north side of the circus was destroyed to
make room for the first basilica of St. Peter, and the south wall and the
two southernmost rows of columns of the church were built on the three
parallel north walls of the circus (see plan in Lanciani, Pagan and Christian
Rome 129). In the fifth century two mausolea were erected on part of
the spina, one of them being the tomb of the wife of the Emperor Honorius
(see Lanciani, op. cit. 198-205 ; Mel. 1902, 388). One of these was destroyed
about 1520 (see Sepulcrum Mariae), but the other stood until the
eighteenth century (DuP 38 ; Cerrati, cit.). For the mediaeval name Pala-
tium Neronianum, see HCh 259 (S. Gregorii de Palatio). Some remains of
the circus were visible in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and in the
seventeenth, when the new church of St. Peter was being built, the ruins
were described by G. Grimaldi, whose notes are extant in several MS.
copies (see Hiilsen, Il Circo di Nerone al Vaticano, in Miscellanea Ceriani,
Milan 1910, 256-278, and also Tiberii Alpharani De Basilicae Vaticanae
Structura, published by M. Cerrati, Studi e Testi fasc. 26 (1914) xxxiv.-
xxxvii.). Cerrati points out that the reason of the collapse of the old
basilica was that its walls were built, not on the centre of the walls of the
circus, but slightly to one side. The axis of the circus ran east and west,
'We may add S. Lorenzo in Pensulis (HCh 293), which is probably the same as
S. Lorenzo in Pallacinis (see Pallacinae).
a.d.r.
H