In the Sun
Circo Massimo, Rome
"This is the Circus that so impressed Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who described it in 7 BC as "one of the most beautiful and admirable structures in Rome" (III.68), measuring approximately 2,037 feet in length and 387 feet in width, and seating 150,000 (contemporary calculations suggest a width of 459 feet). Surrounding the track was the euripus, ten feet wide and ten feet deep, to protect spectators from the wild animals that were exhibited there before the construction of the Colosseum. Outside, says Dionysius, "there are entrances and ascents for the spectators at every shop, so that the countless thousands of people may enter and depart without inconvenience." Inhabited by cooks, astrologers, and prostitutes, it was in this arcade of wooden shops (tabernae) that the disastrous fire of AD 64 broke out during the reign of Nero (Tacitus, Annals, XV). Pliny the Elder considered the Circus to be one of the great buildings in the world, able to seat 250,000 persons (XXXVI.102), which must have included those who were able to view the arena from the slopes of the Aventine and Palatine hills." penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/circusm...
In the Sun
Circo Massimo, Rome
"This is the Circus that so impressed Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who described it in 7 BC as "one of the most beautiful and admirable structures in Rome" (III.68), measuring approximately 2,037 feet in length and 387 feet in width, and seating 150,000 (contemporary calculations suggest a width of 459 feet). Surrounding the track was the euripus, ten feet wide and ten feet deep, to protect spectators from the wild animals that were exhibited there before the construction of the Colosseum. Outside, says Dionysius, "there are entrances and ascents for the spectators at every shop, so that the countless thousands of people may enter and depart without inconvenience." Inhabited by cooks, astrologers, and prostitutes, it was in this arcade of wooden shops (tabernae) that the disastrous fire of AD 64 broke out during the reign of Nero (Tacitus, Annals, XV). Pliny the Elder considered the Circus to be one of the great buildings in the world, able to seat 250,000 persons (XXXVI.102), which must have included those who were able to view the arena from the slopes of the Aventine and Palatine hills." penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/circusm...