- The Circus Maximus was a chariot racetrack in Rome first constructed in the 6th century BCE. The Circus was also used for other public events such as the Roman Games and gladiator fights and was last used for chariot races in the 6th century .
- The Circus Maximus, located in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, is the oldest and largest public space in Rome and legend says that the Circus was originally laid out in the 6th century CE by the first Roman kings
- At its largest during the 1st century CE following its rebuilding after the fire of 64 CE, the Circus had a capacity for 250,000 spectators seated on banks 30 m wide and 28 m high. Seats were in concrete and stone in the lower two tiers and wood for the rest.
- The track, originally covered in sand, measured 540 x 80 m and had 12 starting gates fort the chariots.
- The arena was used to host spectacular public entertainment events such as gladiator fights, wild animal hunts and public executions from 80 CE to 404 CE.
- The theatre was spectacular even from the outside with monumental open arcades on each of the first three floors presenting statue-filled arches. The first floor carried Doric columns, the second Ionic and the third level Corinthian. The top floor had Corinthian pilasters and small rectangular windows. There were no less than eighty entrances, seventy-six of these were numbered and tickets were sold for each.
- Coliseum was approximately 45,000 seated and 5,000 standing spectators. One of the oldest depictions of the Coliseum appeared on the coins of Titus and shows three tiers, statues in the upper external arches and the large column fountain - the Meta Sudans - which stood nearby.
- Titus and Claudius were noted for shouting at the gladiators and other members of the crowd
Aqueducts
- In antiquity, aqueducts were a means to transport water from one place to another, achieving a regular and controlled water supply to a place which would not otherwise have received sufficient water to meet basic needs such as irrigation of food crops and drinking fountains.
- The earliest and simplest aqueducts were constructed of lengths of inverted clay tiles and sometimes pipes which channeled water over a short distance and followed the contours of the land.
- A Forum was the main center of a Roman city. Usually located near the physical center of a Roman town, it served as a public area in which commercial, religious, economic, political, legal, and social activities occurred.
- Its placement in the central part of the city dates back to the time of the Tarquin kings, and it was seen fit to build a sewer, the cloca maxima , to provide proper drainage of the marshy land between the Esquiline, Capitoline, and Palatine Hills down to the Tiber River
- the land properly drained and dry, this area naturally became a central gathering location for the Etruscan inhabitants.
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