Circus

, a large and elegant building at Rome, where plays and shows were exhibited. There were about eight at Rome; the first, called Maximus Circus, was the grandest, raised and embellished by Tarquin Priscus. Its figure was oblong, and it was filled all round with benches, and could contain, as some report, about 300,000 spectators. It was about 2187 feet long and 960 broad. All the emperors vied in beautifying it, and Julius Cæsar introduced in it large canals of water, which, on a sudden, could be covered with an infinite number of ve els, and represent a sea-fight.