The circus was one of the buildings forming the complex of the sanctuary of the Arval brethren, today located at Magliana Vecchia, at the foot of the sacred grove of the goddess Dia, where the Arvals held rites to propitiate the fertility of the fields and a good cereal harvest. Unfortunately, the circus was not identified during the excavation campaigns by the École française de Rome in 1975 and 1981.
Its presence is certain as it is repeatedly mentioned in the records (acta Arvalium), but its location is still doubtful.
Attested since the time of Tiberius (1st century AD) in a funerary inscription, it is believed that it was initially located in the area to the west of the sanctuary, towards Piazza Madonna di Pompei. However, according to the most recent studies by Broise and Scheid, in its Severan phase (3rd century AD) it would have been moved to the eastern sector of the complex, closer to Via dei Martiri Portuensi, in a different location from the previous phase.
On the second day of the Ambarvalia festival in the sanctuary, in the morning of May 19th or 29th, young expiatory sows were sacrificed on an altar (ara) located in front of the sacred grove (ante lucum in aram). According to the description of how the Arval brothers moved between the ara and the tetrastylum, we understand that they must have been close. The Arval circus was also near the tetrastylum and the ara ante lucum. The records, in fact, register that a vacca honoraria (honorary cow) was sacrificed in the morning of the festival, ante lucum in foculo, at the foot of the grove, on a foculus. The foculus was a movable hearth near the altar, on which incense was burned and wine was poured before the immolation. In the commentarii of 218 AD, the foculus is described as being at the circus: “in circo in foculo arg(enteo) cespiti ornato extam vacc(inam) redd(idit)” (“in the circus, on a silver hearth decorated with turf, they presented the entrails of the cow”). Therefore, if the foculus is described as ante lucum and in circo, the circus must also have been located in front of the sacred grove.
Beyond emphasizing general imperial dynastic power, the architectural typology of the circus had agricultural and cosmic meanings. From an agrarian point of view, the circus was associated with the cycles of nature and fertility, and from a cosmic perspective, it represented the order of the universe and the connection between heaven and earth. Chariot races in the circus were linked to the seasonal cycles, with the four team colors representing the different seasons of the year. According to some theories, the races and celebrations in the circus also had a meaning connected to fertility, with the arena symbolizing the earth and the races symbolizing vitality and rebirth.They were also considered propitiatory rites to ensure the prosperity of the land and the harvests.
Cosmic Meanings: The circus was structured with elements that recalled the cosmic order. The seven metae (turning posts) along the central spina (spine), around which the chariots turned, were associated with the seven planets (or days of the week), just as the seven loops of the track that the chariots had to complete were said to recall the orbit of the seven planets. The 12 gates of the carceres (chariot starting boxes) were connected to the constellations of the zodiac. One of the two obelisks standing in the Circus Maximus was dedicated to the Sun, while a temple, often built in circuses, was dedicated to both the Sun and the Moon. The entire structure of the circus, with its elonged shape and the arrangement of its elements, could be seen as a representation of the cosmos, with the arena at the center symbolizing the Earth, and the Euripus (the water channels in the center of the arena) symbolizing the sea.
For the Romans the circus was not just an entertainment building, but also a symbolic center that reflected the religious and cosmological beliefs of the ancient Romans, linking the games and races with the cycles of nature, the celestial bodies, and the order of the universe.
These meanings related to agriculture and the cosmos are useful for reconstructing the religious ideology of the lucus of the luminous goddess who protected the final maturation of the cereals with her beneficial light, whose nature is both urania and chthonic, celestial and agrarian, meaning linked to the sky and the earth.
Reference Bibliography:
J. Scheid, Romulus et ses frères. Le college des Frères Arvales, modèle de culte public dans la des empereurş, EFR 275, Roma 1990
H. Broise, J. Scheid, Tra terra e cielo: la topografia ed il culto del lucus Deae Diae, in Recherches archéologiques à La Magliana, 3. Un bois sacré du Suburbium romain : topographie générale du site ad Deam Diam. Roma Antica 8. Roma: :École française de Rome; Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia Belle Arti Paesaggio di Roma 2020
F. Marcattili, review Tra terra e cielo: la topografia ed il culto del lucus Deae Diae. 2020 in Journal of Roman Archaeology, Volume 35, Issue 2 / December 2022. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2023, pp. 1022-1027, print publication: December 2022