Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T04:46:42.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Roman Circus at Colchester

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2010

Philip Crummy
Philip Crummy
Affiliation:
Colchester Archaeological Trust, pc@catuk.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The circus at Colchester was discovered late in 2004. By the end of 2007, a succession of targeted investigations helped reveal its basic plan and provided some limited dating evidence for its period of use. The building proved to have been of average length for a provincial circus (457 m) but, at about 71.5–74 m across, it was relatively narrow. The stands appeared to have been raised a section at a time. The seating was carried on an earth bank revetted by two stone walls. The circus possessed only eight starting-gates. Excavation of the near meta yielded some remarkable evidence about the size and nature of the cones, the supply of pressurised water to the barrier, and the tactics adopted by the charioteers as they swung around the metae. The circus was built in stone probably in the second century A.D. The building ceased to be used if not c. A.D. 275, then sometime later in the Roman period.

Keywords

ROMAN CIRCUSCOLCHESTERCHARIOT-RACINGCAVEASTARTING-GATESMETAE
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 39 , November 2008 , pp. 15 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Philip Crummy 2008. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Basarrate, T.N. 2000: Espectáculos en Augusta Emerita, (Espacios, imágenes y protagonistas del ocio y espectáculo en la sociedad romana emeritense), Monografías Emeritenses 5, BadajozGoogle Scholar
Basarrate, T.N., and Sánchez-Palencia, F.J. 2001: El circo en Hispania Romana, Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, BadajozGoogle Scholar
Crummy, N. (ed.) 1987: The Coins from Excavations in Colchester 1971–9, Colchester archaeological Report 4, ColchesterGoogle Scholar
Crummy, P. 1984: Excavations at Lion Walk, Balkerne Lane, and Middleborough, Colchester, Essex, Colchester Archaeological Report 3, ColchesterGoogle Scholar
Crummy, P. 1987: ‘The coins as dating evidence’, in Crummy, N. 1987, 5–15Google Scholar
Crummy, P. 1992: Excavations at Culver Street, the Gilberd School, and Other Sites in Colchester, 1971–85, Colchester Archaeological Report 6, ColchesterGoogle Scholar
Crummy, P. 2003: ‘Colchester's Roman town wall’, in Wilson, P. (ed.), The Archaeology of Roman Towns: Studies in Honour of John S Wacher, Oxford, 44–52Google Scholar
Crummy, P. 2005: ‘The circus at Colchester (Colonia Victricensis)’, Journ. Roman Arch. 18, 267–77Google Scholar
Crummy, P. forthcoming: ‘The Roman circus at Colchester, England’, in J. Nelis-Clément and J.-M. Roddaz (eds), Le cirque romain et son image, Actes du Colloque international tenu á Bordeaux du 19 au 21 octobre 2006Google Scholar
Davies, J. 1992: ‘Overview’, in J.A. Davies, R. Kenyon and R. Goodburn, ‘The coins from the Culver Street and Gilberd School’ in Crummy 1992, 290–308Google Scholar
Faulkner, N. 2000: The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain, StroudGoogle Scholar
Hayward, K. forthcoming: ‘A photomicrographic analysis of a sample of greensand from the circus’, in Pooley et al. forthcomingGoogle Scholar
Humphrey, J.H. 1986: Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing, BerkeleyGoogle Scholar
Millett, M. 1990: The Romanization of Britain: an Essay in Archaeological Interpretation, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Pooley, L., Holloway, B., Crummy, P., and Masefield, R. forthcoming: Report on the Archaeological Investigations carried out on Areas C1, C2, E, J1, O, Q and S1 of the Alienated Land, Colchester Garrison, including the Time Team Trenches and the Alienated Land Watching Brief: May 2004–January 2005, Colchester Archaeological Trust Report 412Google Scholar
Sánchez-Palencia, F.J., and Sainz Pascual, M.J. 2001: ‘El Circo de Toletum’, in Basarrate and Sánchez-Palencia 2001, 97–115Google Scholar