. The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary and Greek lexicon; forming a glossary of all the words representing visible objects connected with the arts, manufactures, and every-day life of the Greeks and Romans, with representations of nearly two thousand objects from the antique. inan oblong form, terminating in asemicircle at one extremity, and en-closed at the opposite end by a pileof buildings called the town (op-I pidum), under which the stalls (car^! ceres) for the horses and chariotsI were distributed, marked a. a. in theengraving, which represents theground-plan of a circus sti
. The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary and Greek lexicon; forming a glossary of all the words representing visible objects connected with the arts, manufactures, and every-day life of the Greeks and Romans, with representations of nearly two thousand objects from the antique. inan oblong form, terminating in asemicircle at one extremity, and en-closed at the opposite end by a pileof buildings called the town (op-I pidum), under which the stalls (car^! ceres) for the horses and chariotsI were distributed, marked a. a. in theengraving, which represents theground-plan of a circus still remain-ing in considerable preservation on theAppian Way, near Rome, commonlyknown as the Circus of Caracalla, CIRCUS. 165 A long low wall (spina, b on theplan) was built lengthways down thecourse, so as to divide it, like abarrier, into two distinct parts ; andat each of its ends was placed agoal (meta), round which the chariotsturned; the one nearest to thestables (c) being termed meta prima, the farthest one (d) meta will be perceived that the two sidesof the circus in the example are notquite parallel to each other, and thatthe spina is not exactly equidistantfrom both sides. Perhaps this isan exceptional case, only adoptedin structures of a limited extent, like. the present one, with the object ofaffording most room for the chariots atthe commencement of the race, whenthey all started abreast; but whenthe goal at the bottom (d) had beenturned, their position would be morein column than in line ; and conse-quently less width would be requiredacross that side of the course. For asimilar reason, the right horn of thecircus is longer than the left ; andthe stalls (a a) are arranged in thesegment of a circle, of which thecentre falls exactly in the middlepoint (e), between the first meta andthe side of the building, at which therace commenced. The object of thiswas that all the chariots, as theycame out from their stalls, mighthave the same distance to pass overbe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectclassicaldictionarie
