Circus+Maximus

Large arena for games and for social spectacles. Held over 250,000 people and was great for chariot racing.

From Wikipedia: The Circus Maximus site was first utilized for non-public games and entertainment by the [|Etruscan] queens of Rome. Certainly, the first games of the [|Ludi Romani] (Roman Games) were staged at the location by [|Tarquinius Priscus], the fifth Etruscan ruler of Rome. Somewhat later, the Circus was the site of public games and festivals influenced by the [|Greeks] in the 2nd century BC. Meeting the demands of the Roman citizenry for mass public entertainment on a lavish scale, [|Julius Caesar] expanded the Circus around 50 BC, after which the track measured approximately 621 m (2,037 ft) in length, 118 m (387 ft) in breadth and could accommodate an estimated 270,000 spectators (many more, perhaps an equal number again, could view the games by standing, crowding and lining the adjoining hills). In 81, the Senate built a triple arch honoring [|Titus] by the closed East end (not to be confused with the [|Arch of Titus] over the [|Via Sacra] on the opposite side of the Palatinum). The emperor [|Domitian] connected his new palace on the Palatine to the Circus in order to more easily view the races. The emperor [|Trajan] later added another 5000 seats and expanded the emperor's seating in order to increase his public visibility during the games.

In the center was the divider known as the "spina"

Example of strategies of social control in the capital. Disproportionate benefits for population of city of Rome (Republican tradition). other sources of social control were public grain supply as well as monumental building programs and job creation.