Life-expectancy, however, averaged 25 years for charioteers. Unlike Formula 1 racing with its anti-roll-bars and safety-cars, competitor security was minimal, most charioteers being infames or slaves. Rival charioteer, failing to ram Ben Hur against the walls, resorts to some equally dastardly whip-work. The producer had to make do with Circus Maxentius along Via Appia Antica.Р”В¬harlton Heston in the 1959 classic Ben Hur.Р”В«ack to the movie's racing scenes. Indeed the intention had been to use Circo Massimo itself only the urban authorities refused permission for conservation reasons. Ben HurР”В¬ontrasting with BirminghamРІР‚в„ўs suburban grey, in glorious technicolour glint the three bronzen cones of the metae РІР‚вЂњ the hairpins at the end of the spina, the central divide with its fountains, shrines and, then Egyptian obelisks under Augustus then Constantius II.Р”Р‡or dramatic appeal, CinecittР“В film studio modelled its set for Ben Hur after RomeРІР‚в„ўs Circus Maximus rather than Middle Eastern equivalents. How the heroРІР‚в„ўs leather-and-wooden basket of a vehicle withstands such attrition remains a cinematographic miracle. Excuse then any confusion between the plotРІР‚в„ўs JerusalemРІР‚в„ўs (or AntiochРІР‚в„ўs) Hippodrome with the site here: again in the memory charioteerРІР‚в„ўs elongated hub-caps eat away, splintered spoke by spoke, at Charlton HestonРІР‚в„ўs wheels. I recall attending, as a tender eight-year-old, a Kingstanding Odeon matinР“В©e of the 1959 film Ben Hur.

Rome: Piazza Navona's underground stadium.

'Spectacles were the great anondyne against unemployment, the Caesars' sure instrument of their absolutism.' 'A people that yawns is ripe for revolt,' to cite Caracopino, venerable author of Daily Life in ancient Rome. Or five laps, as later emperors wise to the motto panem e circenses met demand by cramming more races into a single day. Reaching 50 km per hour, first and foremost came the charioteers, negotiating seven laps of a track. Or in the same vein, 'Women and low rank and fortune learn their future/ down at the racetrack', astrologers touting another attraction. More sourly Juvenal mentions 'the whores pimped out around the racecourse./ ThatРІР‚в„ўs where you go if you fancy a foreign pick up' РІР‚вЂњ Peter GreenРІР‚в„ўs translation. OvidРІР‚в„ўs Ars amatoria recommends the cavea and archways as an ideal spot for dating. Nor were the sexes separated, unlike in other public venues. In recent years the Circus Maximus has hosted rock concerts and opera productions.Р”Р„ll these trades capitalised on a venue which on race-days became RomeРІР‚в„ўs busiest shopping centre. Even launderers, using ammonia from the ready urine-supply from between-race drunkards to aid the fulling process. Not to mention sub-populations of bookies and bakers, butchers and bar-keepers. Gripping the reins or, like an ancient charioteer, wrapping them round your waist, fast-backward an entire millennia.Р”В®ight metres below where strolls that one man and his dog today, the site, five-soccer-pitches-long, would have been thronged, 66 days per annum, with up to 385,000 spectators (an estimate from ConstantineРІР‚в„ўs reign). Rome unveils remains of Roman villa hidden for 2,000 years on the Aventine Hill.1229 might afford a glimpse of Saint Francis, sometime guest of one Iacopa, a Frangipani widow. That tower, for its part, is mediaeval, an add-on by Rome's powerful Frangipani family who recycled Circus masonry for defensive purposes. Landmarking the 19th century, to grind grain for the Roman populace there is a mill powered by the Marrana water-course running underground. Picture next orti di guerra, summer-camps for MussoliniРІР‚в„ўs youth movement, exhibitions and sporting displays prematurely celebrating long-lost grandeur while archaeologists come and go, excavating the area, covering it up again so it can resume an agricultural function. Another decade and in pompa triumphalis AS Roma's Francesco Totti lifts high lo Scudetto in football triumph.

Reverse two summers earlier, Mick Jagger appears and disappears in a jumping jack flash. In a flurry of spotlights thereРІР‚в„ўs David Gilmour, then Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band.

But for a man slowly walking his dachshund, the vast oval of grass and tawny-coloured gravel lies empty.

Axa, Casal Palocco, Infernetto districtsР”В®xploring the history ofР’В Rome's Circus Maximus by takingР’В reverse laps back to its beginnings.Р”В®arly morning.

Chariot races with dachshunds