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CIRCO MASSIMO
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Circo Massimo was a structure built for people's fun and entertainment: the race of the two-wheeled chariots, that took place here, was, together with the fight of the gladiators, the most loved performance. Nowadays you can see a big elliptic shaped meadow (664 m x 124m), in which you can clearly see the tiers perimeter. In the past it was an exceptionally large stadium; it could house up to 250.000 people. The building is one of the most ancient in Rome, in fact it dates back just to the years following the birth of the city; in the course of the centuries it was enlarged more and more, till it achieved the present dimensions. The Circo Massimo area is then linked to the ancient story of the rape of the Sabine women: soon after the birth of the city there was a worrying shortage of women, then Romulus first king of Rome decided to give a big party in the area where now Circo Massimo rises, and to ask the Sabines, with their women. During the party the Romans raped the Sabine women and threw out their husbands and fathers. Soon after that, the Sabines organized themselves to come back and take their women; but when they entered the city, their women interposed between them and the Romans, whom they in the mean time had grew fond of! So the story had an happy end, the Roman king and the Sabine one ruled together and the Roman people and the Sabine one melted together.
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