Editing Circus Maximus (section)

=== Regal era ===
[[File:Obelisk-popolo.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''[[Flaminio Obelisk|Obelisco Flaminio]]'', now in the [[Piazza del Popolo]], was once part of the dividing barrier (''spina'') at the Circus Maximus]]
The Circus Maximus was sited on the level ground of the Valley of Murcia ''([[Vallis Murcia]])'', between Rome's [[Aventine Hill|Aventine]] and [[Palatine Hill]]s. In Rome's early days, the valley would have been rich agricultural land, prone to flooding from the river [[Tiber]] and the stream which divided the valley lengthwise. The stream was probably bridged at an early date, at the two points where the track had to cross it, and the earliest races would have been held within an agricultural landscape, "with nothing more than turning posts, banks where spectators could sit, and some shrines and sacred spots".<ref>{{harvnb|Humphrey|1986|p=11}}. Humphrey describes this as "like a Greek [[hippodrome]]"</ref>

In [[Livy]]'s ''[[Ab urbe condita (Livy)|History of Rome]]'', the first [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] [[Roman Kingdom|king of Rome]], [[Lucius Tarquinius Priscus]], built raised, wooden perimeter seating at the Circus for Rome's highest echelons (the [[equites]] and [[patricians]]), probably midway along the Palatine straight, with an awning against the sun and rain. His grandson, [[Tarquinius Superbus]], added the first seating for citizen-commoners ([[plebs]], or plebeians),<ref>Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, I. 35, 56</ref> either adjacent or on the opposite, Aventine side of the track.<ref>The Aventine was a predominantly plebeian area.</ref> Otherwise, the Circus was probably still little more than a trackway through surrounding farmland. By this time, it may have been drained<ref>Tarquin might have employed the plebs in constructing a conduit or drain (cloaca) for Murcia's stream, discharging into the Tiber. See {{harvnb|Humphrey|1986|p=67}}</ref> but the wooden stands and seats would have frequently rotted and been rebuilt. The turning posts (''metae''), each made of three conical stone pillars, may have been the earliest permanent Circus structures; an open drainage canal between the posts would have served as a dividing barrier.<ref>Etruscan tomb paintings of chariot races offer a possible seating model for this earliest phase; noble sponsors and other dignitaries sit in elevated stands, complete with awning. Commoners lounge or sit below, at ground level. At the early Circus Maximus, the sloping ground afforded the possibility of turf seating tiers at an early date – as imagined by [[Ovid]] in his account of the first Consualia – replaced with wooden seating tiers by later sponsors and benefactors. See {{harvnb|Humphrey|1986|pp=65–66, 68–69}}, for early ''metae'' and a possible canal as central dividing barrier, see summary on pp. 292–3.</ref>