Today we are going to discover the Roman circus, one of the most underappreciated monuments in Toledo, but one that is essential to understand the Roman city, or Toletum as it was once known. The circus shows the great importance of the city during the Roman era, with a length of 422 metres (1385 feet), a width of 122 metres (400 feet) and a capacity of between 15,000 and 30,000 spectators (depending on the methodology used for the calculations), Toledo was clearly an important hub in the centre of the peninsula.
The Circus was constructed during either the reign of Augustus or Tiberius, being in use from the 1st till the 4th century when it was finally abandoned. Its abandonment meant that the circus slowly fell into disrepair, leaving behind the mortar that makes up the modern-day ruins. During the period of Arab rule, the circus was used as a cemetary with a large number of human remains discovered within the momument’s vicinity.
