According to Hesychius of Miletus there was once a statue of Hecate at this site. À la fin du Dans ses plus grandes dimensions, après les travaux de Trajan, l'arène mesure à elle seule 568 mètres de long.

Julius Caesar's development of the Circus, commencing around 50 BC, extended the seating tiers to run almost the entire circuit of the track, barring the starting gates and a processional entrance at the semi-circular end. One end of the track extended further back than the other, to allow the chariots to line up to begin the race. 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 As Rome's provinces expanded, existing ludi were embellished and new ludi invented by politicians who competed for divine and popular support. From at least 174 BC, they were counted off using large sculpted eggs; Castor and Pollux, who were born from an egg, were divine patrons of horses, horsemen, and the equestrian order (equites). The lower levels of site, ever prone to flooding, were gradually buried under waterlogged alluvial soil and accumulated debris; the original level of track is now buried 6m beneath the modern surface. It measured 621 m (2,037 ft) in length and 118 m (387 ft) in width, and could accommodate about 150,000 spectators. In the early Imperial era, Ovid describes the opening of Cerealia (mid to late April) with a horse race at the Circus, followed by the nighttime release of foxes into the stadium, their tails ablaze with lighted torches. With the end of the Republic, Rome's emperors met the ever-burgeoning popular demand for regular ludi and the need for more specialized venues, as essential obligations of their office and cult. It measured 621 m in length and 118 m in width and could accommodate over 150,000 spectators. These latter circuses are normally small (Nicopolis (Greece) and Aphrodisias (Turkey)), and should probably be considered stadiums. The Circus was Rome's largest venue for ludi, public games connected to Roman religious festivals. It was the first obelisk brought to Rome, an exotically sacred object and a permanent reminder of Augustus' victory over his Roman foes and their Egyptian allies in the recent civil wars. The typical hippodrome was dug into a hillside and the excavated material used to construct an embankment for supporting seats on the opposite side. The stalls were allocated by lottery, and the various racing teams were identified by their colors. Parmi ces temples, on peut citer ceux dédiés à « [le cirque] occupant avec les constructions adjacentes quatre jugères [...] »Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di RomaNotice dans un dictionnaire ou une encyclopédie généraliste In the Late Imperial period, both the southeastern turn and the circus itself were sometimes known as Vallis Murcia. Some early connection is likely between Ceres as goddess of grain crops and Consus as a god of grain storage and patron of the Circus.

The fire damage of 31 was probably repaired by Augustus (Caesar's successor and Rome's first emperor). Il pourrait s'agir à l'origine de monuments érigés par des généraux victorieux sur le trajet des processions triomphales qui traversent le cirque de part en part. Sa largeur varie selon l'endroit de 75 mètres aux À l'époque royale et au début de la République, les gradins ne devaient se résumer qu'à quelques structures éphémères en bois qui n'entouraient probablement pas tout le champ de course, la plupart des spectateurs se rassemblant et s'asseyant sur les pentes des collines avoisinantesSous l'Empire, Auguste a réservé certaines places pour les chevaliers et les sénateursSous la République, une tribune, qui devait avoir la forme d'une simple plate-forme en bois protégée par des L'empereur Auguste la remplace par une structure en pierre qui prend la forme d'un temple, probablement intégrée dans le premier tiers des gradins à proximité de l'arèneL'extrémité occidentale du cirque est occupée par les douze stalles de départ ou Les douze stalles sont disposées le long d'une ligne courbe pour que chaque concurrent ait la même distance à parcourir jusqu'à la Après les travaux de Jules César, l'édifice est entouré d'une arcade à colonnades à un étage derrière laquelle sont installés des boutiques et des ateliers.

Circuses do not appear to have been constructed with any special compass orientation.