The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

cir'cus

1.
A. A public entertainment consisting typically of a variety of performances by acrobats, clowns, and trained animals.
B. A traveling company that performs such entertainments.
C. A circular arena, surrounded by tiers of seats and often covered by a tent, in which such shows are performed.
2. A roofless oval enclosure surrounded by tiers of seats that was used in antiquity for public spectacles.
3. Chiefly British. An open circular place where several streets intersect.
4. Informal. Something suggestive of a circus, as in frenetic activity or noisy disorder: "The city is a circus of the senses" (William H. Gass).


WORD HISTORY The modern circus owes its name, but fortunately not its regular program of events, to the amusements of ancient times. The Latin word circus, which comes from the Greek word kirkos, 'circle, ring,' referred to a circular or oval area enclosed by rows of seats for spectators. In the center ring, so to speak, was held a variety of events, including chariot races and gladiatorial combats, spectacles in which bloodshed and brutality were not uncommon. The first use of circus recorded in English, in a work by Chaucer written around 1380, probably refers to the Circus Maximus in Rome. Our modern circus, which dates to the end of the 18th century, was originally an equestrian spectacle as well, but the trick riders were soon joined in the ring by such performers as rope dancers, acrobats, and jugglers. Even though the circular shape of the arena and the equestrian nature of some of the performances are carried over from its Roman namesake, the modern circus has little connection with its brutal namesake of long ago.

Archeology Dictionary

circus

Latin term for a kind of oval race-track used in the classical world for chariot racing. There were several examples in Rome itself, the best known and earliest of which is the Circus Maximus (600 m by 150 m). The race-track itself comprised a central wall (spina) with a turning point marked by a column at each end (metae). Seating for spectators was provided on banks along either side. Known in the Greek world as a hippodrome.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

circus

Entertainment or spectacle featuring animal acts and human feats of daring. The modern circus was founded in England in 1768 by the bareback rider Philip Astley (1742 ? 1814), who built stands around his performance ring and opened Astley's Amphitheatre. One of his riders later established the Royal Circus (1782), the first modern use of the term. The first U.S. circus opened in Philadelphia in 1793. Horse acts were later joined by wild-animal acts. After the invention of the flying trapeze by Jules L?otard (1859), aerial acts were featured. P.T. Barnum expanded the traditional circus by adding two rings to create the three-ring circus (1881) and augmented it with sideshow performers. Circuses traveled throughout the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, performing in a tent (the Big Top) into the 1950s. Today circuses usually perform in permanent buildings, though small troupes still travel with tents in some regions. By the late 20th century, notable circuses also had developed in Africa, India, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. Perhaps the most innovative trend in circuses at the turn of the 21st century was the establishment of companies such as the Cirque du Soleil; these companies employed no animals, instead emphasizing acts of human skill and daring and integrating elements of contemporary music and dance into the overall performance.

Architecture and Landscaping

circus
pl. circuses

1. Oblong roofless enclosure, or hippodrome, semicircular at one end, having tiered seats for spectators on both sides and round the curved end, and a central barrier (spina) on which stood obelisks, monuments, etc. It was used for Roman chariot-races and other spectacles, so had carceres or starting-gates arranged in a curve with its centre a point on the axis of the track the horses would take at the start of the race, thus ensuring each competitor had an equal distance to travel to the centre of the broad route.

2. Unified group of buildings, with concave fa?ades, fronting a circular open space, as in C18 town-planning schemes by Wood in Bath and Nash in London.

3. Circular road or junction from which streets radiate.

Russian History Encyclopedia

Circus

Circus was first introduced in Russia in 1793 by Charles Hughes of the Royal Circus of London. Established on a permanent basis in 1853, Russian circus was dominated by foreigners in the early years, such as the Salomanskys of Berlin in Moscow and the Cinizellis of Italy in St. Petersburg. Circuses traveled around with tents, but stationary circuses were also built in largely populated areas in Russia. Stationary circuses are more profitable and can also be active during inclement weather. During Soviet times there were about seventy stationary circuses and about forty remain in Russia in the early twenty-first century.

Circus in Russia has deep roots in the rich Russian cultural traditions, but circus performances in Russia are also known for their social comedies. Circus clowns in prerevolutionary Russia created satirical skits about landowners and merchants. The famous Durov brothers, Anatoly and Vladimir, a clown pair whose underlying purpose with their social comedies was to fight the oppressive tsarist regime, mastered this form. The Durov brothers were also animal tamers who developed the well-known Durov method of humane animal care and training.

The satirical nature of the circus and its appeal as a form of mass entertainment translated well into the Soviet world of popular culture. Intellectuals attacked the circus in the wake of the 1917 Revolution and labeled it an institution of superstition, animal cruelty, and vulgarity. Others noted that the circus offered an alternative mode of presenting historical and political themes through satirical clowning. The circus was nationalized in 1919 and the Commissariat of Enlightenment created a new department for it within its theater section. During the civil war the circus was turned to revolutionary uses, and later during World War II circus performers expressed patriotic feelings by staging victorious battles and honoring Russia's wartime allies.

The circus survived the Bolshevik cultural revolution well as circus acts already had a tradition of conveying political messages. In addition to political preaching, Soviet circus successfully mixed comedy and clowning with moralizing. During the Nikita Khrushchev years, popular routines addressed child upbringing, warned against foreign fashion, excessive drinking, stilyagi, and other social menaces. Circus continued to amuse Soviet citizens into the Leonid Brezhnev era, focusing on popular acts such as acrobatics, high wire, dancing bears, Cossack riders, and clowning. Clowns remained the greatest stars of the Russian circus.

Although tiring to the Soviet audience, Russian circus was conservative and continued to present internationally acclaimed ethnic variety shows well into the 1980s. With perestroika the circus abandoned the standard Soviet elements of the circus, such as folk culture, appraisal of World War II heroism, and politics. In the early twenty-first century, pop music and skits devoid of political or moral preaching draw huge crowds as the professionalism of Russian circus artists is widely acclaimed. With changing times, Russian circus has reinvented itself and continues to be a valued form of entertainment in Russia.

Bibliography

Hammarstrom, David Lewis. (1983). Circus Rings around Russia. Hamden, CT: Archon.

Stites, Richard. (1992) Russian Popular Culture: Entertainment and Society since 1900. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Columbia Encyclopedia

circus [Lat.,=ring, circle], historically, the arena associated with the horse and chariot races and athletic contests known in ancient Rome as the Circensian games. The Roman circus was a round or oval structure with tiers of seats for spectators, enclosing a space in which the races, games, and gladiatorial combats took place. Underneath were dressing rooms, dens for wild beasts, and rooms where properties were stored. The Circus Maximus, presumably built in the reign of Tarquin I (c.616?c.578 B.C.), and rebuilt by Julius Caesar, was reported by Pliny in his Natural History to have a capacity of 250,000, though this figure is suspiciously large. Other famous circi of Rome were the Circus Flaminius (221 B.C.); the Circus Neronis, of Caligula and Nero, at which many Christians perished; and the Circus Maxentius. The circus of Septimius Severus at Constantinople and many others were often scenes of riot and bloodshed between factions of charioteers. The games, aside from races, were brutal and bloody, and for this reason the Greeks, even under Roman domination, never really accepted the circus.

The modern circus, which originated in performances of equestrian feats in a horse ring strewn with sawdust, dates from the closing years of the 18th cent. The circus is traditionally a nomadic tent show, with trained animals, acrobats, and clowns. The main tent, known as the big top, is often surrounded by various concessions and sideshows with ?freaks? and wild animals. Even before 1830, traveling circuses were common in the United States and in England. After 1873 two rings were used in the main tent and the three-ring circus, as we know it today, was initiated by James A. Bailey. The most celebrated circus in America was ?The Greatest Show on Earth? of P. T. Barnum, which, in merging with Bailey's, became Barnum and Bailey's. On Bailey's death in 1907 the circus was purchased by Ringling Brothers, and in 1919 the two circuses were combined. Since 1969, Ringling Brothers has had two large circuses on tour that play mostly indoors and visit almost every major U.S. city annually.

The traveling circus, in its heyday from 1880 to 1920, declined in the 1950s and 60s. By the 1980s, however, more than 30 circuses were touring the United States and Canada. Outstanding among contemporary circuses are two small and sophisticated shows, the New York City?based Big Apple Circus and the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil. The latter is the most elaborate and best known exponent of the form called cirque nouveau. A type of modern circus without animal acts, it is characterized by a mixture of traditional circus arts with poetic spectacle, music, and dance and is practiced by a number of European and Canadian troupes.

Bibliography

See studies by H. R. North and A. Hatch (1960); E. C. May (1932, repr. 1963); C. P. Fox and T. Parkinson (1970); M. Murray (1956, repr. 1973); G. Speight (1980); L. D. Hammarstrom, John Ringling North and the Circus (1992).