The Stadium of Domitian, also known as the Circus Agonalis, was located to the north of the Campus Martius. The Stadium was commissioned around AD 80 by the Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus as a gift to the people of Rome, and was used mostly for athletic contests.
The Stadium of Domitian was dedicated in AD 86, as part of an Imperial building programme at the Field of Mars, following the damage or destruction of most of its buildings by fire in AD 79. It was Rome’s first permanent venue for competitive athletics. It was patterned after the Greek model and seated approximately 15,000 – 20,000 – a smaller, more appropriate venue for foot-races than the Circus Maximus, although a catalogue complied at the end of the 4th century recorded that the stadium’s seating capacity was 33,080 persons.
