Un secolo del Circo Vaticano tra costruzione e abbandono

The paper offers an updated synthesis of the archaeological, topographical, and historical research concerning the Vatican Circus, built by Caligula in Rome in the gardens of Agrippina and active for about a century. Despite the absence of major new findings, the author reexamines the monument in light of both classical sources and modern reinterpretations, clarifying its ephemeral architectural nature and its role within the urban and religious landscape of the ager Vaticanus. The study reconstructs the phases from its construction under Caligula to its transformations and eventual abandonment by the mid-2nd century AD, when the area became occupied by tombs and later by the Rotunda of St. Andrew in the Severan period. Particular attention is given to the position of the carceres, the structure of the spina with its Egyptian obelisk, and the subsequent religious reuse of the site, possibly linked to the cult of Cybele and Attis (Phrygianum). The article also discusses the relationship between the Gaianum and the Circus, proposing a reading of the literary and epigraphic evidence that situates the Vatican complex within the broader transformation of Rome’s suburban sacred topography.