Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Oppidum

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

OP'PIDUM. Generally, a town; thence, in a special sense, the mass of buildings occupying the straight end of a circus (Naevius ap. Varro, L. L. v. 133. Festus, s. v.), which included the stalls for the horses and chariots (carceres), the row of seats above, where the musicians and spectators sat, the gate between them, through which the Circensian procession entered the course (porta pompae), and the towers which flanked the whole on either side, all which together presented the appearance of a town, as shown by the annexed example (Oppidum/1.1), representing the oppidum in the circus of Caracalla near Rome, restored from the existing remains, which are very considerable. One stall has been added on each side of the entrance, because there were generally fourteen, though this particular circus, which was a very small one, only had twelve. Its general situation as regards the rest of the edifice is shown by the ground-plan, p. 165. AA and B., and a portion in elevation, belonging to the hippodrome once existing at Constantinople, at p. 166.

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  Oppidum/1.1