It is thought that the Circus, located in the Valle Murcia, between the Palatine and the Aventine Hills, existed already before the 4th century b.C. and was used for the horse races and horse competitions first by Tarquinius Priscus in 600 b.C.; and that the famous rape of the Sabines took place right here. It was the greatest construction for the entertainment every built, with dimensions 600m x 200m, with 350,000 seats (from where the name Maximus derives). The circus was altered and enlarged on several occasions. Adapted for chariot races, it was used also for athletic contests, wild-beast fights, and (by flooding the arena) mock sea battles.

Julius Caesar celebrated the holidays and feasts on the territory of Circus. Augustus built an imperial box on the slope of the palatine and in 10 b.C. erected an Obelisk of Ramses II (now in Piazza del Popolo). After the Nero's fire in 64 A.D. Trajan reconstructed it in the beginning of the 2nd century. Settimius Severus created a new box for the imperial family in his Palace at the foot of the Palatine. In 357 Costantius erected another Obelisk of Thutmos III (now in Piazza di S.Giovanni in Laterano). The last races  in the Circus Maximus took place in 549 under the king of Ostrogoths Totila.

In 1854-1910 the area of Circus was occupied by English-Roman industrial society of Gas. In fascist period here were organized the grandiose parades.