The ancient
Romans had a circus, but it wasn't anything like our
modern circus. The ancient Roman circus was a place to stage
elaborate "sporting" events. When it first began, the circus
displayed Roman soldiers demonstrating their fighting skills against
one another. Things got considerably nastier as time went by as the
Romans indulged their taste for blood. The circus became a staging
ground for fights to the death, with people and animals killing one
another indiscriminately for the pleasure of the crowd. (Quite a
crowd, by the way. The
Circus Maximus in
Rome, which was built
around 600 B.C., allegedly seated up to 250,000 people at a time,
although examining its ruins shows that a mere 150,000 could ever
actually have been seated there.)
As the Roman Empire declined, so did these vast spectacles. The
Roman circus disappeared completely during the Dark Ages.
The modern circus was invented by Philip Astley in 1768. He wanted
to set up a riding school, but he had no funds to get it going. To
raise money, Astley decided to charge admission to a trick riding
show.
The problem with trick riding shows in those days was that they
were set up as a long, straight track. The audience would sit near
the middle of the track. The audience would see one trick as the
horses dashed past, then they would have to wait as the horses
turned around and came back for another pass. Astley's innovation was
to set up the performance area as a ring in which the horses would
run. Not only would the horses be in view the whole time, the
centripetal force as the horses went around the ring helped the
riders keep their places during their tricks. He began by using a
62-foot diameter ring, but he soon reduced it to a 42-foot ring, which
is still the standard size for circus rings today.
By 1770, the popularity of Astley's performances had far
overshadowed his teaching of horsemanship. Knowing a good thing
when he saw one, Astley then hired acrobats, tightrope dancers,
and jugglers to perform between the horse acts to keep the audience
interested in the show.
The circus arrived in America in 1793, presented by British
equestrian John Bill Ricketts. George Washington saw this
circus and even sold Ricketts a horse for the show.
The wide open spaces in America caused the American circus to
naturally gravitate to the railroad as a means of transportation.
Railroads generally went between large cities, and large cities meant
large crowds. The American circus had to expand from one ring to
three to accommodate these crowds. In 1872, P. T. Barnum was the
first to put a circus on the rails.
Showmen such as P. T. Barnum dramatically increased the size of the
circus. Barnum invested heavily in circus animals, including
"Jumbo," the world's largest elephant, which he bought for
$30,000.
Many musical instruments were invented specifically for use in
the circus, such as the steam calliope (steam-driven whistles), the
una-fon (a series of doorbells connected to a keyboard), Shaker
chimes (chimes that make unusual sounds when shaken, similar to an
ancient Indonesian instrument, the anklung), and the Aluminum
Harp (a series of tubes that produce tones when rubbed with rosined
gloves).
By the beginning of the twenty-first century, animal rights laws
and an explosion of other entertainment opportunities for the
general public had caused the circus industry to decline and fragment.
Smaller, more polished circuses such as the Cirque du Soleil
flourished by performing without animals for niche audiences in the
largest cities. The large circuses like Ringling Brothers and Barnum
and Bailey Circus faded in cultural importance, though they persist
still.
http://www.circusworldmuseum.com/
http://www.circusweb.com/cwhistory.html
http://www.bobby-roberts.co.uk/circus-history.htm
http://www.hannefordfamilycircus.com/history/early_history.htm
http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/circus_maximus/