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CIRCUMNAVIGATION CIRENCESTER 611 mony was observed by the Arabians and Sy- rians. Jerome says that in his day the major- ity of Egyptians, Idumseans, Ammonites, Mo- abites, and Ishmaelites were circumcised. The Mohammedans also practise it ; and although the Koran does not enjoin it, it has extended itself wherever the Mohammedan religion has been adopted. In Arabia the rite is performed on both sexes. The Arabians have a tradition that Mohammed said that circumcision was honorable in women. Pythagoras is said to have submitted to circumcision in order to ob- tain instruction from the Egyptian priests in their sacred doctrines. A portion of the Phoe- nician nations practised the rite, but the Philis- tines did not. The aboriginal Mexicans were found to observe this custom. The Friendly Islanders, the inhabitants of the Indian archi- pelago, those on the west coast of Africa, those of Madagascar and the Philippine islands, and even the Hottentots, have a custom regarded as a remnant of the same observance, CIRCUMNAVIGATION. Any voyage around the world is properly so called ; but as modern commerce encircles every sea, the term is con- fined to continuous voyages around the globe for some specific purpose, as for survey, dis- covery, or other scientific object. The follow- ing list comprises the principal circumnaviga- tors, with the date of the commencement of each voyage : Magalhaens, 1519 ; Mendana, 1567 ; Drake, 1577 ; Cavendish, 1586 and 1591 ; Queiros, 1605; LeMaire, 1615; Tasman, 1642 ; Dampier, 1679 ; Roger and Cooke, 1708 ; Roggeween, 1721; Anson, 1740; Byron, 1764; Wallis and Carteret, 1766 ; Bougainville, 1766 ; James Cook, 1768, 1772, and 1776; Krusen- stern, 1803 ; Kotzebue, 1823 ; King and Fitz- roy, 1826 ; Belcher, 1836 ; Dumont d'Urville, 1837; Wilkes, 1838. Travellers and tourists at the present day very frequently make entire circumnavigations of the globe, starting from any point in Europe or America, and availing themselves of the various established lines of communication. CIRCUS, in ancient Rome, a place reserved for public games, races, and shows of different kinds. The circus maxirmis, in the valley now called Via de' Cerchi, was founded by Tarquin the Elder. It gradually became one of the most magnificent structures of Rome. The original temporary platforms erected at private ex- pense, by patricians and equites, who alone witnessed the shows, were replaced by three galleries or tiers of seats, running in an elliptical form around the arena. Iron railings 12 to 14 ft. high, and a ditch 10 ft. broad and 10 ft. deep, a work of Csesar, separated the seats from and defended them against the furious beasts of the arena. Through its middle length ran a low wall called spina, at each end of which were erected three wooden (afterward gilt) cylinders of conical shape, forming the goals of races. The spina was adorned with gilt statues, im- ages of deities, reliefs, altars, and chapels, and at its middle with an obelisk 132 ft. high, brought by Augustus from Egypt. There were also two platforms, on one of which reposed the images of seven dolphins, on the other the seven ova, imitations of eggs, which marked the numbers of the rounds done by the racers, one of the eggs being taken off after each. At one of the narrow sides of the circus the galleries were wanting, and replaced by the stores for chariots and horses. The length of the circus was in the time of Julius Caesar more than 3 stadia, its breadth 400 ft., its cir- cumference 8 stadia. Destroyed by fire under Nero, and rebuilt by Trajan, it was made by this emperor capable of containing 500,000 spectators, and completed under Constantino, who adorned it with another obelisk. The circus Flaminius or Apollinaris, erected proba- bly by Caius Flaminius, in the Prata Flaminia, out of the city, and which in a show under Augustus was filled with water and became the scene where 36 crocodiles were killed ; the circus of Sallust, near his gardens, destined for shows of sea fights ; the Vaticanus, commenced by Caligula, completed by Nero ; the Agona- lis, erected by Alexander Severus; those of Flora and Hadrian ; and the circus maximus, were all destroyed. A circus attributed by antiquaries to Caracalla, near the Appian way, about two miles from the city, is the only one that remains in good preservation at Rome. More or less remarkable ruins of similar struc- tures, erected in the ancient provinces of the Roman empire, are still visible in Alexandria, Rhodes, Athens, Gaza, Jerusalem, Nimes, Nar- bonne, &c. In modern times the name is ap- plied to a building or enclosure within which is contained a circular space designed for the ex- hibition of feats of horsemanship. The most celebrated amphitheatre in London used for this purpose is Astley's. The present edifice is the fourth which has been erected upon the same spot, the three previous ones having been destroyed by fire. In Paris and Madrid there are several circuses, the finest of which in the latter city, the Circo de Price, is one of the largest and handsomest amphitheatres in Eu- rope. In the United States equestrian per- formances are exhibited by companies which travel through the country during the sum- mer months. The exhibitions are given in large tents. The wagons used for the trans- portation of these tents and the performers, with the exhibition horses, form a large train, and enter the towns and villages on their route in grand procession. The capital invested in each enterprise of this kind is very great, and the number of companies engaged in the busi- ness is considerable. CIRENCESTER (colloquially called CIOETEE), a market town and parliamentary borough of Gloucestershire, England, on the river Churn, and on the Cheltenham branch of the Great Western railway, 15 m. E. S. E. of Gloucester, and 95 m. by rail N. W. of London ; pop. in 1871, 7,681. It is one of the greatest marts in England for wool. It has a fine old church,