This relief from Ostia, dating to the reign of Trajan, depicts the Circus Maximus in action. The piece was a funerary monument, honoring one or both of the couple standing on the left of the figural frame. The featured action depicts a racing quadriga, moving across the foreground away from the couple. The chariot is paced by an outrider and a “sparsor” sprinkles water in front of the horses to keep the dust down. The eye is drawn, however, to the detailed reconstruction of the barrier’s key features, the rounded cones of the “metae” at either end, an obelisk on the left of middle, a pair of female statues, possibly Victoria figures, atop columns, and the dolphin lap-counters. Behind the barrier, back to the viewer, waits a helmeted figure with a victory palm, ready to declare the victor. On the far right are the “carceres”, turned sideways and shallowly carved, to give the impression of perspective. The double doors of each starting gate are separated from the next by pilasters with herms set before them. The relief may have originally honored someone affiliated with the races, possibly one of the faction leaders, possibly a magistrate/producer of a fine set of “ludi circenses”. The fact that only one driver is depicted may suggest a close connection to the male deceased; perhaps everyone in the relief belonged to the “same color”, or team.