ממוזער|200px|פיל משחק [[כדורסל בקרקס]] 
'''קרקס''' הוא מופע ליצנים, מופעי קסמים, להטוטנות, דיאבולו, דוויל סטיק, חד אופן, סטאף, פוי, אומנות בלונים וכדומה.

מקור המילה "קרקס" מהמילה "סירקוס" שפרושה תאי הזנקה לסוסים בהיפודרום (היפו=סוס). בהמשך נכללה המילה לכל מופע נודד שנערך בדרך כלל במתחם סגלגל.

מופעי קרקס הרבו לכלול מאולפים, אך החל מסוף המאה העשרים צומצמו, ולעתים נאסרו, מופעים כאלה, משיקולים של זכויות בעלי חיים.

קרקס פועל, בדרך כלל, כגוף עסקי, ובכל מופע צופה קהל רב. לרוב הקרקס, על הסגל שלו ומתקניו, נודד ממקום למקום במטרה להגיע ליותר קהל. לעתים סגל הקרקס מורכב ממשפחות בהן רוב המשפחה או אף המשפחה כולה עובדים בקרקס בתפקידים שונים.

thumb|300px|right|The Big Top of [[Billy Smart, Jr|Billy Smart's Circus ''Cambridge'' 2004.]]
A '''circus''' is most commonly a traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists. The word also describes the performance that they give, which is usually a series of acts that are choreographed to music. A circus is held in an oval or circular arena with tiered seating around its edge; in the case of traveling circuses this location is most often a large tent called the big top.  

==History of the circus==
===Origin of the circus===
In Ancient Rome the circus was a building for the exhibition of horse and chariot races, equestrian shows, staged battles, displays featuring trained  animals, jugglers, and acrobats. The circus of Rome is thought to have been influenced by the Greeks, with chariot racing and the exhibition of animals as traditional attractions. The Roman circus consisted of tiers of seats running parallel with the sides of the course, and forming a crescent around one of the ends. The lower seats were reserved for persons of rank; there were also various state boxes, eg. for the giver of the games and his friends. In Ancient Rome the circus was the only public spectacle at which men and women were not separated. The Latin word circus comes from the Greek word <i>kirkos</i> meaning “circle or ring,”.<ref>[http://www.answers.com/circus&r=67 Answers.com] Word History: Circus</ref> 

The first circus in Rome was the Circus Maximus, in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills.  Next in importance to the Circus Maximus in Rome was the Circus Flaminius, the Circus Neronis, from the notoriety which it obtained through the Circensian pleasures of Nero. A fourth, the Circus of Maxentius, was constructed by Maxentius; the ruins of this circus have enabled archaeologists to reconstruct the Roman circus.

Following the fall of Rome, Europe lacked a large and animal rich circus. Itinerant showmen traveled the fair grounds of Europe. Animal trainers and performers are thought to have exploited the nostalgia for the Roman circus, traveling between towns and performing at local fairs. Another possible link between the Roman and modern circus could have been bands of Gypsies who appeared in Europe in the 14th century and in Britain from the 15th century bringing with them circus skills and trained animals.<!--- ['''Factually incomplete.  It is not made clear what connection the Roma (Gypsy) people and Roman people have.  Is this a confusion between the words 'Roma' (Gypsy) and 'Roman'?  If so, the word 'Roma' and the word 'Rome' have no etymological connection. <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people#Etymology</ref>''']---->

In China's Eastern Han Dynasty scholar Zhang Heng was one of the first to describe acrobatic theme shows in the royal palaces in his writing "Ode to the Western Capital".  A grand acrobatic show was held by Emperor Wu of Han in 108 BC for foreign guests<ref name="qiaotrad">Qiao. "[http://www.qiao.ca/tradition.htm Qiao]." ''The acrobatic Theme show and its origin in the Hundreds Entertainment.'' Retrieved on 2007-05-25.</ref>. Most western text describe the circus as a ''"Chinese Circus"''.  The Far East generally see it as a separate performance art called Chinese variety art, and is not believed to be a direct predecessor to ''"Western Circus"'' despite many stunts and performances being similar.

===Development of the circus===
thumb|240px|right|Lion tamer, in lithograph by Gibson & Co., 1873.
The modern concept of a circus  as a circular arena surrounded by tiers of seats, for the exhibition of equestrian, acrobatic, and other performances seems to have existed since the late 18th century.<ref name="oed">The Oxford English Dictionary lists the 1791 book ''The History of the Royal Circus'' about Philip Astley's troupe as the first written use of the word to describe the modern circus.</ref> The popularity of the circus in England may be traced to that held by Philip Astley in London, the first performance of his circus is said to have been held on January 9, 1768. One of Astley's major contributions to the circus was bringing trick horse riding into a ring, though Astley referred to it as the Circle.  Later, to suit equestrian acts moving from one circus to another, the diameter of the circus ring was set at 42 feet (13 m), which is the size ring needed for horses to circle comfortably at full gallop. Astley never called his performances a 'circus'; that title was thought up by his rival John Hughes, who set up his Royal Circus a short distance from Astley's 'Amphitheatre of Equestrian Arts' in Lambeth, London.  Astley was followed by Andrew Ducrow, whose feats of horsemanship had much to do with establishing the traditions of the circus, which were perpetuated by Henglers and Sangers celebrated shows in a later generation. In England circuses were often held in purpose built buildings in large cities, such as the London Hippodrome, which was built as a combination of the circus, the menagerie and the variety theatre, where wild animals such as lions and elephants from time to time appeared in the ring, and where convulsions of nature such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been produced with an extraordinary wealth of realistic display.
thumb|right|240px|[[Trapeze artists, in lithograph by Calvert Litho. Co., 1890.]]

Antonio Franconi, the founder of the French circus, is credited by many to be a co-creator of the modern circus, along with Philip Astley. 

The first circus building in the United States opened in 1793 in P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie & Circus, a traveling combination of animal and human oddities, the exhibition of humans as a freak show or sideshow was thus an American invention. Coup was also the first circus entrepreneur to use circus trains to transport the circus from town to town; a practice that continues today and introduced the first multiple ringed circuses. 

In 1840 the equestrian Thomas Cooke returned to England from the United States, bringing with him a circus tent. Three important circus innovators were Italian Giuseppe Chiarini, and Frenchmen Louis Soullier and Jacques Tourniaire, whose early travelling circuses introduced the circus to Latin America, Australia, South East Asia, China, India, South Africa and Russia. Soullier was the first circus owner to introduce Chinese acrobatics to the European circus when he returned from his travels in 1866 and Tourniaire was the first to introduce the performing art to Ranga where it became extremely popular. Following Barnum's death his circus merged with that of James Anthony Bailey, and travelled to Europe as Barnum & Bailey "Greatest Show On Earth" where it toured from 1897 to 1902, impressing other circus owners with its large scale, its touring techniques including the tent and circus train and the combination of circus acts, zoological exhibition and the freak show. This format was adopted by European circuses at the turn of the 20th century.

The influence of the American circus brought about a considerable change in the character of the modern circus. In arenas too large for speech to be easily audible, the traditional comic dialog of the clown assumed a less prominent place than formerly, while the vastly increased wealth of stage properties relegated to the background the old-fashioned equestrian feats, which were replaced by more ambitious acrobatic performances, and by exhibitions of skill, strength and daring, requiring the employment of immense numbers of performers and often of complicated and expensive machinery.

In 1919, Lenin, head of the USSR, expressed a wish for the circus to become 'the people's art-form', given facilities and status on a par with theatre, opera and ballet. The USSR nationalized the Soviet circuses. In 1927 the State University of Circus and Variety Arts, better known as the Moscow Circus School was established where performers were trained using methods developed from the Soviet gymnastics program. When the Moscow State Circus company began international tours in the 1950's, its levels of originality and artistic skill were widely applauded, and the high standard of the Russian State circus continues to this day.

Circuses from China, drawing on Chinese traditions of acrobatics, like the Chinese State Circus are also popular touring acts. 

The International Circus Festival of Monaco<ref>[http://www.montecarlofestival.mc/ International Circus Festival of Monaco]</ref> has been held in Monte Carlo since 1974 and was the first of many international awards for circus performers.

===Contemporary circus===

right|thumb|220px|[[Cirque du Soleil|Cirque du Soleil performing ''Dralion'' in Vienna, 2004]]
In the 1960s and 1970s, the circus began to lose popularity as people became more interested in alternative forms of entertainment. Some circuses have stayed afloat by merging with other circus companies. There are numerous circuses that maintain a mix of animal and human performers, these include Circus Circus, a Las Vegas circus themed casino and the largest permanent big top in the world, also presents human and animal performances.

San Francisco in 1975, and more recently French Guinea - ''Guinée'') Circus Baobab<ref>[http://www.circusbaobab.org/ Circus Baobab]</ref> in the late 90's. The form includes other circus troupes such as the The Jim Rose Circus and The Happy Sideshow are both interesting takes on the sideshow. The Moscow State Circus is a non animal circus.

Swedish nouveau circus company Cirkus Cirkör was founded 1995. U.S. Company PURE Cirkus <ref>[http://www.purecirkus.com/ Company PURE Cirkus]</ref> under the Genre of Cirque Noir, was founded in 2004, and in Northern England, (United Kingdom), combining punk, rap, dance music, comedy, and daring stunts, Skewed Circus<ref>[http://www.komedykollective.com/skewedcircus.html Skewed Circus]</ref> delivers "pop-circus" genre entertainment to young urban audiences who have not had the opportunity to visit traditional circuses.

==The circus performance==
thumb|240px|right| [[Fire breathing|Fire breathers risk burns, both internal and external, as well as poisoning in the pursuit of their art.]]thumb|right|240px|Female [[animal trainer and leopard. Human performers in Big Cat acts such as these are often referred to by the misnomer "cruel training methods.]]

A traditional circus performance is led by a ringmaster who has a role similar to a Master of Ceremonies. The ringmaster presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the show moving. The activity of the circus takes place within a ring; large circuses may have multiple rings, like the six ringed Moscow State Circus. A circus traditionally has its own band.

===Circus acts===

Common acts include a variety of  cradle, and a variety of floor routines. Juggling is also a common act in circuses; the combination of juggling and gymnastics is called equilibristics and include acts like plate spinning or the rolling globe. 

Clowns are common to most circuses and are typically skilled in many circus acts; "clowns getting into the act" is a very familiar theme in any circus. Famous circus clowns have included Austin Miles, the Fratellini Family, Emmett Kelly, Grock and Bill Irwin. 

Daredevil stunt acts and sideshow acts are also parts of some circus acts, these activities may include breathing and dancing, knife throwing, magic shows, strongman. Famous sideshow performers include Zip the Pinhead and The Doll Family. A popular sideshow attraction from the early 19th century was the flea circus, where fleas were attached to props and viewed through a Fresnel lens.