The circus has been established in different ancient societies including the Romans, Greeks and the Chinese dynasty. The modern version with the tent arrived from America in the 1800s. Exotic animals have been popular right up until recently where the animal rights issues have been enforced.  Clowns, acrobats, equestrian acts and people with unusual abilities have always been popular.


 The Pierrot was a fairly modern character who was actually developed from the Italian character Pedrolino. Pedrolino was one of the many characters from the Commedia dell'arte troupes entertaining people around Europe as far back as the 1500s. Pierrot and Pedrolino were sad clowns because they were the butt of jokes played on them by other characters. Then suddenly, as a way of getting back at them, he leaps out and scares them.   

The Strong man performed acts of power to the audience, lifting heavy objects and flexing  unusually large muscles.  They would wear very little so that their muscles were shown off to their best potential.

Equestrian acts became particularly popular in Britain in the 18oos when the size of circus rings (be in indoor or as a tent) were standardized to 13-ft so the horses could gallop comfortably an impressively.  The performers would  do balancing ricks while riding the horses or would control the horse to perform certain steps. 

Acrobats would perform balancing and tumbling tricks.  The trapeze was invented in the late 19th century by Jules Leotard and it allowed performers to fly through the air doing flips, rather than being restricted to the ground.