Taking as its starting point a corpus of sixty-six documented examples of demonstrations and other breakdowns of public order at public spectacles in Rome, the present study sets out to propose a chronological sequence for these demonstrations, and a typology of the ways in which the public became involved. In the first century B.C and the first century A.D. political demonstrations and public disorders most often broke out at theatrical performances. However, from the second century A.D. onwards the circus seems to have replaced the theatre as the principal location for demonstrations at public spectacles in Rome. Moreover, whether in the theatre, the circus or the amphitheatre, the spectators usually challenged the political authorities by means of applause or acclamation. On some occasions, though by no means the most frequent, the spectators demonstrated physical aggression. In this respect the theatre is distinguished from the other places in Rome housing spectacles, by the violence of the various demonstrations which developed there, even without taking into account clashes between supporters of the various actors.