Abstract: A hydraulic circuit for a hydraulic excavator having a motor drive which acts on at least two closed drive circuits which are connected in parallel, each have a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor and which operate on a common output drive, connecting lines being provided between the hydraulic pump and the hydraulic motor of a respective drive circuit, is intended to be improved such that mutual contamination of the components of different driving means with particles in the event of damage is largely avoided and it is also made easier to ascertain the damage. This is achieved by the connecting lines (L11, L12; L21, L22) of each drive circuit (A1, A2) being arranged only between the hydraulic pump (P1, P2) and the hydraulic motor (HM1, HM2) of the respective drive circuit (A1, A2) in such a way that there is no hydraulic connection between the different drive circuits (A1, A2), the respective drive circuit (A1, A2) each having its own control valve (S1, S2) connected to it.