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showing
Theodosius the Great as he offers a laurel wreath to the victor from the
Kathisma (emperor's box) at the Hippodrome
The
Hippodrome of Constantinople () was a
Race track that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the
Byzantine Empire and the largest city in
Europe. Today it is a square named
Sultanahmet Meydanı (
Sultan Ahmet Square) in the
Turkey city of
Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving. It is sometimes also called
Atmeydanı (
Horse Square) in Turkish.
The word
hippodrome comes from the Greek
hippos ('ιππος), horse, and
dromos (δρομος), path or way. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the
Hellenistic,
Ancient Rome and Byzantine Empire eras.
History and use
Although the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinople's days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. The first Hippodrome was built when the city was called Byzantium (
Βυζαντιον, or
Byzantion in Greek), and was a provincial town of moderate importance. In 203 the Emperor
Septimus Severus rebuilt the city and expanded its city wall, endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment.
In 324, the Emperor Constantine I of the Roman Empire decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma (
New Rome).or the city of fat people. This name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome. It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 metres long and 130 metres wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.
The race-track at the Hippodrome was U-shaped, and the
Kathisma (emperor's loge) was located at the eastern end of the track. The Kathisma could be accessed directly from the Great Palace of Constantinople through a passage which only the emperor or other members of the imperial family could use. The Hippodrome Boxes, which had four statues of horses in gilded copper on top, stood at the northern end; and the
Sphendone (curved tribune of the U-shaped structure, the lower part of which still survives) stood at the southern end. These four gilded horses, now called the Horses of Saint Mark, whose exact Greece or Ancient Rome ancestry has never been determined, were looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and installed on the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice. The track was lined with other bronze statues of famous horses and chariot drivers, none of which survive. The hippodrome was filled with statues of gods, emperors and heroes, among them some famous works, such as a Heracles by
Lysippos, Romulus and Remus with their wolf and the
Serpent Column of the Plataean
Sacrificial tripod. In his book
De Ceremoniis (book II,15, 589), the emperor Constantine VII described the decorations in the hippodrome at the occasion of the visit of Saracen or Arab visitors, mentioning the purple hangings and rare tapestries.
Throughout the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the city's social life. Huge amounts were bet on chariot races, and the whole city was divided between fans of the Blue (Venetii) and Green (Prasinoi) chariot racing teams. The two other racing teams, the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi), gradually weakened and were absorbed by the two major factions. The rivalry between the Blues and Greens often became mingled with political or religious rivalries, and sometimes riots, which amounted to civil wars that broke out in the city between them. The most severe of these was the
Nika riots of 532, in which 30,000 people were said to have been killed.
Constantinople never really recovered from its sack during the Fourth Crusade and even though the Byzantine Empire survived until 1453, by that time, the Hippodrome had fallen into ruin. The Ottoman Turks, who captured the city in 1453 and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire, were not interested in racing and the Hippodrome was gradually forgotten, although the site was never actually built over.
Hippodrome monuments
To raise the image of his new capital, Constantine and his successors, especially
Theodosius the Great, brought works of art from all over the empire to adorn it. Among these was the
Sacrificial tripod of
Plataea, now known as the
Serpent Column, cast to celebrate the
Battle of Plataea during the
Persian Wars in the 5th century BC. Constantine ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in middle of the Hippodrome. The top was adorned with a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads. The bowl was destroyed or stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The serpent heads were destroyed as late as the end of the 17th Century, as many Ottoman miniatures show they were intact in the early centuries following the Turkish conquest of the city.http://www.helleniccomserve.com/hippodrome.html Parts of the heads were recovered and are displayed at the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum. All that remains of the Delphi Tripod today is the base, known as the "Serpentine Column".
Another emperor to adorn the Hippodrome was Theodosius I, who in 390 brought an obelisk from
Egypt and erected it inside the racing track. Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the
Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of
Thutmose III of Egypt in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Only the top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition.
In the 10th century the Emperor Constantine VII built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were sacked by Latin troops in the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument also survives, known as the
Walled Obelisk.
- Audioguide Map Hippodrome
The Hippodrome today
Today the area is officially called Sultan Ahmet Square, and is carefully maintained by the Turkish authorities. The course of the old racetrack has been indicated with paving, although the actual track is some two metres below the present surface. The surviving monuments of the
Spina (the middle barrier of the racecourse), the two obelisks and the Serpentine Column, now sit in holes in a landscaped garden.
The German Fountain ("The Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain"), an octagonal domed fountain in
Neo-Byzantine architecture, which was constructed by the German government in 1900 to mark the German Emperor
Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul in 1898, is located at the northern entrance to the Hippodrome area, right in front of the Blue Mosque.
The Hippodrome has never been systematically excavated by archaeologists. A portion of the substructures of the
Sphendone (the curved end) became more visible in the 1980s with the clearing of houses in the area.
In 1993 an area in front of the nearby Sultanahmet Mosque (the
Sultan Ahmed Mosque) was bulldozed in order to install a public toilet, uncovering several rows of seats and some columns from the Hippodrome. Investigation did not continue further, but the seats and columns were removed and can now be seen in Istanbul's museums. It is possible that much more of the Hippodrome's remains still lie beneath the parkland of Sultanahmet.
Image gallery
Image:Obelisk_of_Thutmosis_III_Hippodrome_of_Constantinople.jpgImage:The court of Theodosius the Great.jpgImage:Base of the Obelisk of Thutmosis III.jpgImage:Naya, Carlo (1816-1882) - I cavalli di san Marco a Venezia.jpg|An old hand-colored photography of the horses at Saint Mark, Venice.Image:Obelisk_Konstantyna_Istambul_RB1.jpgImage:Hippodrome of Constantinople Serpentine Column 2.jpgImage:Hipodconst.JPGImage:Alman Çeşmesi Front.jpg
References
External links
- Photos with explanations
- Byzantium 1200 - Hippodrome
- Emporis - Hippodrome of Constantinople
- WowTurkey - Hippodrome of Constantinople
- Arkitera - The Great Palace and Hippodrome of Constantinople
- Audioguide Seslirehber
showing
Theodosius the Great as he offers a
laurel wreath to the victor from the Kathisma (emperor's box) at the Hippodrome
The
Hippodrome of Constantinople () was a
Race track that was the sporting and social centre of
Constantinople, capital of the
Byzantine Empire and the largest city in
Europe. Today it is a square named
Sultanahmet Meydanı (
Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkey city of
Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving. It is sometimes also called
Atmeydanı (
Horse Square) in Turkish.
The word
hippodrome comes from the Greek
hippos ('ιππος), horse, and
dromos (δρομος), path or way. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the
Hellenistic, Ancient Rome and Byzantine Empire eras.
History and use
Although the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinople's days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. The first Hippodrome was built when the city was called
Byzantium (
Βυζαντιον, or
Byzantion in Greek), and was a provincial town of moderate importance. In 203 the Emperor Septimus Severus rebuilt the city and expanded its city wall, endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment.
In 324, the Emperor Constantine I of the Roman Empire decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma (
New Rome).or the city of fat people. This name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome. It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 metres long and 130 metres wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.
The race-track at the Hippodrome was U-shaped, and the Kathisma (emperor's loge) was located at the eastern end of the track. The Kathisma could be accessed directly from the Great Palace of Constantinople through a passage which only the emperor or other members of the imperial family could use. The Hippodrome Boxes, which had four statues of horses in gilded copper on top, stood at the northern end; and the
Sphendone (curved tribune of the U-shaped structure, the lower part of which still survives) stood at the southern end. These four gilded horses, now called the Horses of Saint Mark, whose exact
Greece or Ancient Rome ancestry has never been determined, were looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and installed on the façade of St Mark's Basilica in
Venice. The track was lined with other bronze statues of famous horses and chariot drivers, none of which survive. The hippodrome was filled with statues of gods, emperors and heroes, among them some famous works, such as a
Heracles by
Lysippos,
Romulus and Remus with their wolf and the
Serpent Column of the Plataean Sacrificial tripod. In his book
De Ceremoniis (book II,15, 589), the emperor Constantine VII described the decorations in the hippodrome at the occasion of the visit of Saracen or Arab visitors, mentioning the purple hangings and rare tapestries.
Throughout the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the city's social life. Huge amounts were bet on chariot races, and the whole city was divided between fans of the Blue (Venetii) and Green (Prasinoi) chariot racing teams. The two other racing teams, the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi), gradually weakened and were absorbed by the two major factions. The rivalry between the Blues and Greens often became mingled with political or religious rivalries, and sometimes riots, which amounted to civil wars that broke out in the city between them. The most severe of these was the
Nika riots of 532, in which 30,000 people were said to have been killed.
Constantinople never really recovered from its sack during the Fourth Crusade and even though the Byzantine Empire survived until 1453, by that time, the Hippodrome had fallen into ruin. The Ottoman Turks, who captured the city in 1453 and made it the capital of the
Ottoman Empire, were not interested in racing and the Hippodrome was gradually forgotten, although the site was never actually built over.
Hippodrome monuments
To raise the image of his new capital, Constantine and his successors, especially
Theodosius the Great, brought works of art from all over the empire to adorn it. Among these was the Sacrificial tripod of Plataea, now known as the
Serpent Column, cast to celebrate the
Battle of Plataea during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC. Constantine ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in middle of the Hippodrome. The top was adorned with a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads. The bowl was destroyed or stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The serpent heads were destroyed as late as the end of the 17th Century, as many Ottoman miniatures show they were intact in the early centuries following the Turkish conquest of the city.http://www.helleniccomserve.com/hippodrome.html Parts of the heads were recovered and are displayed at the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum. All that remains of the Delphi Tripod today is the base, known as the "Serpentine Column".
Another emperor to adorn the Hippodrome was
Theodosius I, who in 390 brought an
obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track. Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the
Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of Thutmose III of Egypt in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Only the top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition.
In the 10th century the Emperor
Constantine VII built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were sacked by Latin troops in the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument also survives, known as the Walled Obelisk.
- Audioguide Map Hippodrome
The Hippodrome today
Today the area is officially called Sultan Ahmet Square, and is carefully maintained by the Turkish authorities. The course of the old racetrack has been indicated with paving, although the actual track is some two metres below the present surface. The surviving monuments of the
Spina (the middle barrier of the racecourse), the two obelisks and the Serpentine Column, now sit in holes in a landscaped garden.
The German Fountain ("The Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain"), an octagonal domed fountain in Neo-Byzantine architecture, which was constructed by the German government in 1900 to mark the German Emperor Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul in 1898, is located at the northern entrance to the Hippodrome area, right in front of the Blue Mosque.
The Hippodrome has never been systematically excavated by archaeologists. A portion of the substructures of the
Sphendone (the curved end) became more visible in the 1980s with the clearing of houses in the area.
In 1993 an area in front of the nearby Sultanahmet Mosque (the Sultan Ahmed Mosque) was bulldozed in order to install a public toilet, uncovering several rows of seats and some columns from the Hippodrome. Investigation did not continue further, but the seats and columns were removed and can now be seen in Istanbul's museums. It is possible that much more of the Hippodrome's remains still lie beneath the parkland of Sultanahmet.
Image gallery
Image:Obelisk_of_Thutmosis_III_Hippodrome_of_Constantinople.jpgImage:The court of Theodosius the Great.jpgImage:Base of the Obelisk of Thutmosis III.jpgImage:Naya, Carlo (1816-1882) - I cavalli di san Marco a Venezia.jpg|An old hand-colored photography of the horses at Saint Mark, Venice.Image:Obelisk_Konstantyna_Istambul_RB1.jpgImage:Hippodrome of Constantinople Serpentine Column 2.jpgImage:Hipodconst.JPGImage:Alman Çeşmesi Front.jpg
References
External links
- Photos with explanations
- Byzantium 1200 - Hippodrome
- Emporis - Hippodrome of Constantinople
- WowTurkey - Hippodrome of Constantinople
- Arkitera - The Great Palace and Hippodrome of Constantinople
- Audioguide Seslirehber
Hippodrome of Constantinople - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Turkish: Sultanahmet Meydanı, At Meydanı) was a horse-racing track that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the ...
Hippodrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One of the largest and most famous ancient hippodromes was the Hippodrome of Constantinople, built between AD 203 and 330. [1] However, since it was built to a Roman design, it might ...
Category:Hippodrome of Constantinople - Wikimedia Commons
English: The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a horse-racing track that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire and the largest city ...
Yılanlı Sütun - Wikimedia Commons
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a horse-racing track that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire and the largest city in Europe.
The Hippodrome at Constantinople
Return to Nika Riot. The Hippodrome at Constantinople "Now there was another wonderful sight in another part of the city, for near the Palace of Boukoleon was a place which ...
Byzantine Hippodrome, Istanbul, Turkey
The Byzantine Hippodrome of Constantinople, now the At Meydani of Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey, by Tom Brosnahan
hippodrome - definition of hippodrome by the Free Online Dictionary ...
1. Sports An arena for equestrian shows. ... Hippodrome of Constantinople Hippodrome State Theater Hippodrome State Theatre
Constantinople (İstanbul): Hippodrome
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was the place for horse races. It still survives as a park in which the traces of the old race course are clearly visible (satellite photo) and a ...
The Atmeidan, or Hippodrome--in Constantinople
Several years ago while on a holiday in Santa Barbara, California, I visited the Lost Horizon Bookstore on Anacapa Street, one of my favorite haunts.
INEX: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Hippodrome of Constantinople)
Table of Contents. 1 History and use; 2 Hippodrome monuments; 3 The hippodrome today; 4 External links; The Hippodrome today The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a horse-racing ...
