To finish creating your account, please click the link we just sent to. Its most eye-catching specialty is the pink granites that the obelisk is carved from. In the year 324, Constantine the Emperor had a decision to replace the settlement of the empire from Rome to Byzantine. Donate . Ottoman Empire mainly used the hippodrome as a source of construction materials, they were breaking the buildings apart and using the pieces to construct new buildings. One of them is called the Obelisk of Thutmose 3. The imperial use of public mockery as a political weapon and the huge crowd of the Hippodrome seemed made for each other - the two would be used in combination by many emperors. Constantine I (r. 306-337 CE) understood that the Hippodrome provided an unrivalled opportunity to show the people the emperor’s power, wealth, and generosity in lavish public entertainme… Ancient History Encyclopedia. The top was adorned with a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads, although it appears that this was never brought to Constantinople. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1158/. The starting point of all this destruction, the Hippodrome, escaped with only minor damage. The hippodrome is used as a circus in the past. Hagia Sophia History  on this topic. The Hippodrome was used for various occasions such as the lavish and days-long circumcision ceremony of the sons of Sultan Ahmed III. Some of the nicest hotels in the area are the Four Seasons Sultanahmet, Ibrahim Pasha Hotel and Armada Sultanahmet Old City. © 2020 - Turkey Anatolia. Good charioteers were as important as public heroes during the Byzantine period. The hippodrome was filled with statues of gods, emperors, animals, and heroes, among them some famous works, such as a 4th-century BC Heracles by Lysippos, Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf Lupa, and the 5th-century BC Serpent Column. To add even more interest to the races the four charioteers involved in each race represented four different factions which were represented by different colours: Blue, Green, Red, and White. Indeed, it was one of the responsibilities of the Eparch, a high-ranking city official, to supervise the factions, such was their reputation for misconduct. The easiest way to get the Hippodrome is to take a tram to Sultanahmet, from where is it is two minute walk. In this hippodrome much of the seating was supported on tiers of great vaults instead of the more usual embankment. In the 10th century the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. The largest hippodrome of the ancient world was that of Constantinople (now Istanbul), which was begun under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in ad 203 and completed by Constantine in 330. Where is Hagia Sophia? To talk about the name, hippodrome means horse or pathway in Greek and they named the place after this meaning. Cite This Work At least eight different games could be held throughout the day and it was also used as a symbol of power for the empire. There were occasions when the factions got completely out of control, notably the infamous riots of the Nika Revolt of 11-19th January 532 CE. Hippodrome of Constantinople was built when there was a big city called Byzantium. For this reason, it is sometimes also called Atmeydanı ("Horse Square") in Turkish. In AD 203 the Emperor Septimius Severus rebuilt the city and expanded its walls, endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment. The Hippodrome was excavated by the Director of the Istanbul Archeological Museums, archaeologist Rüstem Duyuran in 1950 and 1951. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Hippodrome of Constantinople was a public arena mainly for chariot races. The monuments were set up in the middle of the Hippodrome, the spina. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving. They were already destroyed at the beginning of the 18th century. The carceres (starting gates) 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.

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