Friday, October 26, 2012

Hippodrome: Racetracks and Entertainment Square of the Greco-Roman Istanbul

Hippodrome Serpent Column

No, I am not referencing the NASCAR, which is part of the fast car racing culture that is popular all around the present day US and other international venues. But horse and horse-drawn chariot racing, princes circumcision ceremonies and all kinds of entertainment including circus acts were a regular feature of Constantinople the capital of the Byzantine Empire before the ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire, which Sultans never paid as much attention to the activities compared to their predecessors.

The city ‘stadium’ where all these activities were held was the Hippodrome, which outlines and some of the tracts and other buildings and monuments of that era still survive till date and another exciting place to visit within the vicinity of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

The Hippodrome which was initially a small town square for entertainment and horse racing got subsequently expanded as the city of Byzantium (ancient Istanbul) was expanded by various Emperors starting from Emperor Septimus Severus in AD 203. At its largest size, the spectator stands was said to hold up to 100,000 people.


The Emperor and his court
It is evident that at its glory the Hippodrome was filled with various statues of both animals and famous horse riders and prominent rulers. One end of it has a special pathway that leads up to the palace where the Emperor and his family and close officials make their way into the arena leading up to his ‘box’ area from where they watched the entertainment. There is a depiction of the Emperor and his court watching the activities carved at the base of the Obelisk in the picture on this page. And at the far end, to the corner where row houses that are exactly they way they existed, which by today’s standard would appear to be teeny tiny row of apartments.

The Serpent and the Obelisk
Still visible today are some chariot tracks along the sides of the oblong flank of the arena and gigantic obelisk and other monuments that were brought over from other civilizations in the ancient world, including a Serpent Column, which has lost the heads of the three intertwined Serpents.

The obelisk known as the Obelisk of Tuthmosis III was said to have been installed in AD 390 when Emperor Theodosius the Great brought it from the Temple of Karnak in Luxur Egypt during the reign of Tuthmosis III around 1490 BC and installed it within the hippodrome.

Hippodrome Row Apartments
It was awesome to stand in the shadow of an Obelisk that has survived for almost 3, 500 years and looking very well preserved in the open elements. The remarkable paradox was that in its glory and for the purpose the Hippodrome was established was a place of gathering of multitudes of people and entertainment, and several centuries later, even in its faded glory and ruination, it is still a place that draws perhaps even more crowd now and still full of entertainment.

It is often common to be approached on a free guided tour of the hippodrome by natives who speak your language, but the catch is that they often want you to lure you to the nearby Turkish rug stores nearby for tea and hopeful purchase from the stores, which pays them commission.

1 comment:

  1. History indeed,I bow for all these cities that cheerish, preserve and maintain monumental objects and images. Please what is the real colour of that Obelisk and how tall is it? Up the Emperor,the Hippodrome and Istanbul.

    ReplyDelete