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The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), now Sultanahmet Square (Sultanahmet Meydanı), was the social center of old Constantinople. It’s located in the UNESCO World Heritage listed area of Sultanahmet in Istanbul.
History of the Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome was built after 203 by Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. Constantine the Great renovated it in 324 to hold over 100,000 spectators. The racetrack was U-shaped, with the Emperor’s box (kathisma) on the east side connected to the Great Palace of Constantinople. A statue of four gilded copper horses with a quadriga stood on the north side. They were looted in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade and taken to Venice, where they’re now on display at Saint Mark’s Basilica as the Horses of Saint Mark.
The Blues and the Greens were the two teams that raced horses and chariots, and they were both sponsored by different political parties. These two factions dominated political, religious, and social life in Constantinople. Sometimes huge riots and even civil wars broke out between supporters of the two factions. The worst were the Nika Riots in 532, in which 30,000 people were killed and much of the city burned to the ground. The third and current Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian following these riots.
When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, they had no interest in horse racing and used the Hippodrome only for special occasions. It was eventually dismantled and used for building supplies.
Remains of the Hippodrome of Constantinople
Today’s Sultanahmet Square largely follows the original plan of the Hippodrome. The course of the old racetrack is paved with bricks, although the original track is about two meters below ground level.
The remains of original Sphendone can be seen by walking south of the racetrack. It was the lower section of the curved end of the stands. Some of the seats and columns that have been excavated can be seen in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums while others are visible in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. Furthermore, only three of the several monuments that stood in the spina, the barrier in the center of the racetrack, remain to this day.
Monuments from the Hippodrome of Constantinople
Only three of the many monuments from the Hippodrome of Constantinople are still standing.
Walled Obelisk
First is the Walled Obelisk (Örme Dikilitaş), which is at the south end. Its construction date is unknown, but it was repaired by Constantine VII in the 10th century.
The Walled Obelisk is 32 meters high and made of roughly cut stones. The base contains an inscription in Greek. A sphere once stood at the top. The sides were decorated with gilded bronze plaques portraying the victories of Basil I, but these were looted and melted down during the Fourth Crusade. During Ottoman times, Janissaries would climb the obelisk to prove their bravery.
Serpentine Column
Next is the Serpentine Column (Τρικάρηνος Ὄφις / Yılanlı Sütun). It dates back to 478 BC when it was erected in Delphi to commemorate the Greek victory over the Persian Empire at the Battle of Platea a year earlier. Constantine the Great shipped the column to Constantinople from Delphi in 324 and placed it in the Hippodrome.
The Serpentine Column was once crowned with a golden bowl atop the heads of three serpents. The bowl was stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The rest of the monument remained intact until the serpent heads were allegedly knocked off by a drunken Polish nobleman on October 20, 1700.
Obelisk of Thutmose III
The third surviving monument is the Obelisk of Thutmose III (Dikilitaş), also known as the Obelisk of Theodosius. It was originally erected by Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III in the 15th century BC outside the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. Roman Emperor Constantius II removed two obelisks from the temple in 357. One was transported to the Circus Maximus in Rome and the other to Alexandria. In 390, Theodosius I moved the obelisk from Alexandria to its current location in the Hippodrome.
The obelisk was originally 30 meters tall, but due to damage sustained in ancient times, it now stands only 19.6 meters. It sits on a marble pedestal decorated with bas-reliefs dated 390. They depict different scenes at the Hippodrome.
There are also inscriptions at the bottom of the pedestal in Greek and Latin. The pedestal sits below today’s ground level. Its position indicates the ground level of ancient Constantinople.
Buildings around the Hippodrome of Constantinople
Several important Ottoman buildings now line the racetrack of the Hippodrome.
German Fountain
On the north end of the Hippodrome is the German Fountain (Alman Çeşmesi / Deutscher Brunnen). It was built in Germany in 1900 and given to the Ottoman Empire to commemorate the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Constantinople two years earlier.
The fountain is an octagonal dome on eight columns. Gold mosaics cover the underside of the dome. An inscription in German reads:
Wilhelm II Deutscher Kaiser stiftete diesen Brunnen in dankbarer Erinnerung an seinen Besuch bei Seiner Maiestaet dem Kaiser der Osmanen Abdul Hamid II im Herbst des Jahres 1898 (German Kaiser Wilhelm II endowed this fountain, in thankful remembrance of his visit in 1898 autumn, to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II)
A terrorist attack occurred near the fountain on January 12, 2016. A suicide bomber walked up to a tourist group and blew himself up, leaving 13 tourists dead and nine wounded. 12 of the dead were from Germany and the 13th was from Peru. The attacker, Nabil Fadli, was a Syrian Turkmen affiliated with Islamic State who had entered the country as a refugee.
Recep Peker House
A wooden house owned by Recep Peker (1889-1950), Turkish Prime Minister from 1946 to 1947, sits on the southeast corner. The architect was Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu (1888-1982) and it was built in the 1930s.
Marmara University Rectorate
At the south end of the Hippodrome is the Marmara University Rectorate (Marmara Üniversitesi Rektörlük Binası). It was built in the 1890s by Italian architect Raimondo D’Aranco (1857-1932) as an art school.
The building also contains the Marmara University Republic Museum and Art Gallery (Marmara Üniversitesi Cumhuriyet Müzesi ve Sanat Galerisi), dedicated to the history of the Turkish Republic. It’s open daily except Mondays from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free (as of January 2024). I have yet to visit.
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
Continuing along the west side is the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, which is housed in the Ibrahim Pasha Palace.
Kadastro Building
Finally, next door to the north is the Kadastro Building (Kadastro Binası). It was built in 1910 by Turkish architect Vedat Tek (1873-1942) as the Ministry of Public Accounts (Defter-i Hakani Nezareti). It replaced an older 18th century building used for the same purpose. The first courtyard of the building contains the tomb of Server Dede (d. 1748), one of the officials of the Ministry of Public Accounts.
There are about 120 offices in the building. It’s now used as the Land Registry and Cadastre Directorate (Tapu ve Kadastro Müdürlüğü).
