There were two things that I had long wanted to see in Istanbul - the Hagia Sophia and then the old Roman Hippodrome. We visited both while there in June. This post is about the Hippodrome.
I didnt know much about the Hippodrome (which is a huge racing arena where they held horse and chariot races) before visiting Istanbul. I knew that there used to be a line of columns and statues up the middle of it and some of these remained. Thats all I knew - and I was very keen to see it due to my love of Roman history.
Today very little remains. There is actually a nice park where the hippodrome used to be, and at the southern end there are 3 items remaining - an obelisk, a bronze column and a stone column. The paved area in the park roughly equates to the old foot print of the Hippodrome, which allows you to appreciate just how big it was. The view above looks from about the middle of it to the southern end. It was huge and held about 100,000 people (!!!) - which wasnt too bad considering it was built around the 3rd century !!!
I found the history of the 3 remaining objects entirely fascinating. The Obelisk of Theodosius is in the best condition, but is by far the oldest. Its actually an Egyptian Obelisk dating back to about 1500 BC (making it roughly 3500 years old) - which was brought to Byzantium as the city was called at the time by the emperor Theodosius the Great. When you consider the age, its condition is utterly remarkable !
What remains is only the top third of what was brought from Egypt, and I cant even comprehend how they managed to do that all those years ago ! The top third is big enough !
The obelisk stands on the beautiful carved Roman marble base that you see above - which in itself is also quite stunning.
Then next up is the Serpent Column. Its relatively younger, dating from 500 BC (so its only 2500 years old !). It was taken from Delphi in Greece - but not much of it is left now. Although, again I find its construction quite incredible considering its age.
Then at the far end is the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (try saying that quickly).
Its much younger at only 1000 years old !!! These objects lined the centre of the raceway, with the chariots and horses racing around them. As said, these are the only 3 remaining, but there were many more - including a set of horse statues which are now in St Marks Basilica in Venice.
The column of Constantine looks the oldest (ironically) and is pock marked with holes - but it would have been clad with decorative pieces, and the pock marks are actually the holes from the large iron nails that would have held on the decorative pieces !
I have to say that hearing about all these was very interesting (we had a tour guide while there) - and the history is amazing. The Wikipedia page for it is also worth a look, as it shows the shape of the old building along with a sketch of its remains from around the 15th century, which I found very interesting. It also explains the history in more detail.
At the northern end is the German Fountain. It has nothing to do with the hippodrome and was constructed much later, to commemorate the visit of one of the German Kaisers around the end of the 19th century.
The fountain is quite beautiful - which the inner dome being quite spectacular.
The cheeky crow above was sitting on one of the water troughs around the fountain waiting to get some food from the tourists !
Although there is not much to see now - when you understand the history, its quite impressive. As a building it survived for around 800 to 900 years, before falling into decline say around the 12th century or so. The pic above again gives some perspective to the size of the foot print, and on the left are the minarets of the magnificent Blue Mosque, which lies right beside it.
For me it was a real treat to see the 3 remaining objects and to be able to walk the path of the races around the park. What amazing history ! I totally enjoyed it, and just loved seeing it - what a place !