The Kathisma could be accessed directly from the Great Palace through a passage which only the emperor or other members of the imperial family could use. The race-track at the Hippodrome was U-shaped, and the Kathisma (emperor's loge) was located at the eastern end of the track. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators. It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 metres long and 130 metres wide. Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome. This name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. In 324, the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma ( New Rome). In 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 first Hippodrome was built when the city was called Byzantium ("Βυζαντιον", or "Byzantion" in Greek), and was a provincial town of moderate importance. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras.Īlthough the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinople's days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. The word " hippodrome" comes from the Greek "hippos" ('ιππος), horse, and "dromos" (δρομος), path or way. It is sometimes also called "Atmeydanı" ("Horse Square") in Turkish. Today it is a square named "Sultanahmet Meydanı" ("Sultan Ahmet Square") in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving. Sultanahmet Meydanı, At Meydanı) 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 in Istanbul is the only hippodrome that has some of its monuments still standing in situ, and each tells a fascinating story of the history of Constantinople and of the emperors, charioteers, and racing fans.Īllan Langdale is an art and architectural historian who has written several articles on architecture and four travel books on Mediterranean art and architecture, including In a Contested Realm, An Illustrated Guide to the Art, Architecture and Archaeology of North Cyprus (2010), Palermo, Travels in the City of Happiness (2015), and The Hippodrome of Istanbul / Constantinople: An Illustrated Handbook of its History (2019).The Hippodrome of Constantinople ( _tr. Allan Langdale, who will take us on a tour of hippodromes throughout the Romano-Byzantine world, with a focus on the hippodrome of the capital city of the Byzantine Eastern Empire, today known as Istanbul. Join the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara for a lecture on the hippodrome of Constantinople by Dr. Few hippodromes–or, as the Romans called them, circuses–still survive, making them less central in our imaginations. Yet the most popular entertainment of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, by far, was chariot racing, which took place in hippodromes. When people think of ancient entertainment, they often think of the Colosseum and its gladiatorial contests or Greco-Roman theaters with their tragedies and comedies. There is a suggested donation of $10.00 to attend the lecture.
Langdale will present an illustrated talk titled “The Hippodrome of Constantinople: The Art and Architecture of Chariot Racing in the Ancient World”.
The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara is pleased to present a lecture by historian Dr Allan Langdale.