istanbul 3 hippodrome

Istanbul 3 - Hippodrome

PANEM ET CIRCENSES

"Two things only the people anxiously desire,

Bread and circuses." (Juvenal c. 60-130)

The Hippodrome was the center of social and processional life in the

Roman Era, and continued to be a place of public demonstration and

celebration through the Ottoman Era. This colossal space functioned as

the main repository of spectacle, long after the original structure of

tiered seating was torn down and the original track was buried beneath

4 meters of new roadways; until the 20th century Sultans still

celebrated auspicious events like their son's circumcision there. It

is today known primarily for the three monuments that align with the

original spina, spine, the Column of Constantine, the Serpent Column,

and the Egyptian Obelisk. What was once one of great manifestations of

the circus in one of the great cities in the world is reduced to three

columns.

Almost every text today lists the same stories and descriptions, but

with slightly different statistics. Depending on what source we use,

the numbers can vary: its width was between 117.5 and 127 meters; its

length was between 450 and 525 meters; it held between 60,000 and

100,000 spectators; it was begun between 196 A.D. and 203 A.D. by

Septimius Severus, and enlarged to its largest size by Constantine.

There are no original measured drawings, only images after its

disassembly. This limited and varied reportage is likely due to the

inbred nature of the few authentic sources. Much of the city,

including the Hippodrome, had been laid to waste in a pair of three

day sackings by the Crusaders in 1204, and the Ottoman in the 1453.

This was the state of the Constantinople when classical scholars began

chronicling the Byzantine city. By the time Petrus Gyllius arrived in

the 1540's, he had to piece together the former city using the 5th

century Roman catalogue Notitia Urbis Constantinopolis. Many

researchers have followed, but the resulting body of work reads like

each era's variation on the theme. As the facts have been transmitted

into tourism texts, one can't help but sense a certain amount of

reductionist inbreeding. As described today, the few physical traces

are augmented by the same juicy history:

After enlargement by Constantine, the factions supporting the

charioteers coalesced into the greens, representing the poorest (green

with envy?), and the blues, representing the rich merchants (blue

bloods?). In the early days of Justinian's reign in 532 A.D, both

factions revolted and organized in the Hippodrome chanting, "Nikka" or

Greek for "Victory." They were mercilessly slaughtered and 30,000 were

supposedly buried in the track. To atone for this gruesome event

Justinian built the Hagia Sophia, one of the wonders of the modern

world. While the factions never quite recovered their intensity, the

Hippodrome continued to be a social center. It was supposedly open 24

hours per day, and people could gather when they wanted.

Without the centralizing agent of the spectacle it had fallen into

disrepair even by the time the Crusaders sacked it. It was further

eroded when Ibrahim Pasa took the marble steps for his palace, which

he built in 1523 over the ruins of north-west seats. S�leyman's Mosque

complex took the columns and entablature from the top tier in the

1550's. Ahmet's Mosque complex (The Blue Mosque) leveled what was

remaining in 1609, probably using it as building material. Napoleon

pilfered some remaining monuments from the area in 1797. At the turn

of 1800, all that remained were the three columns, the sphendome

(semi-circular end), and the space around the expunged former

structure. In the mid 19th century, a school complex was built over

the sphendome, shortening the original track alignment to its present

day location.

The current park and street lie 4.5 meters above the old track,

covering untold fragments; the best view of the original surface is in

the pits surrounding the three columns. Recently one of the royal

seats was found, but bureaucracy and lack of funding holds up any

further digging. Meanwhile, the park in the middle is a transient

space for visitors. Since the high season for tourism in Istanbul

occurs during the hottest months of the year, shade is in high demand.

The benches are mostly located along the exposed paths, often

remaining empty while a shady spot of grass will fill up. Coupled with

the taxis and buses racing around the square, most people will move on

to the surrounding tea gardens or buildings after a cursory visit to

the columns.

The sphendome is today the most impressive remnant of the Hippodrome,

and one of the more surprising finds in the city. Istanbul's dramatic

topography required that the end of the Hippodrome be supported by a

40 meter tall retaining structure. This exposed end led to an

underground system of rooms where the horses and services were kept.

It is not as often mentioned in the tourism books, but today this

presents a sheer drop of 30 meters and splendid views if you can get

into the school yard. H.G. Dwight lamented the loss of this

extraordinary space in the city in 1915:

"I wish the edifices encumbering the sphendome of the Hippodrome might

be sold as building material, in order to give back to the city its

supreme ornament of a sea view. Imagine what such a wide blue vision

might be, seen from the heart of the town - perhaps through a dark

green semi-circle of cypresses!"

Now the base of the sphendome is unceremoniously surrounded by a

parking lot with nets catching falling debris. The former arches have

since been bricked in and plants have taken over the wall. Traces of

former buildings adorn the bricks. Sometime during the Ottoman Era,

the underside of the former Hippodrome was converted into a cistern,

which today still has water in it. There is a local preservation group

pushing to open up the sphendome for archaeological study, and