Hippodrome Istanbul

Istanbul's Byzantine Hippodrome was the heart of Constantinople's political and sporting life, and the scene of games and riots through 500 years of Ottoman history as well (map).

It's now a calm city park called the At Meydani (Horse Grounds) because of its function in Ottoman times.

Yerebatan Saray, the Sunken Palace Cistern, is beneath the little park at the northern end of the Hippodrome. Above the hidden cistern is a stone tower that was once part of the city's system of aqueducts.

Beside the stone tower is the Milion, the zero-mile-marker on the road called the Mese, the Roman road between Constantinope and Rome. The street is now called Divan Yolu.

Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) is across the street from the stone tower, Topkapi Palace is just beyond Ayasofya, and the Istanbul Archeological Museums are next to Topkapi, down the hill bordering Gulhane Park.

During a visit in 1901, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany erected an elaborate temple-like fountain near the northeastern end of the Hippodrome as a gift to the sultan and his people.

Facing one another across the Hippodrome are the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet III (Blue Mosque) and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art.

Monuments decorating the Hippodrome include the 3500-year-old Egyptian granite Obelisk of Theodosius, brought to Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius in 390 AD.

You'll also see the spiral bronze base of a three-headed serpent sculpture brought from Delphi in Greece (the serpents' heads are in the Archaeological Museum just down the hill).

At the southwestern end of the Hippodrome is the bare stone Column of Constantine Porphyrogenetus, dating from the 10th century.