(day 6) Hippodrome obelisks

I started off my day by hopping on public transportation back to Sultanahmet. Istanbul has a museum card that costs a flat fee of ~$30 USD, and grants access to a number of museums. In addition to a discounted price, you get to skip any ticket lines, because you can just go right up to the entrance and scan your card to get in. It is valid for 5 days after the first scan, and today (Monday) was my last day, so I planned to hit the last few museums that I was interested in seeing.

As I strolled through Sultanahmet, I once again stumbled on a monument that I had been really excited to see -- the remains of the Hippodrome!

I think everyone has heard of the Hippodrome. A Hippodrome was a Greek stadium that was the sporting and social center of a city, where horse and chariot races were carried out as public entertainment. The Hippodrome here was actually built while it was still the city Byzantium, predating Constantine.

Can you imagine the spectacle of it? Thousands of citizens in the stands, cheering on their favorite team as the horses thunder around the track. Statues of Greek gods, emperors and heroes fill the stadium, rich tapestries and purple textiles are draped luxuriously throughout. I really like the idea of the Hippodrome, I suppose because I was obsessed with Greek myths when I was young, and I like to dream about a time when those gods and goddesses ruled the Earth.

There were four different teams, each associated with a different color (blue, green, red, white), each sponsored and supported by a major political faction. Over time, the reds and whites were gradually absorbed by blue and green. You typically cheered for whichever political party you belonged to, not the team whose athletes you preferred.

Aside from racing, the Hippodrome was also used for political discussions. The emperor could actually access the Hippodrome directly from the Great Palace, a passage would take him directly to a loge overseeing the racetrack.

Sadly, almost nothing remains of the Hippodrome anymore. It was widely used throughout the Byzantine period, but when the Ottomans came, they had no interest in chariot races. It fell into disuse and was eventually covered over by other structures. The only part that remains are some obelisks/columns that adorned the spina -- the middle of the Hippodrome, running through the U-shaped track. 

This one is called the Obelisk of Thutmose III, or the Obelisk of Theodosius. It was brought from Egypt to be put in the Hippodrome. Get this, it was originally erected in Luxor  in 1490 BC. It's 3.5 thousand years old! But it still looks like it's in perfect condition, perfectly sanded, hieroglyphs were perfectly legible. No wonder people think that the Egyptians had alien help.

This was my favorite obelisk, it's really beautiful. You can see that the hieroglyphs are cut off at the bottom, the obelisk actually received some damage (earthquake, perhaps?) and is only 2/3 of its original height.

It was mounted on the pedestal when it arrived in Constantinople, which you can see is clearly Greek or Roman in design, not Egyptian.

:( Poor Serpentine Column. This was once a glorious column cast by the Greeks to celebrate their victory agains the Persians in the 5th century BC. It was brought to Constantinople from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (where it once stood) to adorn the Hippodrome.

It used to be much taller (of course), and supported a bowl held up by three serpent heads, but those were destroyed and this is all that remains. One of the heads was later recovered and sits in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

The walled obelisk! Unlike the first two, this one was build specifically for the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were looted.

(You can see the Egyptian Obelisk in the background, and the stubby Serpentine Column is in between).

I'm sure I would have my way to them eventually, since these were some of the structures I was quite excited to see, but it was a nice surprise to stumble upon these this morning. :) I don't know if you can tell but I am clearly partial to Byzantine history/buildings, if only because it's history and concepts that I had actually learned about before, and am more familiar with. Ottoman history and culture is interesting too, but ultimately it feels a lot more foreign and difficult to understand, to me. I hope as I learn more that will change.