The ancient Hippodrome of Constantinople (present day Istanbul)

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Illustration from Cassell's history of England circa 1898. After an engraving from Imperium Orientale. Showing the ruins circa 1600s. Info from wiki: The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Greek: Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs) was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving. The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos (ἵππος), horse, and dromos (δρόμος), path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also called Atmeydanı ("Horse Square") in Turkish. 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.

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Size: 3009px × 1927px
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1600s, ancient, byzantine, capital, centre, chariot, circa, circus, civilisations, constantinople, day, empire, engraving, eras, games, hellenistic, hippodrome, illustration, image, istanbul, obelisk, picture, present, race, roman, social, spina, track, turkey, world