Hippodrome of Constantinople

This was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultan Ahmet Square with a few fragments of the original structure surviving. Throughout the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the city’s social life. The surviving monuments of the Spina (the middle barrier of the racecourse), the two obelisks and the Serpentine Column, now sit in holes in a landscaped garden.