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Hippodrome
Hippodrome was
built by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus in 203 A.D. The hippodrome
was a stadium which served as a meeting place for the politicians, for chariot
races, wrestling, boxing, and other athletic activities that took place. The arena
was over 400 meters long and 120 meters wide, In the fourth century the
spectator capacity was increased to 100,000,
They organized the games in the hippodrome.
Green took their seat to the left, the Blues to the right of the emperor's
box. Women were not admitted. After the emperor had appeared in his box
and greeted his people, the four gates beneath his box opened and from each
raced a chariot drawn by four horses into the arena. The game lasted the whole
day. The chariot track was covered with white sand which was brought from
Egypt. The winner was awarded a prize which consisted of a crown made of flowers,
some presents, bonuses
and money,
Obelisk of Theodosius
(The Egyptian obelisk)
erected by Tutmosis III 1504-1450 B.C. before the temple of Karnak at
Heliopolis. The Obelisk, brought to Istanbul by Emperor Theodosius I was
made of pink granite and its height is 17 metres. Originally, the
obelısk was 27 meters in height ,10 meters hıgher than it ıs today and weıghed 800
tons.It is unknown when and how the lower part disappeared.
The hieroglyphic inscription on the Obelisk describes the
victory of the pharaoh and a sacrifice to the god of the sun Amon-Ra in
which the pharaoh kneels at the foot of the god.
The Obelisk was brought to Constantinopolis in
390 A.D. and stood over a rectangular stone base on four bronze feet.
Its
marble base in itself is six meters. There
are inscriptions in Latin and Greek on it.
Constantine Column
was the landmark of the city because of its height of 32 meters. The
column was erected in the fourth century by Constantine the Great. This
monument was completely covered with bronze plates.During the Latin
invasion in 1204, these plaques were removed and melted to make coins,
Serpentine Column
was donated to the Delphi by the 31 Greek city states after the victory
over the Persians in 479 B.C. This is one of the oldest monuments in
Istanbul. The names of these 31 cities were written on this obelisk
whichis 5.10
meters high. Originally, the column was 8 meters high and the column was in
the form of three serpents' heads with the gold cauldron supported on their
heads. Only two of these heads have been found with one in the Istanbul Archeological
Museum, the other one in the British Museum.
German Fountain
was built in 1898 when Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Istanbul and donated
a fountain which was put up in front of the Blue Mosque as a gift to the
Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit.
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