|
In the Byzantine period the Hippodrome was the centre of all activity. Rebellions were plotted and emperors were toppled from their thrones and punished.
The new emperor, for whom the same fate may have been in store, was applauded. To put it in a nutshell, the hippodrome was where, the inhabitants of the city flocked and mingled in a huge crowd. It was the place where, of the three forces that made up the Byzantine Empire which were the palace, the church and the people, the latter would amuse themselves and make their presence felt. The construction of the Hippodrome was started by Septimius Severus during the Roman period. When the city was being founded it was located in the present-day Meydanı (which means "hippodrome" in Turkish). In the middle of the square was a line along which various monuments were erected, referred to as the "spina", which endowed it with the richness of a museum. The race track extended round the edge of this area. The biggest of these monuments, of which three remain today, is an obelisque carved from a single piece of pink granite mounted on a console. This had been erected by the Egyptian pharoah Tutmosis III in his own name 1500 years before in Egypt. This magnificent piece of granite, which is covered with hieroglyphs describing the glory and victories of the pharoah, was brought to Istanbul in the 4th century and was, with great difficulty, erected on its present site.
The inscriptions on the console describe the manner in which the work was carried out, the emperor who commissioned it and his family. This obelisque, whose history stretches back over 3000 years, is the oldest article in Istanbul. The erection of the pedestal is described in inscriptions in Greek and Latin on the marble console. Apart from this there are reliefs depicting what is probably the emperor Theodosius I and his two sons, with whom he ruled jointly, in their lodge at the Hippodrome. At the bottom is a scene depicting the erection of the obelisque, and in another place, the activities at the Hippodrome. A piece is missing from the lower edge of this impressively monumental piece of stone. A relief showing the whole of it can be seen on the outer wall of the Temple of Amon at Karnak, Egypt. The transportation and erection of such a heavy piece of stone from such a distant country was a way of showing the emperor’s strength. During the Renaissance the popes brought obelisques embellished with hieroglyphs to Rome, but these were on a smaller scale.
Napoleon brought obelisques to Paris and the Americans brought obelisques to New York in the same manner. It is also worth knowing that although the obelisque in Istanbul has a piece missing, it is still one of the biggest of them all. A short distance from the obelisque is the Twisted Column, set in a pit below the level of the surrounding ground; this is one of Istanbul's oldest and, in historical terms most valuable works of art. When the Persians launched a campaign against the Greeks in the year 479 BC they established cooperation with Greek cities, both rich and poor, and won the Battle of Platea, which was fought at sea. This monument was made by melting down the metals among the booty and it contained the names of both cities that had been able to contribute a large number of troops to the war and of smaller places that had only been able to send a few warriors. At that time it stood in front of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece, in commemoration of the victory. This monument, which comprised three intertwined snakes, was brought to Istanbul in the 4th century and placed in the Hippodrome. The "Snake Column" survived intact for a long time after the Ottoman conquest; however, at the beginning of the l8th century the heads were broken off and it became known as the Twisted Column. During the last century the upper jaw of ones of the snakes was found during excavations for the construction of the Darülfünun building next to Ayasofia.
The former had been destroyed by fire when it was serving as the Law Courts. This head is now in the Archaeological Museum. On the summit of this first "United Nations" monument, the pedestal of which is still in Delphi, was a tripod bearing a gold melting- pot, but this has long since disappeared. The third monument in the Hippodrome today is the Braided Obelisque, and it is of Byzantine origin. This item, which was made somewhere towards the 9th century, was probably quite impressive before the Latins ripped off the bronze plaques embellished with relief’s that adorned it and melted them down. According to the inscription on its base, it was intended to rival the gigantic statue of Apollo on the island of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Apart from these monuments, a number of other articles belonging to various parts of the Hippodrome were found during excavations for the foundations of the Law Courts building. The big, curving wall under the University is the far end of this square and on its inner Side there were cellars where animals were kept at one time, these were turned into cisterns in Byzantine times. Various sources and an engraving of Onuphrius Panvanius tell us that a large part of the Hippodrome was destroyed before the Ottoman conquest, only the colonnaded gallery at its semi-circulat end had survived. These columns were removed in 1550 to be used in the construction of the Süleymaniye Mosque.
There were other statues in the Hippodrome. Among them were four gold-plated bronze horses, thought to be the work of the famous sculptor Lysippos, who lived in the 4th century BC. When Istanbul was plundered during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Venetians wrenched them from their mountings and carried them away, they were placed on top of the facade of the San Marco church. This extremely valuable work was carried away by Napoleon to Paris but upon his defeat the horses were taken back to Venice. Statues were also erected in honour of Porphyrios, a charioteer who was very victorious and won many races for four-horse chariots (quadriga) held in the Hipprodrome. These bronze statues have disappeared. However, the consoles of these statues, with inscriptions including the names of the horses that contributed to his victory and relief’s depicting the charioteer were found a hundred years later. The marble consoles of these two statues are now in the Archaeological Museum.
|
