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involved together, since the Blues and the Greens, the rival circus
factions, would generally adopt dif erent sides in religious disputes,
which constantly served as a convenient mask for political and
economic struggles. Thus on many occasions, riots and insurrections
began in the Hippodrome, the most famous being the Nika
rebellion in January 532. This revolt ended when Justinian's
general, Belisarius, trapped the rebels in the Hippodrome and there
slaughtered 30,000 of them. There is an ancient tradition that the
partisans were buried where they fell and that their bones still inhabit
the site.
The Hippodrome was an immense structure begun in 203 by the
Emperor Septimius Severus; later Constantine the Great extended
and remodelled it. It was 480 metres in length and 117.5 metres wide;
it could seat, according to one estimate, about 30,000 spectators.
The central line, or spina, of the course was marked by obelisks and
columns, three of which are still the outstanding monuments of the
At Meydanı. The royal enclosure, the kathisma, was probably situated
midway along the eastern side of the arena. The straight northern
end of the arena, where the spectators and chariots entered through
vaulted passageways, was located about where is now the fountain
of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The semi-circular southern end, or sphendone,
is today concealed far beyond the buildings at the south end of the
square. The great vaulted substructures at this end of the Hippodrome
are visible from the streets below the At Meydanı on the Marmara
slope of the First Hill. At the top of the outer wall there ran all around
the structure an arcade of columns with an epistyle in the classical
manner. Many of these were still standing nearly a century after the
Turkish Conquest, but in 1550 they were pulled down and used for
building material.
Some idea of the substructures and the internal anatomy of the
Hippodrome may be obtained from the excavations made in the
1960s on the western side. Here we see various sustaining arches,
remains of staircases leading to the seats, and a few of the seats
themselves. Unfortunately the excavations were very badly done,
being merely diggings for the foundations of the Law Courts which
it was originally proposed to build there.
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