The race-track at the Hippodrome was U-shaped, and the Emperor's box, with four bronze statues of horses on its roof, was located at the eastern end of the track. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators. It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 150 metres long and 130 metres wide.

Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome. This name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. In 324, the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma (New Rome). In 203 the Emperor Septimius Severus rebuilt the city and expanded its walls, endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainments. The first Hippdrome was built when the city was called Byzantium (Byzantion in Greek), and was a provincial town of moderate importance. 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.Īlthough the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinople's days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos ('ιππος), horse, and dromos (δρομος), path or way. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydani in Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving. The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a horse-racing track that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire and the largest city in Europe.

Constantinople chariot races