The hippodrome tells the story of İstanbul

These could be the scenes of a historical documentary on the Roman Empire, but it’s not necessary to go that far. The ancient Hippodrome in İstanbul -- yes, there was a Hippodrome in İstanbul, for those who don’t know -- in Sultanahmet used to serve these very purposes many centuries ago.

The unknown history of the Hippodrome is being revealed at an important exhibition, “Hippodrom” (The Hippodrome), on view at the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation’s Pera Museum in Beyoğlu in association with the İstanbul Research Institute (İAE), also run by the same foundation. The exhibition, curated by Ekrem Işın, a prominent cultural historian, and assisted by scientific consultants Brigitte Pitarakis and M. Baha Tanman, presents a range of periods to the audience, beginning from A.D. 330, moving on to the Constantinople of Emperor Constantine I and then to the İstanbul of today.

“This project goes back to 2006,” explains Işın, in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman. “We established the İAE in 2007 and planned to make this project the institute’s first because it comprises all three periods on which we were working: the Byzantine, Ottoman and republican periods.” However, because Işın and the İAE wanted the project to be more elaborate and sophisticated, the exhibition had to be delayed to 2010.

Witnessing history

The story of the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet is much more than a casual history of any urban space. And the best way to understand what it should mean for today’s people is to comprehend primarily the idea lying behind the functionality of the Hippodrome itself. “My main point of departure was the question, what is a square?” says Işın. “What does a square tell us? A square is the area where governors meet the governed face-to-face. Throughout history, people have spoken loudly in squares. Insurrections have taken place in squares; executions have taken place. Thus, by exploring the square of a city, you can explore the history of that city in many respects.”

“A square is a stage,” says Işın, “and the founders of this stage have always taken their places there and played their roles.”

The history of the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet can be traced back to A.D. 330, when a previously built hippodrome was renovated under the rule of Emperor Constantine. “In this hippodrome,” explains Işın, “the population affiliated with the emperor, which we today describe as public opinion, had the opportunity to show themselves to the emperor and express their problems. There was indeed a political mechanism operating under the competitions, gladiator games and other sports activities. We can call this a type of public pressure mechanism.”

However, the system was a two-way street, according to Işın. “The emperor used to prove his power in these squares as he was considered the representative of God on Earth.”

After the Roman Empire split in two, this Roman custom continued in the eastern part of the empire for a while. “After the fourth century, this tradition moved to Constantinople and a vast hippodrome was constructed,” explains Işın. “However, it is after the seventh century that Roman traditions began to fade away and a Greek and more Orthodox character began to dominate the empire’s culture.” So, as the Roman legacy lost influence, the church gained power, and after 1204, with the occupation of the crusaders, the Hippodrome lost its importance. It had also been looted by the crusaders.

Perceptions of a ‘square’

“When the Ottomans took over these lands, the Hippodrome had already become an open space where there weren’t many things left except for a Byzantine column and the obelisk,” says Işın, and explains the subsequent consequences, relying on the differences between the perceptions about a “square” in Eastern and Western societies. “The Ottomans found the Hippodrome a site in ruins and did not touch it, nor did they reproduce it as a square in the Western sense,” says Işın. “After the 17th century, the area was restructured with a group of monumental Ottoman buildings. The reason for this was that the square in the Western sense does not exist in Eastern societies. The courtyards of the big complexes may function as squares, but they are not the same as in the West because there is no concept of citizenship. Instead, Eastern societies have subjects. There are squares that develop spontaneously in order to ease the complex network of narrow streets, but they do not function in the same way as in the West.”

Thus, the culture of entertainment and festivity in Byzantium did not continue in the Ottoman period. However, there was another kind of entertainment where governors and their subjects came together. “The circumcision feasts of the şehzades [princes] and the wedding feasts of the sultans’ daughters,” says Işın, “were called Sur-ı Hümayun, and we know that after the period of Sultan Bayezit II, such feasts had been organized at the Hippodrome.” Işın notes that one of the most important feasts organized at the Hippodrome was the circumcision feast of Şehzade Mehmed III, the son of Sultan Murad III, in 1582. “The feast lasted for 52 days,” says Işın. “What was important about the feast was that all guilds needed to show their wares, the poor received help, all people were given food and so on. This was a way for the government to show its power.” The feast was also registered by the artists of the period. “A miniature of the feast was made by Nakkaş Osman, and a copy of it is on display at Topkapı Palace.”

Politicization of the Hippodrome

In the modern era, entertainment left its place to politics. In 1863, influenced by the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851, the Ottoman government organized an exhibition at the Hippodrome in the process of modernization. “We can say that the Hippodrome has witnessed the activity we call the ideology of modernization,” says Işın. “Constitutionalism, upheavals, loss of land, executions… The Hippodrome witnessed them all. In 1919, led by intellectuals such as Halide Edip and Hamdullah Suphi, a vast rally was organized here, and more than 100,000 people gathered, protesting the Greek occupation of Anatolia and expressing their national feelings. In political terms, this is the end of the Hippodrome for the Ottomans and a bridge rooted in the republic.”

In the republican period, there had been some projects to turn the area into a square in the Western sense, but none of the projects were implemented. “One of these projects was the project of Henri Prost, which constitutes the last part of this exhibition. After this period, the Hippodrome took its current form.”

Squares for tourists

For Işın, city squares have lost their original functionality. “Today, the squares are under the occupation of tourists,” Işın says. “Big events and demonstrations are no longer held in squares. Today, it is the tourists, in other words, the monetary power of international capitalism, that speak at these squares.”

As for the awareness of the existence of the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet, Işın is quite pessimistic. “This is a bleeding wound of Turkey,” says Işın. “We are not only ignorant about our own past, but also about our present and future. This is because the profile of the residents has changed. People no longer try to know their city, but try to find food instead. The population of İstanbul is a crowd of people that does not know where they live.”

The exhibition will run until April 18 and also has two large volumes of catalogues to which prominent byzantinologues and Ottoman specialists contributed.

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A replica of the German Fountain in Sultanahmet

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A gravure depicting the Ottoman Exhibition Building in the Hippodrome

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A general view of the Hippodrome area

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A painting by Thomas Allom, depicting the site of the Hippodrome

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A bronze horse statue from the Louvre Museum in Paris