Hippodrome of Constantinople

  The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving.   The first Hippodrome was built when the city was called  Byzantium , and was a provincial town of moderate importance. In AD 203 the Emperor  Septimius Severus  rebuilt the city and expanded its  walls , endowing it with a hippodrome. In AD 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 ). This name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome. It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 m (1,476 ft) long and 130 m (427 ft) wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.