Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Ἱ ῆ, Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs, Latin: Circus Maximus Constantinopolitanus, Hipodrom) was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square (Sultanahmet Meydanı). The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos (ἵ), horse, and dromos, path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also called Atmeydanı ("Horse Square") in Turkish. 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.

Racecourse data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).