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"General view of Hippodrome of Constantinople (Sultanahmet square), Istanbul, Turkey, 2015 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 (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving. The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos (), horse, and dromos (δρόμος), 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. History and use = Construction = Location of the Hippodrome in Constantinople Although the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinople's days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. 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, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment. In AD 324, the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to refound Byzantium after his victory at the nearby Battle of Chrysopolis; he renamed it 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 long and wide. The carceres (starting gates) stood at the northern end; and the sphendone (curved tribune of the U-shaped structure, the lower part of which still survives) stood at the southern end. The spina (the middle barrier of the racecourse) was adorned with various monuments, including the monolithic obelisk, the erection of which is depicted in relief carvings on its base. The stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators. The race-track at the Hippodrome was U-shaped, and the Kathisma (emperor's lodge) was located at the eastern end of the track. The Kathisma could be accessed directly from the Great Palace through a passage which only the emperor or other members of the imperial family could use. = Decoration = Ruins of the Hippodrome, from an engraving by Onofrio Panvinio in his work De Ludis Circensibus (Venice, 1600). The engraving, dated 1580, may be based on a drawing from the late 15th century.E. Jeffreys et al. (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Byzantine studies (2008), 207; R. Krautheimer, Three Christian capitals: topography and politics (1983), 136 n. 14. The spina that stood at the center of the chariot racing circuit was still visible then; in modern Istanbul, three of the ancient monuments remain. The hippodrome was filled with statues of gods, emperors, animals, and heroes, among them some famous works, such as a 4th-century BC Heracles by Lysippos, Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf Lupa, and the 5th-century BC Serpent Column. The carceres had four statues of horses in gilded copper on top now called the Horses of Saint Mark, whose exact Greek or Roman ancestry has never been determined, were looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and installed on the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice. The track was lined with other bronze statues of famous horses and chariot drivers, none of which survive. In his book De Ceremoniis (book II,15, 589), the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus described the decorations in the hippodrome at the occasion of the visit of Saracen or Arab visitors, mentioning the purple hangings and rare tapestries. According to Hesychius of Miletus, there was once a statue of Hecate at the site.Patria of Constantinople = Functions = Throughout the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the city's social life. Huge amounts were bet on chariot races, and initially four teams took part in these races, each one financially sponsored and supported by a different political party (Deme) within the Byzantine Senate: The Blues (Venetoi), the Greens (Prasinoi), the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi). The Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi) gradually weakened and were absorbed by the other two major factions (the Blues and Greens). A total of up to eight chariots (two chariots per team), powered by four horses each, competed on the racing track of the Hippodrome. These races were not simple sporting events, but also provided some of the rare occasions in which the Emperor and the common citizens could come together in a single venue. Political discussions were often made at the Hippodrome, which could be directly accessed by the Emperor through a passage that connected the Kathisma with the Great Palace of Constantinople. The rivalry between the Blues and Greens often became mingled with political or religious rivalries, and sometimes riots, which amounted to civil wars that broke out in the city between them. The most severe of these was the Nika riots of 532, in which an estimated 30,000 people were killedThis is the number given by Procopius, Wars (Internet Medieval Sourcebook.) and many important buildings were destroyed, such as the nearby second Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine cathedral. The current (third) Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian following the Nika riots. = Decline = Constantinople never really recovered from its sack during the Fourth Crusade and even though the Byzantine Empire survived until 1453, by that time, the Hippodrome had fallen into ruin, pillaged by the Venetians who likely took the four horses now in San Marco from a monument there. The Ottomans, whose sultan Mehmed the Conqueror captured the city in 1453 and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire, were not interested in chariot racing and the Hippodrome was gradually forgotten, although the site was never actually built over. The hippodrome was used as a source of building stone, however. The Hippodrome was used for various occasions such as the lavish and days-long circumcision ceremony of the sons of Sultan Ahmed III. In Ottoman miniature paintings, the Hippodrome is shown with the seats and monuments still intact. Although the structures do not exist anymore, today's Sultanahmet Square largely follows the ground plan and dimensions of the now vanished Hippodrome. Hippodrome monuments = Serpent Column = The Serpent Column To raise the image of his new capital, Constantine and his successors, especially Theodosius the Great, brought works of art from all over the empire to adorn it. The monuments were set up in the middle of the Hippodrome, the spina. Among these was the sacrificial tripod of Plataea, now known as the Serpent Column, cast to celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC. Constantine ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in middle of the Hippodrome. The top was adorned with a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads, although it appears that this was never brought to Constantinople. The serpent heads and top third of the column were destroyed in 1700.Thomas F. Madden, "The Serpent Column of Delphi in Constantinople: Placement, Purposes, and Mutilations," Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 16 (1992): 111-45. Parts of the heads were recovered and are displayed at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. All that remains of the Delphi Tripod today is the base, known as the "Serpentine Column". = Obelisk of Thutmose III = Obelisk of Theodosius in Hippodrome Another emperor to adorn the Hippodrome was Theodosius the Great, who in 390"The Obelisk of Theodosius" discusses the inscription and the date. brought an obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track. Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of Thutmose III in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. The top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The granite obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition. = Walled Obelisk = The Walled Obelisk In the 10th century the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were sacked by Latin troops in the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument also survives, known as the Walled Obelisk. = Statues of Porphyrius = Seven statues were erected on the Spina of the Hippodrome in honour of Porphyrius the Charioteer, a legendary charioteer of the early 6th century who in his time raced for the two parties which were called "Greens" and "Blues". None of these statues have survived. The bases of two of them have survived and are displayed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Contemporary description German Fountain The area is officially called Sultan Ahmet Square. It is maintained by the Turkish government. The course of the old racetrack has been indicated with paving, although the actual track is some below the present surface. The surviving monuments of the Spina, the two obelisks and the Serpentine Column, now sit excavated in pits in a landscaped garden. The German Fountain ("The Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain"), an octagonal domed fountain in neo-Byzantine style, which was constructed by the German government in 1900 to mark the German Emperor Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul in 1898, is located at the northern entrance to the Hippodrome area, right in front of the Blue Mosque. Sir Charles Newton, the English archaeologist who excavated Halicarnassus and Cnidus, in 1855 excavated the one surviving jaw of a snake from the Serpent Column. The Hippodrome was excavated by the Director of the Istanbul Archeological Museums, archaeologist Rüstem Duyuran in 1950 and 1951.Erdem, Yasemin Tümer. "Atatürk Dönemi Arkeoloji Çalışmalarından Biri: Sultanahmet Kazısı," ATATÜRK ARAŞTIRMA MERKEZİ DERGİSİ, Sayı 62, Cilt: XXI, July 2005. İstanbul’da yapılan başlıca arkeolojik araştırmalar = Principal Archeological Researches... İstanbul / Rüstem Duyuran. 1957. A portion of the substructures of the sphendone (the curved end) became more visible in the 1980s with the clearing of houses in the area. In 1993 an area in front of the nearby Sultanahmet Mosque (the Blue Mosque) was bulldozed in order to install a public building, uncovering several rows of seats and some columns from the Hippodrome. Investigation did not continue further, but the seats and columns were removed and can now be seen in Istanbul's museums. It is possible that much more of the Hippodrome's remains still lie beneath the parkland of Sultanahmet. The Hippodrome was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknotes of 1953–1976.Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey . Banknote Museum: 5. Emission Group - Five Hundred Turkish Lira - I. Series , II. Series , III. Series & IV. Series . – Retrieved on 20 April 2009. Image gallery File:Hippodrome Sphendone Constantinopel March 2008panoc.jpgThe remains of the Sphendone. File:Horses of Basilica San Marco.jpgThe four bronze horses that used to be in the Hippodrome, today in Venice. File:Porphyrios Hippodrome Istanbul.JPGBase of the statues of Porphyrios, kept in the Istanbul Museum. File:Capital Hippodrome.JPGCapital with protomes of pegasi, probably 6th- century, possibly from the kathisma File:Hippodrome of Constantinople 1.jpgThe Hippodrome in 2005, with the Walled Obelisk in the foreground and the Obelisk of Thutmose III on the right File:Istambul cokol1RB.JPGThe base of the Obelisk of Thutmose III showing Emperor Theodosius as he offers a laurel wreath to the victor from the Kathisma at the Hippodrome File:Surname 338b-339a.jpgProcession of the guilds in front of the Sultan in the Hippodrome, Ottoman miniature from the Surname-i Vehbi (1582) File:Jean- Baptiste van Mour 002.jpgThe Grand Vizier Crossing the Atmeydanı by Jean Baptiste Vanmour shows the Hippodrome and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in the early 17th century File:Cambridge, Trinity College, ms. O.17.2 (20).jpgthumbWatercolour of the Hippodrome's spina and Hagia Sophia from a manuscript in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge File:Mosque of Sultan Achmet.jpgEngraving by William Watts after Luigi Mayer of the Atmeydanı and Sultan Ahmet Mosque References Further reading *Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, no. 101, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries * Pitarakis, Brigitte & Isin, Ekrem, ed., Hippodrom/Atmeydani: istanbul’un tarih sahnesi - Hippodrome/Atmeydani: A stage for Istanbul’s history, 2 volumes, 2010, Pera Müsezi, Istanbul. External links * Byzantium 1200 Hippodrome with images of original appearance * Over 150 pictures of the monuments * Photos with explanations * Great Mosque With Six Minarets on Hippodrome * Emporis - Hippodrome of Constantinople * WowTurkey - Hippodrome of Constantinople * Hippodrome of Constantinople Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 3rd century Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century Category:Horse racing venues in Turkey Category:Fatih Category:Landmarks in Turkey Category:Byzantine secular architecture Category:Byzantine architecture in Istanbul "
"Richard's pipit (Anthus richardi) is a medium-sized passerine bird which breeds in open grasslands in the East Palearctic. It is a long-distance migrant moving to open lowlands in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe. The genus name Anthus is the Latin name for a small bird of grasslands. The English name and richardi are for the French naturalist Charles Richard (1745–1835), director of postal services at Lunéville and friend of Francois Levaillant. It belongs to the pipit genus Anthus in the family Motacillidae. It was formerly lumped together with the Australasian, African, mountain and paddyfield pipits in a single species: Richard's pipit, Anthus novaeseelandiae. These pipits are now commonly considered to be separate species although the African and paddyfield pipits are sometimes treated as part of A. richardi. Description Near Hodal in Haryana, India This is a large pipit, 17–20 cm in length, with a weight of 25–36 g and a wingspan of 29 to 33 cm. It is a slender bird which often stands very upright. It has long yellow-brown legs, a long tail with white outer-feathers and a long dark bill with a yellowish base to the lower mandible. The hindclaw is long and fairly straight. It is an undistinguished- looking species on the ground, mainly brown above and pale below. There are dark streaks on the upperparts and breast while the belly and flanks are plain. The face is strongly marked with pale lores and supercilium and dark eyestripe, moustachial stripe and malar stripe. There are two wingbars formed by pale tips to the wing-coverts. There is some variation between the different subspecies. A. r. sinensis is slightly smaller than the nominate race with less streaking above. A. r. centralasiae is larger with more sand- coloured upperparts. A. r. dauricus has more streaking above. Its flight is strong and undulating, and it gives a characteristic explosive "shreep" call, somewhat similar to the chirp of a house sparrow. The song is a repeated series of monotonous buzzy notes given in an undulating song-flight. Some care must be taken to distinguish this from other large pipits which winter or are resident in the area, such as Blyth's pipit and paddyfield pipit. Blyth's pipit has a shorter bill, legs and tail, a shorter and more curved hindclaw, less white on the tail and more streaking on the upperparts. In adult birds, the median wing-coverts have blunt-ended dark centres whereas in Richard's pipit the dark centres become pointed towards the tip of the feather. The call of Blyth's pipit call is quieter and less harsh. Paddyfield pipit is smaller than Richard's pipit with a shorter bill and tail, less streaking on the breast and a quieter call. Distribution and habitat Richard's pipit breeds in southern Siberia, Mongolia, parts of Central Asia and in northern, central and eastern China. It migrates south to winter in the Indian subcontinent and South-east Asia with records as far south as Sri Lanka, Singapore and northern Borneo. It is a scarce passage migrant in Korea and Japan. A small part of the population regularly moves west in autumn and birds have been recorded from most countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. It is seen annually between September and November at coastal watchpoints in areas such as Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia with occasional birds appearing in spring. A few overwinter in countries like Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Behaviour and ecology Richard's pipit – head turn It is a bird of open country, particularly flat lowland areas. It inhabits grassland, steppe and cultivated land, preferring more fertile, moist habitats. In Europe it is most often recorded on headlands and islands. It occurs alone or in small groups. Like other pipits, this species is insectivorous. It mainly feeds on the ground and will also make short flights to catch flying insects. A few seeds are also eaten. The nest is made of grass or moss and is built on the ground under a grass tussock. References External links Richard's pipit Category:Birds of Asia Richard's pipit "
"thumb First winter plumage. Blyth's pipit (Anthus godlewskii) is a medium- sized passerine bird which breeds in Mongolia and neighbouring areas of China, Tibet and India . It is a long distance migrant moving to open lowlands in Southern Asia. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. This is a large pipit, but is an undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly brown above and pale below. It is very similar to Richard's pipit, but is slightly smaller, shorter legs and a shorter dark bill. Its flight is strong and direct, and it gives a characteristic "pshee" call, higher pitched than Richard's. In south Asia, in winter some care must be taken to distinguish this from other large pipits which winter or are resident in the area, including Richard's. This species is insectivorous. This bird was named after the English zoologist Edward Blyth. The genus name Anthus is the Latin name for a small bird of grasslands. The specific godlewskii commemorates Polish nobleman and field naturalist Victor Godlewski. References Further reading =Identification= * Heard, Chris (1995) Unravelling the mystery Birdwatch 41:20-24 * Page, Doug (1997) From the Rarities Committee's files: problems presented by a pale Blyth's Pipit British Birds 90(10):404-409 Blyth's pipit Category:Birds of Mongolia Blyth's pipit Blyth's pipit "