It doesn't look like much today, but the Hippodrome was the center of life for the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans for 1,400 years. Originally a racetrack, it is now little more than a park. In its heyday, it could seat 100,000 people. It was dismantled over time and filled in with refuse and dirt. The remaining stones from the bleachers were used to build parts of the Blue Mosque.
This picture should be called "A Walk Down Memory Lane".Nope, we're not back in Egypt. This Egyptian obelisk was carved for pharaoh Thutmose III in 1450 B.C., but Emperor Theodosius took it as a prize in 390 A.D. as the new eastern empire sucked the remaining wealth out of the old Roman Empire (which included Egypt). What remains is only the upper third of the 3,500-year-old original.
If you look closely below and to the left of the obelisk, you can see the weathered green spiral column known as the Column of Serpents. It was erected in Delphi (yep, Delphi) at the Temple of Apollo. It was brought here by Constantine who, like Theodosius, wanted to take a few souvenirs from the crumbling western empire. Originally this column would have had three serpents' heads holding a golden trophy.
This is called the Column of Constantine. He built it to congratulate himself. A later emperor had it sheathed in bronze. When the Fourth Crusade raided the city in 1202, the bronze was stripped off to be made into weapons.The marauders of the Fourth Crusade managed to cart off most of the treasures that had decorated the Hippodrome. Several stolen statues are on display in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.
Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Istanbul several times to bribe the sultan. On one such trip, he brought this little fountain. The kaiser's efforts paid off. The Ottomans joined the Central Powers and subsequently lost World War I. It cost them their entire empire.