Hippodrome of Constantinople

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Hippodrome
Sultanahmet Square (Sultanahmet Meydanı)
Obelisk of Theodosius in Sultanahmet Square today
Location	Istanbul, Turkey
Coordinates	41°00′23″N 28°58′33″E / 41.00639°N 28.97583°E / 41.00639; 28.97583

The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Greek: Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, romanized: Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs; Latin: Circus Maximus Constantinopolitanus; Turkish: Hipodrom), was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square (Turkish: Sultanahmet Meydanı).

The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos (ἵππος), 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.