Sultanahmet District

Below you’ll find some impressions of the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı) in the Sultanahmet district.

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There are hundreds of ancient cisterns hidden underneath the streets and houses of Istanbul. Of the two that are open to the public, the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı) is the largest and Istanbul’s most unusual tourist attraction.
Contrary to James Bond, who had to row his way through it in From Russia With Love, you can take a stroll in the forest of hundreds of marble columns and enjoy the subterranean cool on a hot summer day.

Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı)
Location
Yerebatan Caddesi 13, Sultanahmet.
Tel: +90 212 522 12 59
http://www.yerebatan.com/english/index.html
Open
Daily between 09.00 and 17.30. Closed on official holidays.
Ticket Sales
The entrance fee is YTL 10.
Credit cards are accepted.

Underground Cathedral

The entrance to the Basilica Cistern is across the street from the Haghia Sophia, opposite the yellow building of the Tourist Police in the Sultanahmet district. This immense underground water container was built during the reign of Emperor Justinian I in 532 to meet the water needs of the Great Palace. This marvelous piece of engineering only confirms yet again that those were the heydays of the Byzantine Empire.

The Basilica Cistern, which borrowed its name from the Ilius Basilica, is 143 meters long and 65 meters wide. The roof is supported by 336 marble columns, mostly in Ionic or Corinthian styles, each measuring 9 meters in length. Spaced at four-meter intervals, they are arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each.

The cistern could hold 80.000 cubic meters of water, coming from the Eğrikapı Water Distribution Centre in the Belgrade Forest, 19 kilometers from the city. The water was transported to the city center via the 971-meter-long Valens Aqueduct (Bozdoğan Sukemeri) and the 11.545-meter-long Mağlova Aqueduct (Mağlova Sukemeri), which was built by Emperor Justinian I.

The cistern was forgotten for centuries and only accidently rediscovered by the Frenchman Peter Gyllius in 1545. While researching Byzantine antiquities in the city, he noticed that people in the neighborhood not only got a hold of water by simply lowering buckets through holes in their basements, they miraculously sometimes even caught fish this way.

Visiting the Yerebatan Sarnıcı

After cleaning and restoring the Basilica Cistern, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality opened it to the public in 1987. After descending into the underground water facility via a flight of stairs, visitors can take a stroll on the concrete walkways, enjoying the subdued lighting and the cool temperatures.

Make sure you walk all the way to the far left-hand corner of the cistern, to see the two Medusa heads (see pictures). Both heads are casually used as column bases, one positioned upside down, the other tilted to the side. Both their positioning as their origin remain a mystery up till now, although rumor has it that they were recycled form an antique building of the late Roman period.

Medusa, a sea nymph, was the most beautiful of the three gorgon sisters. She was courted by Poseidon, and made love to him in a temple of Athena.

Furious, Athena transformed Medusa into a monstrous chthonic beast with snakes instead of hair, whose frightening face could turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded while sleeping by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield.

Having coupled with Poseidon previously, two beings sprang from her body when she was beheaded. One, Pegasus, was a winged horse later tamed by Bellerophon to help him kill the chimera. The other, Chrysaor of the Golden Sword, remains relatively unknown today.

In classical antiquity and today, the image of the head of Medusa finds expression in the evil-averting device.

The Hippodrome (At Meydanı) was a of course a horse-racing track, what’s in the name. But during the Byzantine Empire, the hippodrome was not only used for chariot races. Court ceremonies, coronations and parades also took place at the hippodrome, making it the sporting and social center of Byzantine life for over 1000 years. The reason why some refer to it as the Hippodrome of Constantinople.

History of the hippodrome

The idea for the hippodrome originally came from Emperor Septimius Severus in 203. He came to Byzantium to beat down a rebellion in a Roman civil war, after which he raised the city walls, slaughtered most of the inhabitants, and introduced an arena for chariot races and other entertainment.

But it wasn’t until the arrival of Emperor Constantine the Great in 324 that the hippodrome got its final shape. Besides moving the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium, renaming the city over Nova Roma (New Rome) to Constantinople, one of his greatest accomplishments was the renovation and enlargement of the existing hippodrome.

The new u-shaped track was about 450 meters long and 130 meters wide, surrounded by a stadium with a capacity of approximately 100.000. Constantine also connected the emperor’s box (kathisma) to the then nearby Byzantine Great Palace via a passage which could only be used by the emperor and his family.

Political races in a magnificent hippodrome

At the northern end of the racetrack, where now the tourist information office is located, stood the Hippodrome Boxes, containing four statues of horses in gilded copper. The southern end was occupied by the Sphendone, the hippodrome’s curved tribune, of which the lower part still survives. As a result of various emperors trying to outdo one another, the midfield (spina) was covered with numerous beautiful statues and columns.

Horse racing and betting go hand in hand, and it was no different almost 2000 years ago. However, the big difference is that the four teams that initially took part in the chariot races, were financially sponsored and supported by different political parties within the Roman/Byzantine senate: the Blues (Venetii), the Greens (Prasinoi), the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi).

The rivalry between the Blues and the Greens often was intertwined with political and/or religious squabbles that sometimes resulted in riots and even civil wars. The most famous and severe one was undoubtedly the Nika revolt of 532.

Fourth Crusade marks decay and looting of hippodrome

When Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade, the hippodrome was looted by the invaders. The four copper horses of the Hippodrome Boxes for instance, were taken to St Mark’s in Venice. To make things worse, the Ottomans were not at all interested in horseracing. The hippodrome was forgotten, and although it has never been build over, it fell into ruin. As civilization piled up its dust over the centuries, the level of the hippodrome’s surroundings rose.

If nothing is left, why pay the hippodrome a visit?

The now vanished hippodrome is currently an elongated public garden, with the road running around it following the identical course of the chariot racing track. Moreover, there are enough remains of the hippodrome to get an idea what it was like.

Egyptian Obelisk

What is commonly referred to as the Egyptian obelisk (see picture), is actually an obelisk removed from the Temple of Karnak at Thebes (now Luxor).

The obelisk was originally carved around 1500 BC in order to commemorate the great victories of Pharaoh Thutmosis III. In a self-congratulatory mood, the Emperor Theodosius had the obelisk moved to Constantinople in 390. This beautiful monument is probably only one third of its original height. It stands on a marble base, sculpted with scenes of Theodosius and his family enjoying a day at the races.

Serpentine or Spiral Column

This strange column, originally called the Tripod of Plataea, seems to be coming up out of a hole in the ground. It commemorates the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in 480 BC. Constantine had the statue moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in the middle of the hippodrome. The golden bowl at the top, supported by three serpent heads, was stolen and/or destroyed. One detached head survived and is on display in the Archaeology Museum.

The Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus and the Kaiser Wilhelm II fountain are the only other two structures in the hippodrome. The fountain was a gift from the German emperor to Sultan Abdül Hamit II as a token of their friendship.