Hippodrome Stone Seat

The Taş Koltuk — literally 'stone seat' — is a surviving masonry remnant of Constantinople's ancient Hippodrome, commissioned by Emperor Septimius Severus around 196 AD and massively expanded under Constantine I between 324 and 337. At its peak the stadium held up to 100,000 spectators and served as the empire's premier venue for chariot racing, public spectacle, and political theater: emperors were acclaimed here, and rivals were executed in the arena. Constantine lined the central spine with looted masterpieces from across the empire, including the bronze Serpent Column from Delphi, which still stands on the square today. The stone seat sits embedded in the pavement of modern Sultanahmet, and the elongated oval footprint of the square still traces the curve of the ancient track — a ghost of one of antiquity's grandest monuments.