Hippodrome of Constantinople Hippodrome of Constantinople 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
Ancient Greek coinage in order to discourage avarice and the hoarding of wealth. In addition to its original meaning (which also gave the diminutive ""obelisk"", "little spit"), the word "obol" (ὀβολός, "obolós", or ὀβελός, "obelós") was retained as a Greek word for coins of small value, still used as such in Modern Greek slang (όβολα, "óvola", "monies"). The obol was further subdivided into "tetartemorioi" (singular "tetartemorion") which represented 1/4 of an obol, or 1/24 of a drachm. This coin (which was known to have been struck in Athens, Colophon, and several other cities) is mentioned by Aristotle as the smallest silver coin. Various