Key words:

eugertism PompeiiNuceriaParmulariiScutariConstantinopleEastern Roman EmpireHippodromeProbus JustinJustinian

The riot at Pompeii (59 CE)

(Fresco showing riot from House of Actius Anicetus in Pompeii)

Byzantine empire showing expansion from the accessesion of Justinian I to the throne (527 CE) and at his death (565 CE).

Large scale riots at hippodromes in the Eastern Roman Empire

Constantinople 496Constantinople 498 Constantinople 500/1Antioch 507Alexandria 516Constantinople 520Constantinople (Nika riots) 532

Hippodrome in Antioch

Horses of St Mark, Venice: originally from the hippodrome in Constantinople

Image: Tteske, via Wikipedia Commons

The hippodrome site in 1888, with San Sophia mosque in background

It’s not a Roman circus without an obelisk…

(Obelisk of Thutmos III, taken to Constantinople for the Hippodrome and still standing. Erected by Theosdosius I in 390 CE)

Base of the obelisk showing Theodosius at the circus awarding a victory palm.

Hippodrome in Constantinople