The central spina, with its two remaining obelisks, is all there is left of the ancient hippodrome in Istanbul. Today it’s a pedestrian street skirting the north-western edge of the Blue Mosque, which stands on the grounds of the Byzantine Grand Palace. Emperor Constantine expanded the existing hippodrome to accommodate 100,000 spectators, which is what the Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Calcutta used to be able to accommodate.
Thomas Madden, in his history of Istanbul, writes about the time of Justinian I in the 6th century, when chariot races were regularly held in the Hippodrome:
“These castoffs [the poor who came to the city from the countryside] became intensely loyal to their fan clubs. In the previous century John Chrysostom” — a particularly stern Christian monk about whom I first read in William Dalrymple’s From the Holy Mountain — “had complained of the loud, drunken, disorderly, and immoral behavior of the crowds that poured out of the games. In the sixth century these postgame festivities often erupted into open brawls between members of the competing factions. Gangs of fans roamed the streets, singing team songs and engaging in property damage, thievery, and even outright murder.”
These brawls sometimes turned into riots. Justinian I (ordained a saint in the Greek Orthodox church) clamped down on this hooliganism, and once had members of the two leading factions (the Blues & the Greens) sentenced to death. But for some reason the hangman’s noose did not work — twice. The condemned men were then whisked away to the Church of St. Laurentius in the suburb of Blachernae across the Golden Horn. At the next games, as the Emperor & Empress Theodora appeared in the Kathisma, or the Imperial Box, at the Hippodrome the crowds chanted, pleading with the Emperor to pardon the two men. When the Emperor remained unmoved, the crowds rushed, chanting ‘Nika!’ or Conquer. This time, the hooliganism turned into what became known as the Nika Revolt with the populace, chafing under high taxes & being egged on by the traditional elites who disliked the low-born Justinian, with rioting & looting lasting many days. By the time it was quelled by Justinian’s trusted general Belasarius, 30,000 people had died and much of the city, including the Hagia Sophia & Hagia Irene, lay in ruins.
As it so happened, on one of the nights that I was in Istanbul, a local soccer team won some kind of championship. It was the second day of Ramadan. After the iftar that evening, the streets filled with drunk, roving fans, yelling, screaming, honking, playing loud music and in general carousing and having a good time. They appeared to follow me as I walked from Karakoy to my hotel in the Sultan Ahmet district over the Galata Bridge past 10pm after having dinner with a local friend, who found the racket irksome, a reaction that Chrysostom would have approved of.
I don’t know if they damaged any property or knifed a rival fan that night, but apparently not much has changed in the intervening 1500 years when it comes to celebrating sports victories.
