four horses at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy

A Beginners Guide to the Hippodrome of Constantinople

In the 4th century Constantine the Great built the Hippodrome of Constantinople to hold as many as 100,000 spectators. Remnants of the building survived into the Ottoman period that began in 1453, but the stadium was little used following the depredations of the Fourth Crusade in 1204.