Örme Dikilitaş
Örme Dikilitaş rises in Sultanahmet Square, Istanbul, at the southern end of the former Hippodrome. The Roman monument once stood beside the central barrier where Byzantine chariot races shaped public life.
Late antiquity likely brought its construction, although its exact date remains unknown. Emperor Constantine VII restored the structure in the tenth century with gilded bronze plates and a Greek inscription in iambic trimeter. That text compared the monument with the Colossus of Rhodes, while its placement mirrored the nearby Obelisk of Theodosius.
The Fourth Crusade saw the bronze plates removed and melted down, leaving the stonework exposed. Young Janissaries later climbed the monument to demonstrate their prowess, adding further damage to its long history.
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- Istanbul
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Image: James RobertsonPublic domain
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