The Hippodrome, the stadium of ancient Byzantium, held 100,000 spectators and featured objects from all corners of the empire. Of these, an Egyptian obelisk and a bronze sculpture of three entwined serpents from Delphi have survived. The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social center of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı, internationaly referred to as the Sultan Ahmet Square and located in the heart of the historical peninsula of Istanbul. The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos, horse, and dromos, path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also referred to as 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 in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras.