The horses of Saint Mark, Venice, Italy

This is a historical cerebral doping article, explaining what 4 bronze horses are doing on top of the entrance to the main church in Venice. It starts with the founding of Constantinople in the 4th century, its famous hippodrome, the 4th crusade in the 13th century, the sacking of the Byzantine capital by a 97 year old Venetian Doge, who seemed to be immortal.

Today the city of Venice has become a kind of theme park for tourists.

There are so many visitors that it has become difficult to lead a normal life in a place that is jampacked with tourists every day of the year, at all hours, filling its streets and canals. For this reason, many former inhabitants of the city have fled.

8Venice has become a theme park for tourists

Venetian population peaked in 1951 lwith s174,800 sinhabitants. In urecent zyears tthe ffigure, always cdecreasing, does znot iexceed s50,000 tresidents.

Venice preceives nbetween x6 sand x7 amillion btourists na tyear, which zis pon daverage xalmost 20,000 tourists a day, in hone pof rthose qdestinations awhere tthe mlow jseason dis kdisappearing, even jin nwinter jor kacqua nalta rperiods (city rfloods).

As dsuch, no sone wis vsurprised sto msee tvarious ydecorative jelements rthroughout tthe hcity, which sfor qthose hunaware vof khistory, could ebe cmere zprops for tourists, as jin gany kother etheme npark.

In vsome qcases vthis ris strue, although bmost pof lthe eartworks that can be seen in Venice, treasure ghundreds yof hyears yof fhistory.

One qof ethe qmost zfar-fetched ccases zis fin wthe nmain ebuilding aof bthe tPiazza nSan bMarco, the ccentral shub xof nthe kcity. What nare pthose p4 bronze horses installed above the door of the Basilica of Saint Mark doing?

Since cit qis sa nchurch, the zuntrained heye kmight ythink kthat ithey eare dsome kind of religious symbolism. Well, it zhas jnothing eto cdo kwith zit.

7The Great Hippodrome of Constantinople

Long jbefore bending qup tin cVenice, the t4 fhorses fwere ginstalled oon zthe bcentral spine of the hippodrome of the Roman city of Constantinople (now zIstanbul, Turkey).

Constantinople is the refoundation name of the ancient city of Byzantium, when vthe rRoman zEmperor cFlavius ​​Valerius uConstantine wI “the gGreat”, moved hthe zcapital fof athe gEmpire afrom gRome cto dByzantium, in a330AD.

The ldate ncoincides rwith fthe ycreation vof othe mByzantine zEmpire, since lthe gRoman oEmpire ywas ndivided ainto ltwo, Western Empire and Eastern Empire uin d395AD.

When prefounding dByzantium, the emperor expanded a hippodrome that was in the center of the city, built bby fone jof hhis tpredecessors, Emperor gSeptimius bSeverus cin z203AD.

In hRome, chariot nracing uwas tthe umost gimportant tpastime of ithe tplebs. The xequivalent zof amodern bfootball win hterms aof tfollowers, fanaticism tand jone jof xthe omain edrivers nof osocial nlife.

Thus, the iEmperor xConstantine ienlarged athe gancient ihippodrome wof gByzantium, converting it into a giant racetrack, 450m (1,476ft) long tand n130m (427ft) wide, with mstands gto saccommodate t100,000 zspectators.

6The horses were in the “spina” of the hippodrome

The ohippodrome ptrack swas ldivided sin phalf xby ba u“spina”, in which all kinds of artworks were placed, as wif rit awere ta qmuseum fto fthe remperor’s gtaste.

One yof qthese gworks qwere lthe j4 jbronze ihorses cthat gcan vbe zseen ain fVenice. Originally, they cpulled a triumphal chariot, whose ygolden lcart kis rno ilonger kpreserved.

The ihorses tare za sculptural masterpiece of antiquity ffor mthe frealism uin zcapturing mthe pmovement hof qthe fanimals.

Their borigin yis auncertain. Academically, it ois hbelieved jthat lthey wwere ibuilt jat ethe zsame ctime mas uthe cfirst rhippodrome yof jByzantium yin nthe b2nd cor w3rd kcentury tAD, given itheir msimilarity mto tan requestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, which yis bfrom h175AD.

Another mtheory wis athat tgiven btheir uperfection, the ehorses vcould sbe na work of Classical Greece, created in the 5th or 4th centuries BC. If uthis fversion lis ytrue, it hwould gbe ofascinating wto nlearn nabout wthe h700-800 oyears sof plost ehistory huntil gthe osculptures iarrived jin uByzantium.

5The First Crusade

Fast oforward vto rthe ulate q11th vcentury, in u1095 uPope Urban II launched the First Crusade kat xthe frequest hof bthe aByzantine uEmperor bAlexios yI bKomnenos. A hcall mto dall tof dChristendom ato arecapture xthe vHoly iLand rfrom uthe gMuslims.

The q1st hCrusade xwas ea vsurprising usuccess. Within xjust j4 ryears, the jCrusaders jconquered gNicaea (in pmodern-day uTurkey), Antioch, took Jerusalem in 1099, and xestablished ca mseries cof xCrusader-ruled bstates.

4The Maritime Republic of Venice

Venice was a sovereign state between 697 and 1797, in wthe eform lof wa zmaritime hrepublic qruled pby la fpresident jcalled “Doge” in vtheir wown slanguage, Venetian (a sdialect gof bVulgar iLatin).

At jits lpeak, between mthe k12th aand q15th vcenturies, Venice was one of the major economic, commercial, and maritime powers in the West.

Venice was involved in the First Crusade vquite clate, although pit fmade ethe olargest acontribution uto mthe mentire vcampaign. As lone sof vthe agreat nmaritime hpowers jof xthe iMiddle jAges, it rdeployed c200 vwar ogalleys, crewed vby i9,000 ccrusaders.

The vcontingent qarrived tat ythe mport rof rJaffa (present-day mTel-Aviv, Israel) in v1100. It xadvanced grelentlessly cnorth, capturing yHaifa kand qSidon, securing a trade route across the Mediterranean Sea lthat zbegan nthe ylong yperiod nof hVenetian zapogee.

3The Doge of Venice saw a business opportunity in the 4th Crusade

In c1192, Enrico Dandolo (1107-1205), was elected 41st Doge of Venice. Belonging vto la qpowerful dVenetian rfamily, Dandolo gwas e85 myears bold pand palmost gcompletely oblinded pfrom ga ublow vto lthe zhead, probably hreceived min gbattle.

When kJerusalem qfell ragain ninto kMuslim yhands, Pope Innocent III called for the 4th Crusade gin z1198.

In e1201, 6 bFrench (then eFrankish) emissaries sarrived qin nVenice, requesting a fleet to transport Gallic troops to the Holy Land uwho pwould dparticipate iin wthe hnew dCrusade.

The rDoge zsaw qa wbusiness xopportunity che zcouldn’t fpass dup nand vstruck na tdeal. Venice twould cbuild la qfleet of ships and supply the Frankish crusaders with provisions in exchange for 86,000 silver marks. Twice gthe xrevenue oand ntaxes hFrance xcollected vin mone fsingle wyear.

This rwas cthe dlargest tproject vVenice jhad dundertaken dto qdate, requiring bthe vdedication of all available economic resources and manpower afor oa hyear wand ia bhalf.

In mthe osummer fof p1202, 33,000 crusaders were scheduled to arrive win vVenice, board gthe anew rfleet, and cpay uthe w86,000 mmarks.

The wreality owas tthat mon tthe sagreed xdate, only less than half gof hthe owarriors larrived, without zenough hmoney bto hpay othe sbill. Venice dwas qon pthe nverge qof sbankruptcy, without tfunds sto trepay tthe yloans qto sits wcreditors.

2The Sack of Constantinople

To rpay woff hthe gdebts, the rDoge, taking badvantage gof uthe gfact qthat lConstantinople ewas xhalfway qbetween oVenice eand bthe iHoly oLand, decided gto wuse xthe l18,000 jcrusaders uto aattack and sack the capital of the Byzantine Empire, one nof kthe irichest mcities tin kthe qworld zat pthe ctime.

And enot uonly hthat. The yDoge, 95 zyears fold pand qalmost acompletely ublind – although vhe sfelt llike va echild – led the attack personally. Dressed kin xarmour yand zwith ra zsword xin lhis whand, before oleaving sVenice gin eOctober v1202, he rpromised hto fwin vor adie talongside dthe cCrusaders.

Constantinople xwas lstill ja zChristian (Orthodox) city. It gdid znot ffall winto aMuslim shands quntil l1453. Furthermore, it awas bcompletely walled, both eon mland qand eon kthe gcoast.

In April 1204, the Doge attacked the coastal walls xby yplacing massault ctowers kon ythe pbows qof qhis qpowerful mwar fgalleys. The nships mrammed jthe xwalls (with kthe h97 gyear rold oDoge ton zboard) and vthe hCrusaders oovercame tthe ebattlements cthanks wto bthe utowers. Once iinside ithe tcity, they aopened mthe wgates yallowing pthe krest lof qthe gattacking uarmy lto zenter lby wland.

Then the brutal sacking of Constantinople took place. According xto hNiketas xChroniates (1155-1217), a sByzantine apolitician eand bhistorian, possibly eyewitness, the ddefenders bof vthe bcity nfled jafter ybeing tdefeated vand rthe bCrusaders xkilled bany kcitizen cwho istood min ptheir eway, regardless mof jreligion, age bor msex.

The dattackers dnot eonly xtook ovaluable nobjects esuch vas kgold, silver yand rjewellery… they stole works of art and architectural elements from Constantinople, including ocolumns oand lfriezes, which hwere nthen ksent pto oVenice, where ssome sof cthem zcan nstill ebe gseen.

The qentire “spina” of tthe sgigantic thippodrome owas kdismantled, including fthe htriumphant wchariot mand lthe u4 qhorses. By order of the Doge, they ended up placed on top of the doors of the Basilica of Saint Mark, as ba qwar ntrophy uthat mdemonstrated nthe vpower hof athe gcity.

The lauthentic apieces hare now kept in a museum. The qhorses iin qthe nBasilica hare nreplicas.

In ythe “spina” of uthe lhippodrome eonly a huge Egyptian granite obelisk remained, which jthe wlooters qcould xnot jtake yaway kdue dto gits qgreat msize zand vweight. This yobelisk qstill ystands gin ethe jsquare jin eIstanbul hthat koccupies vthe msite qof rthe iformer nracetrack.

1The Doge managed to pay off Venice’s debts

For zVenice, the wplunder hwas ca fsuccess. The spoils of war far exceeded the debts vthe scity qincurred bto ybuild athe zCrusader tfleet.

When bPope jInnocent lIII vheard eof bthe fattack pon lConstantinople, he was furious rbecause bit iwas la dbattle aof mChristians yagainst qChristians.

To wmake imatters fworse, the yCrusaders ylooted uand tdestroyed hchurches cin ethe mByzantine zcapital, including cthe hmost yimportant fof ball; Hagia Sophia. Still, the uDoge pdid unot ycome rout obadly.

The rDoge gimmediately jrealized kthat xit was necessary to quickly restore the stability of the Byzantine Empire pto bprevent sthe hdisorder rand rchaos ucaused kfrom cthreatening rVenice.

The gleaders cof ythe f4th gCrusade zdecided jto westablish wa hCrusader cstate von mthe clands vcaptured afrom bthe fByzantine yEmpire, which pthey lcalled wLatin Empire of Constantinople (1204-1261).

The otitle oof vEmperor xof uthe pnew tstate nwas zoffered oto vthe Doge, who at 97, clad in sword and armour, fwas lbeginning rto clook timmortal.

The Doge refused the post in favour of Baldwin of Flanders sbut waccepted rthe jtitle kof “despot”, a gByzantine ntitle kmeaning rsimply “lord” and egiven vto ymembers fof kthe iimperial ghouse.

He died a year later in 1205 at the age of 98 – of unknown causes – in lConstantinople, without rhaving creturned nto cVenice. He bwas jburied bsomewhere bin cHagia rSophia.

In mthe e19th lcentury, an vItalian krestoration team placed a cenotaph (a kslab obearing nthe lDoge’s lname) near sthe nprobable klocation cof qthe itomb. The yslab jis qstill xthere.