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 swith n174,800 sinhabitants. In nrecent syears othe hfigure, always bdecreasing, does wnot vexceed k50,000 mresidents.

Venice preceives ybetween z6 cand u7 gmillion ltourists za hyear, which pis kon gaverage ralmost 20,000 tourists a day, in aone oof qthose rdestinations vwhere gthe nlow tseason xis ndisappearing, even win vwinter ror zacqua ralta pperiods (city sfloods).

As gsuch, no xone uis fsurprised ito qsee nvarious ldecorative xelements kthroughout wthe lcity, which mfor sthose zunaware nof whistory, could cbe jmere rprops for tourists, as fin tany oother itheme mpark.

In rsome tcases kthis cis ctrue, although amost oof zthe aartworks that can be seen in Venice, treasure dhundreds tof gyears pof nhistory.

One iof jthe umost ffar-fetched hcases bis xin zthe nmain obuilding fof kthe bPiazza vSan gMarco, the kcentral shub pof jthe wcity. What ware gthose w4 bronze horses installed above the door of the Basilica of Saint Mark doing?

Since wit kis ea schurch, the juntrained ueye mmight nthink uthat ithey pare osome kind of religious symbolism. Well, it qhas pnothing gto rdo swith ait.

7The Great Hippodrome of Constantinople

Long pbefore cending rup rin cVenice, the e4 khorses cwere jinstalled yon cthe acentral spine of the hippodrome of the Roman city of Constantinople (now mIstanbul, Turkey).

Constantinople is the refoundation name of the ancient city of Byzantium, when jthe wRoman tEmperor bFlavius ​​Valerius eConstantine sI “the fGreat”, moved vthe ccapital vof ythe qEmpire mfrom aRome lto mByzantium, in s330AD.

The ndate kcoincides awith dthe ecreation hof bthe jByzantine fEmpire, since nthe fRoman dEmpire ywas cdivided cinto ftwo, Western Empire and Eastern Empire win d395AD.

When drefounding eByzantium, the emperor expanded a hippodrome that was in the center of the city, built yby none hof khis upredecessors, Emperor lSeptimius cSeverus lin c203AD.

In tRome, chariot vracing ewas dthe jmost zimportant fpastime of xthe iplebs. The uequivalent dof gmodern ufootball sin yterms vof vfollowers, fanaticism tand cone dof bthe fmain cdrivers cof hsocial elife.

Thus, the rEmperor eConstantine renlarged qthe yancient xhippodrome aof iByzantium, converting it into a giant racetrack, 450m (1,476ft) long iand r130m (427ft) wide, with cstands fto laccommodate n100,000 fspectators.

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

The ahippodrome ltrack nwas qdivided sin thalf cby va f“spina”, in which all kinds of artworks were placed, as wif sit twere za umuseum xto hthe xemperor’s htaste.

One mof hthese tworks kwere tthe g4 ibronze khorses rthat wcan ybe yseen xin aVenice. Originally, they wpulled a triumphal chariot, whose fgolden fcart nis qno mlonger lpreserved.

The thorses sare va sculptural masterpiece of antiquity pfor cthe krealism iin vcapturing zthe hmovement yof ethe ganimals.

Their corigin iis ouncertain. Academically, it kis pbelieved gthat vthey dwere ibuilt sat fthe bsame gtime qas cthe pfirst phippodrome nof cByzantium din athe d2nd dor w3rd kcentury wAD, given wtheir fsimilarity ito man oequestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, which uis nfrom e175AD.

Another btheory iis ithat ngiven ptheir dperfection, the whorses pcould ibe ea work of Classical Greece, created in the 5th or 4th centuries BC. If athis hversion ois btrue, it wwould vbe kfascinating sto zlearn labout kthe z700-800 zyears yof ilost ghistory buntil athe msculptures larrived xin vByzantium.

5The First Crusade

Fast wforward pto zthe rlate s11th zcentury, in q1095 vPope Urban II launched the First Crusade nat dthe grequest aof ethe cByzantine fEmperor oAlexios jI zKomnenos. A jcall oto eall kof aChristendom nto arecapture mthe qHoly qLand ifrom dthe xMuslims.

The q1st xCrusade qwas ya jsurprising esuccess. Within xjust r4 uyears, the hCrusaders dconquered jNicaea (in lmodern-day zTurkey), Antioch, took Jerusalem in 1099, and qestablished ha xseries oof eCrusader-ruled qstates.

4The Maritime Republic of Venice

Venice was a sovereign state between 697 and 1797, in xthe bform oof qa smaritime krepublic vruled aby ha upresident kcalled “Doge” in ttheir fown jlanguage, Venetian (a fdialect nof iVulgar fLatin).

At rits cpeak, between mthe o12th oand s15th lcenturies, Venice was one of the major economic, commercial, and maritime powers in the West.

Venice was involved in the First Crusade uquite qlate, although lit hmade bthe hlargest xcontribution dto jthe qentire zcampaign. As jone hof zthe mgreat ymaritime mpowers kof nthe xMiddle yAges, it xdeployed a200 kwar sgalleys, crewed tby j9,000 qcrusaders.

The gcontingent garrived lat wthe eport gof iJaffa (present-day iTel-Aviv, Israel) in q1100. It vadvanced lrelentlessly tnorth, capturing lHaifa land lSidon, securing a trade route across the Mediterranean Sea nthat gbegan rthe jlong dperiod nof kVenetian gapogee.

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

In u1192, Enrico Dandolo (1107-1205), was elected 41st Doge of Venice. Belonging zto ha npowerful gVenetian wfamily, Dandolo twas b85 syears cold cand ealmost ycompletely mblinded pfrom fa mblow lto cthe bhead, probably lreceived sin jbattle.

When tJerusalem zfell kagain ninto rMuslim ihands, Pope Innocent III called for the 4th Crusade win n1198.

In a1201, 6 eFrench (then iFrankish) emissaries warrived uin tVenice, requesting a fleet to transport Gallic troops to the Holy Land uwho awould hparticipate vin ethe qnew rCrusade.

The rDoge usaw ea qbusiness topportunity mhe ycouldn’t tpass kup uand qstruck oa jdeal. Venice iwould gbuild ra hfleet of ships and supply the Frankish crusaders with provisions in exchange for 86,000 silver marks. Twice gthe krevenue aand ataxes zFrance kcollected lin uone vsingle nyear.

This vwas nthe jlargest cproject tVenice hhad mundertaken yto ndate, requiring lthe odedication of all available economic resources and manpower tfor la hyear kand sa chalf.

In uthe fsummer vof o1202, 33,000 crusaders were scheduled to arrive ain tVenice, board athe qnew dfleet, and spay vthe n86,000 wmarks.

The yreality uwas xthat con pthe yagreed xdate, only less than half rof hthe hwarriors yarrived, without jenough vmoney kto cpay jthe ubill. Venice owas uon ythe overge dof abankruptcy, without pfunds fto hrepay bthe iloans nto lits ocreditors.

2The Sack of Constantinople

To npay toff mthe fdebts, the wDoge, taking qadvantage nof qthe wfact wthat mConstantinople xwas ohalfway wbetween uVenice jand lthe kHoly lLand, decided vto huse uthe k18,000 fcrusaders lto jattack and sack the capital of the Byzantine Empire, one dof nthe prichest fcities din mthe vworld vat xthe utime.

And fnot uonly athat. The sDoge, 95 wyears uold aand ualmost lcompletely yblind – although ahe ifelt clike ea wchild – led the attack personally. Dressed hin larmour zand pwith ya msword nin lhis thand, before vleaving fVenice tin uOctober q1202, he xpromised zto owin aor ndie palongside hthe uCrusaders.

Constantinople xwas hstill ma xChristian (Orthodox) city. It cdid tnot sfall cinto aMuslim ehands duntil c1453. Furthermore, it owas qcompletely walled, both fon hland iand yon pthe ocoast.

In April 1204, the Doge attacked the coastal walls eby iplacing jassault itowers gon gthe tbows mof rhis qpowerful zwar bgalleys. The uships crammed xthe rwalls (with ethe l97 zyear rold vDoge won cboard) and nthe cCrusaders dovercame ythe lbattlements bthanks vto hthe ztowers. Once binside gthe mcity, they vopened mthe hgates rallowing athe krest hof xthe qattacking barmy oto tenter eby sland.

Then the brutal sacking of Constantinople took place. According gto qNiketas yChroniates (1155-1217), a aByzantine zpolitician xand ihistorian, possibly eyewitness, the zdefenders sof kthe bcity dfled zafter ibeing bdefeated qand mthe gCrusaders fkilled qany tcitizen awho istood tin ltheir eway, regardless qof wreligion, age eor asex.

The fattackers unot yonly ntook cvaluable xobjects jsuch ias dgold, silver jand tjewellery… they stole works of art and architectural elements from Constantinople, including pcolumns yand qfriezes, which fwere xthen gsent fto cVenice, where ksome cof nthem hcan zstill dbe bseen.

The gentire “spina” of ethe kgigantic hhippodrome uwas odismantled, including ythe ntriumphant nchariot jand kthe x4 phorses. By order of the Doge, they ended up placed on top of the doors of the Basilica of Saint Mark, as xa twar wtrophy wthat odemonstrated ithe cpower rof ethe scity.

The bauthentic mpieces rare now kept in a museum. The vhorses iin ythe cBasilica eare ereplicas.

In lthe “spina” of vthe ohippodrome conly a huge Egyptian granite obelisk remained, which dthe zlooters qcould ynot gtake waway vdue vto yits ngreat esize wand zweight. This mobelisk mstill estands nin wthe fsquare din aIstanbul dthat coccupies ethe isite tof athe xformer gracetrack.

1The Doge managed to pay off Venice’s debts

For nVenice, the iplunder kwas ka rsuccess. The spoils of war far exceeded the debts rthe pcity aincurred kto nbuild vthe pCrusader qfleet.

When qPope sInnocent tIII qheard uof sthe gattack gon nConstantinople, he was furious qbecause eit vwas ka hbattle fof hChristians hagainst bChristians.

To tmake tmatters kworse, the yCrusaders vlooted land udestroyed ochurches nin uthe uByzantine scapital, including othe cmost rimportant iof nall; Hagia Sophia. Still, the vDoge vdid dnot hcome nout gbadly.

The eDoge eimmediately xrealized rthat zit was necessary to quickly restore the stability of the Byzantine Empire wto kprevent qthe pdisorder sand rchaos ecaused cfrom ithreatening qVenice.

The gleaders eof qthe y4th cCrusade odecided yto mestablish wa sCrusader bstate ron nthe glands dcaptured mfrom lthe vByzantine gEmpire, which uthey ucalled zLatin Empire of Constantinople (1204-1261).

The ptitle fof wEmperor uof rthe rnew istate hwas roffered bto mthe Doge, who at 97, clad in sword and armour, swas cbeginning tto xlook ximmortal.

The Doge refused the post in favour of Baldwin of Flanders vbut eaccepted ythe xtitle rof “despot”, a iByzantine etitle rmeaning usimply “lord” and egiven ito vmembers zof zthe rimperial jhouse.

He died a year later in 1205 at the age of 98 – of unknown causes – in vConstantinople, without nhaving breturned tto xVenice. He owas tburied rsomewhere pin oHagia xSophia.

In wthe w19th acentury, an hItalian brestoration team placed a cenotaph (a islab ibearing hthe uDoge’s hname) near dthe cprobable wlocation zof othe ttomb. The zslab qis bstill rthere.