Article: Roman hippodrome of Berytus was a racecourse in ancient Beirut (actual Lebanon).
Data
Very little is known about this roman racetrack, located next to the Roman Forum of Berytus. Historian Mouterde suggested in the 1950s that the Beirut hippodrome was at Wadi Abu-Gamil, based on the shape of streets visible on aerial photographs of the area.
It has been rediscovered near the north side of the Roman Forum in the 1990s restructuration of the Lebanese capital, devastated by a terrible civil war. Sadly, there was a litigation in order to preserve the racecourse ruins unearthed
...archaeologists discovered what was believed to be a section of the 2,000 year old stadium seats, the paved central median where an obelisk was placed, dozens of columns, corinthians and carved features as well as a 100 meter stretch of the foundation wall, forming a loop that traces the path of the ancient race circuit...The Beirut race track is believed to have been one of the greatest of five hippodromes in the Levant, a testimony to the importance given to ancient Berytus in the Roman Empire. First century texts reveal that 1,400 gladiators fought there in a single day.Habib Battah
The hippodrome was one of the biggest in the Roman ancient Levant and was -probably- similar to the famous Circus Maximus of Rome, but with a minor size The Expositio -written in the second half of the fourth century by a pagan unknown writer about circus games and circus in the Roman empire- names the five best racecourses in the ancient Levant: Antioch, Laodicea, Berytus, Caesarea and Tyrus. The hippodromes of Roman Tyrus and Caesarea were the nearest to the one of Berytus in the region and probably were very similar to it.
History
According to Historian John Humphrey in his "Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing" the Berytus hippodrome was certainly in existence in the fourth century, but was created in the third century just after emperor Septimius Severus (who probably did not built it because Berytus supported his rival Niger in a civil war).
The Roman Hippodrome, which occupies 3500 m² near the Maghen Abraham Synagogue in Wadi Abu Jamil, the historic, Jewish quarter of Beirut, was discovered in 1988. The Roman Hippodrome of Beirut was the second to be discovered in Lebanon after the Tyre Hippodrome, making Lebanon home to two of the five known Roman hippodromes in the Levant. The Roman Hippodrome of Beirut is considered to have been the grandest of the five, having amphitheaters that are several meters high and a race track, which is more than 90 meters long.
The racecourse was important in the Roman empire, because one of the most famous charioteers of those times -named Porphyrius- raced there at the end of the fifth century. The chariot races were followed by many students of the Law School of Berytus.
Probably the hippodrome was destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 551 AD, that greatly damaged Berytus: since then there are no more informations about it.
Actual Preservation Problems
In 2009, Culture Minister Tamam Salam, had the site listed officially in the general inventory of historic buildings, ruling that it should be preserved in situ and turned into a tourist landmark.
According to an article appearing in the French daily, L’Orient le Jour, Gaby Layoun, the Culture Minister at the time, approved in March 2012 plans for a luxury residential complex to be built over the ruins of Beirut’s Roman Hippodrome, bypassing the recommendations of three of his predecessors: Tarek Mitri, Salim Wardé, and Tammam Salam. The three previous Culture Ministers, Mitri, Wardé, and Salam criticized Layoun's move and reiterated the importance of protecting and preserving the archeological site. A march to protest the destruction of the hippodrome took place on March 24, 2012.
The Association for the Protection of the Lebanese Heritage (APLH) organized the protest as an attempt to reverse the Culture Ministry's decision to allow the building over the hippodrome. Following the litigation brought by the Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage (APLH), the "Lebanon High Court" suspended on May 31, 2012 the Culture Ministry's decision, N˚ 849, to dismantle the Roman Hippodrome that would have allowed for the construction of a luxuty buildings project on the site.
The site was protected until 2015, when construction of luxury hotels & commercial centers was started again: huge complaints are actually (2016) done against all this.
See also Berytus
Roman Forum of Berytus
Beirut Hippodrome Notes Bibliography
Humphrey, John. Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing. Publisher University of California Press, 1986 ISBN 0520049217 ()
Lauffray, Jean (1944–45) Forums et monuments de Béryte, BMB 7 : 13-81.
Mouterde, René et Lauffray, Jean. Beyrouth ville romaine. Publications de la Direction des Antiquités du Liban. Beyrouth, 1952
Davie Michael et Elie Wardini. Berytus, vol. 35, 1987, pp. 141–164. () |
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