Abstract: This article looks at the changes that took place in the topography of power that marked Constantinople as the symbolic world center after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. It is argued that Mehmet II and his immediate successors left the basic structures of the Byzantine ritual landscape of the city intact, but made significant changes in focus to suggest both continuity and a new beginning. In particular it is argued that the possession of Constantinople provided the Ottomans with a legitimate claim to world power, and that Mehmet adapted Romano-Byzantine imperial traditions to create an ideology of universal empire in accordance with his new status as emperor.

Keywords: Hippodromos, At Meydanı, imperial topography, Constantinople, Ottoman conquest.

Biography author: Rolf Strootman is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Utrecht. His research focuses on monarchy, court culture and religion in Near Eastern empires.

Affiliations: Rolf Strootman, Associate professor, Department of Ancient History, Utrecht University, Utrecht - The Netherlands.

Strootman, Rolf (2012), 'From Hippodromos to At Meydanı: Continuity and discontinuity in the imperial topography of Constantinople after the Ottoman conquest', in: International Review of Turkish Studies, Spring 2012, Volume: 2, Issue: 1, pages: 50-70.