The Million Stone
Its purpose was the same as the Milion Stone of Rome in Italy. It marked the very point where distances of the major cities of the empire from Constantinople was calculated by and it’s base featured inscriptions showing some of those distances.
At the time of Byzantine empire, the city was referred as The New Rome, and the saying “every road leads to Rome” meant Constantinope in the Eastern Roman Empire and too the Milion Stone in the Hippodrome.
Today, remains of the Milion Stone is located near the water tower in Sultanahmet (towards the Basilica Cistern).
3D Renderings from www.arkeo3d.com/byzantium1200/yerebatan.html
The Milion was the Golden Milestone in the centre of the city, close to the Basilica, the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia, on which the distances to the important cities of the empire were inscribed. Built shortly after the foundation, it was restored in the time of Justinian and is last mentioned in 1268. According to the texts it was a tetrapylon, i. e. a square of four pillars connected by arches and covered by a domical vault.
