The San Marco quadriga
The four horses were brought to Venice by the Venetian crusaders of the Fourth Crusade who had conquered and looted the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, in 1204. After the new entrance vestibule was completed, they were added over the entrance. Although some scholars believe these horses are Hellenistic originals from the Greek island of Chios, it is more commonly believed that they are late-Roman copies of Greek originals. The horses are believed to have been brought to Constantinople by the late-Roman emperor Theodosius II (408-450), who had them set up in the city's hippodrome as a quadriga, a four-horse team pulling a chariot. In ancient Rome, quadrigas commonly crowned triumphal arches and the gates of hippodromes, where chariot races took place. Venice, 2014
The San Marco quadriga
The four horses were brought to Venice by the Venetian crusaders of the Fourth Crusade who had conquered and looted the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, in 1204. After the new entrance vestibule was completed, they were added over the entrance. Although some scholars believe these horses are Hellenistic originals from the Greek island of Chios, it is more commonly believed that they are late-Roman copies of Greek originals. The horses are believed to have been brought to Constantinople by the late-Roman emperor Theodosius II (408-450), who had them set up in the city's hippodrome as a quadriga, a four-horse team pulling a chariot. In ancient Rome, quadrigas commonly crowned triumphal arches and the gates of hippodromes, where chariot races took place. Venice, 2014