ExampleAudio · 49:29 — 50:21

The Hippodrome of Constantinople functioned as a venue for a perpetual popular referendum, where emperors could test public opinion and were sometimes forced to reverse policy in response to crowd reactions.

Kaldellis describes the Hippodrome as a political venue where the people gathered to cheer, boo, or demand policy changes. He gives the example of Emperor Alexios III in the 1190s, who proposed a 'German tax' and immediately backtracked when the crowd erupted in opposition. ✦ AI generated

Anthony Kaldellis · Lex Fridman · 2026-06-30 · original ↗

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plays this moment only · 49:29 — 50:21

In the 1190s, the emperor, Alexius III, he's being threatened by the German emperor. German emperor is basically, you pay me a bunch of money or I'll invade. Just straight up extortion. And Alexios decides, okay, I'm going to gather this money. I'm going to impose these taxes. And he gathers the people in the Hippodrome. And he says, you know, we're going to have the German tax. He called it the German tax. And there's such an uproar in the Hippodrome against this that he was like, that wasn't my idea. I don't know where that came from. No, never mind. We're not going to have the German tax. Unfortunately, the German emperor died and nothing ever happened. But it gives you a sense of how emperors like literally can backtrack when they see that the people are against something in a matter of policy, right? Like tax policy. So yeah, there was this give and take. So institutionally, the emperor might look absolute as you called him earlier. In practice, no.

verbatim transcript · starts at 49:29

✳ Constantinople ✳ Hippodrome of Constantinople ◉ Alexios III

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Mechanism · 1

Roman history is the history of a political community, not a culture or religion — it coheres through the narrative of the Roman people, like the Ship of Theseus, where gradual change never felt like a rupture to those living through it.Anthony Kaldellis · Lex Fridman · conf 80%

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extends → Constantinople's Hippodrome and other public gathering places functioned as a 'perpetual referendum' where mass acclamation or booing of the emperor served the role elections play in modern democracies.Anthony Kaldellis · Lex Fridman extends → Because Constantinople lacked electoral institutions, the Hippodrome and other mass gatherings functioned as a 'perpetual referendum,' where public acclamation or booing acted like an ongoing opinion poll that emperors had to heed.Anthony Kaldellis · Lex Fridman