the word is adapted from the persian word "bezestan", derived from "bez" ("cloth"), and means "bazaar of the cloth sellers". the building – named alternately in turkish ("internal"), ("ancient"), or ("old") bedesten – lies on the slope of the third hill of istanbul, between the ancient fora of constantine and of theodosius. it was also near the first sultan's palace, the old palace (), which was also in construction in those same years, and not far from the artopoleia (in greek) (), the city's bakers' quarter in byzantine times.