Constantinople

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This article is about the historical city from 330 to 1453. For its predecessor in Greek
and early Roman times, see Byzantium. For Constantinople during the Ottoman era,
see History of Istanbul §  Ottoman_Empire. For the modern city, see Istanbul. For other
uses, see Constantinople (disambiguation).
"Constantinopolis" and "Konstantinoupolis" redirect here. For the town of that name in
ancient Osrhoene, see Constantinopolis in Osrhoene. For the Ottoman Greek
newspaper, see Konstantinoupolis (newspaper).
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Constantinople

Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις

Latin: Constantinopolis

Map of Constantinople, corresponding to the modern-day Fatih district

of İstanbul

Alternative name Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma

("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old

Norse), Tsarigrad (Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic),

Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis

("the Great City"), Πόλις ("the City"),

 Konstantiniyye (Ottoman Turkish), İstanbul

(Turkish)

Location Fatih, Istanbul Turkey

Region Marmara Region

41°00′50″N 28°57′20″ECoordinates:  41°00′5
Coordinates
0″N 28°57′20″E

Type Imperial city

Part of  Roman Empire

 Byzantine Empire

 Latin Empire

 Ottoman Empire

Area 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) enclosed within Constantinian

Walls 14 km2 (5.4 sq mi) enclosed within

Theodosian Walls

History

Builder Constantine the Great

Founded 11 May 330

Periods Late antiquity to Late Middle Ages

Cultures  Greek

Latin

Ottoman

Timeline of Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine Empire 395–1204 AD; 1261–1453 AD

 330 AD: Founding of Constantinople

 c. 404/05-413 AD: Construction of the Theodosian

Walls

 474 AD: Great Fire of Constantinople [1]

  532 AD: Nika Riots and Fire of Constantinople

 537 AD: Completion of the Hagia Sophia by Justinian

I[2][3][4]

 626 AD: First Siege of Constantinople

 674–678 AD: First Arab Siege of Constantinople

 717–718 AD: Great Siege of Constantinople/Second

Arab Siege of Constantinople

 1204 AD: Sack of Constantinople

 1261 AD: Liberation of Constantinople

 1422 AD: First Ottoman Siege of Constantinople

 1453 AD: Fall of Constantinople

Constantinople (/ˌkɒnstæntɪˈnoʊpəl/[5] Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολη; Ottoman
Turkish: ‫قسطنطينيه‬, romanized: Ḳosṭanṭīnīye) was the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–
395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the brief Crusader state known
as the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922).
In 324, the ancient city of Byzantium was renamed “New Rome” and declared the new
capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was
renamed, and dedicated on 11 May 330.[6] From the mid-5th century to the early 13th
century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. [7] The city became
famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia, the cathedral of
the Eastern Orthodox Church, which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
the sacred Imperial Palace where the Emperors lived, the Galata Tower,
the Hippodrome, the Golden Gate of the Land Walls, and opulent aristocratic palaces.
The University of Constantinople was founded in the fifth century and contained artistic
and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, [8] including its vast Imperial
Library which contained the remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had 100,000
volumes.[9] The city was the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and
guardian of Christendom's holiest relics such as the Crown of thorns and the True
Cross.

Aerial view of Byzantine Constantinople and the Propontis (Sea of Marmara).

Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The Theodosian
Walls consisted of a double wall lying about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the first
wall and a moat with palisades in front. [10] This formidable complex of defences was one
of the most sophisticated of Antiquity. The city was built intentionally to rival Rome, and
it was claimed that several elevations within its walls matched the 'seven hills' of Rome.
Because it was located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara the land
area that needed defensive walls was reduced, and this helped it to present an
impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes, and towers, the result of
the prosperity it achieved from being the gateway between two continents (Europe and
Asia) and two seas (the Mediterranean and the Black Sea). Although besieged on
numerous occasions by various armies, the defences of Constantinople proved
impregnable for nearly nine hundred years.
In 1204, however, the armies of the Fourth Crusade took and devastated the city, and
its inhabitants lived several decades under Latin rule. In 1261 the Byzantine
Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos liberated the city, and after the restoration under
the Palaiologos dynasty, enjoyed a partial recovery. With the advent of the Ottoman
Empire in 1299, the Byzantine Empire began to lose territories and the city began to
lose population. By the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just
Constantinople and its environs, along with Morea in Greece, making it an enclave
inside the Ottoman Empire; after a 53-day siege the city eventually fell to the Ottomans,
led by Sultan Mehmed II, on 29 May 1453,[11] whereafter it replaced Edirne (Adrianople)
as the new capital of the Ottoman Empire.[12]

Contents

 1Names
o 1.1Before Constantinople
o 1.2Names of Constantinople
o 1.3Modern names of the city
 2History
o 2.1Foundation of Byzantium
o 2.2324–337: The refoundation as Constantinople
o 2.3337–529: Constantinople during the Barbarian
Invasions and the fall of the West
o 2.4527–565: Constantinople in the Age of Justinian
o 2.5Survival, 565–717: Constantinople during the
Byzantine Dark Ages
o 2.6717–1025: Constantinople during the Macedonian
Renaissance
 2.6.1Iconoclast controversy in
Constantinople
o 2.71025–1081: Constantinople after Basil II
o 2.81081–1185: Constantinople under the Comneni
o 2.91185–1261: Constantinople during the Imperial
Exile
o 2.101261–1453: Palaiologan Era and the Fall of
Constantinople
o 2.111453–1922: Ottoman Kostantiniyye
 3Culture
o 3.1Women in literature
 o 3.2Markets
o 3.3Architecture
o 3.4Religion
o 3.5Education
o 3.6Media
o 3.7Popular culture
 4International status
 5See also
o 5.1People from Constantinople
o 5.2Secular buildings and monuments
o 5.3Churches, monasteries and mosques
o 5.4Miscellaneous
 6References
 7Bibliography
 8External links

Names[edit]

Hagia Sophia built in AD 537, during the reign of Justinian

Before Constantinople[edit]
According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, the first known name of a settlement
on the site of Constantinople was Lygos,[13] a settlement likely of Thracian origin founded
between the 13th and 11th centuries BC.[14] The site, according to the founding myth of
the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state
of Megara founded Byzantium (Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion) in around 657 BC,
[15]
 across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus.
The origins of the name of Byzantion, more commonly known by the later
Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear, though some suggest it is of Thraco-
Illyrian origin.[16][17] The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named
after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of
Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two
men, Byzas and Antes, though this was more likely just a play on the word Byzantion.[18]
The city was briefly renamed Augusta Antonina in the early 3rd century AD by the
Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), who razed the city to the ground in 196 for
supporting a rival contender in the civil war and had it rebuilt in honour of his son
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (who succeeded him as Emperor), popularly known
as Caracalla.[18][19] The name appears to have been quickly forgotten and abandoned, and
the city reverted to Byzantium/Byzantion after either the assassination of Caracalla in
217 or, at the latest, the fall of the Severan dynasty in 235.
Names of Constantinople[edit]
Main article: Names of Constantinople

The Column of Constantine, built by Constantine I in 330 to commemorate the establishment of Constantinople
as the new capital of the Roman Empire.

Byzantium took on the name of Kōnstantinoupolis ("city of

Constantine", Constantinople) after its refoundation under Roman emperor Constantine
I, who transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium in 330 and designated
his new capital officially as Nova Roma (Νέα Ῥώμη) 'New Rome'. During this time, the
city was also called 'Second Rome', 'Eastern Rome', and Roma Constantinopolitana.
[17]
 As the city became the sole remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of
the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew, the city also came to have a
multitude of nicknames.
This huge keystone found in Çemberlitaş, Fatih might have belonged to a triumphal arch at the Forum of
Constantine built by Constantine I.

As the largest and wealthiest city in Europe during the 4th–13th centuries and a centre
of culture and education of the Mediterranean basin, Constantinople came to be known
by prestigious titles such as Basileuousa (Queen of Cities) and Megalopolis (the Great
City) and was, in colloquial speech, commonly referred to as just Polis (ἡ Πόλις) 'the
City' by Constantinopolitans and provincial Byzantines alike. [20]
In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently. The
medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern
Europe (Varangians) used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr (from mikill 'big'
and garðr 'city'), and later Miklagard and Miklagarth.[18] In Arabic, the city was sometimes
called Rūmiyyat al-Kubra (Great City of the Romans) and in Persian as Takht-e
Rum (Throne of the Romans).
In East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople has
been referred to as Tsargrad (Царьград) or Carigrad, 'City of the Caesar (Emperor)',
from the Slavonic words tsar ('Caesar' or 'King') and grad ('city'). This was presumably
a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις (Vasileos Polis), 'the city of the
emperor [king]'.
Modern names of the city[edit]
Obelisk of Theodosius is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of
Constantinople by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.

The modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin
polin (εἰς τὴν πόλιν), meaning "(in)to the city".[18][21] This name was used
in Turkish alongside Kostantiniyye, the more formal adaptation of the
original Constantinople, during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages
mostly continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th century. In
1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, as
part of the 1920s Turkification movement, Turkey started to urge other countries to
use Turkish names for Turkish cities, instead of other transliterations to Latin script that
had been used in Ottoman times.[22][23][24][25] In time the city came to be known as Istanbul
and its variations in most world languages.
The name "Constantinople" is still used by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in
the title of one of their most important leaders, the Orthodox patriarch based in the city,
referred to as "His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New
Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch." In Greece today, the city is still
called Konstantinoúpoli(s) (Κωνσταντινούπολις/Κωνσταντινούπολη) or simply just "the
City" (Η Πόλη).

History[edit]

The four bronze horses that used to be in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, today in Venice

Foundation of Byzantium[edit]
Main article: Byzantium
Constantinople was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine I (272–337) in
324[6] on the site of an already-existing city, Byzantium, which was settled in the early
days of Greek colonial expansion, in around 657 BC, by colonists of the city-state
of Megara. This is the first major settlement that would develop on the site of later
Constantinople, but the first known settlements was that of Lygos, referred to in Pliny's
Natural Histories.[26] Apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement. The site,
according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers
from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium (Βυζάντιον) in around 657 BC,
[19]
 across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus.
Hesychius of Miletus wrote that some "claim that people from Megara, who derived their
descent from Nisos, sailed to this place under their leader Byzas, and invent the fable
that his name was attached to the city." Some versions of the founding myth say Byzas
was the son of a local nymph, while others say he was conceived by one of Zeus'
daughters and Poseidon. Hesychius also gives alternate versions of the city's founding
legend, which he attributed to old poets and writers: [27]
It is said that the first Argives, after having received this prophecy from Pythia,
    Blessed are those who will inhabit that holy city,
    a narrow strip of the Thracian shore at the mouth of the Pontos,
    where two pups drink of the gray sea,
    where fish and stag graze on the same pasture,
set up their dwellings at the place where the rivers Kydaros and Barbyses have their
estuaries, one flowing from the north, the other from the west, and merging with the sea
at the altar of the nymph called Semestre"
The city maintained independence as a city-state until it was annexed by Darius I in
512 BC into the Persian Empire, who saw the site as the optimal location to construct
a pontoon bridge crossing into Europe as Byzantium was situated at the narrowest point
in the Bosphorus strait. Persian rule lasted until 478 BC when as part of the Greek
counterattack to the Second Persian invasion of Greece, a Greek army led by the
Spartan general Pausanias captured the city which remained an independent, yet
subordinate, city under the Athenians, and later to the Spartans after 411 BC.[28] A
farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c. 150 BC which stipulated tribute
in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. [29] This
treaty would pay dividends retrospectively as Byzantium would maintain this
independent status, and prosper under peace and stability in the Pax Romana, for
nearly three centuries until the late 2nd century AD. [30]

Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos (Greek: Θεοτόκος ἡ
Παμμακάριστος, "All-Blessed Mother of God"), is one of the most famous Greek Orthodox Byzantine churches
in Istanbul

Byzantium was never a major influential city-state like that of Athens, Corinth or Sparta,

but the city enjoyed relative peace and steady growth as a prosperous trading city lent
by its remarkable position. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and
the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an
excellent and spacious harbour. Already then, in Greek and early Roman times,
Byzantium was famous for its strategic geographic position that made it difficult to
besiege and capture, and its position at the crossroads of the Asiatic-European trade
route over land and as the gateway between the Mediterranean and Black Seas made it
too valuable a settlement to abandon, as Emperor Septimius Severus later realized
when he razed the city to the ground for supporting Pescennius Niger's claimancy.[31] It
was a move greatly criticized by the contemporary consul and historian Cassius
Dio who said that Severus had destroyed "a strong Roman outpost and a base of
operations against the barbarians from Pontus and Asia". [32] He would later rebuild
Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta
Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, the Severan Wall.
324–337: The refoundation as Constantinople[edit]

A simple cross: example of iconoclast art in the Hagia Irene Church in Istanbul

Emperor Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary

and Christ Child in this church mosaic. Hagia Sophia, c. 1000.
Another coin struck by Constantine I in 330–333 to commemorate the foundation of Constantinople and to also
reaffirm Rome as the traditional centre of the Roman Empire.

Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople.

Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Having restored the unity of the
Empire, and, being in the course of major governmental reforms as well as
of sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church, he was well aware that Rome
was an unsatisfactory capital. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the
armies and the imperial courts, and it offered an undesirable playground for disaffected
politicians. Yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it
might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different
location. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a
place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or
the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated
workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the
Empire.
Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330. [6]
[33]
 Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it
with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis.[34] Yet, at first, Constantine's new
Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a proconsul, rather than
an urban prefect. It had no praetors, tribunes, or quaestors. Although it did have
senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus, like those of Rome. It also lacked the
panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues,
temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was
carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were taken wholesale from
the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. In similar fashion, many of the
greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and
streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land
from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica and on 18 May 332 he announced that,
as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the
amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points
around the city.[35]
Hagia Irene is a Greek Eastern Orthodox Church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. It
is one of the few churches in Istanbul that has not been converted into a mosque

Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it
the Augustaeum. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east
side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the
Emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke, and its ceremonial suite known as
the Palace of Daphne. Nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over
80,000 spectators, and the famed Baths of Zeuxippus. At the western entrance to the
Augustaeum was the Milion, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured
across the Eastern Roman Empire.
From the Augustaeum led a great street, the Mese, lined with colonnades. As it
descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left
the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through the oval Forum of
Constantine where there was a second Senate-house and a high column with a statue
of Constantine himself in the guise of Helios, crowned with a halo of seven rays and
looking toward the rising sun. From there, the Mese passed on and through the Forum
Tauri and then the Forum Bovis, and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and
through to the Golden Gate in the Constantinian Wall. After the construction of
the Theodosian Walls in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new Golden Gate,
reaching a total length of seven Roman miles.[36] After the construction of the Theodosian
Walls, Constantinople consisted of an area approximately the size of Old Rome within
the Aurelian walls, or some 1,400 ha.[37]
337–529: Constantinople during the Barbarian Invasions and the
fall of the West[edit]
See also: Palace of Lausus
Theodosius I was the last Roman emperor who ruled over an undivided empire (detail from the Obelisk at
the Hippodrome of Constantinople).

The importance of Constantinople increased, but it was gradual. From the death of
Constantine in 337 to the accession of Theodosius I, emperors had been resident only
in the years 337–338, 347–351, 358–361, 368–369. Its status as a capital was
recognized by the appointment of the first known Urban Prefect of the City Honoratus,
who held office from 11 December 359 until 361. The urban prefects had concurrent
jurisdiction over three provinces each in the adjacent dioceses of Thrace (in which the
city was located), Pontus and Asia comparable to the 100-mile extraordinary jurisdiction
of the prefect of Rome. The emperor Valens, who hated the city and spent only one
year there, nevertheless built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of
the Propontis near the Golden Gate, probably for use when reviewing troops. All the
emperors up to Zeno and Basiliscus were crowned and acclaimed at the
Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded the Church of John the Baptist to house the skull of
the saint (today preserved at the Topkapı Palace), put up a memorial pillar to himself in
the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coach house for
the Praetorian Prefect; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese,
near the walls of Constantine.
After the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which the emperor Valens with the
flower of the Roman armies was destroyed by the Visigoths within a few days' march,
the city looked to its defences, and in 413–414 Theodosius II built the 18-metre (60-
foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications, which were not to be breached until the coming of
gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University near the Forum of Taurus, on 27
February 425.
Uldin, a prince of the Huns, appeared on the Danube about this time and advanced into
Thrace, but he was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in
driving their king back north of the river. Subsequent to this, new walls were built to
defend the city and the fleet on the Danube improved.
Mosaics of the Great Palace of Constantinople, now in Great Palace Mosaic Museum in Istanbul

After the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the

indisputable capital city of the Roman Empire. Emperors were no longer peripatetic
between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in the Great
City and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the eastern
Mediterranean and western Asia flowed into Constantinople.
527–565: Constantinople in the Age of Justinian[edit]

Map of Constantinople (1422) by Florentine cartographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti[38] is the oldest surviving map
of the city, and the only one that predates the Turkish conquest of the city in 1453.
The current Hagia Sophia was commissioned by Emperor Justinian I after the previous one was destroyed in
the Nika riots of 532. It was converted into a mosque in 1453 when the Ottoman Empire commenced and was
a museum from 1935 to 2020.

The emperor Justinian I (527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal
reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the
reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their
departure, the ship of the commander Belisarius was anchored in front of the Imperial
palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. After the
victory, in 534, the Temple treasure of Jerusalem, looted by the Romans in AD 70 and
taken to Carthage by the Vandals after their sack of Rome in 455, was brought to
Constantinople and deposited for a time, perhaps in the Church of St Polyeuctus, before
being returned to Jerusalem in either the Church of the Resurrection or the New
Church.[39]
Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the
hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where
(as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed
their approval of a new emperor, and also where they openly criticized the government,
or clamoured for the removal of unpopular ministers. In the time of Justinian, public
order in Constantinople became a critical political issue.

Aqueduct of Valens completed by Roman Emperor Valens in the late 4th century AD.

Throughout the late Roman and early Byzantine periods, Christianity was resolving
fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and
the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance
to the chariot-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens. The partisans of the Blues and
the Greens were said[40] to affect untrimmed facial hair, head hair shaved at the front and
grown long at the back, and wide-sleeved tunics tight at the wrist; and to form gangs to
engage in night-time muggings and street violence. At last these disorders took the form
of a major rebellion of 532, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Conquer!"
of those involved).[41]
Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed the Theodosian basilica of Hagia Sophia
(Holy Wisdom), the city's cathedral, which lay to the north of the Augustaeum and had
itself replaced the Constantinian basilica founded by Constantius II to replace the first
Byzantine cathedral, Hagia Irene (Holy Peace). Justinian commissioned Anthemius of
Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable Hagia Sophia.
This was the great cathedral of the city, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God
alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could
attend services without passing through the streets. The dedication took place on 26
December 537 in the presence of the emperor, who was later reported to have
exclaimed, "O Solomon, I have outdone thee!"[42] Hagia Sophia was served by 600
people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build. [43]
Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of
the Holy Apostles and Hagia Irene built by Constantine with new churches under the
same dedication. The Justinianic Church of the Holy Apostles was designed in the form
of an equal-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This
church was to remain the burial place of the Emperors from Constantine himself until
the 11th century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to
make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror. Justinian was also concerned with
other aspects of the city's built environment, legislating against the abuse of laws
prohibiting building within 100 feet (30 m) of the sea front, in order to protect the view. [44]
During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people.
[45]
 However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of
the Plague of Justinian between 541–542 AD. It killed perhaps 40% of the city's
inhabitants.[46]

Restored section of the fortifications (Theodosian Walls) that protected Constantinople during the medieval
period.

Survival, 565–717: Constantinople during the Byzantine Dark

Ages[edit]
In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of
the Balkans, threatening Constantinople with attack from the west. Simultaneously,
the Persian Sassanids overwhelmed the Prefecture of the East and penetrated deep
into Anatolia. Heraclius, son of the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the
throne. He found the military situation so dire that he is said to have contemplated
withdrawing the imperial capital to Carthage, but relented after the people of
Constantinople begged him to stay. The citizens lost their right to free grain in 618 when
Heraclius realised that the city could no longer be supplied from Egypt as a result of the
Persian wars: the population fell substantially as a result. [47]
Chora Church medieval Byzantine Greek Orthodox church preserved as the Chora Museum in the Edirnekapı
neighborhood of Istanbul.

While the city withstood a siege by the Sassanids and Avars in 626, Heraclius
campaigned deep into Persian territory and briefly restored the status quo in 628, when
the Persians surrendered all their conquests. However, further sieges followed the Arab
conquests, first from 674 to 678 and then in 717 to 718. The Theodosian Walls kept the
city impregnable from the land, while a newly discovered incendiary substance known
as Greek Fire allowed the Byzantine navy to destroy the Arab fleets and keep the city
supplied. In the second siege, the second ruler of Bulgaria, Khan Tervel, rendered
decisive help. He was called Saviour of Europe.[48]
717–1025: Constantinople during the Macedonian Renaissance[edit]

Emperor Leo VI (886–912) adoring Jesus Christ. Mosaic above the Imperial Gate in the Hagia Sophia.

In the 730s Leo III carried out extensive repairs of the Theodosian walls, which had
been damaged by frequent and violent attacks; this work was financed by a special tax
on all the subjects of the Empire.[49]
Theodora, widow of the Emperor Theophilus (died 842), acted as regent during the
minority of her son Michael III, who was said to have been introduced to dissolute habits
by her brother Bardas. When Michael assumed power in 856, he became known for
excessive drunkenness, appeared in the hippodrome as a charioteer and burlesqued
the religious processions of the clergy. He removed Theodora from the Great Palace to
the Carian Palace and later to the monastery of Gastria, but, after the death of Bardas,
she was released to live in the palace of St Mamas; she also had a rural residence at
the Anthemian Palace, where Michael was assassinated in 867. [50]
In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier
at Kyiv by Askold and Dir, two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed
through the Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the
suburban Prince's Islands. Oryphas, the admiral of the Byzantine fleet, alerted the
emperor Michael, who promptly put the invaders to flight; but the suddenness and
savagery of the onslaught made a deep impression on the citizens. [51]
In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kyiv:
6,000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into a new bodyguard known as
the Varangian Guard. They were known for their ferocity, honour, and loyalty. It is said
that, in 1038, they were dispersed in winter quarters in the Thracesian Theme when one
of their number attempted to violate a countrywoman, but in the struggle she seized his
sword and killed him; instead of taking revenge, however, his comrades applauded her
conduct, compensated her with all his possessions, and exposed his body without burial
as if he had committed suicide.[52] However, following the death of an Emperor, they
became known also for plunder in the Imperial palaces. [53] Later in the 11th Century the
Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to
subjugation by the new Norman kings of England.[54]

One of the most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople – the image
of Christ Pantocrator on the walls of the upper southern gallery, Christ being flanked by the Virgin Mary and
John the Baptist; circa 1261

The Book of the Eparch, which dates to the 10th century, gives a detailed picture of the
city's commercial life and its organization at that time. The corporations in which the
tradesmen of Constantinople were organised were supervised by the Eparch, who
regulated such matters as production, prices, import, and export. Each guild had its own
monopoly, and tradesmen might not belong to more than one. It is an impressive
testament to the strength of tradition how little these arrangements had changed since
the office, then known by the Latin version of its title, had been set up in 330 to mirror
the urban prefecture of Rome.[55]
In the 9th and 10th centuries, Constantinople had a population of between 500,000 and
800,000.[56]
Mosaic of Jesus in Pammakaristos Church, Istanbul.

Iconoclast controversy in Constantinople[edit]

In the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest
throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and
ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act
that was fiercely resisted by the citizens.[57] Constantine V convoked a church council in
754, which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken,
burned, or painted over with depictions of trees, birds or animals: One source refers to
the church of the Holy Virgin at Blachernae as having been transformed into a "fruit
store and aviary".[58] Following the death of her son Leo IV in 780, the
empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second
Council of Nicaea in 787.
The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to be resolved once
more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora, who restored the icons. These
controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and
the Eastern Churches.
1025–1081: Constantinople after Basil II[edit]
A fragment of the Milion (Greek: Μίλ(λ)ιον), a mile-marker monument

In the late 11th century catastrophe struck with the unexpected and calamitous defeat of
the imperial armies at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. The
Emperor Romanus Diogenes was captured. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan,
sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them. On his
release, however, Romanus found that enemies had placed their own candidate on the
throne in his absence; he surrendered to them and suffered death by torture, and the
new ruler, Michael VII Ducas, refused to honour the treaty. In response, the Turks
began to move into Anatolia in 1073. The collapse of the old defensive system meant
that they met no opposition, and the empire's resources were distracted and
squandered in a series of civil wars. Thousands of Turkoman tribesmen crossed the
unguarded frontier and moved into Anatolia. By 1080, a huge area had been lost to the
Empire, and the Turks were within striking distance of Constantinople.
1081–1185: Constantinople under the Comneni[edit]

The Byzantine Empire under Manuel I, c. 1180.

12th century mosaic from the upper gallery of the Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. Emperor John II (1118–1143)
is shown on the left, with the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus in the centre, and John's consort Empress Irene on
the right.

Under the Comnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery.

In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where
Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army.[59] In response to a
call for aid from Alexius, the First Crusade assembled at Constantinople in 1096, but
declining to put itself under Byzantine command set out for Jerusalem on its own
account.[60] John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for
the poor of 50 beds.[61]
With the restoration of firm central government, the empire became fabulously wealthy.
The population was rising (estimates for Constantinople in the 12th century vary from
some 100,000 to 500,000), and towns and cities across the realm flourished.
Meanwhile, the volume of money in circulation dramatically increased. This was
reflected in Constantinople by the construction of the Blachernae palace, the creation of
brilliant new works of art, and general prosperity at this time: an increase in trade, made
possible by the growth of the Italian city-states, may have helped the growth of the
economy. It is certain that the Venetians and others were active traders in
Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms
of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt.
The Venetians had factories on the north side of the Golden Horn, and large numbers of
westerners were present in the city throughout the 12th century. Toward the end
of Manuel I Komnenos's reign, the number of foreigners in the city reached about
60,000–80,000 people out of a total population of about 400,000 people. [62] In 1171,
Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews. [63] In 1182, most Latin
(Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople were massacred.[64]
In artistic terms, the 12th century was a very productive period. There was a revival in
the mosaic art, for example: Mosaics became more realistic and vivid, with an increased
emphasis on depicting three-dimensional forms. There was an increased demand for
art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for
such work. According to N.H. Baynes (Byzantium, An Introduction to East Roman
Civilization):
With its love of luxury and passion for colour, the art of this age delighted in the
production of masterpieces that spread the fame of Byzantium throughout the whole of
the Christian world. Beautiful silks from the workshops of Constantinople also portrayed
in dazzling colour animals – lions, elephants, eagles, and griffins – confronting each
other, or represented Emperors gorgeously arrayed on horseback or engaged in the
chase.
From the tenth to the twelfth century Byzantium was the main source of inspiration for
the West. By their style, arrangement, and iconography the mosaics of St. Mark's at
Venice and of the cathedral at Torcello clearly reveal their Byzantine origin. Similarly
those of the Palatine Chapel, the Martorana at Palermo, and the cathedral of Cefalù,
together with the vast decoration of the cathedral at Monreale, demonstrate the
influence of Byzantium on the Norman Court of Sicily in the twelfth century. Hispano-
Moorish art was unquestionably derived from the Byzantine. Romanesque art owes
much to the East, from which it borrowed not only its decorative forms but the plan of
some of its buildings, as is proved, for instance, by the domed churches of south-
western France. Princes of Kyiv, Venetian doges, abbots of Monte Cassino, merchants
of Amalfi, and the kings of Sicily all looked to Byzantium for artists or works of art. Such
was the influence of Byzantine art in the twelfth century, that Russia, Venice, southern
Italy and Sicily all virtually became provincial centres dedicated to its production."

1185–1261: Constantinople during the Imperial Exile[edit]

Pammakaristos Church mosaic of Saint Anthony, the desert Father

The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, by Eugène Delacroix, 1840.

The Latin Empire, Empire of Nicaea, Empire of Trebizond, and the Despotate of Epirus. The borders are very
uncertain.

On 25 July 1197, Constantinople was struck by a severe fire which burned the Latin
Quarter and the area around the Gate of the Droungarios (Turkish: Odun Kapısı) on the
Golden Horn.[65][66] Nevertheless, the destruction wrought by the 1197 fire paled in
comparison with that brought by the Crusaders. In the course of a plot between Philip of
Swabia, Boniface of Montferrat and the Doge of Venice, the Fourth Crusade was,
despite papal excommunication, diverted in 1203 against Constantinople, ostensibly
promoting the claims of Alexius, son of the deposed emperor Isaac. The reigning
emperor Alexius III had made no preparation. The Crusaders occupied Galata, broke
the defensive chain protecting the Golden Horn, and entered the harbour, where on 27
July they breached the sea walls: Alexius III fled. But the new Alexius IV found the
Treasury inadequate, and was unable to make good the rewards he had promised to his
western allies. Tension between the citizens and the Latin soldiers increased. In
January 1204, the protovestiarius Alexius Murzuphlus provoked a riot, it is presumed, to
intimidate Alexius IV, but whose only result was the destruction of the great statue
of Athena Promachos, the work of Phidias, which stood in the principal forum facing
west.
In February 1204, the people rose again: Alexius IV was imprisoned and executed, and
Murzuphlus took the purple as Alexius V. He made some attempt to repair the walls and
organise the citizenry, but there had been no opportunity to bring in troops from the
provinces and the guards were demoralised by the revolution. An attack by the
Crusaders on 6 April failed, but a second from the Golden Horn on 12 April succeeded,
and the invaders poured in. Alexius V fled. The Senate met in Hagia Sophia and offered
the crown to Theodore Lascaris, who had married into the Angelid family, but it was too
late. He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace
and addressed the Varangian Guard. Then the two of them slipped away with many of
the nobility and embarked for Asia. By the next day the Doge and the leading Franks
were installed in the Great Palace, and the city was given over to pillage for three days.
Sir Steven Runciman, historian of the Crusades, wrote that the sack of Constantinople
is "unparalleled in history".
For nine centuries, [...] the great city had been the capital of Christian civilisation. It was
filled with works of art that had survived from ancient Greece and with the masterpieces
of its own exquisite craftsmen. The Venetians [...] seized treasures and carried them off
to adorn [...] their town. But the Frenchmen and Flemings were filled with a lust for
destruction. They rushed in a howling mob down the streets and through the houses,
snatching up everything that glittered and destroying whatever they could not carry,
pausing only to murder or to rape, or to break open the wine-cellars [...] . Neither
monasteries nor churches nor libraries were spared. In Hagia Sophia itself, drunken
soldiers could be seen tearing down the silken hangings and pulling the great
silver iconostasis to pieces, while sacred books and icons were trampled under foot.
While they drank merrily from the altar-vessels a prostitute set herself on the Patriarch's
throne and began to sing a ribald French song. Nuns were ravished in their convents.
Palaces and hovels alike were entered and wrecked. Wounded women and children lay
dying in the streets. For three days the ghastly scenes [...] continued, till the huge and
beautiful city was a shambles. [...] When [...] order was restored, [...] citizens were
tortured to make them reveal the goods that they had contrived to hide. [67]
For the next half-century, Constantinople was the seat of the Latin Empire. Under the
rulers of the Latin Empire, the city declined, both in population and the condition of its
buildings. Alice-Mary Talbot cites an estimated population for Constantinople of 400,000
inhabitants; after the destruction wrought by the Crusaders on the city, about one third
were homeless, and numerous courtiers, nobility, and higher clergy, followed various
leading personages into exile. "As a result Constantinople became seriously
depopulated," Talbot concludes.[68]

Dome of the Pammakaristos Church, Istanbul

The Latins took over at least 20 churches and 13 monasteries, most prominently the
Hagia Sophia, which became the cathedral of the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. It is
to these that E.H. Swift attributed the construction of a series of flying buttresses to
shore up the walls of the church, which had been weakened over the centuries by
earthquake tremors.[69] However, this act of maintenance is an exception: for the most
part, the Latin occupiers were too few to maintain all of the buildings, either secular and
sacred, and many became targets for vandalism or dismantling. Bronze and lead were
removed from the roofs of abandoned buildings and melted down and sold to provide
money to the chronically under-funded Empire for defense and to support the court;
Deno John Geanokoplos writes that "it may well be that a division is suggested here:
Latin laymen stripped secular buildings, ecclesiastics, the churches." [70] Buildings were
not the only targets of officials looking to raise funds for the impoverished Latin Empire:
the monumental sculptures which adorned the Hippodrome and fora of the city were
pulled down and melted for coinage. "Among the masterpieces destroyed, writes Talbot,
"were a Herakles attributed to the fourth-century B.C. sculptor Lysippos, and
monumental figures of Hera, Paris, and Helen." [71]
The Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes reportedly saved several churches from being
dismantled for their valuable building materials; by sending money to the Latins "to buy
them off" (exonesamenos), he prevented the destruction of several churches.
[72]
 According to Talbot, these included the churches of Blachernae, Rouphinianai, and
St. Michael at Anaplous. He also granted funds for the restoration of the Church of the
Holy Apostles, which had been seriously damaged in an earthquake. [71]

The final siege of Constantinople, contemporary 15th-century French miniature.

The Byzantine nobility scattered, many going to Nicaea, where Theodore Lascaris set
up an imperial court, or to Epirus, where Theodore Angelus did the same; others fled
to Trebizond, where one of the Comneni had already with Georgian support established
an independent seat of empire.[73] Nicaea and Epirus both vied for the imperial title, and
tried to recover Constantinople. In 1261, Constantinople was captured from its last Latin
ruler, Baldwin II, by the forces of the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
1261–1453: Palaiologan Era and the Fall of Constantinople[edit]
See also: Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty and Fall of Constantinople
Mehmed the Conqueror enters Constantinople, painting by Fausto Zonaro.

Although Constantinople was retaken by Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Empire had lost
many of its key economic resources, and struggled to survive. The palace of
Blachernae in the north-west of the city became the main Imperial residence, with the
old Great Palace on the shores of the Bosporus going into decline. When Michael VIII
captured the city, its population was 35,000 people, but, by the end of his reign, he had
succeeded in increasing the population to about 70,000 people. [74] The Emperor
achieved this by summoning former residents who had fled the city when the crusaders
captured it, and by relocating Greeks from the recently reconquered Peloponnese to the
capital.[75] Military defeats, civil wars, earthquakes and natural disasters were joined by
the Black Death, which in 1347 spread to Constantinople exacerbated the people's
sense that they were doomed by God.[76][77] In 1453, when the Ottoman Turks captured
the city, it contained approximately 50,000 people. [78]
Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453.[79] The
Ottomans were commanded by 21-year-old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. The conquest
of Constantinople followed a seven-week siege which had begun on 6 April 1453.
1453–1922: Ottoman Kostantiniyye[edit]
Main article: Constantinople during the Ottoman era
Galata Tower, the Romanesque style tower was built as Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) in 1348 during an
expansion of the Genoese colony in Constantinople

The Christian Orthodox city of Constantinople was now under Ottoman control.
When Mehmed II finally entered Constantinople through the Gate of Charisius (today
known as Edirnekapı or Adrianople Gate), he immediately rode his horse to the Hagia
Sophia, where after the doors were axed down, the thousands of citizens hiding within
the sanctuary were raped and enslaved, often with slavers fighting each other to the
death over particularly beautiful and valuable slave girls. [80] Moreover, symbols of
Christianity were everywhere vandalized or destroyed, including the crucifix of Hagia
Sophia which was paraded through the sultan's camps. [81] Afterwards he ordered his
soldiers to stop hacking at the city's valuable marbles and 'be satisfied with the booty
and captives; as for all the buildings, they belonged to him'. [82] He ordered that
an imam meet him there in order to chant the adhan thus transforming
the Orthodox cathedral into a Muslim mosque,[82][83] solidifying Islamic rule in
Constantinople.
Mehmed's main concern with Constantinople had to do with solidifying control over the
city and rebuilding its defenses. After 45,000 captives were marched from the city,
building projects were commenced immediately after the conquest, which included the
repair of the walls, construction of the citadel, and building a new palace. [84] Mehmed
issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should resettle the
city, with Christans and Jews required to pay jizya and muslims pay Zakat; he
demanded that five thousand households needed to be transferred to Constantinople by
September.[84] From all over the Islamic empire, prisoners of war and deported people
were sent to the city: these people were called "Sürgün" in Turkish
(Greek: σουργούνιδες).[11] Two centuries later, Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi gave a list
of groups introduced into the city with their respective origins. Even today, many
quarters of Istanbul, such as Aksaray, Çarşamba, bear the names of the places of origin
of their inhabitants.[11] However, many people escaped again from the city, and there
were several outbreaks of plague, so that in 1459 Mehmed allowed the deported
Greeks to come back to the city.[11]

Culture[edit]

Eagle and Snake, 6th century mosaic flooring Constantinople, Grand Imperial Palace.

Constantinople apple quinces

Constantinople was the largest and richest urban center in the Eastern Mediterranean
Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire, mostly as a result of its strategic position
commanding the trade routes between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. It would
remain the capital of the eastern, Greek-speaking empire for over a thousand years. At
its peak, roughly corresponding to the Middle Ages, it was the richest and largest
European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating economic life in the
Mediterranean. Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful
monasteries and churches of the city, in particular the Hagia Sophia, or the Church of
Holy Wisdom. According to Russian 14th-century traveler Stephen of Novgorod: "As for
Hagia Sophia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it."
It was especially important for preserving in its libraries manuscripts of Greek and Latin
authors throughout a period when instability and disorder caused their mass-destruction
in western Europe and north Africa: On the city's fall, thousands of these were brought
by refugees to Italy, and played a key part in stimulating the Renaissance, and the
transition to the modern world. The cumulative influence of the city on the west, over the
many centuries of its existence, is incalculable. In terms of technology, art and culture,
as well as sheer size, Constantinople was without parallel anywhere in Europe for a
thousand years.
Women in literature[edit]
Further information: Armenian Culture and Armenian Newspapers
Constantinople was home to the first known Western Armenian journal published and
edited by a woman (Elpis Kesaratsian). Entering circulation in
1862, Kit'arr or Guitar stayed in print for only seven months. Female writers who openly
expressed their desires were viewed as immodest, but this changed slowly as journals
began to publish more "women's sections". In the 1880s, Matteos Mamurian
invited Srpouhi Dussap to submit essays for Arevelian Mamal. According to Zaruhi
Galemkearian's autobiography, she was told to write about women's place in the family
and home after she published two volumes of poetry in the 1890s. By 1900, several
Armenian journals had started to include works by female contributors including the
Constantinople-based Tsaghik.[85]
Markets[edit]
Even before Constantinople was founded, the markets of Byzantion were mentioned
first by Xenophon and then by Theopompus who wrote that Byzantians "spent their time
at the market and the harbour". In Justinian's age the Mese street running across the
city from east to west was a daily market. Procopius claimed "more than 500
prostitutes" did business along the market street. Ibn Batutta who traveled to the city in
1325 wrote of the bazaars "Astanbul" in which the "majority of the artisans and
salespeople in them are women".[86]
Architecture[edit]
Main article: Byzantine architecture

Columns of the Hagia Sophia, currently a Mosque

The Byzantine Empire used Roman and Greek architectural models and styles to create
its own unique type of architecture. The influence of Byzantine architecture and art can
be seen in the copies taken from it throughout Europe. Particular examples include St
Mark's Basilica in Venice,[87] the basilicas of Ravenna, and many churches throughout
the Slavic East. Also, alone in Europe until the 13th-century Italian florin, the Empire
continued to produce sound gold coinage, the solidus of Diocletian becoming
the bezant prized throughout the Middle Ages. Its city walls were much imitated (for
example, see Caernarfon Castle) and its urban infrastructure was moreover a marvel
throughout the Middle Ages, keeping alive the art, skill and technical expertise of the
Roman Empire. In the Ottoman period Islamic architecture and symbolism were used.
Great bathhouses were built in Byzantine centers such as Constantinople and Antioch.[88]
Religion[edit]
Constantine's foundation gave prestige to the Bishop of Constantinople, who eventually
came to be known as the Ecumenical Patriarch, and made it a prime center of
Christianity alongside Rome. This contributed to cultural and theological differences
between Eastern and Western Christianity eventually leading to the Great Schism that
divided Western Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy from 1054 onwards.
Constantinople is also of great religious importance to Islam, as the conquest of
Constantinople is one of the signs of the End time in Islam.
Education[edit]
In 1909, in Constantinople there were 626 primary schools and 12 secondary schools.
Of the primary schools 561 were of the lower grade and 65 were of the higher grade; of
the latter, 34 were public and 31 were private. There was one secondary college and
eleven secondary preparatory schools.[89]
Media[edit]
This section needs expansion. You
can help by adding to it. (July 2019)

See also: Media of the Ottoman Empire

In the past the Bulgarian newspapers in the late Ottoman period
were Makedoniya, Napredŭk, and Pravo.[90]
Popular culture[edit]
Page depicting Constantinople in the Nuremberg Chronicle published in 1493, forty years after the city's fall to
the Muslims.

 Constantinople appears as a city of wondrous

majesty, beauty, remoteness, and nostalgia
in William Butler Yeats' 1928 poem "Sailing to
Byzantium."
 Constantinople, as seen under the Byzantine
emperor Theodosius II, makes several on-screen
appearances in the 2001 TV miniseries Attila as the
capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
 Finnish author Mika Waltari wrote one of his most-
acclaimed historical novels, Johannes
Angelos (published in English by name "The Dark
Angel") on the fall of Constantinople.
 Robert Graves, author of I, Claudius, also
wrote Count Belisarius, a historical novel
about Belisarius. Graves set much of the novel in
the Constantinople of Justinian I.
 Constantinople provides the setting of much of the
action in Umberto Eco's 2000 novel Baudolino.
 The name Constantinople was made easy to spell
thanks to a novelty song, "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-
P-L-E," written by Harry Carlton and performed by
Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, in the 1920s.
 Constantinople's change of name was the theme for
a song made famous by The Four Lads and later
covered by They Might Be Giants and many others,
titled "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."
 "Constantinople" was one of the "big words" the
Father knows toward the end of Dr. Seuss's
book, Hop on Pop. (The other was Timbuktu.)
 "Constantinople" was also the title of the opening
edit of The Residents' EP Duck Stab!, released in
1978.
 Queen's Roger Meddows Taylor included the track
"Interlude in Constantinople" on Side 2 of his debut
album Fun in Space.
 A Montreal-based folk/classical/fusion band calls
itself "Constantinople."
 Constantinople under Justinian is the scene of the
book A Flame in Byzantium (ISBN 0-312-93026-7)
by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, released in 1987.
 "Constantinople" is the title of a song by The
Decemberists.
 Stephen Lawhead's novel Byzantium (1996) is set in
9th-century Constantinople.
 Folk Metal band Turisas makes multiple references
to Constantinople in their song "Miklagard Overture,"
referring to it as "Konstantinopolis," "Tsargrad," and
"Miklagard."
 Constantinople makes an appearance in the
MMORPG game Silkroad as a major capital, along
with a major Chinese capital.
 Constantinople makes an appearance in the "Rome
Total War" expansion "Barbarian Invasion"
belonging to the Eastern Roman Empire. It would
reappear in the same role for the spiritual
sequel, Total War: Attila.
 Constantinople also makes an appearance in
"Medieval Total War." It is a starting province and
city of the Byzantines.
 Constantinople makes an appearance in the game
"Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings" in the fifth
scenario of the Barbarossa campaign and again in
the third scenario of the Attila the Hun campaign in
the expansion pack "Age of Empires II: The
Conquerors Expansion."
  Constantinople is the main setting of the game
"Assassin's Creed: Revelations," the fourth major
title in the best-selling "Assassin's Creed" series.[91]
 Constantinople is also a setting of the Vampire: The
Dark Ages role playing game by White Wolf. [92]
 Constantinople is one of the territories featured in
the Board Game Diplomacy. It is one of the default
territories of Turkey.
 Constantinople appears in "Europa Universalis IV"
and in "Crusader Kings II" as the capital of the
Byzantine Empire, which is featured in both games.
 Constantinople appears as the capital of the
Byzantine civilization in several installments of the
video game series "Civilization".
 Constantinople is where Orlando, from Virginia
Woolf's Orlando, turns into a woman.

International status[edit]

Constantinople's monumental center.

The city provided a defence for the eastern provinces of the old Roman Empire against
the barbarian invasions of the 5th century. The 18-meter-tall walls built by Theodosius
II were, in essence, impregnable to the barbarians coming from south of the Danube
river, who found easier targets to the west rather than the richer provinces to the east in
Asia. From the 5th century, the city was also protected by the Anastasian Wall, a 60-
kilometer chain of walls across the Thracian peninsula. Many scholars[who?] argue that
these sophisticated fortifications allowed the east to develop relatively unmolested
while Ancient Rome and the west collapsed.[93]
Constantinople's fame was such that it was described even in contemporary Chinese
histories, the Old and New Book of Tang, which mentioned its massive walls and gates
as well as a purported clepsydra mounted with a golden statue of a man.[94][95][96] The
Chinese histories even related how the city had been besieged in the 7th century
by Muawiyah I and how he exacted tribute in a peace settlement.[95][97]

See also[edit]
People from Constantinople[edit]

 List of people from Constantinople

Secular buildings and monuments[edit]

 Augustaion
o Column of Justinian
 Basilica Cistern
 Column of Marcian
 Bucoleon Palace
 Horses of Saint Mark
 Obelisk of Theodosius
 Serpent Column
 Walled Obelisk
 Palace of Lausus
 Cistern of Philoxenos
 Palace of the Porphyrogenitus
 Prison of Anemas
 Valens Aqueduct
Churches, monasteries and mosques[edit]

 Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque

 Bodrum Mosque
 Chora Church
 Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus
 Church of the Holy Apostles
 Church of St. Polyeuctus
 Eski Imaret Mosque
 Fenari Isa Mosque
 Gül Mosque
 Hagia Irene
 Hirami Ahmet Pasha Mosque
 Kalenderhane Mosque
 Koca Mustafa Pasha Mosque
 Nea Ekklesia
 Pammakaristos Church
  Stoudios Monastery
 Toklu Dede Mosque
 Vefa Kilise Mosque
 Zeyrek Mosque
 Unnamed Mosque established during Byzantine
times for visiting Muslim dignitaries.[98][99][100][101][102]
Miscellaneous[edit]

 Ahmed Bican Yazıcıoğlu

 Byzantine calendar
 Byzantine silk
 Eparch of Constantinople (List of eparchs)
 Sieges of Constantinople
 Third Rome
 Timeline of Istanbul history

References[edit]
1. ^ Croke, Brian (2001). Count Marcellinus and His Chronicle,
p. 103. University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0198150016.
2. ^ Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 86.
3. ^ "The Chronicle of John Malalas", Bk 18.86 Translated by E.
Jeffreys, M. Jeffreys, and R. Scott. Australian Association of
Byzantine Studies, 1986 vol 4.
4. ^ "The Chronicle of Theophones Confessor: Byzantine and
Near Eastern History AD 284-813". Translated with
commentary by Cyril Mango and Roger Scott. AM 6030 pg
316, with this note: Theophanes' precise date should be
accepted.
5. ^ Roach, Peter (2011).  Cambridge English Pronouncing
Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15253-2.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c Mango, Cyril  (1991). "Constantinople".
In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.).  The Oxford Dictionary of
Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
pp.  508–512.  ISBN  0-19-504652-8.
7. ^ Pounds, Norman John Greville. An Historical Geography of
Europe, 1500–1840, p. 124. CUP Archive, 1979. ISBN 0-521-
22379-2.
8. ^ Janin (1964), passim
9. ^ "Preserving The Intellectual Heritage – Preface".
10. ^ Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of Byzantine State and
Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p.  89.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 28
12. ^ Rosenberg, Matt. "Largest cities through history."
About.com.
13. ^ Pliny the Elder, book IV, chapter XI Archived 2017-01-01 at
the Wayback Machine. Quote: "On leaving the Dardanelles
we come to the Bay of Casthenes, ... and the promontory of
the Golden Horn, on which is the town of Byzantium, a free
state, formerly called Lygos; it is 711 miles from Durazzo,..."
14. ^ Vailhé, S. (1908).  "Constantinople". Catholic
Encyclopedia. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Retrieved 2007-09-12.
15. ^ Room, Adrian (2006). Placenames of the World: Origins
and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities,
Territories, Natural Features, and Historic Sites  (2nd ed.).
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. p.  177. ISBN 978-0-
7864-2248-7.
16. ^ Janin, Raymond (1964). Constantinople byzantine. Paris:
Institut Français d'Études Byzantines. p. 10f.
17. ^ Jump up to:a b Georgacas, Demetrius John (1947). "The Names
of Constantinople". Transactions and Proceedings of the
American Philological Association (The Johns Hopkins
University Press) 78: 347–
67. doi:10.2307/283503. JSTOR 283503.
18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Harris, Jonathan (2009).  Constantinople:
Capital of Byzantium. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-082-
643-086-1.
19. ^ Jump up to:a b Necdet Sakaoğlu (1993/94a): "İstanbul'un adları"
["The names of Istanbul"]. In: 'Dünden bugüne İstanbul
ansiklopedisi', ed. Türkiye Kültür Bakanlığı, Istanbul.
20. ^ Harris, 2007, p. 5
21. ^ Harper, Douglas.  "Istanbul". Online Etymology Dictionary.
22. ^ Stanford and Ezel Shaw (1977): History of the Ottoman
Empire and Modern Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. Vol II, p. 386; Robinson (1965), The First
Turkish Republic, p. 298
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1977.
24. ^ Room, Adrian, (1993), Place Name changes 1900–1991,
Metuchen, N.J., & London:The Scarecrow Press,
Inc., ISBN 0-8108-2600-3 pp. 46, 86.
25. ^ Britannica, Istanbul.
26. ^ Pliny, IV, xi
27. ^ Patria of Constantinople
28. ^ Thucydides, I, 94
29. ^ Harris, 2007, pp. 24–25
30. ^ Harris, 2007, p. 45
31. ^ Harris, 2007, pp. 44–45
32. ^ Cassius Dio, ix, p. 195
33. ^ Commemorative coins that were issued during the 330s
already refer to the city as Constantinopolis (see, e.g.,
Michael Grant, The climax of Rome (London 1968), p. 133),
or "Constantine's City". According to the Reallexikon für
Antike und Christentum, vol. 164 (Stuttgart 2005), column
442, there is no evidence for the tradition that Constantine
officially dubbed the city "New Rome" (Nova Roma). It is
 possible that the Emperor called the city "Second Rome"
(Δευτέρα Ῥώμη, Deutera Rhōmē) by official decree, as
reported by the 5th-century church historian Socrates of
Constantinople: See Names of Constantinople.
34. ^ A description can be found in the Notitia urbis
Constantinopolitanae.
35. ^ Socrates II.13, cited by J B Bury, History of the Later
Roman Empire, p. 74.
36. ^ J B Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, p. 75. et seqq.
37. ^ Bogdanović 2016, pp. 100.
38. ^ Liber insularum Archipelagi, Bibliothèque nationale de
France, Paris.
39. ^ Margaret Barker, Times Literary Supplement 4 May 2007, p.
26.
40. ^ Procopius' Secret History: see P Neville-Ure, Justinian and
his Age, 1951.
41. ^ James Grout: "The Nika Riot", part of the Encyclopædia
Romana
42. ^ Source for quote: Scriptores originum
Constantinopolitanarum, ed T Preger I 105 (see A. A.
Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 1952, vol I, p. 188).
43. ^ Madden, Thomas F. (2004). Crusades: The Illustrated
History. University of Michigan Press.
p. 114.  ISBN  9780472114634.
44. ^ Justinian, Novellae 63 and 165.
45. ^ Early Medieval and Byzantine Civilization: Constantine to
Crusades Archived August 26, 2015, at the Wayback
Machine, Dr. Kenneth W. Harl.
46. ^ Past pandemics that ravaged Europe, BBC News,
November 7, 2005.
47. ^ Possibly from the largest city in the world with 500,000
inhabitants to just 40,000–70,000: The Inheritance of Rome,
Chris Wickham, Penguin Books Ltd. 2009, ISBN 978-0-670-
02098-0 (p. 260)
48. ^ "Exposition, Dedicated to Khan Tervel".  Programata.
Archived from  the original on 2016-05-07. Retrieved 2014-
08-28.
49. ^ Vasiliev 1952, p. 251.
50. ^ George Finlay, History of the Byzantine Empire, Dent,
London, 1906, pp. 156–161.
51. ^ Finlay, 1906, pp. 174–175.
52. ^ Finlay, 1906, p. 379.
53. ^ Enoksen, Lars Magnar. (1998). Runor : historia, tydning,
tolkning. Historiska Media, Falun. ISBN 91-88930-32-7 p. 135.
54. ^ J M Hussey, The Byzantine World, Hutchinson, London,
1967, p. 92.
55. ^ Vasiliev 1952, pp. 343–344.
56. ^ Silk Road Seattle – Constantinople, Daniel C. Waugh.
57. ^ The officer given the task was killed by the crowd, and in
the end the image was removed rather than destroyed: It was
 to be restored by Irene and removed again by Leo V: Finlay
1906, p. 111.
58. ^ Vasiliev 1952, p. 261.
59. ^ "The Pechenegs". Archived from  the original on 2005-08-
29. Retrieved  2009-10-27., Steven Lowe and Dmitriy V.
Ryaboy.
60. ^ There is an excellent source for these events: the writer and
historian Anna Comnena in her work The Alexiad.
61. ^ Vasiliev 1952, p. 472.
62. ^ J. Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of
Constantinople, 144.
63. ^ J. Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of
Constantinople, 155.
64. ^ The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages: 950–
1250. Cambridge University Press. 1986. pp.  506–
508.  ISBN  978-0-521-26645-1. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
65. ^ Stilbes, Constantine; Johannes M. Diethart; Wolfram
Hörandner (2005). Constantinus Stilbes Poemata. Walter de
Gruyter. pp.  16 line 184.  ISBN  978-3-598-71235-7.
66. ^ Diethart and Hörandner (2005). p. 24, line 387
67. ^ Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Cambridge
1966 [1954], vol 3, p. 123.
68. ^ Talbot, "The Restoration of Constantinople under Michael
VIII", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 47 (1993), p. 246
69. ^ Talbot, "Restoration of Constantinople", p. 247
70. ^ Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the
West (Harvard University Press, 1959), p. 124 n. 26
71. ^ Jump up to:a b Talbot, "Restoration of Constantinople", p. 248
72. ^ Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael, p. 124
73. ^ Hussey 1967, p. 70.
74. ^ T. Madden, Crusades: The Illustrated History, 113.
75. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1996). Byzantium: The Decline and
Fall. Penguin Books. p.  217. ISBN 9780140114492.
76. ^ https://www.infezmed.it/media/journal/Vol_19_3_2011_10.p
df
77. ^ "The Black Death". Archived from the original on 2008-06-
25. Retrieved  2008-11-03., Channel 4 – History.
78. ^ Nicolle, David (2005).  Constantinople 1453: The end of
Byzantium. Praeger. p. 32.  ISBN  9780275988562.
79. ^ "fall of Constantinople | Facts, Summary, &
Significance". Encyclopedia Britannica.
80. ^ Ibrahim, Raymond. Sword and Scimitar. Da Capo Press,
New York, ISBN 978-0-306-82555-2. p. 244.
81. ^ Ibrahim, Raymond. Sword and Scimitar. Da Capo Press,
New York, ISBN 978-0-306-82555-2. p. 245.
82. ^ Jump up to:a b Mansel, Philip. Constantinople: City of the World's
Desire. Penguin History Travel, ISBN 0-14-026246-6. p. 1.
83. ^ Lewis, Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman
Empire. 1, University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. p. 6
84. ^ Jump up to:    Inalcik, Halil. "The Policy of Mehmed II toward the
a b

Greek Population of Istanbul and the Byzantine Buildings of

the City." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23, (1969): 229–249. p.
236
85. ^ Rowe, Victoria (2003).  A History of Armenian Women's
Writing, 1880–1922. Cambridge Scholars Press.  ISBN  978-1-
904303-23-7.
86. ^ Dalby, Andrew.  Tastes of Byzantium: The Cuisine of a
Legendary Empire. I.B. Tauris. pp.  61–63.
87. ^ "San Marco Basilica | cathedral, Venice,
Italy". Encyclopedia Britannica.
88. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991),  Oxford Dictionary of
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6
89. ^ "Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year
Ended June 30, 1912." Whole Number 525. Volume 1.
Washington Government Printing Office, 1913.
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90. ^ Strauss, Johann. "Twenty Years in the Ottoman capital: the
memoirs of Dr. Hristo Tanev Stambolski of Kazanlik (1843–
1932) from an Ottoman point of view." In: Herzog, Christoph
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1830–1930. Routledge, 10 October 2018. ISBN 1351805223,
9781351805223. p. 267.
91. ^ "Game Informer 218 details (Assassin's Creed, Rayman
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92. ^ Constantinople by Night by p. Boulle, J. Mosqueria-Asheim
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96. ^ Yule (1915), 46–48; see also footnote No. 1 on p. 49.
97. ^ Yule (1915), 46–49; see footnote No. 1 on p. 49 for
discussion about the Byzantine diplomat sent
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98. ^ Islamic Ritual Preaching (Khutbas) in a Contested Arena:
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External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related
to Constantinople.

Wikisource has the text of

the 1911  Encyclopædia
Britannica article Constantinop
le  .

 Constantinople, from History of the Later Roman

Empire, by J.B. Bury
 History of Constantinople from the "New Advent
Catholic Encyclopedia."
 Monuments of Byzantium – Pantokrator Monastery
of Constantinople
 Constantinoupolis on the web Select internet
resources on the history and culture
  Info on the name change from the Foundation for
the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
 Welcome to Constantinople at the Wayback
Machine (archived September 15, 2006),
documenting the monuments of Byzantine
Constantinople
 Byzantium 1200, a project aimed at creating
computer reconstructions of the Byzantine
monuments located in Istanbul in 1200 AD.
 Constantine and Constantinople How and why
Constantinople was founded
 Hagia Sophia Mosaics The Deesis and other
Mosaics of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
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WorldCat Identities: lccn-n82089311
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 Constantinople
 320s establishments in the Roman Empire
 330 establishments
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 15th-century disestablishments in the Byzantine Empire
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