constantinople byzantine empire

Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330. Next, the white mosque located a little further east from the Hippodrome lies the Hagia Sophia (meaning “Divine Wisdom”), a structure standing for more than 1,400 years now. Wikimedia Commons. Today, it is known as the city of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. By 1080, a huge area had been lost to the Empire, and the Turks were within striking distance of Constantinople. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpoli(s) (Κωνσταντινούπολις/Κωνσταντινούπολη) or simply just "the City" (Η Πόλη). Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable Hagia Sophia. Fall of Constantinople, (May 29, 1453), conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire. Constantine, the early fourth-century emperor known for encouraging Christianity in the Roman Empire, enlarged the earlier city of Byzantium, in CE 328. The Christian Orthodox city of Constantinople was now under Ottoman control. Imperial capital of the Byzantine empire and later the Ottoman empire - now known as Istanbul. Évolutions territoriales de l'Empire byzantin de la division de l'Empire romain à la chute de Constantinople . [11] Two centuries later, Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi gave a list of groups introduced into the city with their respective origins. 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 [...] . 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. 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'). With the theme system a thing of â¦ Lots of people had freedom to draw whatever they wanted to draw and it was a great way to make new friends. The column, known in Turkish as Çemberlitaş, initially had an Apollo statue, which is reminiscent of Rome’s pagan origins. [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. 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. 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. ", Constantinople under Justinian is the scene of the book, "Constantinople" is the title of a song by, Constantinople makes an appearance in the MMORPG game, Constantinople makes an appearance in the ", Constantinople also makes an appearance in ", Constantinople makes an appearance in the game ", Constantinople is the main setting of the game ". [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. The Byzantine Empire was the predominantly Greek-speaking continuation of the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The term âByzantine Empireâ is a bit of a misnomer. 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. Vol II, p. 386; Robinson (1965), The First Turkish Republic, p. 298, Commemorative coins that were issued during the 330s already refer to the city as. The forum was also home to the Column of Constantine, which remains standing today. Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. [62] In 1171, Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews. 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]. 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. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. 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! Alexius V fled. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. 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. argue that these sophisticated fortifications allowed the east to develop relatively unmolested while Ancient Rome and the west collapsed. 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. The founder of the Byzantine Empire and its first emperor, Constantine the Great, moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of Byzantium in 330 CE, and renamed it Constantinople. Neither monasteries nor churches nor libraries were spared. 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. 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]. 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. [73] Nicaea and Epirus both vied for the imperial title, and tried to recover Constantinople. [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. [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. For three days the ghastly scenes [...] continued, till the huge and beautiful city was a shambles. 1, University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. p. 6, Inalcik, Halil. The reason for this was that the Greek â¦ p. 236. The Byzantine Empire was one of the most interesting, unique and mysterious civilizations in world history. There was an increased demand for art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for such work. [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. [60] John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for the poor of 50 beds. Which now Constantinople is the capital of Byzantine Empire. Following the division, Constantinople became the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the 400s. [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). The history of Byzantine Empire starts with the foundation of Constantinople in many sources. ", Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453–1924, Museum of Science and Technology in Islam, Spain (Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constantinople&oldid=998263677, 1453 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire, 15th-century disestablishments in the Byzantine Empire, Populated places established in the 4th century, Populated places disestablished in the 15th century, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from March 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows, Articles containing Turkish-language text, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from January 2010, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (, Capital of the Byzantine Empire 395–1204 AD; 1261–1453 AD, Constantinople appears as a city of wondrous majesty, beauty, remoteness, and nostalgia in, Constantinople, as seen under the Byzantine emperor, Constantinople provides the setting of much of the action in. In 500s, Constantinople was thriving and became the world's largest, greatest cities.The location of Constantinople, lay in â¦ [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". 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 Western Roman Empire fell in 476, only 81 years after the division, due to the barbarian invasion and the old capital Rome was seized by the Vizigoths. The reigning emperor Alexius III had made no preparation. Georgacas, Demetrius John (1947). "Twenty Years in the Ottoman capital: the memoirs of Dr. Hristo Tanev Stambolski of Kazanlik (1843-1932) from an Ottoman point of view." 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. Then the two of them slipped away with many of the nobility and embarked for Asia. Having gone through several conversions in different Christian denominations, it was finally remodeled to an Islamic place of worship in 1453. The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire (395â1204 and 1261â1453) After the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395, however, enormous upheaval took place in the empire as his sons permanently divided it. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan, sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them. 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. 1 on p. 49. Volume 1. [45] However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of the Plague of Justinian between 541–542 AD. AM 6030 pg 316, with this note: Theophanes' precise date should be accepted. Tension between the citizens and the Latin soldiers increased. 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. The capital of the Roman Empire was now on the Bosphorus. [54], 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. Yule (1915), 46–49; see footnote No. During this time, the city was also called 'Second Rome', 'Eastern Rome', and Roma Constantinopolitana. [...] When [...] order was restored, [...] citizens were tortured to make them reveal the goods that they had contrived to hide. 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. 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. 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. [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. Constantinople was transformed into the Islamic city of Istanbul. It was the capital of the ancient nation of Byzantium, part of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire. In response, the Turks began to move into Anatolia in 1073. 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. From the tenth to the twelfth century Byzantium was the main source of inspiration for the West. With the stabilization of the Empire brought by Leo III (717â741), who foiled an Arab siege on Constantinopleâ¦ 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. Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. [44], During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people. 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. 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. Under the Comnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery. J M Hussey, The Byzantine World, Hutchinson, London, 1967, p. 92. Australian Association of Byzantine Studies, 1986 vol 4. The illustration above is the city map of ancient Constantinople. [79] The Ottomans were commanded by 21-year-old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. Washington Government Printing Office, 1913. After the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the indisputable capital city of the Roman Empire. [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. Blessed are those who will inhabit that holy city, At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the Milion, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire. [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. The forum was also home to the Column of Constantine, which remains standing today. 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. Particular examples include St Mark's Basilica in Venice,[87] the basilicas of Ravenna, and many churches throughout the Slavic East. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. [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. 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. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23, (1969): 229–249. Saved by Carol Strickland. Notes. [26] Apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement. The aristocracy wore fine clothes, including silk, which was first imported from China and Phoenicia and then produced in Constantinople from 568 CE. [46], In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans, threatening Constantinople with attack from the west. In the Dark Agesage, few cities shine like Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) was the name of the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire which survived into the Middle Ages. Constantinople. With the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1299, the Byzantine Empire began to lose territories and the city began to lose population. 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. The Byzantine Empire. By the 500s Constantinople was thriving and had become one of the world's great cities. When it was first built in the 6th century, Hagia Sophia was designed as a Christian church. 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. The Venetians [...] seized treasures and carried them off to adorn [...] their town. 1 on p. 49 for discussion about the Byzantine diplomat sent to, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Great Siege of Constantinople/Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church, The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion, "Preserving The Intellectual Heritage – Preface", Early Medieval and Byzantine Civilization: Constantine to Crusades, "The Restoration of Constantinople under Michael VIII", https://www.infezmed.it/media/journal/Vol_19_3_2011_10.pdf, "fall of Constantinople | Facts, Summary, & Significance", Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, "San Marco Basilica | cathedral, Venice, Italy", "Game Informer 218 details (Assassin's Creed, Rayman Origins)", Islamic Ritual Preaching (Khutbas) in a Contested Arena: Shi'is and Sunnis, Fatimids and Abbasids, "AZIZ (365-386/975-996), 15TH Iman – Ismaili.net – Heritage F.I.E.L.D. Mehmed's main concern with Constantinople had to do with solidifying control over the city and rebuilding its defenses. however, the Eastern Roman Empire survived for a thousand years until 1453, the year of the fall of Constantinople. 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 Mediterraneâ¦ 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. [34] Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. In: Strauss, Johann. 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. J B Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, p. 75. 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]. In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army. 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. For nine centuries, [...] the great city had been the capital of Christian civilisation. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. Constantinople (/ˌkɒnstæntɪˈnoʊpəl/[5] Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολη; Latin: Cōnstantīnopolis; Turkish: Kostantiniye) 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 (1453–1923). In 324, the ancient city of Byzantium was made the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was renamed, and dedicated on 11 May 330. "[42] Hagia Sophia was served by 600 people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build. 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. [6] From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. 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. Although it did have senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus, like those of Rome. 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. 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. 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. Constantine the Great also legalized Christianity, which had previously been persecuted in the Roman Empire. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue. 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". Socrates II.13, cited by J B Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, p. 74. [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". – 1643 C.E. It would remain the capital of the eastern, Greek-speaking empire for over a thousand years. Language spoken by the Byzantines. 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. Most times the history of the Empire is divided in three periods. Subsequent to this, new walls were built to defend the city and the fleet on the Danube improved. Entering circulation in 1862, Kit'arr or Guitar stayed in print for only seven months. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. But the new Alexius IV found the Treasury inadequate, and was unable to make good the rewards he had promised to his western allies. 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. Most will think of Constantinople, which used to â¦ Türkiye Kültür Bakanlığı, Istanbul. Wounded women and children lay dying in the streets. 7 Constantine 2. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently. Founded the city of Constantinople, the future capital of the Byzantine Empire. 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. Where the Hippodrome once stood is now the Sultanahmet Square; the arena’s remnants are in public display there. 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