Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital city of
the Roman/Byzantine (330–1204 and 1261–1453), and also of the
brief Latin (1204–1261), and the later Ottoman (1453–1923)
empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the
new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after
whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330 AD.
From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century,
Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. It was
instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine
times as the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and
as the guardian of Christendom's holiest relics such as the Crown of
Thorns and the True Cross. After the final loss of its provinces in the
early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just Constantinople and
its environs, along with Morea in Greece, and the city eventually
fell to the Ottomans after a 53-day siege on 29 May 1453.
Aerial view of Byzantine Constantinople and the Propontis
(Sea of Marmara).
Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex
defences. Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, the
defences of Constantinople proved invulnerable for nearly nine hundred years
before the city was taken in 1204 by the Crusader armies of the Fourth
Crusade, and after it was liberated in 1261 by the Byzantine Emperor Michael
VIII Palaiologos, a second and final time in 1453 when it was conquered by the
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. The first wall of the city was erected
by Constantine I, and surrounded the city on both land and sea fronts.
Later, in the 5th century, the Praetorian Prefect Anthemius under
the child emperor Theodosius II undertook the construction of
the Theodosian Walls, which 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. 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 was
engendered from being the gateway between two continents (Europe and
Asia) and two seas (the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The city was also famed for its architectural masterpieces,
such as the Greek Orthodox cathedral of Hagia Sophia, 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 the opulent aristocratic palaces
lining the arcaded avenues and squares. The University of Constantinople was
founded in the fifth century and contained numerous artistic and literary
treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, including
its vast Imperial Library which contained the remnants of the Library
of Alexandria and had over 100,000 volumes of ancient texts.
Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of
the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. Although the city
partially recovered in the early years after the restoration under the Palaiologos
dynasty, the advent of the Ottomans and the subsequent loss of the Imperial
territories until it became an enclave inside the fledgling Ottoman Empire
rendered the city severely depopulated when it fell to the Ottoman Turks, where
after it replaced Edirne (Adrianople) as the new capital of the
Ottoman Empire.
Constantinople
Reviewed by Zhora aslanyan
on
April 25, 2018
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