Constantinople, Istanbul: history of the city, description, sights

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Ligos, Byzantium, Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - as soon as this ancient city was not called! And with each name, his appearance, his character changed dramatically. The new owners of the city equipped it in their own way.

Pagan temples became Byzantine churches, and those, in turn, turned into mosques. What is modern Istanbul - an Islamic feast on the bones of dead civilizations or an organic interpenetration of different cultures? This is what we will try to find out in this article.

We will tell the surprisingly exciting story of this city, which was destined to become the capital of three superpowers - the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. But has anything survived from the ancient policy?

Should a traveler come to Istanbul in search of Constantinople, the very Constantinople from whichdid the baptists of Kievan Rus come? Let's live all the milestones in the history of this Turkish metropolis, which will reveal all its secrets to us.

Foundation of Byzantium

As you know, the ancient Greeks were very restless people. They plowed the waters of the Mediterranean, Ionian, Adriatic, Marmara and Black Seas on ships and mastered the coasts, founding new settlements there. So in the 8th century BC, on the territory of modern Istanbul (former Constantinople), Chalcedon, Perynthos, Selymbria and Astak arose.

Regarding the foundation in 667 BC. e. the city of Byzantium, which later gave the name to the whole empire, there is an interesting legend. According to her, King Byzas, the son of the god of the sea Poseidon and the daughter of Zeus Keroessa, went to the Delphic oracle to ask him where to lay his city-state. The soothsayer addressed a question to Apollo, and he gave the following answer: "Build a city in front of the blind."

Vizas interpreted these words as follows. A polis should have been founded directly opposite Chalcedon, which had arisen thirteen years earlier on the Asian coast of the Sea of Marmara. A strong current did not allow building a port there. The king considered such short-sightedness of the founders as a sign of political blindness.

Antique Byzantium

Located on the European coast of the Sea of Marmara, the policy, originally called Ligos, was able to acquire a convenient port. This spurred the development of trade and crafts. Named after the death of the king in honor of its founder Byzantium, the city controlledpassage of ships through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea.

Thus, he kept a "hand on the pulse" of all trade relations between Greece and its outlying colonies. But the extremely successful location of the policy had a negative side. It made Byzantium an “apple of discord.”

The city was constantly captured: the Persians (King Darius in 515 BC), the tyrant of Chalcedon Ariston, the Spartans (403 BC). Nevertheless, the siege, wars and change of power had little effect on the economic prosperity of the policy. Already in the 5th century BC, the city grew so much that it also occupied the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, including the territory of Chalcedon.

In 227 B. C. e. the Galatians, immigrants from Europe, settled there. In the 4th century BC e. Byzantium (the future Constantinople and Istanbul) receives autonomy, and the alliance with Rome allows the policy to strengthen its power. But the city-state could not maintain its independence for long, about 70 years (from 146 to 74 BC).

Roman period

Joining the empire only benefited the economy of Byzantium (as it began to be called in the Latin way). For almost 200 years, it has been peacefully growing along both banks of the Bosphorus. But at the end of the 2nd century AD, the civil war in the Roman Empire put an end to its prosperity.

Byzantium supported the party of Guy Pescenniy Niger, the current ruler. Because of this, the city was besieged and three years later taken by the troops of the new emperor, Lucius Septimius Severus. The latter ordered to destroy to the ground all the fortifications of the ancient policy, and at the same time canceled all its trading privileges.

Traveler,who arrived in Istanbul (Constantinople), will be able to see only the ancient hippodrome that has remained since that time. It is located on Sultanahmet Square, right between the two main shrines of the city - the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. And another monument of that period is the Valens aqueduct, which began to be built during the reign of Hadrian (2nd century AD).

Having lost its fortifications, Byzantium began to be subjected to barbarian raids. Without trading privileges and a port, its economic growth stalled. Residents began to leave the city. Byzantium shrank to its original size. That is, he occupied a high cape between the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn Bay.

History of Constantinople (Istanbul)

But Byzantium was not destined to vegetate for long as a backwater in the backyards of the empire. Emperor Constantine the First Great noted the extremely favorable location of the town on the cape, which controls the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

He ordered to strengthen Byzantium, build new roads, build beautiful administrative buildings. At first, the emperor did not even think of leaving his capital, Rome. But tragic events in his personal life (Konstantin executed his son Crispus and his wife Fausta) forced him to leave the Eternal City and go east. It was this circumstance that made him pay closer attention to Byzantium.

In 324, the emperor ordered the rebuilding of the city on a metropolitan scale. Six years later, on May 11, 330, the official consecration ceremony of New Rome took place. Almost immediately outside the citythe second name is also fixed - Constantinople.

Istanbul has changed during the reign of this emperor. Thanks to the Edict of Milan, the pagan temples of the city were left intact, but Christian shrines began to be built, in particular the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Constantinople during the reign of subsequent emperors

Rome suffered more and more from barbarian raids. On the borders of the empire was restless. Therefore, the successors of Constantine the Great preferred to consider New Rome as their residence. Under the young emperor Theodosius II, Prefect Flavius Anthemius ordered to fortify the capital.

In 412-414 new walls of Constantinople were erected. Fragments of these fortifications (in the western part) are still preserved in Istanbul. The walls stretched for five and a half kilometers, encircling the territory of New Rome in 12 square meters. km. Along the perimeter of the fortifications, 96 towers towered 18 meters. And the walls themselves are still striking in their impregnability.

Even Constantine the Great ordered to build a family tomb near the Church of the Holy Apostles (he was buried in it). This emperor restored the Hippodrome, erected baths and cisterns, allowing to accumulate water for the needs of the city. At the time of the reign of Theodosius II, Constantinople included seven hills - the same number as in Rome.

Eastern Empire Capital

Since 395, internal contradictions in the once powerful superpower have led to a split. Theodosius the First divided his possessions between his sons Honorius and Arcadius. The Western Roman Empire de facto ceased to exist in 476.

But its eastern part was little affected by barbarian raids. It continued to exist under the name of the Roman Empire. Thus, continuity with Rome was emphasized. The inhabitants of this empire were called Romans. But later, along with the official name, the word Byzantium began to be used more and more often.

Constantinople (Istanbul) gave its ancient name to the entire empire. All subsequent rulers left behind a significant mark in the architecture of the city, erecting new public buildings, palaces, churches. But the "golden age" of Byzantine Constantinople is considered the period from 527 to 565.

City of Justinian

In the fifth year of the reign of this emperor, a riot broke out - the largest in the history of the city. This uprising, called "Nika", was brutally suppressed. 35,000 people were executed.

The rulers know that, along with repressions, they need to somehow calm their subjects by arranging either a victorious blitzkrieg or starting mass construction. Justinian chose the second path. The city is turning into a big construction site.

The Emperor summoned the country's best architects to New Rome. It was then that in just five years (from 532 to 537) the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople (or Istanbul) was erected. The Blachernae quarter was demolished, and new fortifications appeared in its place.

Justinian did not forget himself either, ordering the construction of an imperial palace in Constantinople. The construction of the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus also belongs to the period of his reign.

After the death of Justinian, Byzantium began to worryHard times. The years of the reign of Phocas and Heraclius weakened her internally, and the sieges of the Avars, Persians, Arabs, Bulgarians and Eastern Slavs undermined her military power. Religious strife did not benefit the capital either.

The struggle between iconoclasts and worshipers of holy images often ended in the looting of churches. But with all this, the population of New Rome exceeded one hundred thousand people, which was more than any major European city of those times.

Macedonian and Komnenos period

From 856 to 1185 Istanbul (former Constantinople) is experiencing an unprecedented flourishing. The first university, the Higher School, was founded in the city, and arts and crafts flourished. True, this "golden age" was also marred by various problems.

From the 11th century, Byzantium began to lose its possessions in Asia Minor due to the invasion of the Seljuk Turks. Nevertheless, the capital of the empire prospered. A traveler interested in the history of the Middle Ages should pay attention to the preserved frescoes in Hagia Sophia, which depict representatives of the Komnenos dynasty, and also visit the Blachernae Palace.

It should be said that at that time the city center shifted to the west, closer to the defensive walls. The Western European cultural influence began to be felt more in the city, mainly due to the Venetian and Genoese merchants who settled at the Galata Tower.

While walking around Istanbul in search of Constantinople, you should visit the monastery of Christ Pantokrator, as well as the churches of the Virgin Kyriotissa, Theodore, Theodosius, Ever-Virgin Pammachristi,Jesus Pantepopt. All these temples were erected under the Komnenos.

Latin period and Turkish conquest

In 1204, Pope Innocent III announced the Fourth Crusade. The European army took the city by storm and completely burned it. Constantinople became the capital of the so-called Latin Empire.

The occupation regime of the Balduins of Flanders did not last long. The Greeks regained power again, and a new dynasty of Palaiologos settled in Constantinople. It was ruled primarily by the Genoese and Venetians, forming a practically autonomous Galata quarter.

The city under them turned into a major shopping center. But they neglected the military defense of the capital. The Ottoman Turks did not fail to take advantage of this circumstance. In 1452, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror built the Rumelihisar fortress on the European shore of the Bosphorus (to the north of the modern Bebek region).

And it doesn't matter what year Constantinople became Istanbul. The fate of the city was sealed with the construction of this fortress. Constantinople could no longer resist the Ottomans and was taken on May 29, 1453. The body of the last Greek emperor was buried with honors, and the head was put on public display at the Hippodrome.

Capital of the Ottoman Empire

It is difficult to say exactly when Constantinople became Istanbul, as the new owners kept its old name outside the city. True, they altered it in a Turkish way. Constantine becamethe capital of the Ottoman Empire, because the Turks wanted to position themselves as the "Third Rome".

At the same time, another name began to sound more and more often - “Is Tanbul”, which in the local dialect simply means “in the city”. Of course, Sultan Mehmed ordered to turn all the churches of the city into mosques. But Constantinople only flourished under the rule of the Ottomans. After all, their empire was powerful, and the we alth of the conquered peoples "settled" in the capital.

Konstantinye got new mosques. The most beautiful of them - built by the architect Sinan Suleymaniye-Jami - rises in the old part of the city, in the Vefa district.

On the site of the Roman forum of Theodosius, the Eski-Saray palace was built, and on the acropolis of Byzantium - Topkapi, which served as a residence for 25 rulers of the Ottoman Empire, who lived there for four centuries. In the 17th century, Ahmed the First ordered the construction of the Blue Mosque opposite Hagia Sophia, another of the most beautiful shrines in the city.

The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

For Constantinople, the "golden age" fell on the years of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. This sultan led both aggressive and wise internal state policy. But his successors are gradually losing ground.

The empire is expanding geographically, but poor infrastructure prevents communication between provinces, which come under the rule of local rulers. Selim III, Mehmet II and Abdulmecid are trying to introduce reforms that are clearly insufficient and do not meet the needs of the time.

However, Turkey is still winning the Crimean War. At the time when Constantinople was renamed Istanbul (but only unofficially), many buildings were built in the city in the European style. And the sultans themselves ordered the construction of a new palace - Domlabahche.

This building, reminiscent of an Italian Renaissance palazzo, can be seen on the European side of the city, on the border of the Kabatas and Besiktas districts. In 1868, the Galatosarai Lyceum was opened, and two years later, the university. Then the city got a tram line.

And in 1875 Istanbul even got a subway - "Tunnel". After 14 years, the capital became connected with other cities by rail. The legendary Orient Express arrived here from Paris.

Republic of Turkey

But the reign of the Sultanate did not meet the needs of the era. In 1908, a revolution took place in the country. But the Young Turks dragged the state into the First World War on the side of Germany, as a result of which Constantinople was captured by the troops of France and Great Britain.

As a result of a new revolution, Mustafa Kemal, whom the Turks still consider the "father of the nation", comes to power. He moves the capital of the country to the city of Angora, which he renames to Ankara. It's time to tell about the year in which Constantinople became Istanbul. It happened on March 28, 1930.

It was then that the "Law on Post" came into force, which forbade the use of the name Constantinople in letters (and even in official documents). But, again, the titleIstanbul existed back in the days of the Ottoman Empire.