Great Istanbul

Nea Roma

By the 2nd century AD, the capital Rome was unable to exert its authority in the far corners of the Roman Empire with lands extending from Spain to Mesopotamia. It therefore began to search for a new seat of administration which could establish sovereignity over eastern provinces in particular. Thessalonica, Alexandria, Ilion (Troy) and Nicomedeia (Izmit) were potential candidates... Diocletian choseto settle in Nicomedeia.


The chosen city

After Constantine I defeated Maxentius and Licinius, with whom he shared sovereign power, he came to rule Roman lands on his own (324). He lived in the Palace of Diocletian in Nicomedeia, but he chose the Greek colony of Byzantium �a city on seven hills and the crossroads of trade routes from east to west and from north to south- to be the seat of administration. Byzantium, whose name later became Constantinople and subsequently Istanbul, survived as the capital city of empires until the 20th century, yt became,
the capital of the Roman Empire and the center of Pagan culture,
the capital of the East Roman Empire and the center of Christian culture,
the capital of the ottoman empire and the center of Islamic culture.

(timescale on the left, from top to bottom)
Thessalonika fell in 10th century.
Alexandria fell to the Muslems in 641.
Antiokhia fell to the Muslems in 636.
Ilion (Troy) fell in 13th century.
Byzantion fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
Nicomedeia fell in 1339.
...He completed the Hippodrome begun by Septimus Severus...

The sign

Constantine believed that his victory over Maxentius on the Bridge of Milvius was due to the influence of the sign of the labarum; which he had seen in a dream and had placed on the shields of his soldiers. He adopted the sign as the sacred emblem of the empire. Christianity, which had been clandestinely spreading for the last three centuries, found legality with the victory at Milvius and now had the chance to flourish alongside pagan belief (314).


The basilica

Constantine I demanded the construction of a place of worship for the Christian faith he had embraced. The example of the basilica (the rectangular Roman conference room with an extension on the eastern side) was adopted as the basis of its construction. From then on, churches in other large Roman cities were all built on the basilica plan. Constantine I had the churches of Holy Peace (St. Irene), St. Acios and St. Mocios built in Constantinople.

Honoring with special favor the city, which is called after his own name, he adorned it with many places of worship and martyrs� shrines of great size and beauty... by which he both honored the memory of the martyrs and consecrated his city to the martyrs� God.
Eusebius




Relics and the monastery system

Another important aspect of the process of Christianisation was the bringing of sacred relics to the city and the organisation of monasteries. The Great Saint Basil established the East Roman monastery system, striving after a mystical union with God and the elevation of human life in this world (379).


Christianisation



Two roots of blessing



The new port



Money







The administration





Water supply





The fortifications



For 1100 years the walls of Constantinople withstood the attacks of the Huns, Avars, Russians, Arabs, Bulgarians, Persians, and Turks

The first of the series of land walls was built by Theodosius II to protect the city and to enciose the extra area necessary to feed the increasing population (413). These walls were later restored after damage caused during an earthquake. A new series of walls and moats was added and the city�s defense system strengthened.







The historical peninsula was surrounded with walls along the sea in addition to the walls on the landward side.

The forum





The sihlouette



Constantine I marked the starting point of his road network by the Million stone placed in the northeastern corner of the square known as the Augusteion. He extended the Mese (Divanyolu), the old main thoroughfare, as far as �emberlita?. The Mese was 25 meters in width and lined with colonnades two stories high.







Everyday life

Between the years 425 and 450, Constantinople possessed:


palaces 5
churches 14
public baths 8
private baths 153
public squares 4
bonded warehouses 5
theatres 2
mime theatres 2
hippodrome 1
cisterns 4
districts (vici) 322
houses 4388
wharves 17
slaughterhouses 5
senate buildings 2
(Augustaeum, Capitolium)
colosseum 1
curators 13
security guards 14
voluntary firemen 560
night watchmen 65

Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae



The hippodrome







The cathedral





He (Justinian) erected unto God and the saints many beautifully adorned churches at Constantinople. (In particular), he built an incomparably great pile such as has never been recorded. I mean the Great Church that is so beautiful land glorious as to exceed the power of speech.
Evagrius



Justinian gave importance to public works. He is credited with 30 churches- some new, others renovations- among which are monumental churches like St. Sergius and Bacchus, Hagia Sophia, St. Irene and the Church of the Nwelve Aposties.



With the aid of God, ... to take care of the people, we have established laws of complete justice, ... We have found that little by little the provinces are becoming denuded of their inhabitants, and this great city of ours becomes, disturbed by a great multitude of all kinds of people, especially those from the rural areas, who have left their own towns and their agricultural pursuits in order to take refuge here.
Iustinianus,
Corpus Iuris Civilis



Legislation




527-62 Wars with Sassanians.
532-62 Peace Treaty with the Sassanian Khusrau I Anushirvan.
528 Ghassanid Arabs used against Lakhmid Arabs and Sassanians.
563 The Ghassanid ruler AlHarith�s visit to Constantinople.
551,
558-9 The Utrigur Huns in alliance with Constantinople against the Kutrighur Huns.
558-9 The Kutriguhurs� threat to Constantinople and the Balkans. Their defeat by Belisarius. The Laz and Abasgians against the Sassanians.
540 Avan and Slav attacks. The Slavs at the gates of Constantinople.
558 Diplomatic relations with the Avars.
564 Truce with the Avars.
529-30 Crushing of the Samaritan uprising. The vandalisation of the synagogues.
541 The spread of bubonic plague from Egypt.
528-34 Compilation of Roman law (Corpus luris Civilis)
529 The closing down of the Platonic Academy in Athens established by Plato, the flight of pagan scholars to the royal palace of Persia.
536 Pope Agapetus� visit to Constantinople and his demise.
537 Vigilius� appointment to the Papacy by Belisarius.
537 The removal of Monophysites to the monastery in Galata for surveillance.
542 Monopolisation of the silk trade by the state.
543 The struggle against the Neo-Origenists in Palestine.
543 The establishment of the monophysite church in Syria.
553 Gathering of the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople.
553-4 Smuggling of silkworm eggs from Soghdiana (the region of modern Samarkand and Bukhara), and the beginning of Byzantine silk production.
556 Pelagius� appointment to the Papacy by Justinian.

Iconoclasts

Satan misguided men, so that they worshipped the creatureinstead of the creator. ... (they) gradually brought back idolatry under the appearance of Christianity.
Council of 754





Iconodules

Of old, God ... was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, ... I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter. I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake...
John of Damascus







Life in the palace



Rituals



Faithful emperor







Religion







Trade









The army

The supreme commander of the Byzantine army, which was based on its Roman legacy, was the Emperor himself. In the 11th century Constantinople had the strongest army in Europe and Western Asia.





Science



Theophanes (the Byzantine commander) pursued them in boats with Greek fire, and dropped it through pipes upon the Russian ships ... Upon seeing the flames, the Russians cast themselves into the sea ... (the survivors, describing this, said that) the Greeks had in their posession "lightning from heaven" and set them on fire by pouring it forth.
Russian Primary Chronicle





Art









Latinization



Conflicts

If our priests celebrated mass on Greek altars, the Greeks afterwards purified them with propitiatory offerings and ablutions, as if they had been defiled ... Every time they celebrate the marriage of one of our men, if he has been baptised in the Roman way, they rebaptize him before to make the pact. We know other heresies of theirs ... Because of this they were judged not to be Christians... and hence could with more difficulty be restrained from pillage and plundering.
Odo of Deuil

When I enter a Latin church, I do not revere any of the (images of) saints that are there because I do not recognize any of them. At the most, I recognise Christ, but I do not revere him either, since I do not know in what terms he is inscribed. So I make the sign of the cross and I revere this sign that I have made myself, and not anything that I see there.
Sylvester Syropoulos



Plague

And so the streets, squares, houses of two and three storeys, sacred places, nunnaries, houses for nuns and monks, sacred churches, even the Great Church of God and the imperial palace, were filled with men of the enemy, all of them maddened by war and murderous in spirit, all clad in armor and bearing spears, swords and lances, archers and horsemen boasting terribly, barking like Cerberus and exhaling like Charon, as they sacked the sacred places and trampled on the divine things (and) ran riot over the holy vessels ... they tore children from their mothers and mothers from their children, and they defiled the virgins in the holy chapels...
A. Heisenberg



Contantinople was then an enormous desolate city, full of ruins and stones, of houses razed to the ground, of the few remains of the great fire...
Nikephoras Gregonas

... And the entire City (its inhabitants and wealth) was to be seen in the tents of the Turkish camp, the city deserted, lying lifeless, naked, soundless... O City, City, head of all cities! O City, City center of the four corners of the world... Where is your beauty?
Ducas

The circle of influence

Constantinople had a circle of influence with a radius extending from Madrid to Moscow, Manuel Khrysoloras was an influential leader of the Humanist movement; the Greek Theophanes influenced the Russan painter Andrey Rublev; and Domenikos Theotokopulos carried the elements of the Byzantine style to Spain. Byzantine influences can be seen in the works of the artists of the Venetian and Siennese schools of art.



The last recovery

A treaty of religious union between Constantinople and Rome against the advance of the Ottoman Turks through Asia Minor and the Balkan peninsula was signed first at Lyon in 1274, and then at Florence in 1438-39. Despite the support of the Emperor, certain nobles and high church officials, the union failed because of the opposition of the bulk of the Byzantine populace.
unity

... They condemned the doctrinal definition of the council (of Florence)... drank to the intercession of the icon of the Mother of God (the Hodegetria) They beseched her to guard and aid the city now against Mehmed as she formerly done against Chosroes Kaghan and the Arabs. We need either the aid of the Latins nor any Union. Keep the worship of the azymites far from us.
Ducas







Next Episode: The Turk�s Arrival 

New balance of power

The Ottoman political tradition was based on the power of the ruler and the central authority at home and expansion and conquest abroad. These elements, shaped by a government structure stemming from an aggressive, warlike tradition, underwent a number of changes in the course of the 18th century. The Ottoman Empire, which had been unaffected by the Renaissance and now found itself confronted by a Europe of steadily increasing power, was obliged to envisage a new system ofbalances on its western frontiers. The abortive Siege of Vienna (1683) was the harbinger of a new balance of power. As the era of expansion closed, a world outlook based on conquest was replaced by an approach characterised by a policy of peaceful diplomacy. The process of modernisation, which began in the 18th century and was to proceed sporadically for the next two hundred years, may well be regarded, in spite of certain errors and doubtful results, as an endeavour on the part of the Ottomans to realise a new system of balances in the world and, at the same time, as a struggle for survival.



The change and the modernization

Diplomacy

The increasingly powerful role played by the peaceful approach and its supporters in the g�vernment constituted the first sign of an interest in Europe. Diplomatic relations now began to be established. Yirmisekiz �elebi Mehmet Efendi�s visit to France as special envoy of Sultan Ahmet III in 1721-22 may be regarded as the first step in this process. While in Paris, Mehmet Efendi visited the palaces, where he was welcomed with great pomp and circumstance, observed the training of infantry and artillery units, attended concerts specially arranged in his honour and sat to artists for his portrait. �elebi�s visit was of more than purely diplomatic significante. It was also of great significance in the cultural sphere in strengthening the new ideas, then just appearing, on the training and equipment of the army. Throughout the 18th century, diplomatic relations were carried on by means of temporary missions. Although the official visits paid by Sait Pa?a to Paris (1742), Kozbek�i Mustafa to Sweden, Ahmet Resmi Efendi to Berlin (1763), Yusuf Agah to London (1792) and by Seyyid Ali Efendi to Paris (1789) were of great importance from the point of view of diplomatic and cultural relations, the Ottoman State was slow to realise the impotance of permanent relations, and it was only in 1792 that the first permanent ambassador was appointed and not until 1835 that the idea of permanent embassies was adopted.







Embassies

The European countries had led the way in this. Permanent embassies had been established in Istanbul by Venice in 1479, Poland in 1475, Russia in 1699, Sweden in 1735, France in 1525, Austria in 1538 and England in 1583.











Press







Industry









Development of the city











Da Vinci�s bridge project on the Golden Horn











Architecture













































Tanzimat

















Germany�s approach to the Ottomans







Education & Health









Communication & Transportation







Arts & Music











Some personalities of the period