Amurat, having heard this prediction, proposed his opinions to the council, which found, in comparison with verbal traditions and some manuscripts, that it agreed with them, and therefore considered it true; but at the same time, the council told Amurat that Musta-Eddin must be killed so that he would not divulge his predictions to the people. The Sultan sent Kapiji Pasha with a detachment of slaves to take the astronomer and throw him into the sea.
Musta-Eddin, meeting the killers at the entrance of his house, said to them:
"Peace to you! God's judgment will never pass. I know that today I will be prey for the fish of the sea; and the people of the North will take possession of you and the whole kingdom.” After these words, the scientist was seized, tied up and thrown into the sea between Galata and Constantinople.
There are a lot of similar predictions and legends in Constantinople, among the Mohammedans. Let us mention some of them: 1) The time appointed by Allah will come when Mecca and Medina and other Arabian cities will be destroyed, and all this will be done by a certain Christian
The king who will come from the countries of the North2. He will occupy Egypt and Palestine. 2) The kingdom of Mohammed will last only until the coming of the Belarusian youths, the white sons of the North, according to the prophecy, which reads like this:
“On the tenth indictment the King will come from the northern countries, take Eptal-fon, and reign in it, and there will be the greatest war.” 3) The Turks themselves confess and say that their Koran contains confirmation that Constantinople will be taken by Christians. These confirmations are:
a) The first caliph was Abbass, then the name of the last caliph will begin with the same letters, b) Mohammedans should be wary of that Christian people who have the initial letter P4 in their name, c) Before the fall of Istanbul, three bloody battles will take place, Christians will prevail over The Mohammedans will take the city, and its inhabitants will perish from famine and sword. The Mohammedans will be driven first to Aleppo, then to Damascus. Jerusalem and all the countries belonging to it will be conquered by Christians5.
These beliefs spread throughout Turkey. They are often found not only among common people, but also penetrate into the upper strata of the Turkish people. The capital's Turks, out of a predominant love for Asia, the cradle of their religion and nation, prefer to be buried on the Asian coast. But a more motivating reason for the Turks’ love to be buried in Asia is the following: the Turks have many predictions about the impending fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the predictions of Sultan Soliman and the Arab astronomer Musta-Eddin that the entire kingdom will be taken over by the Northern people are especially widespread among them. They believe these predictions and consider their stay in Europe temporary; for the time must inevitably come when the Christians, the fair-haired victors, will take Istanbul into their power and expel them to Asia. For this reason, all Mohammedans who are at all wealthy try to bury their relatives on the Asian coast, so that the graves of the “true believers” will not be trampled under the feet of the “infidels” when, by the will of Allah, they take Constantinople again.
Lygos, Byzantium, Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - whatever this ancient city was called! And with each name his appearance, his character changed dramatically. The new owners of the city developed 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 lost civilizations or an organic interpenetration of different cultures? We will try to find out this in this article.
We will tell the amazingly 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 polis?
Should a traveler come to Istanbul in search of Constantinople, the same Constantinople from which the baptists of Kievan Rus came? 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 a very restless people. They plied the waters of the Mediterranean, Ionian, Adriatic, Marmara and Black Seas on ships and developed the coasts, founding new settlements there. So in the 8th century BC, Chalcedon, Perinthos, Selymbria and Astak arose on the territory of modern Istanbul (formerly Constantinople).
Regarding the founding in 667 BC. e. the city of Byzantium, which later gave the name to the whole empire, there is an interesting legend. According to it, King Visas, the son of the sea god Poseidon and the daughter of Zeus Keroessa, went to the Delphic oracle to ask him where to found his city-state. The soothsayer asked Apollo, and he gave the following answer: “Build a city opposite the blind.”
Visas interpreted these words as follows. It was necessary to establish a policy directly opposite Chalcedon, which arose thirteen years earlier on the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara. The strong current did not allow the construction of a port there. The tsar considered such shortsightedness of the founders to be a sign of political blindness.
Ancient Byzantium
Located on the European shore of the Sea of Marmara, the policy, initially called Lygos, was able to acquire a convenient port. This spurred the development of trade and crafts. Named Byzantium after the death of the king in honor of its founder, the city controlled the passage of ships through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea.
Thus, he kept his finger on the pulse of all trade relations between Greece and its distant colonies. But the extremely successful location of the policy also had a negative side. It made Byzantium an “apple of discord.”
The city was constantly captured by: the Persians (King Darius in 515 BC), the tyrant of Chalcedon Ariston, the Spartans (403 BC). Nevertheless, sieges, wars and changes of government had little effect on the economic prosperity of the polis. Already in the 5th century BC, the city grew so much that it occupied the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, including the territory of Chalcedon.
In 227 BC. e. Galatians, immigrants from Europe, settled there. In the 4th century BC. e. Byzantium (the future Constantinople and Istanbul) gains autonomy, and the concluded alliance with Rome allows the polis to strengthen its power. But the city-state was not able to 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 Latin). For almost 200 years, it grew peacefully on both banks of the Bosphorus. But at the end of the 2nd century AD, civil war in the Roman Empire put an end to its prosperity.
Byzantium supported the party of Gaius Pescennius Niger, the current ruler. Because of this, the city was besieged and three years later taken by the troops of the new emperor, Lucius the Last ordered to destroy all the fortifications of the ancient polis to the ground, and at the same time canceled all its trading privileges.
A traveler arriving in Istanbul (Constantinople) will only be able to see the ancient hippodrome that remains from that time. It is located on Sultanahmet Square, right between the city's two main shrines - the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. 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 subject to raids by barbarians. Without trading privileges and a port, its economic growth ceased. 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.
But Byzantium was not destined to vegetate for long as a backwater on the outskirts of the empire. Emperor Constantine the Great noted the extremely favorable location of the town on a cape, controlling the passage from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea.
He ordered the strengthening of Byzantium, the construction of new roads, and the construction of beautiful administrative buildings. At first, the emperor did not even think about leaving his capital - Rome. But tragic events in his personal life (Constantine executed his son Crispus and his wife Fausta) forced him to leave the Eternal City and go east. It was this circumstance that forced him to pay closer attention to Byzantium.
In 324, the emperor ordered the construction of the city to begin on a metropolitan scale. Six years later, on May 11, 330, the official ceremony of consecration of New Rome took place. Almost immediately the second name was assigned to the city - Constantinople.
Istanbul was transformed during the reign of this emperor. Thanks to the Edict of Milan, the pagan temples of the city were left untouched, 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. There was unrest on the borders of the empire. Therefore, the successors of Constantine the Great preferred to consider New Rome their residence. During the reign of the young Emperor Theodosius II, prefect Flavius Anthemius ordered the strengthening of 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 of 12 square meters. km. Along the perimeter of the fortifications, 96 towers rose 18 meters. And the walls themselves still amaze with their inaccessibility.
Constantine the Great also ordered the construction of a family tomb near the Church of the Holy Apostles (he was buried in it). This emperor restored the Hippodrome, erected baths and cisterns 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.
Capital of the Eastern Empire
Since 395, internal contradictions in the once powerful superpower led to a split. Theodosius the First divided his possessions between his sons Honorius and Arkady. 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. In this way, 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 on the architecture of the city, erecting new public buildings, palaces, and churches. But the “golden age” of Byzantine Constantinople is considered to be the period from 527 to 565.
City of Justinian
In the fifth year of this emperor's reign, a riot broke out - the largest in the history of the city. This uprising, called Nika, was brutally suppressed. 35 thousand people were executed.
The rulers know that, along with repression, they need to somehow reassure their subjects, either by staging a victorious blitzkrieg or by starting mass construction. Justinian chose the second path. The city is turning into a big construction site.
The Emperor called the best architects of the country to New Rome. It was then that in just five years (from 532 to 537) the St. Sophia Cathedral was built in Constantinople (or Istanbul). The Vlaherna 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 dates back to the period of his reign.
After the death of Justinian, Byzantium began to experience difficult times. The years of the reign of Phocas and Heraclius weakened it internally, and sieges by the Avars, Persians, Arabs, Bulgarians and Eastern Slavs undermined its military power. Religious strife did not benefit the capital either.
The struggle between iconoclasts and worshipers of holy faces often ended in the looting of churches. But with all this, the population of New Rome exceeded one hundred thousand people, which was larger than any major European city of those times.
Period of the Macedonian dynasty and Komnenos
From 856 to 1185 Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) is experiencing unprecedented prosperity. The first university - the Higher School - appeared in the city, 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 flourished. A traveler interested in the history of the Middle Ages should pay attention to the surviving frescoes in Hagia Sophia, which depict representatives of the Komnenos dynasty, and also visit the Blachernae Palace.
It should be said that during that period the city center shifted to the west, closer to the defensive walls. Western European cultural influence began to be felt more in the city - mainly thanks to the Venetian and Genoese merchants who settled in
While walking around Istanbul in search of Constantinople, you should visit the Monastery of Christ Pantocrator, as well as the churches of the Virgin Kyriotissa, Theodore, Theodosia, the Ever-Virgin Pammakristi, and Jesus Pantepoptos. All these temples were erected under Komnenos.
Latin period and Turkish conquest
In 1204, the Pope declared 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 Baldwins of Flanders did not last long. The Greeks regained power, and a new Palaiologan dynasty settled in Constantinople. It was ruled primarily by the Genoese and Venetians, forming an almost autonomous Galata quarter.
Under them, the city turned into a large 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 (north of the modern Bebek region).
And it doesn’t matter in 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. The body of the last Greek emperor was buried with honors, and his head was put on public display at the Hippodrome.
Capital of the Ottoman Empire
It is difficult to say exactly when Constantinople became Istanbul, since the new owners retained its old name for the city. True, they changed it in the Turkish way. Constantiniye became the capital because the Turks wanted to position themselves as the “Third Rome”.
At the same time, another name began to be heard more and more often in everyday life - “Is Tanbul”, which in the local dialect simply means “in the city”. Of course, Sultan Mehmed ordered to turn all the churches in the city into mosques. But Constantinople only flourished under the rule of the Ottomans. After all, their empire was powerful, and the wealth of the conquered peoples “settled” in the capital.
Konstantiniye acquired 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 area.
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 the 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 beautiful shrine of the city.
Decline of the Ottoman Empire
For Constantinople, the “golden age” occurred during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. This sultan pursued both an aggressive and wise internal state policy. But his successors are gradually beginning to lose ground.
The empire is expanding geographically, but weak infrastructure does not allow communication between the provinces, which come under the authority of local governors. Selim the Third, Mehmet the Second and Abdul-Mecid are trying to introduce reforms that turn out to be clearly insufficient and do not meet the needs of the time.
However, Türkiye still wins the Crimean War. At the time when Constantinople was renamed Istanbul (but only unofficially), many buildings were built in the city in a European style. And the sultans themselves ordered the construction of a new palace - Domlabahce.
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, two years later - the university. Then the city acquired a tram line.
And in 1875, a metro called the “Tunnel” even appeared in Istanbul. After 14 years, the capital became connected to other cities by rail. The legendary Orient Express arrived here from Paris.
Republic of Türkiye
But the rule 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 the new revolution, Mustafa Kemal comes to power, whom the Turks to this day consider the “father of the nation.” He moves the country's capital to the city of Angora, which he renames Ankara. It's time to talk about the year in which Constantinople became Istanbul. This happened on March 28, 1930.
It was then that the “Post Law” came into force, which prohibited the use of the name Constantinople in letters (and in official documents). But, we repeat, the name Istanbul existed during the Ottoman Empire.
Constantinople is a unique city in many respects. This is the only city in the world located simultaneously in Europe and Asia and one of the few modern megacities whose age is approaching three millennia. Finally, this is a city that has undergone four civilizations and as many names in its history.
First settlement and provincial period
Around 680 BC Greek settlers appeared on the Bosphorus. On the Asian shore of the strait they founded the colony of Chalcedon (now this is a district of Istanbul called “Kadikoy”). Three decades later, the town of Byzantium grew up opposite it. According to legend, it was founded by a certain Byzantus from Megara, to whom the Delphic oracle gave vague advice to “settle opposite the blind.” According to Byzant, the inhabitants of Chalcedon were these blind people, since they chose the distant Asian hills for settlement, and not the cozy triangle of European land located opposite.
Located at the crossroads of trade routes, Byzantium was a tasty prey for conquerors. Over the course of several centuries, the city changed many owners - Persians, Athenians, Spartans, Macedonians. In 74 BC. Rome laid its iron fist on Byzantium. A long period of peace and prosperity began for the city on the Bosphorus. But in 193, during the next battle for the imperial throne, the inhabitants of Byzantium made a fatal mistake. They swore allegiance to one candidate, and the strongest was another - Septimius Severus. Moreover, Byzantium also persisted in its non-recognition of the new emperor. For three years, the army of Septimius Severus stood under the walls of Byzantium, until hunger forced the besieged to surrender. The enraged emperor ordered the city to be razed to the ground. However, the residents soon returned to their native ruins, as if sensing that their city had a brilliant future ahead of them.
Capital of the Empire
Let's say a few words about the man who gave Constantinople his name.
Constantine the Great dedicates Constantinople to the Mother of God. Mosaic
Emperor Constantine was already called “The Great” during his lifetime, although he was not distinguished by high morality. This, however, is not surprising, because his whole life was spent in a fierce struggle for power. He participated in several civil wars, during which he executed his son from his first marriage, Crispus, and his second wife, Fausta. But some of his statesmanship are truly worthy of the title “Great”. It is no coincidence that descendants did not spare marble, erecting gigantic monuments to it. A fragment of one such statue is kept in the Museum of Rome. The height of her head is two and a half meters.
In 324, Constantine decided to move the seat of government from Rome to the East. At first, he tried on Serdika (now Sofia) and other cities, but in the end he chose Byzantium. Constantine personally drew the boundaries of his new capital on the ground with a spear. To this day, in Istanbul you can walk along the remains of the ancient fortress wall built along this line.
In just six years, a huge city grew on the site of provincial Byzantium. It was decorated with magnificent palaces and temples, aqueducts and wide streets with rich houses of the nobility. The new capital of the empire for a long time bore the proud name of “New Rome”. And only a century later, Byzantium-New Rome was renamed Constantinople, “the city of Constantine.”
Capital symbols
Constantinople is a city of secret meanings. Local guides will definitely show you the two main attractions of the ancient capital of Byzantium - Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate. But not everyone will explain their secret meaning. Meanwhile, these buildings did not appear in Constantinople by chance.
Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate clearly embodied medieval ideas about the wandering City, especially popular in the Orthodox East. It was believed that after ancient Jerusalem lost its providential role in the salvation of mankind, the sacred capital of the world moved to Constantinople. Now it was no longer the “old” Jerusalem, but the first Christian capital that personified the City of God, which was destined to stand until the end of time, and after the Last Judgment to become the abode of the righteous.
Reconstruction of the original view of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
In the first half of the 6th century, under Emperor Justinian I, the urban structure of Constantinople was brought into line with this idea. In the center of the Byzantine capital, the grandiose Cathedral of Sophia of the Wisdom of God was built, surpassing its Old Testament prototype - the Jerusalem Temple of the Lord. At the same time, the city wall was decorated with the ceremonial Golden Gate. It was assumed that at the end of time Christ would enter through them into God’s chosen city in order to complete the history of mankind, just as he once entered the Golden Gate of “old” Jerusalem to show people the path of salvation.
Golden Gate in Constantinople. Reconstruction.
It was the symbolism of the City of God that saved Constantinople from total ruin in 1453. The Turkish Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror ordered not to touch Christian shrines. However, he tried to destroy their previous meaning. Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque, and the Golden Gate was walled up and rebuilt (as in Jerusalem). Later, a belief arose among the Christian inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire that the Russians would liberate Christians from the yoke of infidels and enter Constantinople through the Golden Gate. The same ones to which Prince Oleg once nailed his scarlet shield. Well, wait and see.
It's time to blossom
The Byzantine Empire, and with it Constantinople, reached its greatest prosperity during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, who was in power from 527 to 565.
Bird's eye view of Constantinople in the Byzantine era (reconstruction)
Justinian is one of the most striking, and at the same time controversial figures on the Byzantine throne. An intelligent, powerful and energetic ruler, a tireless worker, the initiator of many reforms, he devoted his whole life to the implementation of his cherished idea of reviving the former power of the Roman Empire. Under him, the population of Constantinople reached half a million people, the city was decorated with masterpieces of church and secular architecture. But under the mask of generosity, simplicity and outward accessibility hid a merciless, two-faced and deeply insidious nature. Justinian drowned popular uprisings in blood, brutally persecuted heretics, and dealt with the rebellious senatorial aristocracy. Justinian's faithful assistant was his wife, Empress Theodora. In her youth she was a circus actress and courtesan, but, thanks to her rare beauty and extraordinary charm, she became an empress.
Justinian and Theodora. Mosaic
According to church tradition, Justinian was half Slavic by origin. Before his accession to the throne, he allegedly bore the name Upravda, and his mother was called Beglyanitsa. His homeland was the village of Verdyan, near Bulgarian Sofia.
Ironically, it was during the reign of Justinian that Constantinople was first attacked by the Slavs. In 558, their troops appeared in the immediate vicinity of the Byzantine capital. At that time, the city had only foot guards under the command of the famous commander Belisarius. To hide the small number of his garrison, Belisarius ordered felled trees to be dragged behind the battle lines. Thick dust arose, which the wind carried towards the besiegers. The trick was a success. Believing that a large army was moving towards them, the Slavs retreated without a fight. However, later Constantinople had to see Slavic squads under its walls more than once.
Home of sports fans
The Byzantine capital often suffered from pogroms of sports fans, as happens with modern European cities.
In the daily life of the people of Constantinople, an unusually large role belonged to colorful public spectacles, especially horse racing. The passionate commitment of the townspeople to this entertainment gave rise to the formation of sports organizations. There were four of them in total: Levki (white), Rusii (red), Prasina (green) and Veneti (blue). They differed in the color of the clothes of the drivers of the horse-drawn quadrigas who participated in competitions at the hippodrome. Conscious of their strength, Constantinople fans demanded various concessions from the government, and from time to time they organized real revolutions in the city.
Hippodrome. Constantinople. Around 1350
The most formidable uprising, known as Nika! (i.e. “Conquer!”), broke out on January 11, 532. Spontaneously united followers of the circus parties attacked the residences of the city authorities and destroyed them. The rebels burned the tax rolls, captured the prison and released the prisoners. At the hippodrome, amid general rejoicing, the new Emperor Hypatius was solemnly crowned.
Panic began in the palace. The legitimate emperor Justinian I, in despair, intended to flee the capital. However, his wife Empress Theodora, appearing at a meeting of the imperial council, declared that she preferred death to loss of power. “The royal purple is a beautiful shroud,” she said. Justinian, ashamed of his cowardice, launched an attack on the rebels. His generals, Belisarius and Mund, standing at the head of a large detachment of barbarian mercenaries, suddenly attacked the rebels in the circus and killed everyone. After the massacre, 35 thousand corpses were removed from the arena. Hypatius was publicly executed.
In short, now you see that our fans, compared to their distant predecessors, are just meek lambs.
Capital menageries
Every self-respecting capital strives to acquire its own zoo. Constantinople was no exception here. The city had a luxurious menagerie - a source of pride and concern for the Byzantine emperors. European monarchs knew only from hearsay about the animals that lived in the East. For example, giraffes in Europe have long been considered a cross between a camel and a leopard. It was believed that the giraffe inherited its general appearance from one, and its coloring from the other.
However, the fairy tale paled in comparison with real miracles. Thus, in the Great Imperial Palace in Constantinople there was a chamber of Magnaurus. There was a whole mechanical menagerie here. The ambassadors of European sovereigns who attended the imperial reception were amazed by what they saw. Here, for example, is what Liutprand, the ambassador of the Italian king Berengar, said in 949:
“In front of the emperor’s throne stood a copper but gilded tree, the branches of which were filled with various kinds of birds, made of bronze and also gilded. The birds each uttered their own special melody, and the emperor’s seat was arranged so skillfully that at first it seemed low, almost at ground level, then somewhat higher and, finally, hanging in the air. The colossal throne was surrounded in the form of guards, copper or wooden, but, in any case, gilded lions, which madly beat their tails on the ground, opened their mouths, moved their tongues and emitted a loud roar. At my appearance, the lions roared, and the birds each sang their own melody. After I, according to custom, bowed before the emperor for the third time, I raised my head and saw the emperor in completely different clothes almost at the ceiling of the hall, while I had just seen him on a throne at a small height from the ground. I couldn’t understand how this happened: he must have been lifted up by a machine.”
By the way, all these miracles were observed in 957 by Princess Olga, the first Russian visitor to Magnavra.
Golden Horn
In ancient times, the Golden Horn Bay of Constantinople was of paramount importance in the defense of the city from attacks from the sea. If the enemy managed to break into the bay, the city was doomed.
Old Russian princes tried several times to attack Constantinople from the sea. But only once did the Russian army manage to penetrate the coveted bay.
In 911, the prophetic Oleg led a large Russian fleet on a campaign against Constantinople. To prevent the Russians from landing on the shore, the Greeks blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn with a heavy chain. But Oleg outwitted the Greeks. The Russian boats were placed on round wooden rollers and dragged into the bay. Then the Byzantine emperor decided that it was better to have such a person as a friend than an enemy. Oleg was offered peace and the status of an ally of the empire.
Miniature of the Ralziwill Chronicle
The Straits of Constantinople were also where our ancestors were first introduced to what we now call the superiority of advanced technology.
The Byzantine fleet at this time was far from the capital, fighting with Arab pirates in the Mediterranean. The Byzantine Emperor Roman I had at hand only a dozen and a half ships, written off due to disrepair. Nevertheless, Roman decided to give battle. Siphons with “Greek fire” were installed on the half-rotten vessels. It was a flammable mixture based on natural oil.
Russian boats boldly attacked the Greek squadron, the very sight of which made them laugh. But suddenly, through the high sides of the Greek ships, fiery jets poured onto the heads of the Rus. The sea around the Russian ships seemed to suddenly burst into flames. Many rooks burst into flames at once. The Russian army was instantly seized by panic. Everyone was thinking only about how to get out of this hell as quickly as possible.
The Greeks won a complete victory. Byzantine historians report that Igor managed to escape with barely a dozen rooks.
Church schism
Ecumenical councils met more than once in Constantinople, saving the Christian Church from destructive schisms. But one day an event of a completely different kind occurred there.
On July 15, 1054, before the start of the service, Cardinal Humbert entered the Hagia Sophia, accompanied by two papal legates. Walking straight into the altar, he addressed the people with accusations against the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius. At the end of his speech, Cardinal Humbert placed the bull of excommunication on the throne and left the temple. On the threshold, he symbolically shook off the dust from his feet and said: “God sees and judges!” For a minute there was complete silence in the church. Then there was a general uproar. The deacon ran after the cardinal, begging him to take the bull back. But he took away the document handed to him, and the bulla fell onto the pavement. It was taken to the patriarch, who ordered the papal message to be published, and then excommunicated the papal legates themselves. The indignant crowd almost tore apart the envoys of Rome.
Generally speaking, Humbert came to Constantinople for a completely different matter. At the same time, Rome and Byzantium were greatly annoyed by the Normans who had settled in Sicily. Humbert was instructed to negotiate with the Byzantine emperor on joint action against them. But from the very beginning of the negotiations, the issue of confessional differences between the Roman and Constantinople churches came to the fore. The Emperor, who was extremely interested in the military-political assistance of the West, was unable to calm down the raging priests. The matter, as we have seen, ended badly - after mutual excommunication, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope no longer wanted to know each other.
Later, this event was called the “great schism”, or “division of the Churches” into Western - Catholic and Eastern - Orthodox. Of course, its roots lay much deeper than the 11th century, and the disastrous consequences did not appear immediately.
Russian pilgrims
The capital of the Orthodox world - Constantinople (Constantinople) - was well known to the Russian people. Merchants from Kyiv and other cities of Rus' came here, pilgrims going to Mount Athos and the Holy Land stopped here. One of the districts of Constantinople - Galata - was even called the “Russian city” - so many Russian travelers lived here. One of them, Novgorodian Dobrynya Yadreikovich, left the most interesting historical evidence about the Byzantine capital. Thanks to his “Tale of Constantinople” we know how the crusader pogrom of 1204 found the thousand-year-old city.
Dobrynya visited Constantinople in the spring of 1200. He examined in detail the monasteries and churches of Constantinople with their icons, relics and relics. According to scientists, the “Tale of Constantinople” describes 104 shrines of the capital of Byzantium, and so thoroughly and accurately as none of the travelers of later times described them.
A very interesting story is about the miraculous phenomenon in the St. Sophia Cathedral on May 21, which, as Dobrynya assures, he personally witnessed. This is what happened that day: on Sunday before the liturgy, in front of the worshipers, a golden altar cross with three burning lamps miraculously rose into the air by itself, and then smoothly fell into place. The Greeks received this sign with jubilation, as a sign of God's mercy. But ironically, four years later, Constantinople fell to the Crusaders. This misfortune forced the Greeks to change their view on the interpretation of the miraculous sign: they now began to think that the return of the shrines to their place foreshadowed the revival of Byzantium after the fall of the Crusader state. Later, a legend arose that on the eve of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, and also on May 21, the miracle was repeated, but this time the cross and lamps soared into the sky forever, and this already marked the final fall of the Byzantine Empire.
First surrender
At Easter 1204, Constantinople was filled only with groans and lamentations. For the first time in nine centuries, enemies - participants in the Fourth Crusade - were at work in the capital of Byzantium.
The call for the capture of Constantinople sounded at the end of the 12th century from the lips of Pope Innocent III. Interest in the Holy Land in the West at that time had already begun to cool. But the crusade against Orthodox schismatics was fresh. Few of the Western European sovereigns resisted the temptation to plunder the richest city in the world. Venetian ships, for a good bribe, delivered a horde of crusader thugs directly to the walls of Constantinople.
Crusaders storm the walls of Constantinople in 1204. Painting by Jacopo Tintoretto, 16th century
The city was stormed on Monday, April 13, and was subjected to total plunder. The Byzantine chronicler Niketas Choniates wrote indignantly that even “Muslims are kinder and more compassionate compared to these people who wear the sign of Christ on their shoulders.” Countless amounts of relics and precious church utensils were exported to the West. According to historians, to this day, up to 90% of the most significant relics in the cathedrals of Italy, France and Germany are shrines taken from Constantinople. The greatest of them is the so-called Shroud of Turin: the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, on which His face was imprinted. Now it is kept in the cathedral of Turin, Italy.
In place of Byzantium, the knights created the Latin Empire and a number of other state entities.
Division of Byzantium after the fall of Constantinople
In 1213, the papal legate closed all the churches and monasteries of Constantinople, and imprisoned the monks and priests. The Catholic clergy hatched plans for a real genocide of the Orthodox population of Byzantium. The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral, Claude Fleury, wrote that the Greeks “must be exterminated and the country populated with Catholics.”
These plans, fortunately, were not destined to come true. In 1261, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos retook Constantinople almost without a fight, ending Latin rule on Byzantine soil.
New Troy
At the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries, Constantinople experienced the longest siege in its history, comparable only to the siege of Troy.
By that time, pitiful scraps remained of the Byzantine Empire - Constantinople itself and the southern regions of Greece. The rest was captured by the Turkish Sultan Bayazid I. But independent Constantinople stuck out like a bone in his throat, and in 1394 the Turks took the city under siege.
Emperor Manuel II turned to the strongest sovereigns of Europe for help. Some of them responded to the desperate call from Constantinople. However, only money was sent from Moscow - the Moscow princes had enough of their own worries with the Golden Horde. But the Hungarian king Sigismund boldly went on a campaign against the Turks, but on September 25, 1396 he was completely defeated in the battle of Nikopol. The French were somewhat more successful. In 1399, the commander Geoffroy Boukiko with one thousand two hundred soldiers broke into Constantinople, strengthening its garrison.
However, oddly enough, Tamerlane became the real savior of Constantinople. Of course, the great lame man least of all thought about pleasing the Byzantine emperor. He had his own scores to settle with Bayezid. In 1402, Tamerlane defeated Bayezid, captured him and put him in an iron cage.
Bayezid's son Sulim lifted the eight-year siege from Constantinople. At the negotiations that began after that, the Byzantine emperor managed to squeeze out of the situation even more than it could give at first glance. He demanded the return of a number of Byzantine possessions, and the Turks resignedly agreed to this. Moreover, Sulim took a vassal oath to the emperor. This was the last historical success of the Byzantine Empire - but what a success! Through the hands of others, Manuel II regained significant territories and ensured the Byzantine Empire another half-century of existence.
A fall
In the mid-15th century, Constantinople was still considered the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and its last emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, ironically bore the name of the founder of the thousand-year-old city. But these were only the pitiful ruins of a once great empire. And Constantinople itself has long lost its metropolitan splendor. Its fortifications were dilapidated, the population huddled in dilapidated houses, and only individual buildings - palaces, churches, a hippodrome - reminded of its former greatness.
Byzantine Empire in 1450
Such a city, or rather a historical ghost, was besieged on April 7, 1453 by the 150,000-strong army of the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II. 400 Turkish ships entered the Bosphorus Strait.
For the 29th time in its history, Constantinople was under siege. But never before has the danger been so great. Constantine Paleologus could oppose the Turkish armada with only 5,000 garrison soldiers and about 3,000 Venetians and Genoese who responded to the call for help.
Panorama "The Fall of Constantinople". Opened in Istanbul in 2009
The panorama depicts approximately 10 thousand participants in the battle. The total area of the canvas is 2,350 square meters. meters with a panorama diameter of 38 meters and a 20-meter height. Its location is also symbolic: not far from the Cannon Gate. It was next to them that a hole was made in the wall, which decided the outcome of the assault.
However, the first attacks from land did not bring success to the Turks. The attempt of the Turkish fleet to break through the chain blocking the entrance to the Golden Horn Bay also ended in failure. Then Mehmet II repeated the maneuver that had once brought Prince Oleg the glory of the conqueror of Constantinople. By order of the Sultan, the Ottomans built a 12-kilometer portage and dragged 70 ships along it to the Golden Horn. The triumphant Mehmet invited the besieged to surrender. But they replied that they would fight to the death.
On May 27, Turkish guns opened hurricane fire on the city walls, punching huge gaps in them. Two days later the final, general assault began. After a fierce battle in the breaches, the Turks burst into the city. Constantine Palaiologos fell in battle, fighting like a simple warrior.
Official video of the panorama “The Fall of Constantinople”
Despite the destruction caused, the Turkish conquest breathed new life into the dying city. Constantinople turned into Istanbul - the capital of a new empire, the brilliant Ottoman Porte.
Loss of capital status
For 470 years, Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the spiritual center of the Islamic world, since the Turkish Sultan was also the caliph - the spiritual ruler of Muslims. But in the 20s of the last century, the great city lost its capital status - presumably forever.
The reason for this was the First World War, in which the dying Ottoman Empire was stupid to take the side of Germany. In 1918, the Turks suffered a crushing defeat from the Entente. In fact, the country lost its independence. The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 left Turkey with only a fifth of its former territory. The Dardanelles and Bosporus were declared open straits and were subject to occupation along with Istanbul. The British entered the Turkish capital, while the Greek army captured the western part of Asia Minor.
However, there were forces in Turkey that did not want to come to terms with national humiliation. The national liberation movement was led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha. In 1920, he proclaimed the creation of a free Turkey in Ankara and declared the treaties signed by the Sultan invalid. At the end of August and beginning of September 1921, a major battle took place between the Kemalists and the Greeks on the Sakarya River (one hundred kilometers west of Ankara). Kemal won a convincing victory, for which he received the rank of marshal and the title "Gazi" ("Winner"). Entente troops were withdrawn from Istanbul, Türkiye received international recognition within its current borders.
Kemal's government carried out the most important reforms of the state system. Secular power was separated from religious power, the sultanate and caliphate were eliminated. The last Sultan, Mehmed VI, fled abroad. On October 29, 1923, Türkiye was officially declared a secular republic. The capital of the new state was moved from Istanbul to Ankara.
The loss of capital status did not remove Istanbul from the list of great cities in the world. Today it is the largest metropolis in Europe with a population of 13.8 million people and a booming economy.
Constantinople, Constantinople, New Rome, Second Rome, Istanbul, Istanbul - in all cases we are talking about one city that became the capital of the Roman Empire in 330, by order of the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great. The new capital of the empire did not appear out of nowhere. The predecessor of Constantinople was the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, founded, according to legend, in 667 BC. Byzantine - the son of the god Poseidon. 
Constantine, who shunned the arrogant Rome, decided to move the capital of the state to the periphery. Constantinople was not a “full-fledged” European city - it is the only city on earth that is located in two parts of the world at once: Europe (5%) and Asia (95%). The city is located on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait, which is the border of the continents. The city controlled the Bosphorus and trade from Europe to Asia.
By order of the first Christian emperor Constantine, large-scale construction began in the city: it is expanding, fortress walls are being built, churches are being erected, and works of art are being brought to the city from all over the empire.
Over the entire history of Constantinople, 10 Roman and 82 Byzantine emperors, 30 Ottoman sultans ruled there. The city was besieged a total of 24 times. At its peak, the population of Constantinople reached 800 thousand people.
The city found new life, increasing several times. Half a century later, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius, new city walls were built - they have survived to this day. In some places the city wall reaches 15 meters in height, and its thickness reaches 20 meters. 
The city experienced its golden age during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527 – 565). Destroyed in the fifth year of Justinian's reign during the Nika uprising, the city was rebuilt by the tireless emperor again - for this purpose the best architects of that time were attracted. The burned Hagia Sophia Cathedral is also being rebuilt, becoming the largest Christian church on earth for more than a thousand years. The golden age of Justinian's reign was overshadowed by a plague epidemic, which in 544 killed almost half of the inhabitants of the capital of Byzantium. 
From the mid-7th to the 10th centuries, Constantinople was plagued by a series of attacks and sieges. The city is attacked by Arabs, Bulgarians, and Slavs.
Constantinople (as the Slavs called the city) experienced its rebirth in the 9th century, with the advent of the Macedonian dynasty. This is facilitated by a number of victories that they manage to win over their sworn enemies - the Arabs and Bulgarians. Science and culture are experiencing an unprecedented rise. After the split of the Christian world into Orthodox and Catholic in 1054, Constantinople became the center of Orthodoxy, actively conducting missionary activities, especially among the Slavs. 
The decline of the city began with the crusading knights of the Fourth Crusade. Instead of liberating the Holy Sepulcher, they decided to profit from the treasures of the richest European city. In 1204, they treacherously captured it, plundered and burned it, slaughtering a large number of townspeople. For more than half a century, the city became the capital of the new crusader state - the Latin Empire.
In 1261, the Byzantines liberated Constantinople, and the Palaiologan dynasty came to power. However, the city was never destined to achieve its former greatness and power. 
In 1453, Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks. The Ottomans renamed the city Istanbul and made it the capital of their empire. Sultan Mehmed II built up the city with mosques, madrassas, and palaces of the sultans. Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque, minarets were added to it.
In 1923, after the abolition of the sultanate, Istanbul lost its status as the capital of Turkey - it was transferred to Ankara.
Currently, Istanbul is the largest city in the world, with a population of about 15 million people. It is the most industrialized city in Turkey. In addition, the city contains a huge number of monuments of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires.
The ancient city, located in two parts of the world, witnessing the rise and fall of several great empires, still amazes today with its beauty and grandeur. Constantinople is now considered one of the most ancient and unique cities in Europe. Over its almost three-thousand-year history, it has experienced many events, changed many rulers and several names.
Byzantium - the progenitor of the city of kings
Today, Constantinople is a unique city in which the spirit of many cultural traditions is mixed. This can be explained by the rather turbulent events that took place in its history, having briefly become acquainted with which, you can understand in which country it is now located and what the name of the ancient city is.
Greek city-state
Settlements existed on the lands of the Bosphorus Strait for a long time. The ancestor of the modern metropolis is considered to be the town of Byzantium, which appeared on the European coast at the end of the 7th century. BC e. It was founded by Greek settlers from the Dorian city of Megar, led by Byzantine. He may have been the son of the ruler of Megara Nisa.
The city, located at the intersection of major trade routes, quickly grew and developed. In the VI century. BC e. it included the town of Chalcedon, founded by the Greeks on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus a little earlier than the Dorian settlement.
Thanks to its favorable strategic location, Byzantium found itself at the center of numerous military clashes. At the beginning of the 6th century the Persians managed to conquer it. After winning the Battle of Plataea, the Greeks liberate the city. It is adjacent to the Athenian Union of States. During the Peloponian Wars, the Athenians and Spartans tried several times to capture this strategic point. The city became completely independent in the middle of the 4th century BC. e.
Eastern Roman Province
The expansion of the Roman Empire could not help but affect the strategically important city on the Bosphorus. In 74 BC. e. Byzantium became part of the Roman empire.
Under Roman protection, the city quietly existed, grew and developed until the end of the 2nd century. n. e. In 193, another confrontation between contenders for the Roman imperial throne began. Residents of Byzantium supported the enemy of Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus - Gaius Pescennius Niger Justus. Troops loyal to the emperor besieged the city for three years. In 196 it was completely destroyed. The inhabitants soon returned and restored the settlement, but it was possible to revive its former greatness only after a century and a half under a different name.
Capital of two empires
The city on the Bosphorus reached its greatest prosperity and influence by alternately becoming the center of two empires: the great Christian Byzantium and the brilliant Islamic Porte.
New Rome: foundation of the city of Constantine
The founding of the city of Constantinople is associated with the name of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who became the sole ruler after a twenty-year civil war. The date of its foundation is also precisely known. Due to the constant danger of external invasion, Roman emperors practically never visited the capital. Constantine thought about moving the capital from Rome closer to the eastern borders of the empire. The following were considered as the basis for the new capital:
- ancient Troy;
- Serdika (modern Sofia);
- Byzantium.
The choice fell on the city, located at the intersection of land and sea trade routes. By 330, the small provincial town had become the new capital of the great empire, receiving the official name New Rome. It was surrounded by powerful walls and, behind which there are luxurious palaces, majestic churches, hippodromes, forums, and wide streets.
During the life of the founder, the people began to call the new city by his name - Constantinople. In official chronicles, they decided to rename the city only after a hundred years.
Constantinople becomes the most unique city in Europe of the Middle Ages. It organically combined Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) cultures; pagan beliefs and the new Christian religion. Unlike most ancient cities, the center of the city on the Bosphorus is not a forum or an acropolis, but a Christian temple. The main attractions of the city that have survived to this day are: the hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, Troyan's Arch (Golden Gate).
Since its founding The eastern capital of the Roman Empire becomes a museum city. Monuments and works of art from past eras are beginning to be brought to the city from all over the vast state, some of which could be seen in numerous squares, hippodromes and forums. Along with material monuments of ancient cultures, Emperor Constantine and his mother Helen search for and bring Christian relics to the new capital.
Thanks to the active influx of population, the city is rapidly growing and expanding. Already under Emperor Theodosius, new city walls were erected, preserved on the modern map of the city.
The heyday of Constantinople
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, its eastern part received the name Byzantine Empire (Byzantium). It should be noted that the self-name of the new state was the Roman Empire, and the inhabitants called themselves Romans. During its existence, Constantinople experienced several periods of active development.
Byzantium and Constantinople reached their peak at the beginning of the 6th century during the reign of Emperor Justinian I. He established Christianity as the only state religion. Active temple and secular construction is underway under him. monumental colonnades appear on the central streets. A special place among the architectural monuments of this time is occupied by the Church of Hagia Sophia, which for a long time was the largest Christian sanctuary in the world.
The city experienced its next period of growth during the reign of emperors from the Macedonian dynasty in the 9th-11th centuries. ekah. They pursued a fairly successful and far-sighted foreign and domestic policy.
A significant part of the Byzantine army were mercenaries from Old Russian and Scandinavian lands. Scandinavian and Russian mercenaries in Miklagard (the Scandinavian name for Constantinople) were highly valued. Some chronicles mention that they were used as the emperor's personal guard.
The flourishing of Greek-speaking culture is associated with the following events:
- carrying out reforms at the oldest European university, founded in 425;
- the development of fine art, represented by icon painting and frescoes;
- an increase in the number of literary works, represented by the lives of saints and numerous chronicles.
But active missionary activity in the Slavic lands, where the capital of the Byzantine Empire was called Constantinople (“city of kings”), was of key importance. Of particular importance for the Slavic peoples was the work of Cyril and Methodius, the creators of the Slavic alphabets. A significant event not only in the history of Byzantium, but also the whole world, occurred in 1054. Tensions between the heads of the Roman and Constantinople spiritual authorities led to a split in the Christian Church into Catholic and Orthodox, the center of which was Constantinople.
Decline in the city's development on the Bosphorus in the middle of the 11th century is associated with the invasion of the Seljuk Turks and a significant reduction in the territory of the empire.
The last period of development of the city called Constantinople occurs during the reign of the Komnenos dynasty. At this time, temple construction was actively underway. But the main role in trade is no longer played by the local population, but by European traders from Genoa and Venice.
The final fall of the Byzantine capital
The richest city in Europe, the capital of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, was weakened by raids and represented a very tempting target for the Crusader knights and the Catholic Church. In the spring of 1204, Constantinople was surrounded by the combined forces of many European countries. It was stormed on April 13. Contemporaries noted that, hiding behind the name of Christ, the crusaders plundered the city and mocked its inhabitants. The overwhelming number of significant church relics in the countries of modern Europe were exported from Constantinople in the 13th century. A new state, the Latin Empire, appeared on the world map.
For sixty years, the city on the Bosphorus remained the capital of the Latin Empire. In 1261, the representative of the last Byzantine ruling dynasty, Michael VIII Palaiologos, regained the throne. Byzantium on the world map will exist until 1453. By this time, only a few buildings and the ancient hippodrome reminded of the former greatness of Constantinople. By cunning and force, overcoming the resistance of the city’s defenders, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II took the once impregnable fortress. This was the end of the history of the great Constantinople, but the life of the beautiful Instanbul began.
Istanbul: history and modernity
Having become the capital of the Ottoman Empire, the ancient city received a new life. The Ottoman conquerors did not destroy Christian churches, rebuilding them into mosques. The expansion and strengthening of the Ottoman state allowed Istanbul to become one of the main Islamic religious centers. Many Muslim relics were transferred to it.
The reign of Sultan Suleiman the Great becomes a time of new prosperity for the city. Mosques, palaces, and schools are being actively built. Trade is developing both with European countries and with Asian countries.
It should be noted that the official religion of the Ottoman Turks was Islam, but half of the population of Istanbul were Christians. This situation existed until the beginning of the 20th century.
The participation of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War on the side of Germany significantly influenced the life of Istanbul. The defeat of the German coalition led to the following consequences for the city on the Bosphorus:
- occupation by Entente troops;
- loss of capital status;
- forced eviction of representatives of the Christian community.
Despite this, Istanbul remains one of the most beautiful metropolises in Europe, receiving millions of tourists from all over the world every year. To find out and understand what kind of country Byzantium is now, you need to walk along the streets of the old city, look into the noisy oriental bazaar, climb the fortress walls and see the waters of the Golden Horn Bay, visit ancient water storage facilities, and admire the grandeur of Istanbul mosques.