Constantinople - the most beautiful city in the world
The construction of Constantinople began in 324, on May 11, 330 the city was consecrated / “Our Faith” / May, 2017
The fertile soil of Rus' led to the emergence of an innumerable number of saints, from the first ascetics who went into caves that later became monasteries, to confessors who refused to betray the faith at the point of Bolshevik rifles. We will talk about them, about how the Orthodox Church lives today and how it preserves the spirit of Russian holiness, in the section “Our Faith.” More in and more
Ivan Aivazovsky “View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus”, 1856
The transfer of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople opened a new era in the history of Europe. For more than a thousand years, Constantinople became the center of the Christian empire. After the famous victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in October 312, Emperor Constantine did not visit Rome often. Political and military circumstances forced him to be in the capitals of all four prefectures and in other important cities of the empire - in Augusta Treverorum (now it is the German Trier), in Serdika (now Sofia, Bulgaria), Thessalonica and Nicomedia.
Constantine moved to Nicomedia in Asia Minor after his victory over Licinius in 324, and almost at the same time he began to build a new capital of the empire - on the site of the ancient town of Byzantium. Byzantium, founded around 660 BC, was located on the European (Thracian) shore of the Bosphorus.
Constantine appreciated the uniqueness and geographical advantage of this place just during the battle with Licinius. Rome, the Eternal City full of idols and pagan temples after the adoption of Christianity by Constantine, had to go into the shadows. The empire, like the emperor himself, was changing rapidly. A new capital was needed, and the terrain on the hilly peninsula between the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn Bay suited this perfectly.
In addition, trade routes from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean successfully crossed here. This place served as a bridge between Asia and Europe.
The city of Constantine was built by the best craftsmen of the empire and a large number of workers, including 40 thousand Goths. In a short period of time, fortress walls were built, wide streets were paved, many public buildings were erected - the Senate, the imperial palace, temples, a hippodrome for 30 thousand spectators, a forum, aqueducts and porticos.
The new capital was decorated with renowned works of art brought from all over the Mediterranean. The solemn consecration of the new capital by Christian bishops took place on May 11, 330. For more than ten centuries, this date became a holiday for the residents of the city; it was celebrated on a special scale.
When illuminated, the capital received the name New Rome, but very soon the inhabitants of the city, paying tribute to the main builder, began to call it Constantinople - the city of Constantine. Unlike Old Rome, the New was the capital not of a pagan, but of a Christian empire. It is interesting that the emperor himself had not yet been baptized; he had the status of a catechumen (preparing for baptism). Constantine himself was baptized in Nicomedia, but the royal city became a spiritual font for many peoples, from here the mission of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius went to the Slavs, and the people of Kiev were baptized by Greek priests in the waters of the Dnieper.
Constantine's work of strengthening, expanding and beautifying the city was continued by his successors, and New Rome quickly became the largest center in Europe and Asia. Ambassadors, merchants, and pilgrims flocked to it from all over the world. In the capital it was possible to make a stunning career, social status and the thickness of the wallet did not matter, a simple soldier or official could become an emperor. Constantinople became the most desirable city in the Mediterranean.
“The incomparably beautiful center of the entire inhabited earth” is what the Byzantine scribe Theodore Metochites called this city in the 14th century.
With God's help, the defenders of the city managed to repel countless raids by the Goths, Arabs, and Slavs. At the end of the history of Byzantium, when the era of its political power was already in the past, the city of Constantine continued to retain its cultural and ecclesiastical significance until its capture by the Turks in 1453, and the Turks would retain the name of the city until 1930.
Today this is what the main symbol of Constantinople looks like - Hagia Sophia
This situation in the city, which the Turks turned into a headquarters from where decrees were sent out aimed at the oppression and enslavement of Christian peoples who found themselves in the orbit of the Ottoman Empire, could not but worry Russia.
During the Russian-Turkish wars of the 19th century, the Russians more than once came close to capturing and liberating the city; in March 1807, the Russian squadron of Vice Admiral Dmitry Senyavin began a naval blockade of Constantinople; in February 1878, Russian troops stood almost under its very walls, but did not enter the city. There were other plans for landing troops on the Bosphorus, unfortunately, they were not implemented for a number of reasons.
But many Greeks still believe that it was the Russians who erected the cross over Hagia Sophia.
A Brief History of Constantinople
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 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, we'll 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 IV 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 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 the 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.
Among the many cities of medieval Europe, the capital occupied a special place. Even at a time of relative decline, at the beginning of the 7th century, population of Constantinople numbered 375 thousand - much more than in any other city in the Christian world. Later this number only increased. The city itself grew. Even centuries later, the cities of the Latin West seemed like miserable villages compared to the Byzantine capital. The Latin crusaders were amazed at its beauty and size, as well as its wealth. In Rus', Constantinople was called Constantinople, which can be interpreted both as the Tsar’s city and as the Tsar-city.
In 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital to the city of Byzantium and gave it his name. In just a few decades, Constantinople transformed from an ordinary provincial center into the largest city of the empire. He was ahead of all the cities of the West, including Rome and the capitals of the Middle East - Antioch and Alexandria. People from all over the Roman world flocked to Constantinople, attracted by its unprecedented wealth and glory. In this city, standing on a cape between the Seas of Marmara and the Black Sea, on the very border of Europe and Asia, trade routes from different parts of the world intersected. For almost the entire Middle Ages, Constantinople remained the most important center of world trade. Here goods and people from Western Europe and India and Rus', Arab countries and Scandinavia met. Already in the 11th century. foreigners - merchants, mercenaries - populated entire city blocks.
Emperor Justinian I did a lot to improve the capital. Under this ruler, the Eastern Empire expanded significantly. The greatest creations of Byzantine architecture created then were then updated over the centuries. Justinian's architects erected the Great Imperial Palace, towering above the sea, which served many generations of emperors. The dome of Hagia Sophia, the most glorious temple of the Orthodox world, rose above the city as a grandiose monument to the union between the empire and the Church. It was the service in Sofia, according to legend, that shocked the world in the 10th century. Russian ambassadors sent by Prince Vladimir to “test” the Roman faith. “And we could not understand,” they told the prince, “we are in heaven or on earth...”
The wealth and luxury of the capital of the empire always attracted conquerors. In 626, the combined forces of the Avars and Persians tried to take the city, in 717 - the Arabs, in 860 - the Rus. But for many centuries the Second Rome did not see an enemy within its walls. Several fortification belts reliably protected him. Even during the numerous civil wars that shook the empire, the city itself only opened its gates to the victors. Only in 1204 did yesterday’s allies, the crusaders, manage to capture the capital. This began the decline of Constantinople, which ended with the fall of the city in 1453, already under the onslaught of the Turks. Ironically, the last emperor bore the same name as the founder of the capital - Constantine.
Under the name Istanbul, the city became the capital of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. It remained there until the fall of the sultans in 1924. The Ottomans decided not to destroy the city. They moved into the imperial palaces, and the Hagia Sophia was rebuilt into the greatest mosque of the state, retaining its former name - Hagia Sophia (which means “holy”).
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If you try to find Constantinople on a modern geographical map, you will fail. The thing is that since 1930 such a city has not existed. By decision of the new government of the Turkish Republic, founded in 1923, the city of Constantinople (the former capital of the Ottoman Empire) was renamed. Its modern name is Istanbul.
Why was Constantinople called Constantinople? The amazing history of the city dates back more than one millennium. During this period, it underwent many changes, having been the capital of three empires at once: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. It is not surprising that he had to change names more than once. The very first name assigned to it in history is Byzantium. The modern name of Constantinople is Istanbul.
Constantinople was perceived by Russian people as the center of Orthodoxy. Soon after the adoption of Christianity in Russian culture, a systematic sacralization (imbuing with sacred meaning) of the image of Constantinople occurs.
It is the image of Constantinople in Russian folk tales that inspired the idea of a strange overseas country with its magic and all kinds of miracles.
Vladimir's marriage to a Byzantine princess led to the establishment of cultural and spiritual ties with Constantinople. Constantinople played an extremely positive role in the development of Russian society, as business and cultural contacts led to a leap in the development of icon painting, architecture, literature, art and social science.
By order of Vladimir, magnificent cathedrals were built in Kyiv, Polotsk and Novgorod, which are exact copies of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.
At the main entrance to Vladimir and Kiev, golden gates were installed, created by analogy with the golden gates that opened during the solemn ceremonies of the meeting of the Byzantine emperors.
Etymological information
The etymology of the word “king” is interesting. It came from the name of the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar. The word “Caesar” became a mandatory part of the title of all rulers of the empire: both in the early and late periods of its existence. The use of the prefix “Caesar” symbolized the continuity of power that passed to the new emperor from the legendary Julius Caesar.
In Roman culture, the concepts of “king” and “Caesar” are not identical: in the early stages of the existence of the Roman state, the king was called the word “rex”, performed the duties of the high priest, justice of the peace and leader of the army. He was not endowed with unlimited power and most often represented the interests of the community that chose him as its leader.
End of the Byzantine Empire
On May 29, 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror took Constantinople after a 53-day siege. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, having defended a prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral, fought valiantly in the ranks of the city’s defenders and died in battle.
The capture of Constantinople meant the end of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman state and was initially called Constantine, and then was renamed Istanbul.
In Europe and Russia the city is called Istanbul, which is a distorted form of the Turkish name.