The Augustaion ( Greek : Αὐγουσταῖον ) or, in Latin , Augustaeum , was an important ceremonial square in ancient and medieval Constantinople (modern Istanbul , Turkey ), roughly corresponding to the modern Aya Sofya Meydanı ( Turkish , " Hagia Sophia Square"). Originating as a public market, in the 6th century it was transformed into a closed courtyard surrounded by porticoes, and provided the linking space between some of the most important edifices in the Byzantine capital. The square survived until the late Byzantine period, albeit in ruins, and traces were still visible in the early 16th century.
32-618: The square dates back to ancient Byzantium , before its conversion into an imperial capital by Constantine the Great . When Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) rebuilt the city, he erected a large square surrounded by porticoes , hence named the Tetrastoon ("four stoas "). In the center of the square stood a column with a statue of the god Helios . In the 320s, Constantine adorned his chosen new capital with many new monumental buildings. His activities included new structures around
64-664: A name of Constantinople sporadically and to varying degrees during the thousand-year existence of the Eastern Roman Empire , which was commonly referred to by the former name of that city, the Byzantine Empire . Byzantium was colonized by Greeks from Megara in the 7th century BC and remained primarily Greek-speaking until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in AD 1453. The etymology of Byzantium
96-662: A rectangular shape 85 m long and 60–65 m wide. Enclosed on all sides, the Augustaion was entered in its western and southern side, respectively through the Melete and Pinsos Gates, from the Mesē , the city's main thoroughfare. Directly outside the square stood the Milion , the mile marker from which all distances in the Empire were measured. To its north, the Augustaion was bounded by
128-757: Is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thracian origin. It may be derived from the Thracian personal name Byzas which means "he-goat". Ancient Greek legend refers to the Greek king Byzas , the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city. The name Lygos for the city, which likely corresponds to an earlier Thracian settlement, is mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History . Byzántios, plural Byzántioi ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιος, Βυζάντιοι , Latin : Byzantius ; adjective
160-668: The Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae of ca. 425. 41°00′29″N 28°58′44″E / 41.008°N 28.979°E / 41.008; 28.979 Byzantium Latin Byzantium ( / b ɪ ˈ z æ n t i ə m , - ʃ ə m / ) or Byzantion ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον ) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name Byzantion and its Latinization Byzantium continued to be used as
192-574: The Hagia Sophia cathedral and the Patriarchal palace ( Patriarcheion ), to its east by one of the two Senate houses of the city, built by Constantine or Julian (r. 360–363) and rebuilt by Justinian with a porch of six great columns adorning its front. Next to the Senate, at the southeastern corner stood the monumental Chalkē Gate , the entrance to the imperial palace precinct , while to
224-514: The Tetrastoon , while the Augustaion was likely carved out of its eastern part at that time, and named after a Porphyry column supporting a statue of his mother, the Augusta Helena . The Augustaion was rebuilt in 459 under Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474), and again in the 530s, after being destroyed in the Nika riot , by Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). In its original form, the square
256-582: The 16th century. The square itself was paved with marble, as discovered in excavations, and featured a number of statues, aside from the already-mentioned statue of the Augusta Helena. The 8th to 9th-century Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai record a statue of Constantine himself, standing on a column and flanked by statues of his three sons, Constantine II (r. 337–340), Constans (r. 337–350) and Constantius II (r. 337–361), to which were later added statues of Licinius (r. 308–324) and of Julian. In
288-521: The 1st century BC and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be an eight-rayed star on the reverse. According to accounts which vary in some of the details, in 340 BC the Byzantines and their allies the Athenians were under siege by the troops of Philip of Macedon . On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but
320-527: The Empress' ire and his subsequent deposition and exile. The statue's base was discovered in 1848 and is now located in the garden of the Hagia Sophia. Following Justinian's rebuilding, the square's main feature was a tall column erected in 543 in the western end of the square to commemorate his victories. It was topped by an equestrian statue of Justinian himself, reusing parts of Theodosius' statue, and
352-816: The Romans';), had ceased to exist. Other places were historically known as Byzántion (Βυζάντιον) – a city in Libya mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium and another on the western coast of India referred to by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ; in both cases the names were probably adaptations of names in local languages. Faustus of Byzantium was from a city of that name in Cilicia . The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. Tradition says that Byzas of Megara (a city-state near Athens ) founded
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#1732780066332384-559: The city in 411 BC, to bring the Athenians into submission. The Athenian military later retook the city in 408 BC, when the Spartans had withdrawn following their settlement. After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus , the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in AD 196. Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It
416-647: The city itself, but it seems likely to have been an effect of being credited with the intervention against Philip and the subsequent honors. This was a common process in ancient Greece, as in Athens where the city was named after Athena in honor of such an intervention in time of war. Cities in the Roman Empire often continued to issue their own coinage. "Of the many themes that were used on local coinage, celestial and astral symbols often appeared, mostly stars or crescent moons." The wide variety of these issues, and
448-494: The city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoupolis , "city of Constantine"). This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre and for centuries formed the capital of the Byzantine Empire , which decorated the city with numerous monuments, some still standing today. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled
480-459: The city when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea . The date is usually given as 667 BC on the authority of Herodotus , who states the city was founded 17 years after Chalcedon . Eusebius , who wrote almost 800 years later, dates the founding of Chalcedon to 685/4 BC, but he also dates the founding of Byzantium to 656 BC (or a few years earlier depending on the edition). Herodotus' dating
512-496: The city". To this day it remains the largest and most populous city in Turkey , although Ankara is now the national capital. By the late Hellenistic or early Roman period (1st century BC), the star and crescent motif was associated to some degree with Byzantium; even though it became more widely used as the royal emblem of Mithradates VI Eupator (who for a time incorporated the city into his empire ). Some Byzantine coins of
544-651: The coin, dates from the 12th century. Later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire , whose capital was Constantinople. As a term for the east Roman state as a whole, Byzantium was introduced by the historian Hieronymus Wolf only in 1555, a century after the last remnants of the empire, whose inhabitants continued to refer to their polity as the Roman Empire ( Medieval Greek : Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων , romanized : Basileía tōn Rhōmaíōn , lit. 'empire of
576-491: The crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance. This contradicts claims that only the symbol of the crescent was meant to symbolize Hecate, whereas the star was only added later in order to symbolize the Virgin Mary, as Constantine I is said to have rededicated the city to her in the year 330. It is unclear precisely how the symbol Hecate/Artemis, one of many goddesses would have been transferred to
608-573: The eastern part of Constantinople, which in the early and middle Byzantine periods constituted the administrative, religious and ceremonial center of the city. The square was a rectangular open space, enclosed within a colonnaded porticoes ( peristyla in Latin, in English peristyles ), probably first added in the 459 rebuilding and restored by Justinian. Its exact dimensions are impossible to determine nowadays; Rodolphe Guilland suggested that it had
640-623: The empire. The Anglicization of Latin Byzantinus yielded "Byzantine", with 15th and 16th century forms including Byzantin , Bizantin(e) , Bezantin(e) , and Bysantin as well as Byzantian and Bizantian . The name Byzantius and Byzantinus were applied from the 9th century to gold Byzantine coinage , reflected in the French besant ( d'or ), Italian bisante , and English besant , byzant , or bezant . The English usage, derived from Old French besan (pl. besanz ), and relating to
672-539: The late 13th century, following the recovery of the city from the Latin Empire , the square and its adjacent buildings seem to have been the property of the Hagia Sophia. By the early 15th century however, the Italian traveller Cristoforo Buondelmonti reported that the square lay in ruins, and by the time of Pierre Gilles ' sojourn in the 1540s, only the fragments of seven columns remained. The Augustaion lay in
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#1732780066332704-598: The major trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea . On May 29, 1453, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks , and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire . The Turks called the city "Istanbul" (although it was not officially renamed until 1930); the name derives from the Greek phrase "στην πόλη", which means "to
736-458: The reign of Theodosius the Great (r. 379–395), the ensemble was replaced by a silver equestrian statue of the emperor, standing on a column, and again flanked at ground level by statues of his sons, Arcadius (r. 383–408) and Honorius (r. 393–423). A bronze statue of Aelia Eudoxia on a column also stood on the square. The noise and pagan rituals that accompanied the statue's inauguration were criticized by Patriarch John Chrysostom , provoking
768-471: The same) referred to Byzantion's inhabitants, also used as an ethnonym for the people of the city and as a family name. In the Middle Ages , Byzántion was also a synecdoche for the eastern Roman Empire . (An ellipsis of Medieval Greek : Βυζάντιον κράτος , romanized : Byzántion krátos ). Byzantinós ( Medieval Greek : Βυζαντινός , Latin : Byzantinus ) denoted an inhabitant of
800-577: The southwest stood the great Baths of Zeuxippus and the northern end of the Hippodrome . In the 7th century, probably under Patriarch Thomas I (r. 607–610) a big three-aisled basilica called the Thōmaitēs (Θωμαΐτης) was erected on the southeastern side of the square. It was a reception hall associated with the patriarchal residence, containing also the Patriarchate's library, and survived until
832-486: The works of Hesychius of Miletus , who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian I . His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the tenth century lexicographer Suidas . The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium , and Eustathius . Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were
864-787: Was added to the administrative province of Skudra . Though Achaemenid control of the city was never as stable as compared to other cities in Thrace , it was considered, alongside Sestos , to be one of the foremost Achaemenid ports on the European coast of the Bosphorus and the Hellespont . Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War . As part of Sparta 's strategy for cutting off grain supplies to Athens during their siege of Athens, Sparta took control of
896-532: Was bound to Perinthus during the period of Septimius Severus. After the war, Byzantium lost its city status and free city privileges, but Caracalla persuaded Severus to restore these rights. In appreciation, the Byzantines named Caracalla an archon of their city. The strategic and highly defensible (due to being surrounded by water on almost all sides) location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in AD 330, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself, known as Nova Roma . Later
928-478: Was complemented by a group of three barbarian kings kneeling before it and offering tribute. It survived until the 16th century, when it was demolished by the Ottomans . ^ a: Also found in the sources as: Αὐγουστέων or Αὐγουστεών , Augousteōn ; Αὐγουστίον , Augoustion ; Αὐγουστεῖον , Augousteion , and hence in the corrupted form Γουστεῖον , Gousteion . The name first appears in Latin in
960-606: Was later favored by Constantine the Great , who celebrated Byzantium's 1,000th anniversary between the years 333 and 334. Byzantium was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea 's only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side. The city was taken by the Persian Empire at the time of the Scythian campaign (513 BC) of Emperor Darius I (r. 522–486 BC), and
992-417: Was open to the public and functioned as the city's food market ( agora ), but after Justinian's reconstruction, it became more of an enclosed courtyard where access was restricted. Byzantine writers from the 7th century on refer to it as explicitly as a court or forecourt ( αὐλή, αὐλαία, προαύλιον ) of the Hagia Sophia . Justinian's Augustaion survived mostly unchanged through the subsequent centuries. In
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1024-451: Was thwarted by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. This light is occasionally described by subsequent interpreters as a meteor , sometimes as the moon, and some accounts also mention the barking of dogs. However, the original accounts mention only a bright light in the sky, without specifying the moon. To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue of Hecate lampadephoros (light-bearer or bringer). This story survived in
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