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98-467: The monastery was built in the mid-11th century, by Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and his wife, Empress Zoe . According to tradition, it is built on the location where three monks, Nikitas, Ioannes and Iosif, miraculously found an icon of the Virgin Mary , hanging from a branch of myrtle . At that time, Constantine was exiled in nearby Lesbos , and the monks visited him and told of

196-490: A chrysobull of July 1049, Constantine Monomachos granted the monastery the head tax of all Jews of the island of Chios, and set the monastery apart from any superior ecclesiastic or secular hierarchy. As a result of land grants, tax exemptions and other privileges granted by successive emperors, the monastery prospered during the Byzantine period. Over the centuries, the monastery amassed substantial riches and became one of

294-556: A call for aid from Alexius , the First Crusade assembled at Constantinople in 1096, but declining to put itself under Byzantine command set out for Jerusalem on its own account. John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for the poor of 50 beds. With the restoration of firm central government, the empire became fabulously wealthy. The population was rising (estimates for Constantinople in

392-643: A center of culture and education of the Mediterranean basin, Constantinople came to be known by prestigious titles such as Basileuousa (Queen of Cities) and Megalopolis (the Great City) and was, in colloquial speech, commonly referred to as just Polis ( ἡ Πόλις ) 'the City' by Constantinopolitans and provincial Byzantines alike. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently. The medieval Vikings, who had contacts with

490-634: A city-state until it was annexed by Darius I in 512 BC into the Persian Empire , who saw the site as the optimal location to construct a pontoon bridge crossing into Europe as Byzantium was situated at the narrowest point in the Bosphorus strait. Persian rule lasted until 478 BC when as part of the Greek counterattack to the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a Greek army led by

588-570: A double wall lying about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the first wall and a moat with palisades in front. Constantinople's location between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara reduced the land area that needed defensive walls. The city was built intentionally to rival Rome , and it was claimed that several elevations within its walls matched Rome's 'seven hills'. The impenetrable defenses enclosed magnificent palaces, domes, and towers,

686-838: A dwindling and depopulated city. In 1261, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos liberated the city, and after the restoration under the Palaiologos dynasty, it enjoyed a partial recovery. With the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1299, the Byzantine Empire began to lose territories, and the city began to lose population. By the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just Constantinople and its environs, along with Morea in Greece, making it an enclave inside

784-646: A new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard . They were known for their ferocity, honour, and loyalty. It is said that, in 1038, they were dispersed in winter quarters in the Thracesian Theme when one of their number attempted to violate a countrywoman, but in the struggle she seized his sword and killed him; instead of taking revenge, however, his comrades applauded her conduct, compensated her with all his possessions, and exposed his body without burial as if he had committed suicide. However, following

882-667: A new city wall in his name, the Severan Wall. Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Having restored the unity of the Empire, and, being in the course of major governmental reforms as well as of sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church , he was well aware that Rome was an unsatisfactory capital. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, and it offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians. Yet it had been

980-493: A vision according to which he would eventually become emperor. Constantine promised to build a church if this should come to pass. Indeed, in 1042, Constantine became emperor, and in gratitude began constructing the monastery, dedicated to the Theotokos . The main church (the katholikon ) was inaugurated in 1049, and the complex finished in 1055, after Constantine's death. The monastery was early on endowed with privileges: in

1078-572: Is known about this initial settlement. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , romanized :  Byzántion ) in around 657  BC, across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. Hesychius of Miletus wrote that some "claim that people from Megara, who derived their descent from Nisos, sailed to this place under their leader Byzas, and invent

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1176-481: Is of Thracian origin. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas . The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honor of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was more likely just a play on the word Byzantion . The city was briefly renamed Augusta Antonina in the early 3rd century AD by

1274-618: Is still used by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the title of one of their most important leaders, the Orthodox patriarch based in the city, referred to as "His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch". In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpoli(s) ( Κωνσταντινούπολις/Κωνσταντινούπολη ) or simply just "the City" ( Η Πόλη ). Constantinople

1372-815: The Church of John the Baptist to house the skull of the saint (today preserved at the Topkapı Palace ), put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coach house for the Praetorian Prefect ; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine. After the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which Valens and

1470-582: The Church of the Resurrection or the New Church. Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval of a new emperor, and also where they openly criticized the government, or clamoured for

1568-552: The Eastern Roman Empire , which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors ( symbasileis ) who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine

1666-517: The Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbor. Already then, in Greek and early Roman times, Byzantium was famous for the strategic geographic position that made it difficult to besiege and capture, and its position at the crossroads of the Asiatic-European trade route over land and as the gateway between the Mediterranean and Black Seas made it too valuable a settlement to abandon, as Emperor Septimius Severus later realized when he razed

1764-458: The Holy Cross and to St Panteleimon ) the dining hall ("trapeza"), the monks' cells ("kelia"), the reception hall or " triklinon " and underground water cistern ("kinsterna"). The complex is surrounded by a wall (the original Byzantine wall was destroyed in 1822), and in the northeastern corner stands a defensive tower, in earlier times used as a library. In addition, outside the walls, near

1862-600: The Pax Romana , for nearly three centuries until the late 2nd century AD. Byzantium was never a major influential city-state like that of Athens , Corinth or Sparta , but the city enjoyed relative peace and steady growth as a prosperous trading city lent by its remarkable position. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean , and had in

1960-598: The destruction of Chios by the Ottomans in April 1822, during the Greek War of Independence . 2,000 people had sought refuge in the monastery, but the Ottomans stormed it, slaughtered many, and set fire to the templon and other wooden furnishings of the church, including the roof, leaving the rest of the refugees to burn there. The monastery never recovered its former glory. In 1881, an earthquake added further damage to

2058-608: The 12th century vary from some 100,000 to 500,000), and towns and cities across the realm flourished. Meanwhile, the volume of money in circulation dramatically increased. This was reflected in Constantinople by the construction of the Blachernae palace, the creation of brilliant new works of art, and general prosperity at this time: an increase in trade, made possible by the growth of the Italian city-states, may have helped

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2156-423: The 12th century. Toward the end of Manuel I Komnenos 's reign, the number of foreigners in the city reached about 60,000–80,000 people out of a total population of about 400,000 people. In 1171, Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews. In 1182, most Latin (Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople were massacred . In artistic terms, the 12th century was a very productive period. There

2254-522: The 13th and 11th centuries BC. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , Byzántion ) in around 657 BC, across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. The origins of the name of Byzantion , more commonly known by the later Latin Byzantium , are not entirely clear, though some suggest it

2352-531: The 19th century. The use of the title "Roman Emperor" by those ruling from Constantinople was not contested until after the papal coronation of the Frankish Charlemagne as Holy Roman emperor (25 December 800). The title of all Emperors preceding Heraclius was officially " Augustus ", although other titles such as Dominus were also used. Their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus . Following Heraclius,

2450-504: The Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Princes' Islands . Oryphas , the admiral of the Byzantine fleet, alerted the emperor Michael, who promptly put the invaders to flight; but the suddenness and savagery of the onslaught made a deep impression on the citizens. In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6,000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into

2548-681: The Caesar (Emperor)', from the Slavonic words tsar ('Caesar' or 'King') and grad ('city'). This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις ( Vasileos Polis ), 'the city of the emperor [king]'. In Persian the city was also called Asitane (the Threshold of the State), and in Armenian , it was called Gosdantnubolis (City of Constantine). The modern Turkish name for

2646-754: The Danube about this time and advanced into Thrace, but he was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in driving their king back north of the river. Subsequent to this, new walls were built to defend the city and the fleet on the Danube improved. After the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the indisputable capital city of the Roman Empire. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in

2744-512: The Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), who razed the city to the ground in 196 for supporting a rival contender in the civil war and had it rebuilt in honor of his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (who succeeded him as Emperor), popularly known as Caracalla . The name appears to have been quickly forgotten and abandoned, and the city reverted to Byzantium/Byzantion after either the assassination of Caracalla in 217 or, at

2842-752: The Gate of the Droungarios ( Turkish : Odun Kapısı ) on the Golden Horn. Nevertheless, the destruction wrought by the 1197 fire paled in comparison with that brought by the Crusaders. In the course of a plot between Philip of Swabia , Boniface of Montferrat and the Doge of Venice , the Fourth Crusade was, despite papal excommunication, diverted in 1203 against Constantinople, ostensibly promoting

2940-482: The Great , the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire

3038-479: The Great City and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia flowed into Constantinople. The emperor Justinian I (527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their departure,

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3136-596: The Greeks". Towards the end of the Empire, the standard imperial formula of the Byzantine ruler was "[Emperor's name] in Christ, Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans" (cf. Ῥωμαῖοι and Rûm ). Dynasties were a common tradition and structure for rulers and government systems in the Medieval period. The principle or formal requirement for hereditary succession was not a part of the Empire's governance; hereditary succession

3234-487: The Ottoman Empire. The city was finally besieged and conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, remaining under its control until the early 20th century, after which it was renamed Istanbul under the Empire's successor state , Turkey. According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History , the first known name of a settlement on the site of Constantinople was Lygos , a settlement likely of Thracian origin founded between

3332-659: The Spartan general Pausanias captured the city which remained an independent, yet subordinate, city under the Athenians, and later to the Spartans after 411 BC. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.  150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. This treaty would pay dividends retrospectively as Byzantium would maintain this independent status, and prosper under peace and stability in

3430-549: The Thracian shore at the mouth of the Pontos,     where two pups drink of the gray sea,     where fish and stag graze on the same pasture, set up their dwellings at the place where the rivers Kydaros and Barbyses have their estuaries, one flowing from the north, the other from the west, and merging with the sea at the altar of the nymph called Semestre" The city maintained independence as

3528-579: The Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, as part of the Turkification movement, Turkey started to urge other countries to use Turkish names for Turkish cities , instead of other transliterations to Latin script that had been used in Ottoman times and the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. The name Constantinople

3626-582: The Turkish capital then moved to Ankara . Officially renamed Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city in Europe , straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia , and the financial center of Turkey . In 324,following the reunification of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, the ancient city of Byzantium was selected to serve as the new capital of the Roman Empire, and

3724-466: The accession of Theodosius I , emperors had been resident only in the years 337–338, 347–351, 358–361, 368–369. Its status as a capital was recognized by the appointment of the first known Urban Prefect of the City Honoratus, who held office from 11 December 359 until 361. The urban prefects had concurrent jurisdiction over three provinces each in the adjacent dioceses of Thrace (in which the city

3822-719: The blue and green factions, innocent and guilty. This came full circle on the relationship within the Hippodrome between the power and the people during the time of Justinian. Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed the Theodosian basilica of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), the city's cathedral, which lay to the north of the Augustaeum and had itself replaced the Constantinian basilica founded by Constantius II to replace

3920-794: The capital of the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine the Great in 330. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire ; 330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence ,

4018-455: The capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by

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4116-457: The cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church , which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ; the sacred Imperial Palace , where the emperors lived; the Hippodrome ; the Golden Gate of the Land Walls; and opulent aristocratic palaces. The University of Constantinople was founded in the 5th century and contained artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, including its vast Imperial Library which contained

4214-404: The cistern and parts of the trapeza. The cells, most of which are in a ruined state, date to the Venetian and Genovese periods. A small museum, opened in 1992, exists to the NW of the katholikon, housed in a renovated cell. The displayed artifacts date mostly from the latter 19th century. Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of

4312-479: The city could no longer be supplied from Egypt as a result of the Persian wars: the population fell substantially as a result. While the city withstood a siege by the Sassanids and Avars in 626, Heraclius campaigned deep into Persian territory and briefly restored the status quo in 628, when the Persians surrendered all their conquests. However, further sieges followed the Arab conquests , first from 674 to 678 and then in 717 to 718 . The Theodosian Walls kept

4410-461: The city impenetrable from the land, while a newly discovered incendiary substance known as Greek fire allowed the Byzantine navy to destroy the Arab fleets and keep the city supplied. In the second siege, the second ruler of Bulgaria , Khan Tervel , rendered decisive help. He was called Saviour of Europe . In the 730s Leo III carried out extensive repairs of the Theodosian walls, which had been damaged by frequent and violent attacks; this work

4508-431: The city to the ground for supporting Pescennius Niger 's claimancy . It was a move greatly criticized by the contemporary consul and historian Cassius Dio who said that Severus had destroyed "a strong Roman outpost and a base of operations against the barbarians from Pontus and Asia". He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina , fortifying it with

4606-404: The city was also called 'Second Rome', 'Eastern Rome', and Roma Constantinopolitana ( Latin for 'Constantinopolitan Rome'). As the city became the sole remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew, the city also came to have a multitude of nicknames. As the largest and wealthiest city in Europe during the 4th–13th centuries and

4704-469: The city was renamed Nova Roma, or 'New Rome', by Emperor Constantine the Great . On 11 May 330, it was renamed Constantinople and dedicated to Constantine. Constantinople is generally considered to be the center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization ". From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia ,

4802-417: The city, İstanbul , derives from the Greek phrase eis tin Polin ( εἰς τὴν πόλιν ), meaning '(in)to the city'. This name was used in colloquial speech in Turkish alongside Kostantiniyye , the more formal adaptation of the original Constantinople , during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages mostly continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th century. In 1928,

4900-453: The city. Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augustaeum . The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the Emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke , and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne . Nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and

4998-421: The claims of Alexios IV Angelos brother-in-law of Philip, son of the deposed emperor Isaac II Angelos . The reigning emperor Alexios III Angelos had made no preparation. The Crusaders occupied Galata , broke the defensive chain protecting the Golden Horn , and entered the harbour, where on 27 July they breached the sea walls: Alexios III fled. But the new Alexios IV Angelos found the Treasury inadequate, and

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5096-430: The construction of the Theodosian Walls in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new Golden Gate , reaching a total length of seven Roman miles . After the construction of the Theodosian Walls, Constantinople consisted of an area approximately the size of Old Rome within the Aurelian walls, or some 1,400 ha. The importance of Constantinople increased, but it was gradual. From the death of Constantine in 337 to

5194-430: The death of an Emperor, they became known also for plunder in the Imperial palaces. Later in the 11th century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England . The Book of the Eparch , which dates to the 10th century, gives a detailed picture of the city's commercial life and its organization at that time. The corporations in which

5292-487: The empire through their expansion in eastern Europe ( Varangians ), used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr (from mikill 'big' and garðr 'city'), and later Miklagard and Miklagarth . In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-Kubra (Great City of the Romans) and in Persian as Takht-e Rum (Throne of the Romans). In East and South Slavic languages, including in Kievan Rus' , Constantinople has been referred to as Tsargrad ( Царьград ) or Carigrad , 'City of

5390-402: The empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora , who restored the icons. These controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and the Eastern Churches. In

5488-528: The fable that his name was attached to the city". Some versions of the founding myth say Byzas was the son of a local nymph , while others say he was conceived by one of Zeus' daughters and Poseidon . Hesychius also gives alternate versions of the city's founding legend, which he attributed to old poets and writers: It is said that the first Argives, after having received this prophecy from Pythia,     Blessed are those who will inhabit that holy city,     a narrow strip of

5586-403: The famed Baths of Zeuxippus . At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the Milion , a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire. From the Augustaeum led a great street, the Mese , lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through

5684-401: The first Byzantine cathedral, Hagia Irene (Holy Peace). Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable Hagia Sophia . This was the great cathedral of the city, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without passing through

5782-411: The flower of the Roman armies were destroyed by the Visigoths within a few days' march, the city looked to its defences, and in 413–414 Theodosius II built the 18-metre (60-foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications , which were not to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425. Uldin , a prince of the Huns , appeared on

5880-438: The front and grown long at the back, and wide-sleeved tunics tight at the wrist; and to form gangs to engage in night-time muggings and street violence. At last these disorders took the form of a major rebellion of 532, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Conquer!" of those involved). The Nika Riots began in the Hippodrome and finished there with the onslaught of over 30,000 people according to Procopius, those in

5978-442: The greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around

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6076-400: The growth of the economy. It is certain that the Venetians and others were active traders in Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt . The Venetians had factories on the north side of the Golden Horn, and large numbers of westerners were present in the city throughout

6174-400: The invaders poured in. Alexios V fled. The Senate met in Hagia Sophia and offered the crown to Theodore Lascaris , who had married into the Angelos dynasty , but it was too late. He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard . Then the two of them slipped away with many of the nobility and embarked for Asia. By the next day

6272-402: The late 11th century catastrophe struck with the unexpected and calamitous defeat of the imperial armies at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. The Emperor Romanus Diogenes was captured. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan , sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them. On his release, however, Romanus found that enemies had placed their own candidate on

6370-399: The late Roman and early Byzantine periods, Christianity was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to the chariot-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens. The partisans of the Blues and the Greens were said to affect untrimmed facial hair, head hair shaved at

6468-421: The latest, the fall of the Severan dynasty in 235. Byzantium took on the name of Constantinople ( Greek : Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized : Kōnstantinoupolis; "city of Constantine") after its refoundation under Roman emperor Constantine I , who transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium in 330 and designated his new capital officially as Nova Roma ( Νέα Ῥώμη ) 'New Rome'. During this time,

6566-402: The main church, leading to the collapse of its dome, while several other buildings, like the 1512 bell-tower, were destroyed. In 1952, due to the shortage of monks, Nea Moni was converted to a convent . According to the 2001 census, it is inhabited by only three nuns. The monastery complex covers an area of approximately 17,000 m and consists of the katholikon, two smaller churches (dedicated to

6664-458: The monks' cemetery, there is a small chapel to St Luke . The katholikon is the monastery's central structure, dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. It is composed of the main church, the esonarthex and the exonarthex . The main church is of an octagonal shape, the so-called "insular" type, found in Chios and Cyprus. Although all three sections date to the 11th century, the main church suffered significant damage in 1822 and 1881, with

6762-424: The oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second Senate-house and a high column with a statue of Constantine himself in the guise of Helios , crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking toward the rising sun. From there, the Mese passed on and through the Forum Tauri and then the Forum Bovis , and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and through to the Golden Gate in the Constantinian Wall . After

6860-415: The people rose again: Alexios IV was imprisoned and executed, and Murzuphlos took the purple as Alexios V Doukas . He made some attempt to repair the walls and organise the citizenry, but there had been no opportunity to bring in troops from the provinces and the guards were demoralised by the revolution. An attack by the Crusaders on 6 April failed, but a second from the Golden Horn on 12 April succeeded, and

6958-512: The religious processions of the clergy. He removed Theodora from the Great Palace to the Carian Palace and later to the monastery of Gastria , but, after the death of Bardas, she was released to live in the palace of St Mamas; she also had a rural residence at the Anthemian Palace, where Michael was assassinated in 867. In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir , two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through

7056-663: The remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had 100,000 volumes. The city was the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and guardian of Christendom 's holiest relics, such as the Crown of Thorns and the True Cross . Constantinople was famous for its massive and complex fortifications, which ranked among the most sophisticated defensive architectures of antiquity . The Theodosian Walls consisted of

7154-401: The removal of unpopular ministers. It played a crucial role during the riots and in times of political unrest. The Hippodrome provided a space for a crowd to be responded to positively or where the acclamations of a crowd were subverted, resorting to the riots that would ensue in coming years. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue. Throughout

7252-520: The result of prosperity Constantinople achieved as the gateway between two continents ( Europe and Asia ) and two seas (the Mediterranean and the Black Sea). Although besieged on numerous occasions by various armies, the defenses of Constantinople proved impenetrable for nearly nine hundred years. In 1204, however, the armies of the Fourth Crusade took and devastated the city, and for several decades, its inhabitants resided under Latin occupation in

7350-411: The result that its current, rebuilt, form is different from the original. The bell tower was constructed in 1900, replacing an older one built in 1512. Originally, the remains of the three founders were kept in the exonarthex, but most of these were destroyed during the sack of 1822. Along with the katholikon, the only remaining 11th century buildings are the partially ruined tower, the chapel of St Luke,

7448-480: The right to use bells." During the 17th century the number of monks decreased further, but recovered in the next century. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Chrysanthos Notaras, and the French priest Fourmont, who visited the monastery in 1725 and 1729 respectively, commented on the large numbers of monks, the quantity of relics preserved, and the beauty of the church and its decoration. The monastery's decline began only after

7546-745: The ship of the commander Belisarius was anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. After the victory, in 534, the Temple treasure of Jerusalem , looted by the Romans in AD ;70 and taken to Carthage by the Vandals after their sack of Rome in 455, was brought to Constantinople and deposited for a time, perhaps in the Church of St Polyeuctus , before being returned to Jerusalem in either

7644-466: The streets. "The architectural form of the building was meant to reflect Justinian programmatic harmony: the circular dome (a symbol of secular authority in classical Roman architecture) would be harmoniously combined with the rectangular form (typical for Christian and pre-Christian temples)." The dedication took place on 26 December 537 in the presence of the emperor, who was later reported to have exclaimed, "O Solomon , I have outdone thee!" Hagia Sophia

7742-465: The throne in his absence; he surrendered to them and suffered death by torture, and the new ruler, Michael VII Ducas, refused to honour the treaty. In response, the Turks began to move into Anatolia in 1073. The collapse of the old defensive system meant that they met no opposition, and the empire's resources were distracted and squandered in a series of civil wars. Thousands of Turkoman tribesmen crossed

7840-419: The title clarus , not clarissimus , like those of Rome. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. In similar fashion, many of

7938-588: The title commonly became the Greek Basileus (Gr. Βασιλεύς), which had formerly meant sovereign , though Augustus continued to be used in a reduced capacity. Following the establishment of the rival Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, the title " Autokrator " (Gr. Αὐτοκράτωρ) was increasingly used. In later centuries, the Emperor could be referred to by Western Christians as the "Emperor of

8036-532: The tradesmen of Constantinople were organised were supervised by the Eparch, who regulated such matters as production, prices, import, and export. Each guild had its own monopoly, and tradesmen might not belong to more than one. It is an impressive testament to the strength of tradition how little these arrangements had changed since the office, then known by the Latin version of its title, had been set up in 330 to mirror

8134-523: The unguarded frontier and moved into Anatolia. By 1080, a huge area had been lost to the Empire, and the Turks were within striking distance of Constantinople. Under the Komnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery. In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army. In response to

8232-454: The urban prefecture of Rome. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Constantinople had a population of between 500,000 and 800,000. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act that

8330-625: The view. During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people. However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of the Plague of Justinian between 541 and 542 AD. It killed perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants. In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans , threatening Constantinople with attack from

8428-606: The wealthiest monasteries in the Aegean . At its peak, around 1300, its estates covered one third of Chios and it is estimated that up to 800 monks belonged to it. The subsequent Genoese domination reduced its wealth, but the monastery prospered again during the Ottoman era, when it was subject directly to the Patriarch of Constantinople , and enjoyed considerable autonomy. The late 16th-century traveler Samuel Purchas recounts that it had 200 monks, and that "alone in all Greece they had

8526-487: The wealthiest provinces of the Empire. Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330. Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis. Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a proconsul , rather than an urban prefect . It had no praetors , tribunes , or quaestors . Although it did have senators, they held

8624-665: The west. Simultaneously, the Persian Sassanids overwhelmed the Prefecture of the East and penetrated deep into Anatolia . Heraclius , son of the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the throne. He found the military situation so dire that he is said to have contemplated withdrawing the imperial capital to Carthage, but relented after the people of Constantinople begged him to stay. The citizens lost their right to free grain in 618 when Heraclius realized that

8722-1728: Was a custom and tradition, carried on as habit and benefited from some sense of legitimacy, but not as a "rule" or inviolable requirement for office at the time. (30 years, 9 months and 27 days) (24 years, 1 month and 25 days) (1 year, 7 months and 23 days) (7 months and 21 days) (1 month and 2 days) (14 years, 4 months and 12 days) (5 months and 10 days) (15 years, 11 months and 29 days) (13 years, 3 months and 14 days) (42 years, 2 months and 27 days) (6 years, 5 months and 2 days) (16 years, 11 months and 11 days) (10 months) (11 months and 11 days) August 476 – 9 April 491 (14 years and 8 months) (1 year and 7 months) (27 years, 2 months and 28 days) (9 years and 23 days) (38 years, 7 months and 13 days) (12 years, 10 months and 21 days) (3 years, 10 months and 19 days) (20 years, 3 months and 14 days) (7 years, 10 months and 12 days) (30 years, 4 months and 6 days) (3 months and 14 days) (8 months and 25 days) (26 years and 10 months) (16 years and 10 months) (10 years) (3 years) (7 years) (6 years, 2 months and 14 days) (1 year, 6 months and 30 days) (less than 2 years) (less than 2 years) (24 years, 2 months and 24 days) (34 years, 2 months and 27 days) (2 years and 5 months) (4 years, 11 months and 25 days) (16 years, 11 months and 11 days) (5 years, 2 months and 12 days) (8 years, 8 months and 26 days) (2 months and 4 days) (1 year, 9 months and 9 days) Constantinople Constantinople ( see other names ) became

8820-462: Was a revival in the mosaic art, for example: Mosaics became more realistic and vivid, with an increased emphasis on depicting three-dimensional forms. There was an increased demand for art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for such work. On 25 July 1197, Constantinople was struck by a severe fire which burned the Latin Quarter and the area around

8918-480: Was fiercely resisted by the citizens. Constantine V convoked a church council in 754 , which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken, burned, or painted over with depictions of trees, birds or animals: One source refers to the church of the Holy Virgin at Blachernae as having been transformed into a "fruit store and aviary". Following the death of her husband Leo IV in 780,

9016-470: Was financed by a special tax on all the subjects of the Empire. Theodora, widow of the Emperor Theophilus (died 842), acted as regent during the minority of her son Michael III , who was said to have been introduced to dissolute habits by her brother Bardas. When Michael assumed power in 856, he became known for excessive drunkenness, appeared in the hippodrome as a charioteer and burlesqued

9114-564: Was founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I (272–337) in 324 on the site of an already-existing city, Byzantium , which was settled in the early days of Greek colonial expansion , in around 657 BC, by colonists of the city-state of Megara . This is the first major settlement that would develop on the site of later Constantinople, but the first known settlements was that of Lygos , referred to in Pliny's Natural Histories. Apart from this, little

9212-655: Was located), Pontus and Asia comparable to the 100-mile extraordinary jurisdiction of the prefect of Rome. The emperor Valens , who hated the city and spent only one year there, nevertheless built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate , probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors up to Zeno and Basiliscus were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded

9310-501: Was served by 600 people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build. Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of the Holy Apostles and Hagia Irene built by Constantine with new churches under the same dedication. The Justinianic Church of the Holy Apostles was designed in the form of an equal-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This church

9408-504: Was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of the Roman Empire in 395. Emperors listed below up to Theodosius I in 395 were sole or joint rulers of the entire Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire continued until 476. Byzantine emperors considered themselves to be Roman emperors in direct succession from Augustus ; the term "Byzantine" became convention in Western historiography in

9506-484: Was to remain the burial place of the emperors from Constantine himself until the 11th century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror. Justinian was also concerned with other aspects of the city's built environment, legislating against the abuse of laws prohibiting building within 100 ft (30 m) of the sea front, in order to protect

9604-434: Was unable to make good the rewards he had promised to his western allies. Tension between the citizens and the Latin soldiers increased. In January 1204, the protovestiarius Alexios Murzuphlos provoked a riot, it is presumed, to intimidate Alexios IV, but whose only result was the destruction of the great statue of Athena Promachos , the work of Phidias , which stood in the principal forum facing west. In February 1204,

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