THE TRAVELLING HISTORIAN -- CONSTANTINOPLE

IT'S ISTANBUL, NOT CONSTANTINOPLE

Constantine the Great
(27 February c. 272[2] - 22 May 337)

Sailing to Constantinople
via
Aegean Sea
Dardanelles Strait
Sea of Marmara
.Europe is on the left and
Asia on the right.
photo by
G. Wilson

Blue Mosque
photo by
G. Wilson

In November 324 CE, Constantine the Great,led his aids, engineers and priests from the harbour of Byzantium cross the surrounding hills to trace the boundaries of his contemplated capital. Some marvelled at its scope. "I shall advance till He, the invisible God who marches before me, thinks proper to stop." He was as good as his word.

Constantine commenced creating the splendid imperial establishment in his new capital. He assembled thousands of workmen to raise city walls, fortifications and administrative buildings. Mansions, palaces and porticoes abounded around magnificent squares, The New Rome was dedicated on 11 May, 330, a date celebrated with happiness and hoopla for many years thereafter. Within two centuries, Constantinople became and for ten centuries remained, the richest, most beauiful, most civilized city in the world.

Palaces swarmed with servants and guards, the chief among them, the Great Chamberlain. He ruled all who served the emperor and because of his close personal contact with the almost untouchable despot, had real political power. Meanwhile in the narrow, crooked, congested side streets of Constantinople, tradesmen sold their wares and tenement houses lined the laneways. While mainly Roman at the top of the social pyramid, the lower levels were Greek. All called themselves Roman. Leaders spoke Latin but Greek was the speech of all the common folk. By the 7th century, the Greek language displaced Latin, even among the leaders.

Rummel Fortress seen fron the Bosphorus
photo by
G. Wilson

Rumelihisari (Rumelian Castle) is a fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey, on a hill at the European side of the Bosphorus. It was built by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II between 1451 and 1452, before he conquered Constantinople. The three great towers were named after three of Mehmed II's viziers, Sadrazam Çandarli Halil Pasha, who built the big tower next to the gate, Zaganos Pasha, who built the south tower, and Sarica Pasha, who built the north tower.