Constantinople

Map of Constantinople. Detailed map Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine.

Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις; Latin: Constantinopolis) was the capital city of the Roman Empire from 330 AD and later what historians called the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople was located in the Bosporus, the strait between the Balkans and Asia Minor.

History

For centuries the city was not very large, and was called Byzantium. In the 4th century, Roman emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it to Constantinople.

In the 13th century, Constantinople was looted and captured by crusaders during the Fourth Crusade. The crusaders created the Latin Empire (1204–1261), with Constantinople as the capital city. In 1261, the Empire of Nicaea successfully restored the Byzantine Empire, under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty.

In 1453 the Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror captured Constantinople. The city was renamed Istanbul and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922).

Over time, the city's short name in Greek: Πόλις <span title=" transliteration" class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">Pólis 'city' became the name Istanbul. This name became the city's official name in 1930, during the government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Constantinople Media

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  Aerial view of Byzantine Constantinople and the Propontis (Sea of Marmara)

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  Hagia Sophia built in AD 537, during the reign of Justinian.

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  The Column of Constantine, built by Constantine I in 330 to commemorate the establishment of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire

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  This huge keystone found in Çemberlitaş, Fatih, might have belonged to a triumphal arch at the Forum of Constantine built by Constantine I.

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  Obelisk of Theodosius is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Egyptian King Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.

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  Virtual image of Constantinople in Byzantine era with the hippodrome to the left and the Great Palace complex to the right

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  The four bronze horses that used to be in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, today in Venice

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  A fragment of the Milion (Greek: Μίλ(λ)ιον), a mile-marker monument

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  A simple cross: example of iconoclast art in the Hagia Irene Church in Istanbul

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  Emperor Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic. Hagia Sophia, c. 1000.

Related pages

• Istanbul

Other websites

• Monuments of Byzantium Archived 2006-02-18 at the Wayback Machine - Pantokrator Monastery of Constantinople
• Mosaics of Hagia Sophia - The Deesis Mosaic from Hagia Sophia
• Constantinoupolis on the web Select internet resources on the history and culture of Constantinople
• Info on the name change Archived 2009-10-23 at the Wayback Machine from the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
• Welcome to Constantinople Archived 2005-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, documenting the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, compiled by Robert Ousterhout, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Constantinople, from History of the Later Roman Empire, by J.B. Bury

Media related to Constantinople at Wikimedia Commons